One Pot French Onion Pasta

One Pot French Onion Pasta gives you the flavors of French Onion Soup in a filling, slightly creamy pasta recipe. Start with caramelized onions in a large pot then add the remaining ingredients, including the uncooked pasta. Everything cooks up in the one pot for easy clean up!

Why I Love It

• One-Pot: Hello easy clean up!
• Simple Ingredients - Only a handful of easy to find ingredients.
• Caramelized Onions - Is there anything better than caramelized onions? They're super flavorful and slightly sweet.

Ingredients You'll Need for One Pot French Onion Pasta:

Only easy to find ingredients are needed to make this creamy, flavorful pasta recipe:

• Unsalted butter
• Yellow onions - halved and thinly sliced
• Sherry
• White wine
• Sprigs fresh thyme, plus extra for garnish - You can tie the thyme together with cooking twine or just add them as is.
• Kosher salt and ground black pepper
• Uncooked rigatoni - Or another short pasta like penne or ziti.
• 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
• Freshly grated parmesan - plus more for serving
• Heavy cream - Or half and half for a lighter pasta

How To Make One Pot Pasta

1. Caramelize Onions - Start by caramelizing the onions in a large dutch oven. I love to use butter for this as it adds so much flavor. You can start the onions on a higher heat for the first 5ish minutes to help speed up the process.
2. Deglaze Pan - Pour in the sherry and white wine to the onions. Scrape any bits off the bottom and let cook for a couple minutes so the wine reduces slightly. The bits on the bottom add so much flavor.
3. Add Pasta Ingredients - Add the sprigs of thyme (you can use twine to tie them together in a bundle), a pinch of salt, heavy pinch of pepper, the uncooked pasta, beef broth, and Worcestershire sauce. Stir to combine.
4. Boil - Bring the broth to a boil, give one big stir, and immediately lower the heat and cover the pot so it simmer. Allow to simmer until the liquid is absorbed and the pasta is al dente. Be careful to not overcook the pasta.
5. Finish Pasta - Turn off the heat and remove and discard the thyme sprigs. Stir in the heavy cream and parmesan cream until combined. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper, if needed. The beef broth is pretty salty so I typically don't add much extra salt.
6. Serve - Serve the pasta in bowls. I like to top with fresh parmesan and a light sprinkle of extra thyme leaves.

One Pot Pasta Recipe Notes and Tips:

• Cook Pasta to Al Dente - Be sure to cook the pasta to just al dente as it will continue to cook when you stir in the remaining ingredients. You don't want to have soft, overcooked pasta.
• 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.

Storage, Freezing, and Reheating:

• Storage - Leftover pasta can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
• Freeze - For longer storage, you can freeze the pasta tightly covered, for up to 3 months.
• Reheating - Leftover pasta can be reheated in the microwave or in a pot on the stove until warmed. You can add a splash of cream or broth when reheating to help loosen everything up.

Other One Pot Pasta Recipes:

I love one pot pasta recipes because they're not only delicious but make clean up super easy.

• One-Pot Lemon Chicken Pasta - flavorful, and comes together in about 30 minutes
• One-Pot Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Pasta - A creamy, vegetarian friendly one pot pasta recipe.
• Creamy Pesto Chicken - Cream Cheese makes this one pot pesto pasta nice and creamy. 
• One-Pot Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta - Grab your favorite cajun spice blend to make this slightly spicy yet creamy pasta recipe.

Ways to use Caramelized Onions:

In addition to this pasta 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.
• Use as a Topping! Burgers, pizza, sandwiches, and more.

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