Pressure Cooker French Onion Soup

Easiest pressure cooker french onion soup topped with french bread and cheese! Done in just 3 minutes in your Instant Pot or Ninja Foodi, you’ll love it. Much faster than our Crockpot French onion soup recipe but with the same great all day bold flavor.

5 basic ingredients is all you need to make this easy french onion soup recipe. Better yet if you make it in your Instant Pot it just takes 3 minutes to cook! Brown some cheese and french bread on top and add a few more minutes but literally you’ll have the best pressure cooker french onion soup on the table in under 15 minutes total which is amazing! One of our favorite soup Instant Pot recipes here on The Typical Mom for you to enjoy. (originally published 9/18, affiliate links present)

Ninja Foodi French Onion Soup

I hadn’t had french onion soup in forever but I once again had a bowl at our favorite restaurant while it was snowing. Seriously was the best bowl of comfort food I had remembered in the past. Thought “I must figure out how to make this myself” but faster. And that is what I did.

First time was in my IP and then made it as an easy Ninja Foodi recipe in that pot which skipped the step in the oven. With the air crisp method on that pot I could then melt the cheese in the same pot. Game changer.

Instant Pot French Onion Soup

I tested how long it would take for my onions to be perfect. I made it twice and varied the ways. You can choose either one and here are the differences.

• First time – caramelized onions with butter on the saute function first until deep brown and softened well
  • you could do this in a cast iron skillet beforehand if you’d rather but the beauty of this pot is to make everything in one place
• Second time – skipping that step and just cooking onions in the broth
• Both were good

If you do take the extra step suggested this is what we are looking for when we say “deep flavors” and colors. 😉

How do you make french onion soup in Ninja Foodi?

The same way you make it in an IP or Crockpot Express. All of those brands of pressure cookers, and beyond, have the high pressure function and saute (or browning) which you’ll want. The biggest difference is how you’d finish it off. If you do have a Foodi pressure cooker and air fryer machine you don’t have to broil like you do with an IP.

Instead you could lay your pieces of day old bread right on the top until the whole thing is covered. Sprinkle on the cheeses of your choice and close the air crisp lid, the one attached. Hit air crisp 400 degrees for 2-3 minutes or until it melts nicely and becomes a light golden brown

The only negative doing it this way is serving it up without a mess, plus is you only dirty one pot though so that’s up to you. You could use the Instant Pot air fryer lid to do the similar thing at the end.

Here is the base of our pressure cooker french onion soup but if you have had this soup before you know it is kinda’ all about the toppings.

• Day old french bread (best) and lots of cheese are key to the yumminess, and I decided to dice some green onions as well.

I decided to also add a bit of parmesan into my mixture of shredded cheese for a little added punch of flavor and I was glad I did…..it turned out amazing!! You just divvy it up into oven safe bowls when done, lay a piece on top and sprinkle. Set on a baking sheet and broil for a few minutes until golden bubbly.

Look at this cheap Instant Pot recipe y’all!! My kids had never had this before I made it myself at home one night.

Pressure cooker french onion soup

Another option at the end is to use a mini countertop toaster oven/air fryer/convection oven with your soup into an oven safe dish. That can melt the cheese on top as well. When that was all I had at the time it took about 4 minutes before cheese is melted to perfection.

Then I ate it for lunch immediately! Even my 10 year old who had never tried this type of soup loved it…now that is a win! Pressure cooking a vegetarian french onion soup is possible too if you use vegetable broth.

1. Beef broth
2. Yellow onions 
3. Butter
4. Worcestershire sauce
5. Thyme, salt and pepper
6. Day old french bread or baguette slices, 1 per bowl
7. Cheese on top – gruyere is traditionally used
8. Oven safe bowls

In this post I have included a video showing you how we make Instant Pot French onion soup at home. This one does not show sauteeing the onions first but you can with some butter to deepen the flavors.

• I would do this additional step if you have a bit more time, just;
  • Set on saute low at the very beginning
  • and any spices with your sliced onions you’d want
  • allow them to cook down and caramelize a bit
• Then turn pot off and move to step 2 below, both ways are great.

How do you make French onion soup in a pressure cooker

I have a printable recipe card at the bottom of this post with our video embedded into it. Here’s a quick rundown of how it’s done here though too;

• Set your Instant Pot to saute and melt your butter (or a little red wine). Then add onions at this time and caramelize a bit until they soften and become a deep brown color that has an amazing smell.
  • Then turn your pot off.
• Add salt, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, and beef broth. If adding a bay leaf just remember to remove at the end.
• Close lid and steam valve and set to pressure high for 3 minutes.
• Do a quick release.
• Can serve immediately with bread on the side, or melt cheese on slices of french bread and serve on the side or put 1-2 pcs of french bread on top of soup with cheese on top, then put inside an oven safe bowl and put under the broiler for 3-5 minutes or until cheese is melted and serve.

What onions are best for French onion soup?

You may get different answers depending on whom you ask but typically the classic method will call for yellow. Some like a mix of white, yellow and red onions though to give it a different flavor. Remember that the thinner your slices are the softer they will get, that is personal preference really. You can slice or make thick chunks.

Remember that you want them to be a size that will be able to be scooped up nicely with a spoon. There is nothing worse than slurping or slipping off your utensil when you’re trying to eat. Especially if you have kids smaller is a bit better so the mess is a minimized and you don’t have splattering all over your table and face when eating.