French onion soup can be the star of the show, or it can be a side dish. How to serve french onion soup and what to eat with french onion soup are really as vast and creative as you desire to be.
More often than not, french onion soup is served as the appetizer to a multi-course meal. Sometimes though, the soup is so flavorful and creamy that you want it to be the star of the show. These moments can make for quite an inspired and creative meal.
It may be just me but soup, even as a main dish, doesn’t always stay with me. It seems that two hours later, I’m hungry again. Since I already have a love for side dishes, this is my moment to make those side dishes shine.
If you have french onion soup as your main dish, then I suggest that you pick out three or four side dishes to serve family-style on the table. This is a moment to pick food visually appealing and unique such as the morel mushrooms recipe linked below.
If you’re going with the french onion soup as your appetizer, consider serving a special white wine along with the soup. Then pair a red or rose along with your main dish.
Be creative with your meal planning and have fun. French onion soup generally causes us to ooh and aah, so what we serve with it should complement and not compete.
Main dish pairings
When picking a main dish to pair with french onion soup, it’s essential to pick something that will not compete too much with the soup’s flavour.
This is why I love to stick with a light lemon flavor such as the lemon and dill salmon recipe linked below.
Even though you’re eating the soup first, you don’t want to follow up with something so dramatically different that you have competing recipes.
- Grilled sirloin steak
- Lemon and dill salmon
- Lemon seared scallops
- Garlic butter shrimp pasta
- Roast chicken
Salads
There are two ways that you can go with soup and salad. You can make the entire meal just the french onion soup and a hearty salad, or you can go with a more simple salad such as our arugula salad (link below) as another course in the meal.
If you’re creating a dinner of just soup and salad, then your salad can be a bit more robust such as the grilled peach salad.
- Grilled peach salads
- Arugula salad
- Caesar salad recipe
- Spinach and strawberry salad
- Roasted vegetable salad
- Beet and feta salad
Sides
- Baked potato
- Baked sweet potato
- Roasted radishes
- Cheesy creamed spinach
- Farro
- Wild rice
- Prosciutto-wrapped asparagus
- Garlic parm roasted brussel sprouts
- Ratatouille
- French scalloped potatoes
- French lyonnaise potatoes
Mushroom sides
We don’t often think about mushrooms as side dishes, but we really should consider them when it comes to sides for french onion soup.
For instance, the oyster mushroom tart (listed below) may be the perfect side dish for onion soup. It’s a creamy recipe with three kinds of cheese and has a crunchy bread foundation. Can’t you just imagine dipping this in your soup?
Consider adding a unique look to the dinner table by serving up the pasta dish with morel mushrooms and a cream sauce. If you can find some morel mushrooms at your local grocery store, this is a worth considering recipe to go with a french onion soup.
There are so many delicious recipes to choose from when it comes to using mushrooms as a side to your soup dinner.
- Garlic parm stuffed mushrooms
- Burgundy mushrooms
- Oyster mushroom tart
- Oyster mushrooms with lemon butter
- Pasta with morel mushrooms
- Simple sauteed mushrooms
- Roasted rosemary mushrooms
Brie
Some people won’t agree with me on this, but brie and french onion soup go together splendidly. Yes, they are two very rich foods, but I say when going rich, go all the way rich.
I would recommend serving the brie either at the same time as the soup or right before it. Keep in mind that timing is essential when serving these two items. They both need to be served piping hot.
- Baked brie with caramelized onions
- Garlic and herb baked brie
- Bruschetta baked brie
- Candied bacon brie
- Wild mushroom baked brie
Garlic recipes
Garlic complements french onion soup so perfectly that I believe it deserves its own category here. These garlic-inspired recipes will be absolutely delightful to the palette when served as a side to french onion soup.
- Garlic roasted cabbage
- Garlic mashed potatoes
- Garlic butter shrimp pasta
- Garlic chicken (creamy)
- Garlic cheesy green beans
- Roasted garlic
- Lemon garlic butter salmon
Drinks
A nice meal often starts with a nice drink. Keep in mind that not all events have to be boozy, though. You could start off by serving your dinner partner with an infused water or even simple cucumber water.Infused water is so refreshing and helps clear the palate between courses. You can also premake it and have it in the center of the table in a beautiful glass pitcher.
- French martini
- Elderflower French 75
- Rose water lemon drop martini
- Lychee martini
- Blood orange cocktail
- Cherry limeade
- Infused water
- Cucumber water
Desserts
Ending a fabulous meal with dessert is both a classic and classy move when serving dinner. Now, I personally hate it because I always eat so much that I don’t have room for dessert. So this is why I think that we should start all meals with dessert.When I’m traveling, I often do this. On my last cruise, by the end my waiter was so trained that he brought me a creme brulee the moment that I sat down. But you know, not everyone feels this way. You do you. I’ll eat my dessert!
- Chocolate souffle
- Lemon ricotta cake
- Homemade chocolate eclair
- Blueberry galette
- Chocolate creme brulee
The bottom line
There’s just something about french onion soup that makes me want to create a fabulous-themed dinner. I’m always looking for an excuse to have a themed dinner around here anyway. Some days, you just want to have a simple meal that includes french onion soup and a salad. There’s nothing wrong with that either. No matter if you’re just having soup for dinner alone or having a big ol’ dinner party, one of these ideas above is sure to inspire you.

54 recipes on what to serve with french onion soup
French onion soup sides that includes salads, brie, garlic recipes, drinks, and desserts.
Ingredients
- Grilled sirloin steak
- Lemon and dill salmon
- Lemon seared scallops
- Garlic butter shrimp pasta
- Roast chicken
- Grilled peach salads
- Arugula salad
- Caesar salad recipe
- Spinach and strawberry salad
- Roasted vegetable salad
- Beet and feta salad
- Baked potato
- Baked sweet potato
- Roasted radishes
- Cheesy creamed spinach
- Farro
- Wild rice
- Prosciutto-wrapped asparagus
- Garlic parm roasted brussel sprouts
- Ratatouille
- French scalloped potatoes
- French lyonnaise potatoes
- Garlic parm stuffed mushrooms
- Burgundy mushrooms
- Oyster mushroom tart
- Oyster mushrooms with lemon butter
- Pasta with morel mushrooms
- Simple sauteed mushrooms
- Roasted rosemary mushrooms
- Baked brie with caramelized onions
- Garlic and herb baked brie
- Bruschetta baked brie
- Candied bacon brie
- Wild mushroom baked brie
- Garlic roasted cabbage
- Garlic mashed potatoes
- Garlic butter shrimp pasta
- Garlic chicken (creamy)
- Garlic cheesy green beans
- Roasted garlic
- Lemon garlic butter salmon
- French martini
- Elderflower French 75
- Rose water lemon drop martini
- Lychee martini
- Blood orange cocktail
- Cherry limeade
- Infused water
- Cucumber water
- Chocolate souffle
- Lemon ricotta cake
- Homemade chocolate eclair
- Blueberry galette
- Chocolate creme brulee
Instructions
- Pick a main dish, salad, and drink to pair with your french onion soup.
- Prepare the ingredients of each recipe.
- Serve these dishes along with your soup.