French Onion Baked Potatoes are cheesy and loaded with lots of caramelized onions. They're a fun variation on twice baked potatoes and French Onion soup - scoop out the flesh of baked potatoes and mix with caramelized onions, load back in the potato skins, and top with extra onions and shredded cheese.
These French Onion Baked Potatoes are a rich side dish alongside almost any protein - I love pairing with air fryer steak bites, air fryer bbq chicken, or Blackstone garlic butter steak bites.
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⭐️Why I Love It
- French Onion Soup Inspired - The flavor combination of caramelized onions, beef broth, and gruyere cheese found in French Onion Soup is a great pairing with many recipes! Also try this popular One Pot French Onion Pasta recipe.
- Loaded Baked Potato - Mix together the mashed potato flesh with the French onions and shredded cheese then load back into the potato skins and pile high with the extra onions.
🥘Ingredients
- Russet Potatoes - It's best to use potatoes that are roughly the same size so they bake evenly in the oven.
- Olive Oil, Salt, and Pepper - I like to rub potatoes with oil and salt/pepper before baking
- Unsalted butter - You can also use salted butter, but I recommend using less salt to start and season to taste at the end.
- Yellow Onions - halved and thinly sliced. It's easiest to use a mandoline to slice them up, but you can also use a sharp chef's knife.
- Sherry Cooking Wine - If you don't have sherry, you can sub in a dry white wine like a Sauvignon Blanc. If you don't want to use wine (white wine or sherry) at all, then you can use extra broth for liquid and add a splash of lemon juice or red wine vinegar to add acidity.
- Dried Thyme- You also use fresh thyme leaves.
- Beef broth or Stock - Beef broth and stock can be pretty salty so be light on the added salt until you taste it at the end.
- Worcestershire Sauce - A little bit goes a long way. Worcestershire sauce is made from vinegar, sugar, anchovies, garlic, and more. It adds a deeper umami flavor to recipes.
- Shredded Gruyere Cheese - You can also use a shredded gouda or swiss.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
🔪Step by Step Instructions
I love that this recipe is super impressive thanks to the caramelized onions, but also easy to make. The bulk of the cooking time is caramelizing the onions and baking the potatoes then they come together so fast!
Photo 1 - Start by getting the potatoes baking in the oven. Scrub the potatoes under water, dry, pierce with a fork, then rub with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast in a hot oven until tender (this can take up to an hour or so).
Photo 2 - Heat up a large pan over medium heat and melt the butter. Add the sliced onions and cook until very soft and caramel. Stir them occasionally while cooking so they don't stick or burn. This will take about 30 minutes.
Photo 3 - Add the thyme, pinch of salt and pepper, white wine (or sherry), beef broth, and Worcestershire to the caramelized onions. Scrape the bottom of the pan to lift up any bits stuck to the bottom.
Photo 4 - Bring onions to a low boil/simmer and cook until liquid is mostly evaporated and absorbed (about 5 minutes or so).
Photo 5 - Meanwhile, cut the top third off the baked potatoes and scrape flesh into a bowl.
Photo 6 - Mixed together the mashed potatoes with about half of the onions and about half of the shredded cheese. Mix, taste, and adjust salt/pepper, as needed.
Photo 7 - Fill the potato skins with the mashed potato mixture and pile the extra onions on top. Sprinkle with the remaining shredded cheese.
Photo 8 - Bake in the oven until the cheese has melted - about 5 minutes.
💭Recipe Tips
- Use a Mandoline - For easy slicing, I love to use a mandoline to quickly thinly slice the onions. If using one, I recommend using the mandoline guard and/or a cut proof glove to prevent any accidents.
- Perfect Use for Leftover Caramelized Onions - To save time, you can use onions that have been caramelized in advance. Such as from a big batch of Slow Cooker Caramelized Onions. Just add about 2 cups of caramelized onions to the pot and heat up before continuing with the recipe.
- Air Fryer Baked Potatoes - You can also 'bake' potatoes in your air fryer in less time than the oven (about 35-40 minutes).
🧅Other Ways to use Caramelized Onions
In addition to this loaded baked potato recipe, here are some other great recipes with caramelized onions:
- Caramelized Onion and Pancetta Quiche – Skip the onion step in the recipe and just use about ¾ cup of caramelized onions for the filling.
- Caramelized Onion Dip – Mix the onions sour cream, mayo, spices, and chives to make a yummy, creamy dip for chips.
- BBQ Chicken Sliders – Instead of the sliced, raw red onions use caramelized onions on top of the bbq chicken.
- One Pot French Onion Pasta - A variation of this recipe went viral on TikTok and has been popular ever since!
- Use as a Topping! Burgers, pizza, sandwiches, and more.
🍽Leftovers and Storage
- Storage - Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Reheating - I like to reheat leftovers in a 350 degrees F oven until warmed. You can loosely tent with foil to prevent the cheese from burning. Alternatively you can microwave leftovers as well.
👩🍳Recipe FAQs
Sherry is a grape wine that has been fortified with brandy. It helps add a slightly sweet, but also a nutty flavor to recipes. You can find it at most grocery stores. If you can't find it, you can also use a dry white wine as a swap in most recipe.
Caramelized onions are cooked over a medium heat for a longer period of time. During this time, the moisture from the onions evaporates and the sugars caramelize to give them their signature flavor. They develop a deep golden color and have a softer consistency.
Sautéed onions are cooked over a higher heat for a shorter period of time. They are firmer than caramelized onions and a lighter color (from translucent to lightly golden).
🍝Related Side Dish Recipes...
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PrintRecipe
French Onion Baked Potatoes
French Onion Baked Potatoes are cheesy and loaded with lots of caramelized onions. They're a fun variation on twice baked potatoes and French Onion soup - scoop out the flesh of baked potatoes and mix with caramelized onions, load back in the potato skins, and top with extra onions and shredded cheese.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 50 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Stove, onion
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 4 large russet potatoes, scrubbed clean
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Kosher salt and pepper
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- 4 medium-large yellow onions, halved and thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme, or fresh
- ½ cup sherry wine or white wine
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire
- 1.5-2 cups shredded Gruyere cheese
Instructions
- Bake Potatoes - Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Take the scrubbed and dried russet potatoes and pierce them a few times with a fork then rub them with the oil and sprinkle with salt/pepper. Place on a baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven for 50-60 minutes (depending on potato size). The potatoes should be tender - a knife should be able to easily pierce them.
- Caramelize Onions - Heat up a large pan over medium heat and melt the butter. Add the sliced onions and cook, while stirring occasionally so they don't stick or burn, until they are soft and caramel colored. This can take around 30 minutes.
- Add French Onion Ingredients - Add the thyme, wine, broth, and Worcestershire sauce to the onions. Scrape any stuck bits from the bottom of the pan. Stir to combine and bring the onions to a low boil/simmer and cook for about 5 minutes until most of the liquid is absorbed.
- Prep Potatoes - Cut top third off of each potato. Scrape the flesh of the potatoes into a bowl and place the potato skins back on the baking sheet.
- Mix Filling - Mash up the potato flesh in the bowl and mix in about half of the caramelized onions and 1 cup of the shredded cheese.
- Fill Potatoes - Scoop the filling into the potato skins and top each potato with extra onions and a sprinkle of shredded cheese.
- Bake - Bake the potatoes (in the 400 degree F preheated oven) for about 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted. You can also set the broiler to high for just a minute or so if you want more browning.
Notes
Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days. The caramelized onion mixture can be prepped 2-3 days in advance to save prep time day of.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 loaded potato
- Calories: 578
- Sugar: 8.4 g
- Sodium: 1007.1 mg
- Fat: 31.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 53.4 g
- Fiber: 4.7 g
- Protein: 21.3 g
- Cholesterol: 85 mg
Katie says
These were totally worth the time it took to caramelize the onions and bake the potatoes. They were creamy, cheesy, and super filling! Will make again.