Instant Pot French Onion Soup

French Onion Soup is the perfect balance of comforting and creamy without being too heavy.

This Instant Pot version is adapted from the Creamy Swiss Onion Soup in my Electric Pressure Cooker Cookbook, updated with air fryer lid directions! 

It’s just as full of deep caramelized flavor as the stovetop version, in a fraction of the time. Garlic, thyme, and beef broth build rich and savory flavors in the soup. And of course, we top off each bowl with a slice of crusty bread and melty gruyere cheese. 

How to Make Instant Pot French Onion Soup

This French Onion Soup recipe will work in any brand of electric pressure cooker, including the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi, or Power Pressure Cooker XL.

While most recipes for French Onion Soup call for an hour of caramelizing a pile of onions, you only need to sauté your onions for about 20 minutes in this pressure cooker recipe. 

Once your onions are nice and soft, a small amount of honey helps bring out the natural sugars in the onions. You won’t taste the honey in the finished soup. 

The other all-important ingredients to build flavor in this onion soup are red wine (to deglaze the pot), fresh garlic, dried thyme, and beef broth. 

TIP: I recommend using low-sodium broth so you can control the saltiness of your soup. 

Serving French Onion Soup from the Instant Pot

The signature of delicious French Onion Soup is, of course, a lid of toasted bread and gooey melted cheese. You can accomplish this with your oven or an air fryer lid if you have one. 

To use your oven, divide the soup between oven-safe crocks or bowls. Place a slice or two of baguette on top of each bowl and pile on the shredded gruyere. 

Place the bowls on a baking sheet under the broiler (2 to 3 inches below the heating element). Keep a close eye on them in the oven, as boilers can work faster than you expect. The cheese should be melted and bubbling in about 3 minutes. 

If you have an air fryer lid for your Instant Pot, you can toast up the bread and melt the cheese right in your pressure cooker!

After cooking the soup, transfer to another container. Then rinse and dry the cooking pot. (If you have the space for it, I love having a spare second cooking pot.) 

First, grease the air fryer basket and place the bread slices inside. Cover the bread with cheese and air fry at 375°F for about 3 minutes, until you have golden, melted cheese. Then simply place a piece of cheesy bread on top of each hot bowl of soup and dig in!

Storage Suggestions

You can store leftover soup (without the bread or cheese topping) in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. 

Reheat it in the Instant Pot or microwave and top with bread and melted cheese right before serving. 

More Comforting Instant Pot Soup Recipes

If you’re on a soup kick, give these other pressure cooker soup recipes a try next:

• Ribollita uses a crusty bread as a thickener—it breaks down to give the soup a creamy consistency even though it doesn’t use a drop of cream! 
• Fresh Corn Chowder is naturally sweet, bright, and full of creamy potatoes and smoky bacon—perfect for warm-weather eating. 
• Spicy Chicken Soup is a delicious dump-and-go recipe with chicken, black beans, tomatoes, and salsa.
• Chicken Noodle Soup is a classic soup that is perfect anytime—plus you can use cooked or uncooked chicken to make cooking easier.
• Harira Soup from Two Sleevers is a spiced Moroccan stew with lentils and a creamy broth for chilly nights.