Give French Onion Soup A Nutritional Boost With This Fiber-Packed Veggie

French onion soup may be the most comforting way to infuse your diet with plenty of fiber and nutrition. Not only are yellow onions the best variety to use in French onion soup, they contain about 2 grams of fiber per every 100 grams. Add to that the additional protein, fat, and calcium in the cheese, plus additional nutrients in the herby crouton and seasoned beef broth, and you've got a shockingly nutrient-dense bowl of delicious comfort food.

Though 2 grams of fiber may seem like a drop in the bucket when the average adult should be getting at least 25 grams per day, every little bit counts. Plus, you can easily double that amount by infusing your soup with strips of zesty, buttery cabbage. Packing in around 2.5 grams of fiber per cup, cabbage is also high in potassium and vitamin C, meaning it can easily take cheesy, savory French onion from a tasty appetizer to a nutrient powerhouse of a main dish.

If you're concerned cabbage will ruin your soup with its signature sulfurous scent, don't be; cabbage braised in beef tallow or rich broth absorbs the seasonings around it to create a beautifully rich, velvety bite. You can even caramelize the cabbage with the onions, developing the natural sugars in each to create a mellow undertone. Just cut the cabbage and onions to the same size so they cook at the same rate.

As mentioned, cabbage is a bit of a sponge when it comes to soaking up flavor, meaning you may need to season your French onion soup a bit more aggressively than usual. During caramelization, taste the vegetable liquor pooling in the bottom of your pot as the veggies sweat. If it tastes bland, try adding an acid, such as a spoonful of soy sauce, a touch more vinegar, or a tablespoon of tomato paste. Acids help intensify the natural flavors in your veggies and your chosen seasonings.

Adding cabbage to soup also makes it denser, so you may need additional broth to accommodate the added veggies while also having enough to seep into the bread nestled under the melty, gooey, nutty cheese. This means you may end up with a bigger batch of soup than usual, which is a good thing if you're trying to stretch a recipe, or come up with a tasty, inexpensive, crowd-pleasing dish for a dinner party.

If you end up with leftovers, giving a baked potato the French onion treatment is an excellent way to use them since onions, cabbage, and potatoes are always a winning combination, especially when smothered in Gruyère cheese. Add the cheese first, then your soup veggies, which encourages the cheese to melt faster. You might also turn it into a French onion soup casserole studded with cheese-covered baguette slices roasted to bubbly, golden perfection.