If You Love French Onion Soup, Try This Novel Take On A Baked Potato

The crispy bread, the salty Gruyère cheese — it's tough to beat a freshly-broiled crock of French onion soup. You've probably seen it served in bread bowls, but the real way to make French onion soup even better is by putting it on top of a freshly baked potato. While it's not a super quick process to make French onion baked potatoes, trust that it's well worth the effort.

It's not quite as easy as pouring French onion soup on a baked potato — you'll need to seriously cook down your soup to prevent your potatoes from becoming a broth-filled mess. Aim for a consistency similar to that of chili — a bit of liquid, but not so much that it's unable to generally stay in the potato. Cooking your soup at a low temperature for an extended period of time (at least an hour) reduces the liquid by allowing it to evaporate. This low-and-slow method also helps the yellow onions in French onion soup to release their flavor and truly blend into the broth.

If you don't want to make fresh French onion soup from scratch, no worries — you can follow Julia Child's tips to make store-bought French onion soup taste homemade. Just keep in mind that this route will also take extra time to cook the soup down to your desired thickness. If it's still too watery, you can try slowly whisking it into a roux (flour and butter) or a cornstarch slurry.

Once you've made a French onion sauce for your baked potatoes, it's time to top this combination with the goodies that make the standard soup so delicious. When it comes to cheese, you've got a few different choices. Gruyère is the go-to cheese for French onion soup for its nutty, super-salty flavor that's delicious alongside slow-cooked onions, but it's not your only option. French onion soup tastes like heaven with Comté, and it melts beautifully on a canvas of slow-cooked onions.

Croutons or a piece of crusty bread just below the melty cheese is standard in French onion soup, but this can be an odd pairing with a baked potato (by all means, if it's your thing, throw a fresh baguette on your spud). If you want some crunch but aren't crazy about the bread-on-potato idea, try adding French fried onions on top of the melted cheese to add flavor and create a nice textural contrast. You can also add bacon crumbles, sliced green onions, or a touch of sour cream to create the perfect French onion and baked potato fusion.