I saw a French Onion Grilled Cheese sandwich on the New York Times Cooking Instagram page and I was smitten. Their version had tons of gooey cheese and bacon- which looked pretty phenomenal, and Pia begged me to make her a vegan version that she could eat. So that is how this beauty right here was born!

Vegan French Onion Grilled Cheese sandwich from HeatherChristo.com

I added white wine and leftover coffee to my onions, but if you don’t have either of those, you could do all white wine or broth (I do not recommend going all coffee- it would probably be too bitter!)

We served these with homemade tomato soup which was amazing for dipping the sandwiches into.

Vegan French Onion Grilled Cheese sandwich from HeatherChristo.com

For those of you who have been asking about vegan cheese- we have been eating a lot of the 365 plant-based sliced cheese from Whole Foods on our sandwiches and I really like it- smoked provolone and gouda are my favorites.

Vegan French Onion Grilled Cheese
Author: 
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • Coffee Caramelized Onions:
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 onions, thinly sliced crosswise
  • 2 tablespoons fresh thyme
  • ½ cup white wine
  • ½ cup coffee
  • 2 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 tablespoon white balsamic or red wine vinegar
  • Kosher salt
  • Sandwiches:
  • 8 slices gluten-free bread
  • 8 slices vegan provolone cheese
  • ¼ cup olive oil
Instructions
  1. For the coffee caramelized onions:
  2. ) Heat a sauté pan to medium-high heat, and add the 3 tablespoons of olive oil, onions and a sprinkle of kosher salt. Cook the onions and fresh thyme over medium-low heat until soft and translucent. Add white wine scrape up any of the browned bits. Then add the coffee and scrape up any extra browned bits. You may add water at any point if the pan starts to get dry- do about ½ cup at a time and let it cook off before adding more.
  3. ) After cooking the onions for 20 minutes, the onions should be soft and dark brown, sprinkle them with 2 tablespoons of sugar, and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of red wine or white balsamic vinegar. Cook for one more minute, stirring the sugar and vinegar into the onions. Season to taste with kosher salt.
  4. ) Then remove from the heat and set aside. Set these aside and let them rest, or you can make the onions up to a day ahead of time and refrigerate them.
  5. For the Sandwiches: For each sandwich add two slices of the vegan cheese and divide the caramelized onions equally among the four sandwiches. Add the olive oil back to a sauté pan over medium-low heat and add the sandwiches. Cook until the bread is golden brown on both sides (about 3-5 minutes on each size) and the cheese is melting. Serve hot!

 

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Categorized: Sandwiches & Burgers, Vegan, Vegetarian
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I saw a French Onion Grilled Cheese sandwich on the New York Times Cooking Instagram page and I was smitten. Their version had tons of gooey cheese and bacon- which looked pretty phenomenal, and Pia begged me to make her a vegan version that she could eat. So that is how this beauty right here was born!

Vegan French Onion Grilled Cheese sandwich from HeatherChristo.com

I added white wine and leftover coffee to my onions, but if you don’t have either of those, you could do all white wine or broth (I do not recommend going all coffee- it would probably be too bitter!)

We served these with homemade tomato soup which was amazing for dipping the sandwiches into.

Vegan French Onion Grilled Cheese sandwich from HeatherChristo.com

For those of you who have been asking about vegan cheese- we have been eating a lot of the 365 plant-based sliced cheese from Whole Foods on our sandwiches and I really like it- smoked provolone and gouda are my favorites.

Vegan French Onion Grilled Cheese
Author: 
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • Coffee Caramelized Onions:
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 onions, thinly sliced crosswise
  • 2 tablespoons fresh thyme
  • ½ cup white wine
  • ½ cup coffee
  • 2 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 tablespoon white balsamic or red wine vinegar
  • Kosher salt
  • Sandwiches:
  • 8 slices gluten-free bread
  • 8 slices vegan provolone cheese
  • ¼ cup olive oil
Instructions
  1. For the coffee caramelized onions:
  2. ) Heat a sauté pan to medium-high heat, and add the 3 tablespoons of olive oil, onions and a sprinkle of kosher salt. Cook the onions and fresh thyme over medium-low heat until soft and translucent. Add white wine scrape up any of the browned bits. Then add the coffee and scrape up any extra browned bits. You may add water at any point if the pan starts to get dry- do about ½ cup at a time and let it cook off before adding more.
  3. ) After cooking the onions for 20 minutes, the onions should be soft and dark brown, sprinkle them with 2 tablespoons of sugar, and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of red wine or white balsamic vinegar. Cook for one more minute, stirring the sugar and vinegar into the onions. Season to taste with kosher salt.
  4. ) Then remove from the heat and set aside. Set these aside and let them rest, or you can make the onions up to a day ahead of time and refrigerate them.
  5. For the Sandwiches: For each sandwich add two slices of the vegan cheese and divide the caramelized onions equally among the four sandwiches. Add the olive oil back to a sauté pan over medium-low heat and add the sandwiches. Cook until the bread is golden brown on both sides (about 3-5 minutes on each size) and the cheese is melting. Serve hot!

 

Recipe by Heather Christo (http://heatherchristo.com)