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This One Pot Creamy French Onion Pasta Bake is the ultimate cold weather comfort food. Think French onion soup, with the addition of pasta, a creamy sauce, and melty Gruyere cheese. The secret to this one-pot pasta is a little bit of wine, to keep those classic French onion soup flavors we love so much. This pasta dish is great any night of the week but is also perfect for your next dinner party. Every last bite is delicious…everyone LOVES a GOOD cheesy baked pasta…especially when caramelized onions are involved. This dish will be your new go-to when serving family and friends over the holidays…and other times throughout the year too.
It’s that time of year when all I want to be cooking, eating, and sharing with you is comfort food recipes. As I type this, I’m looking out my NYC window to freezing cold rain. The question I keep asking myself is, when will the rain turn to snow? I’m channeling my mom and little sister (snow dance please!) and putting out the positive thoughts for snow. Because what’s more magical than a snowy NYC in December? It’s going to happen. I will document it for you all.
Regardless of rain or snow, December days call for only the best comfort foods and easy dishes that we can feed our friends and family. When I return home from New York, I’ll only have a week or so until the bulk of my family members start arriving for the Christmas holiday. With that in mind, I’ve been working to come up with some creative recipes to feed everyone this year. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over my many years of serving large groups, it’s that pasta dishes are key.
Most everyone enjoys pasta and what I love about a baked pasta is that I can prepare everything in advance if need be. This pasta is extra special though…if you love French onion soup, you will absolutely love this pasta bake. It has all the rich flavors you get in a bowl of steaming French onion soup. But made better with the addition of pasta and a touch more cheese. You simply cannot go wrong.
Here are the details.
Start with the onions. They need to be deeply caramelized, just as you do when making French onion soup. My secret to the best caramelized onions? Butter, a touch of honey, and in today’s case…dry red wine.
The butter is used for obvious reasons…fat, flavor, and deliciousness. The honey helps to cook and caramelize the onions faster. I always find these ingredients to be key when trying to achieve the perfect caramelized onions.
Now, the wine. Use a dry red wine. Cabernet Sauvignon is pretty traditional in most French onion soups, so I wanted to carry those flavors over into this pasta. You’ll cook about half of the wine into the onions. This not only helps the onions to caramelize quickly and evenly, it also infuses the onions with incredibly rich flavor.
If you prefer not to cook with wine, I recommend using about half a cup of pomegranate or cranberry juice when caramelizing the onions. For the remaining amount of wine called for (another half cup), use chicken or vegetable broth.
Once the onions have deeply caramelized, add mushrooms, garlic, and fresh thyme. Cook all together until the mushrooms have caramelized. Add the broth and dry pasta right into the pot. I know it may seem odd, but trust me, it works. Just bring the mix to a boil and cook until the pasta is al dente. Cooking the pasta together with the sauce only takes a few minutes and saves you from having to break out another pot. It’s my secret to keeping pasta recipes simple and easy.
When the pasta has cooked, add the cream and a little cheese. Transfer everything to the oven and bake until the cheese on top is melty and golden and everything looks and smells delicious.
The best thing about one pot recipes?
Everything starts in one pot, and ENDS in the very same pot. YES. Dishes be gone!! Granted, I tend to transfer my dishes to a baking dish for a prettier look, but if using an oven safe pot, you can bake this right in the very same pot you started with.
One and done and so easy. It’s just what’s needed this time of year, easy dinners that are incredibly delicious.
Serve this with…
Since this is such a hearty pasta, I love serving this with a bright salad. This pretty salad is always my favorite (I leave the chickpeas off when serving this as a side salad).
Of course, you can also add some bread, which is never a bad idea in our house.
With that, you’ll have a complete dinner that will be great any night of the week. My recommendation? Serve this up on the next super cold night when you’re craving a steaming bowl of soup…but also a plate of mac and cheese. This pasta is soup and mac and cheese in one. It’s creamy, cheesy, and swirled with caramelized onions. So…it’s insanely GOOD!
If you make this One Pot Creamy French Onion Pasta Bake, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
watch the how to video:
One Pot Creamy French Onion Pasta Bake.
Servings: 8
Calories Per Serving: 515 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Watch the How-To Reel
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 2-3 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 1 cup dry red wine, such as Cabernet Sauvignon
- 2 cloves garlic, minced or grated
- 2 cups cremini or wild mushrooms, sliced
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves (or 2 teaspoons dried thyme)
- kosher salt and black pepper
- 3 cups low sodium chicken broth (use vegetable broth, if vegetarian)
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (use soy sauce, if vegetarian)
- 2 leaves bay leaves
- 1 pound of your favorite short cut pasta
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper using more or less to your taste
- 1 1/4 cups heavy cream, whole milk, or canned coconut milk
- 1/3 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese (optional)
- 2 cups shredded gruyere cheese
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. 2. Melt the butter, onions, and honey together in a large pot over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally until softened, about 5 minutes. At this point, you want to slowly add 1/2 cup of the wine, 1/4 cup at a time, until the wine cooks into the onions. Continue to cook another 8-10 minutes until you've used the 1/2 cup of wine and the onions are deeply caramelized. 2. Add the garlic, mushrooms, thyme, and season with salt and pepper, cook another 3-4 minutes. Add the remaining 1/2 cup wine, the broth, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, and the pasta. Bring the mixture to a boil. Stir frequently until the pasta is al dente and the broth has been absorbed, about 8-10 minutes. Stir in the cayenne, cream, gorgonzola, if using, and 1/2 cup gruyere cheese. Remove from the heat.3. If needed, transfer the pasta to a baking dish. Top with the remaining gruyere cheese.4. Transfer the baking dish to the oven and bake 20 minutes or until the cheese has melted and is lightly browned on top. Cool 5 minutes before serving. Serve with fresh thyme. Enjoy!
This post was originally published on December 11, 2019
THe instagram account @foodgasmcollextion stole this photo and is posting it as their own
Hi Rich! Thank you for letting me know!
Hi Tieghan, Just wanted to let you know that videos are not loading on your page anymore! Love your recipes thanks for teaching me how to cook!
Thank you for letting me know Anuj!
Oh my gosh, I just made this and it is so delicious! The only change I made was to use beef broth instead of chicken. I’m not a very accomplished cook, but this makes me feel like a chef. I’m so making this again and again.
That is amazing to hear Deb! I am so happy you enjoyed this!
I like how you mentioned to omit the worcestershire sauce but not the chicken broth…is there something I can use instead too actually make this vegetarian or no?
copied and pasted from above
“add chicken broth (or veggie broth), a little water and…”
Thanks! 🙂
Of course! You can use veggie broth in place of the beef broth. Pleas let me know if you have other questions. Hope you love the recipe!
I have made this a few times. I can’t swear but this is f***ing amazing. I like to add blackened chicken or Bacon lardons. My FAV food blog?
Ah sounds like a great addition, so happy you like it Amanda! Thank you! (:
We all loved this dish! I added crumbled bacon, too. My husband says it’s his new favorite. So great for a cold day.
Wow sounds delish!! New favorite!! How awesome!! Thanks Elissa!! Happy Thanksgiving!! ?
Make sauce separately, then add pasta, put in a casserole dish to after adding cheese to brown. You won’t end up with over cooked pasta.
Thanks for the suggestion. Mine was not over cooked.
By the time you add the pasta, which should be dry from the box, you’re just waiting for it to cook and absorb liquid, so you don’t have soup. When it’s done, the dish is done and ready for the cream and cheese. The pasta would only be over done if you had big lag time between adding the cream and broiling the cheese.
I just made this and it is unbelievably delicious!!! Perfect for a cold or rainy day! I followed all the directions except I didn’t have any bay leaves or thyme and it was just perfect! I will be making it a lot this winter! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
So glad you loved this one Aimee! Thank you!
I follower this recipe as instructed. The result was a very heavy dish that was too rich & I don’t think I’ll make it again. The flavor is good, but I couldn’t eat more than a 1/4 of a serving. Thank goodness I served vegetables with it.
This recipe has me thinking about how to lighten it up a little.
I am an experienced cook. I would rather cook at home then go to a restaurant. However this is the first time cooking a one pot pasta and I will not do it again.
Hey Debbie, I am very sorry this recipe was not what you thought it was going to be. Thank you for your feedback.
Do you think it wold work to substitute half and half (or something else) for the heavy cream? This looks delicious and I don’t want to sacrifice the creaminess of the dish, but always feel guilty when cooking with heavy cream.
Hey Leanne!! I think whole milk, canned coconut milk or half and half would all work great. Let me know if you have any questions. Thank you! 🙂
I made this the other night with some alterations born of necessity, and preference. I added some stew beef while my onions were cooking since I like meat and I was going to live off of this dish for several days. I used beef consommé, instead of chicken broth because I had a bunch to use up, and my store was totally out of gruyere (or anything vaguely close) so I went with an Italian blend.
It is fantastic! I’ve been calling it French Stroganoff, since that’s what comes to mind when I eat it. It only worked out so well because you wrote such a great base recipe for me to use. It’s very easy for those of us who live alone to get super lazy about actually cooking, but you make it worthwhile. So thank you. Keep up the great work. 🙂 P.S. Your pictures are always gorgeous so you have nothing to worry about with the cookbook images. 🙂
Sounds so amazing Beth, I am so happy you loved this and it went so well for you! Thank you!
any suggestion what to substitute heavy cream with to make it a little healthier :D?
Hey Conrad! Try using milk, I think whole or 2% should work fine. Let me know if you have questions. Thanks!
Just saw this recipe featured in a foodie email I subscribe to and am so excited to try it. Question about the stock… I have no problem swapping ingredients to suit my taste, but am curious about the use of chicken instead of beef, since French onion soup is made from beef broth and consume. Any reason this recipe calls for chicken? Have you tried it with beef broth? Any notable differences? Thanks for your help!!!
Hey erin! I used chicken to help with the color of the dish. The beef broth turns the pasta a brown shade, so I went with chicken broth. The flavors difference is not too big, so use whatever your prefer. Please let me know if you have questions. Thank you! 🙂
Can you confirm for me that the pasta I am adding in is uncooked correct?
Thank you!
Can you confirm for me that the pasta I am adding is uncooked?
Thank you!