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Caramelized Apple Onion Soup

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Caramelized Apple Onion Soup tastes like fall in a bowl! Apples and caramelized onions are simmered with cider and broth, and blended with a touch of cream. The flavor is the perfect balance of savory and sweet. One bowl filled me up and made my tummy very happy!

Caramelized Apple Onion Soup tastes like fall in a bowl! Apples and caramelized onions are simmered with cider and broth, and blended with a touch of cream.Caramelized Apple Onion Soup

Nothing beats a delicious warm soup on a chilly fall day. A few of my favorites are Ham Bone Soup with Potatoes and Cabbage Soup, Cream of Asparagus Soup, and Turmeric Roasted Sweet Potato and Macadamia Soup.

Caramelized Apple Onion Soup tastes like fall in a bowl! Apples and caramelized onions are simmered with cider and broth, and blended with a touch of cream.

Last Fall while visiting Harry and David in Oregon, I had lunch at a quaint bistro called Deja Vu Bistro that had this incredible soup.

I was dying to make this at home and I emailed the chef for the recipe. He was kind enough to send it to me and I’ve made it several times with slight adaptions to his original to lighten it up. In place of 1 cup of heavy cream I used 1/2 cup light cream. I also cut back on the butter and used slightly less cider since I was using less cream. Although it takes some time for the onions to caramelize, I think it’s worth it. It also happens to be vegetarian and gluten-free. Enjoy!

Caramelized Apple Onion Soup tastes like fall in a bowl! Apples and caramelized onions are simmered with cider and broth, and blended with a touch of cream.

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Caramelized Apple Onion Soup 

3.50 from 6 votes
4
Cals:193
Protein:2
Carbs:34
Fat:6
This soup tastes like Fall in a bowl! Apples and caramelized onions are simmered with cider and broth, and blended with a touch of cream. The flavor is the perfect balance of savory and sweet.
Course: Soup
Cuisine: American
Caramelized Apple Onion Soup tastes like fall in a bowl! Apples and caramelized onions are simmered with cider and broth, and blended with a touch of cream.
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 1 hour 10 minutes
Total: 1 hour 15 minutes
Yield: 8 Servings

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds sweet yellow onions, sliced 1/8" thin
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 4 Granny Smith apples
  • 2 1/2 cups apple cider
  • 1 quart vegetable broth, I used Pacific
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1/2 cup light cream
  • 3/4 tsp kosher salt and white pepper, to taste
  • optional garnish a drizzle of light cream

Instructions

  • In a Dutch oven, or heavy stock pot, melt the butter and oil over medium heat, then add the onions and sauté until the onions caramelize and become golden in color, stirring occasionally, about 55 minutes, depending on your pan and the flame. You may want to reduce the heat to medium-low half way through to prevent them from burning.
  • While the onions are cooking, peel, core and chop the apples.
  • When the onions are ready add the apples and cook 2 to 3 minutes.
  • Add the apple cider to deglaze the pan, scraping up any brown bits on the bottom of the pan.
  • Increase heat and bring to a boil, cook until the cider reduces, about 5 minutes.
  • Add the garlic and vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer gently 30 minutes.
  • Add cream and simmer low 10 minutes.
  • Puree in a blender in batches or using an immersion blender. Adjust seasoning with salt & white pepper.

Last Step:

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Notes

adapted from Chef Prahl at Deja Vu Bistro

Nutrition

Calories: 193 kcal, Carbohydrates: 34 g, Protein: 2 g, Fat: 6 g, Saturated Fat: 1 g, Cholesterol: 14 mg, Sodium: 194 mg, Fiber: 5 g, Sugar: 20 g

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60 comments on “Caramelized Apple Onion Soup”

  1. This was just too sweet for my taste. All I taste is apple, the onion taste doesn’t come through at all. If I were to make it again, I’d probably add an onion and subtract an apple. 

  2. Made this for my health group.  It was devoured!  Everyone raved about this recipe.  
    My onions never carmelized, but still so yummy and tasty.  
    I have to make it for the next office meeting and Easter now!  

  3. I made this yesterday, and it was AMAZING. (I honestly don’t understand why some people were surprised by how sweet it was – *caramelized* onions + apple cider + apples? How would it NOT be?) I loved how the cider and Granny Smiths added a bit of tartness to offset the sweet. I also usually don’t like pepper in my food, so I omitted it – but the kids told me to add it and it was actually good. We were talking as we ate, and thought maybe next time we’d get some pork tenderloin (or some kid of pork) and shred it and add it to this to make it a bit more “hearty”. But the serving size is bigger than I expected (and it was more filling than I thought it would be the way it is), so doing that would definitely make more servings.

    I will say I was hit with my nemesis in cooking: the cream (I used half & half) curdled as soon as I added it to the soup. I had completely forgotten acid + heat makes dairy curdle almost *instantly*. (I’ve been working on a Butterbeer recipe for years, and the addition of dairy into it – from the caramel sauce – hits me with this exact same problem every time.) The immersion blender fixed that issue right away, but I’m now wondering if next time, maybe use the “solids” from a can of coconut milk, instead, to prevent the curdling. Or maybe use almond milk? Or perhaps just tempering the dairy with the soup before adding it would help? Experimentation is necessary I think. And there WILL be experimenting, because this was REALLY good. Will definitely make it again.

  4. I typically adore Skinny Taste recipes and lately I’ve been really trying to push myself out of my comfort zone. Even though the recipe sounded a bit strange and some of the comments expressed it wasn’t good, I figured I would go for it anyways since we had just gone apple picking.

    Sadly… Honestly this was not good. It wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever tasted, but the combination of the apples and onions was just strange — and not in a good way. I wish I had listened to the other comments and not made the recipe, but I figured since Gina liked it, maybe there was something to it others just couldn’t see! The soup was just sour and weird though, I did not like it one bit. It was edible, but not at all enjoyable and I ended up throwing most of it away.

  5. Avatar photo
    BruinsFan4Evah

    I make this at least once each Fall after going apple picking. It is delicious with crispy onions or roasted pepitas while watching the Patriots.! Thank you Gina.

  6. Avatar photo
    Julie Hordyk

    I have to say this soup was a bit of a disappointment.  I was expecting a lot more onion flavor, and for me it was really too sweet and apple-flavored.  I’m going to try and fix the leftovers with maybe some wild rice and spicy chicken sausage, but I wouldn’t make it again as is.  Perhaps if it had more of a French onion base instead of the cider, it would be better.  I love Gina’s recipes…this is probably the first one that was really not good.!  

  7. Hi, I would like to know what you mean by light cream. is it half & half? In our area we have heavy cream, whipping cream, and half & half, which I believe is half milk and half heavy cream. Thanks.

  8. I don't know what I did wrong, I followed your directions to the letter but it did not come out as expected and the color was not nearly as ice as your pictures. I was so looking forward to this soup but was disappointed by the end result. It took about 1 hour to caramelize the onions. They looked beautiful. I love your recipes and make them often. I am not sure where I went wrong on this one.

    1. Avatar photo
      Skinnytaste Gina

      Sounds like it might work..I am very curious to see how it comes out…let me know and keep me posted.

  9. Could'nt find cider, so I mixed apple juice with white wine, which gave it a light sour note. Made it for dinner for my sister, who is becoming a chef, and she LOVED it!!!! The sweet, sour, savoury and hot (I like a lot of pepper in my soup) flavours combined very well, a real flavour explosion in my mouth 🙂

    I really love your blog and have tried a lot of the recipes and everything came out very well, except for once when I made your buttermilk blueberry cake, but that was my fault because I was too lazy to convert the measurements into the metric system and my eye for quantities apparently is not as good as I'd thought 😉 I also love the variety of your recipes, some of them, such as your banana bread, broccoli pasta, soups and salads have become part of my rotation and this summer, I earned more than one compliment for your mango avocado salsa. Thank you for your commitment and congratulations on your cookbook!

  10. Agree with the above comment, just made this and it's incredibly sweet for me. I tried to temper it with a bit of beef broth but it didn't really help. Had to throw it out unfortunately! Made your fig butter pork last night though and that was excellent 🙂

  11. Avatar photo
    Heather Roach

    Couldn't eat this at all. Way, way too sweet. It's rare for me to have a failed recioe and do disappointing that this was one.

  12. Hi Gina! I just made this and used evaporated milk instead of the cream…it looks like maybe the acid from the cider curdled the milk? Is this normal (a similar effect as buttermilk)? Not sure whether I should blend it or just throw the whole batch out, but I thought I would check with you first before wasting all this food! Thanks!

  13. Not sure what happened to my comment! Just wanted to share that this recipe did not work for me at all. Not sure what went wrong – I am an adventurous real food eater, love all the individual ingredients, and am a competent cook. I've made so many great recipes from this website, and look forward to your book. But this was really odd – nearly inedible – to me. Definitely too sweet for us!

  14. We made it tonight along with the spaghetti with butternut leek Parmesan sauce. It was all amazing! Thank you!

  15. I just finished making it. 🙂 I burned my upper lip trying to taste it too quick but from what I can tell, delicious! Tangy, sweet… and the smell… mmm!

  16. Made this last night and it is so interesting and different: sweet, tangy, savory. My husband and guests loved it!

  17. Made this the other night, and we loved it. I'm sure it will become a fall go-to cuz it's also quick and easy. Loving the new cookbook, too.

  18. Just made this soup for my mom- she's. Real food lover. She adored it!!! She suggested that it needed some crunch, so we added a few small pieces of apple.

  19. Anxious to try this recipe, great combination.
    I bought your book and it was supposed to be delivered on Thursday. I was very excited because I was flying out of town on Friday morning. It arrived after I left on Friday. Bad news: I was planning on reading it cover to cover on the plane. Good News: It will be waiting for me when I get home 🙂 You are the BEST.

  20. I just made this soup not sure what to expect. It was soooo delicious. I am one of your most devoted followers, I have been following you for years and I can't wait for my cookbook to come in the mail. Thanks Gina!

  21. Avatar photo
    Sylvia Rivera

    I just got your cookbook on Tuesday and I just saw this article today, congrats on your blue ribbon!

    https://www.yahoo.com/food/septembers-best-selling-cookbooks-ina-garten-killed-98749697371.html

  22. Hello Gina – I'm from Toronto – I was in a Chapters yesterday and I was thrilled to see your new book there. I was very impressed. Its a beautiful book with lots of beautiful pictures and of course great recipes which I have come to love on your site. I will be picking up a copy soon. Congratulations!!!

  23. Sounds lovely. I am thinking this would be a nice change from my traditional roasted squash soup. Could I make this the day before? Just wondering whether it would brown at all with the apples.

  24. Sounds yummy. But I wish that you had listed serving size in grams/ounces rather than a vague 'just over one cup'. I need all the limits I can hang on to!!!

  25. Avatar photo
    JulesTheNorweegie

    I have heard apples and onions go well together, but I have never tried it myself, this looks delicious though, so warming 😀 x

  26. Looks delicious and perfect for fall! Love the new cookbook and look at you number one. https://www.yahoo.com/food/septembers-best-selling-cookbooks-ina-garten-killed-98749697371.html Congratulations!!!

  27. Hi there! I am trying to find Stuffed Turkey Breasts with Butternut Squash and Figs. I clicked over from my Feedly but can't seem to find it on your site… help!! I must make it, sounds amazing!!!

    1. Here it is. I already added it to my Ziplist to make myself! https://www.skinnytaste.com/2014/09/stuffed-turkey-breasts-with-butternut.html

    1. I think you can freeze this before you add the cream. After defrosting, add the cream when reheating.

    2. Avatar photo
      Skinnytaste Gina

      Exactly, if you want to freeze it just don't add the cream. You can add the cream when you reheat it.

  28. Avatar photo
    Lisa Rothenberg

    Looks and sounds delicious. On my to do list for the weekend. By the way, I received your cookbook today and can't wait to sit down and browse with a cup of tea later today!