This Caramelized Onion Roasted Garlic Bisque (aka soup) is one of our favorite soups around my house. It’s warm and comforting, especially on those cold winter nights.
Looking for other great comfort food? Try my Vegetarian Pot Pie. You’ll love it!
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Rich and creamy soup
It’s fairly light on calories for the flavor punch that it packs. It’s full flavored, just delicious with all those onions and roasted garlic and leeks.
Bisque means soup
Now, don’t let the word “bisque” scare you off; it’s just a fancy word for thick creamy soup made of puréed vegetables.
Caramelize those veggies
When you caramelize veggies it brings out so many flavors. Nutty, roasted, complex flavors.
Caramelized Onion Roasted Garlic Bisque takes a little time to make, but not much active working time. Mostly just caramelizing the onions and roasting the garlic.
Then there’s a little blender work. And don’t forget, the darker you cook the onions, the darker the soup will be, so don’t skimp on the caramelizing step.
How to use leftovers?
I’ve used the leftovers as a sauce for pasta, adding in some toasted pine nuts and corn.
I’ve used the sauce as gravy over mashed potatoes or chicken (for the husband).
And, I’ve always been pleased with how delicious and versatile it is.
Milk of choice
Feel free to use whatever milk you prefer, from whole dairy milk to lower fat dairy to plant-based milks.
For the soup in the pictures here I used whole milk, but will often use 1% milk.
The color of the soup will be darker if you use a lighter-fat milk.
I think refrigerated carton almond or cashew milk would be a good plant-based milk to use in this for its neutral flavor.
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Caramelized Onion Roasted Garlic Soup Recipe
Caramelized Onion Roasted Garlic Bisque
Ingredients
- 1 large whole garlic head
- 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil divided use
- 9 cups about 4 large thinly sliced sweet onions
- 2 ½ cups about 2 medium sliced leeks
- 1 teaspoon salt divided use
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup dry white wine
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 2 cups milk
- Fresh thyme leaves for garnish
- Freshly ground black pepper for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Remove papery outer skin from the garlic head (do not peel or separate the cloves). Rub 1 ½ teaspoons oil on garlic head, and wrap it in foil. Bake for 1 hour; let cool 10 minutes. Separate cloves, and peel the skin off of the cloves. Place the garlic cloves in a small dish and set aside.
- While the garlic roasts, heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and leek, and cook 30 minutes, stirring often. Add a small amount of water if the onion starts to cook too fast. Add ½ teaspoon salt and thyme. Cook an additional 30 minutes or until onion is dark and golden in color, stirring occasionally, adding a small amount of water if the onion starts to cook too fast.
- Stir the flour into the onion mixture and cook 1 minute. Add wine and broth, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes.
- Place the roasted garlic in the bowl of a blender, add the remaining ½ teaspoon salt and cooked onion mixture, and process until smooth. This may need to be done in two batches depending on the size of your blender.
- Pour the blended onion mixture back to the large saucepan, and add milk; simmer 8 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Garnish with fresh thyme leaves and ground black pepper if desired.
This soup looks so silky and delicious and the flavors are outstanding. This is a must make.
I am so making this recipe this winter! I am so loving everything about it.
Looks amazing!!!!!
I recently tried garlic soup for the first time and loved it. This looks so creamy and delicious!
Oh this does look delicious! Can’t wait to dig right in!! Thanks for sharing with us at #tTryaBiteTuesday – I’ve tweeted & shared to pass the word. Please stop by again this week, the party will be live later tonight!
Delicious and flavorful soup! Awesome recipe.
I’m in love with this simple and comforting bisque, Debi! Thanks for the delicious inspiration.
What a clever idea! Great flavors here!
This yummy looking soup is on my “to do” list. Fantastic!
A flavorful and rich soup.
This soup was awesome! Soooo much flavor for such a simple dish. I think I may serve it like a french onion soup with crusty bread and melted cheese on top.
Lili, thanks so much for the comment! That totally makes my day! It sounds awesome to put bread & cheese on it! yummmm!
This was delicious! I doubled the roasted garlic as I have a general rule about doing that, and left out the wine as I didn’t have any. But I will be making this again for sure! Thank you.
Ruth, thanks for the comment! I’m so glad you loved it!! It’s one of my favorites! I make it all the time, well, when it’s cool outside! 🙂 Thanks again for taking the time to write me a comment!
Dear Debi, this soup looks and sounds fabulous. I know I would love it and I’m craving a bowl right now. xo, Catherine
This soup was amazing! I used soy milk, added a carrot and a couple of stalks of celery, and some green onions. I didn’t have any leeks. And I used sherry instead of wine. It came together beautifully.
What a fabulous soup! We got a very rare snow storm here on the East coast that shuts everything down. I followed the recipe with the exception of the wine. Would you believe that item sold out the day before snowmageddon with the bread and milk?! I had to grab cooking sherry instead. The flavor was as amazing as the smell. Thank you for the recipe!
Planning to mske this tomorrow…do you think I could use an immersion blender and blend this right in the pot? I really don’t enjoy transferring hot liquids into my blender.
Amy, yes, the immersion blender will work. I’ve found that the immersion blender doesn’t get things quite as smooth, but that’s never bothered me. But the real reason I don’t use the immersion blender often is that mine died! Sadness! I need to get a new one!
Can’t wait to make this! As we are a two person house hold…does this soup save well?