It’s another Tuesday that totally feels like a Monday!
As much as I LOVE having an extra day off with my husband and kids, I always feel as though I’m scrambling a bit during the following week. Losing that day throws me off a bit!
One thing that keeps me sane with shorter weeks is time blocking as much as possible and meal planning. I do these things on normal weeks, too, but I have to up my game a bit on short weeks to ensure it all gets done.
And usually, on Tuesdays (which are totally the first “real” day of weeks like this) I need something REALLY simple to make for dinner. We often do breakfast for dinner in a pinch, and this French onion frittata is something I would happily eat any time of day, any day of the week.
It’s all the flavors of French onion soup in breakfast form! I am IN LOVE.
It starts with the most crucial part of French onion soup: caramelized onions!
Now, the key to this recipe is to really allow those onions to cook slowly for a full 45-60 minutes, to get that true caramelized onion flavor. You can’t rush it!
It does add significant cooking time to this recipe, but most of that time is hands off. You just have to stir the onions from time to time to keep them from burning, but really, that’s it! You can fold a few loads of laundry or read a book or play with your kids in the meantime.
I like to cook my onions with a little bit of beef stock and brandy so that they really taste like the base of French onion soup. You can keep this recipe vegetarian by using veggie stock in place of the beef, and if alcohol isn’t your thing, you can skip it. The onions will still be delicious, as long as they are deeply caramelized!
And once your onions are caramelized, the rest of the recipe takes minutes. You whip up some eggs and grate some gruyere cheese and let the oven do the rest of the work for you. Frittatas are SO easy and happen quickly. They are an awesome alternative to individual omelettes or eggs.
You pour the eggs into the pan with the onions, allow them to set up a bit, and then top everything with gruyere cheese and dollops of fluffy ricotta! Swoon. Then the whole thing goes in the oven to finish setting and dinner is done.
I love serving this with a hunk of crusty bread or a light side salad. Simple yet oh so satisfying.
It’s just what Monday-esque Tuesdays call for!
French Onion Frittata with Gruyere & Ricotta
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 4 hearty servings 1x
Description
This French Onion Frittata with Gruyere & Ricotta gives you all the flavors of French onion soup but in breakfast form! This frittata has rich, sweet, caramelized onions as the flavor base and gets topped with sharp, buttery gruyere cheese and dollops of fluffy ricotta!
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 2 large yellow onions, thinly sliced (roughly 2 cups)
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ cup beef broth
- ¼ cup cognac (or brandy, dry vermouth, white wine)
- 8 large eggs
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 cup grated gruyere cheese
- ½ cup whole milk ricotta
- Fresh thyme, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- In a 10-inch oven safe skillet, melt the butter and oil together over medium heat.
- Add the onions, garlic, dried thyme, salt and pepper and stir to combine. Cook for a few minutes or until the onions start to soften.
- Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 45-60 minutes or until the onions are deeply golden and caramelized.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Increase the heat to medium and add in the stock and cognac and cook until evaporated, about 5 minutes.
- In a bowl, whisk together the eggs and heavy cream. Season with a little salt and pepper.
- Sprinkle roughly ¾ of the gruyere over the onions in the pan. Pour the egg mixture over the onions and cheese and cook for a couple minutes or until the bottom and edges of the egg mixture are starting to set.
- Dollop the ricotta cheese evenly all over the surface of the eggs and sprinkle over the remaining gruyere cheese.
- Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the eggs are puffed and set and the top of the frittata is golden in spots.
- Cool for a few minutes in the pan before slicing and serving, garnished with fresh thyme.
Notes
- This is a simple recipe, but in order to get the proper “French onion” flavor, you really need to let the onions slowly cook for a full 45-60 minutes or until deeply caramelized. It totally makes the dish!
- If you want to keep this vegetarian, you can use vegetable stock in place of the beef stock. The flavor will be a bit different, but the French onion effect will still be there!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: breakfast
Hi There. I'm Molly. I'm a food-obsessed, self-taught cook and I can't wait to share my passion for all things culinary with you. My love for egg yolks is just the tip of the iceberg!
How can I warm up the leftovers? This recipe looks absolutely yummy!!! Thank you.
You should be able to microwave any leftovers – or even warming them up in a 300F oven would work well!