Your Favorite Cozy Soup, Reimagined As A One-Pot Casserole You'll Make On Repeat

Foodies have been whipping up simple-yet-flavorful onion soups since antiquity. French onion soup as modern foodies know (and love) it began cropping up in the mid-1600s. Historically, French onion soup is all about modest, minimal ingredients becoming something complex via time and technique. Incidentally, we no longer live in the 1600s. Introducing: Tasting Table's cheesy French onion soup pasta casserole recipe – which is a mouthful both linguistically and literally.

Our cheesy French onion soup pasta casserole is filling, warming, and comes together in one pot. Don't be surprised if it joins your go-to casserole recipe rotation for busy weeknights. Yet, thanks to its flavor profile of caramelized onions, white wine, thyme, and nutty Gruyère, it's sophisticated enough to serve at a dinner party. Since it is inspired by classic savory French onion soup (aka soupe à l'oignon gratinée), this pasta casserole begins with a base of well-caramelized onions. If your caramelization game is crying out for an upgrade, we have a foolproof caramelized onions method to help.

This pasta casserole hits the classic soup with a few hearty upgrades (namely pasta and ground beef) that usher the French onion flavor profile foodies love into entree territory. Any short pasta shape you have on-hand will work here, but here at Tasting Table, our top pick is orecchiette (Italian for "little ears"). These small concave scoops can hold more of that flavorful broth and cheese in every bite.

Word to the wise: Perhaps fittingly for French onion soup (which is traditionally served in a handled ceramic crock), this recipe requires a large, broiler-safe pot, such as a Dutch oven. If you don't have one stocked in your kitchen, then brown the ground beef and caramelize the onions in a separate pan on the stovetop. The deglazed beef and onions can then be baked with the broth, heavy cream, pasta, and thyme in a deep, oven-safe casserole dish.

Otherwise, if you do have an oven-safe pot, all of these steps can be conveniently accomplished within the same vessel. The ingredients initially meld over stovetop heat, then gel in a covered dish in the oven to become a hearty casserole you'll crave all winter long. In total, it takes 50 minutes to come together, only 10 minutes of which are hands-on prep work.

To serve, garnish each bowl of cheesy French onion soup pasta casserole with a sprinkle of freshly-grated Gruyere and a thyme sprig, paired with a glass of dry, full-bodied, oaky Chardonnay. In classic French onion soup style, you could completing the meal with bread — specifically a slice of garlic bread topped with more melted Gruyere. Or, lean lighter with a sharp Italian radicchio salad with lemon. A warm salad of shaved fennel and garlic scapes would pair well, too, as would a side of sauteed zucchini or other mixed squash.