Make onion soup mix at home with this easy to make homemade onion soup mix recipe.
The response to my new homemade series has been wonderful. I am so glad you all are looking forward to this series. Homemade versions of your favorite foods are usually cheaper and healthier and I can’t wait to share many more of them with you this year.
Last week I shared homemade cheeseburger helper and today I am sharing homemade onion soup mix.
There are many versions out there for homemade onion soup mix and I have tried many of them over the years. After trying so many, I pretty much gave up because I could not find one my family liked.
My husband, who is the least picky eater in the family and eats almost anything, could always tell a difference when I used the homemade onion soup mix, so I always ended up going back to the boxed kind.
Really I do not use onion soup mix in many things, but there are a few recipes, like my roasted onion potatoes, that my family loves and I would keep onion soup mix on hand for.
When food issues entered our life, I was determined to figure out a homemade version we liked because onion soup mix is no longer gluten free. Yes, they put gluten in the strangest things.
I knew what I had tried in the past had not worked, so I decided to start by reading what exactly was in onion mix. In the past I had tried other people’s recipes, this time I started by simply reading the label to figure it out.
It did not take long for me to figure out what my family was missing. It was sugar.
Sugar is the fifth ingredient in onion soup mix and corn syrup is also listed as an ingredient lower down on the list. The real stuff was sweet, much sweeter than I ever knew. They missed the sweetness and caramelized flavor that the sugar gave the regular version.
None of the homemade versions I had tried contained sugar. Missing ingredient one was found and I was closer to figuring this out. I did not want to add a lot of sugar, but I was willing to try adding a little to see if it would be closer to the real thing.
I also noticed cornstarch on the list of ingredients, in fact, it was the third ingredient, so higher than sugar on the list. I had never tried cornstarch in my homemade versions either, but I was willing to try it as well to see if I could get it right.
All the tweaking, investigating, experimenting, and adding of a little sugar and cornstarch was worth it. I finally came up with a version my family loves. My husband said it was the closest to the real thing that I have tried.
My search for a homemade onion soup mix is over.
Homemade Onion Soup Mix
Onion soup mix is easy to make at home with this homemade onion soup mix recipe.
Ingredients
- 4 teaspoons beef bouillon powder/granules (If you are gluten free be sure to use a gf beef bouillon)
- 4 tablespoons dried minced onions
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon celery salt
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon sugar
Instructions
- Mix all together and store in an airtight container or use as directed in recipes. I like to double or triple this to make a large batch.
- 1/4 cup equals 1 package.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 13Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 398mgCarbohydrates: 3gFiber: 0gSugar: 1gProtein: 0g
Thank you for sharing. I use onion soup mix alot, but noticed the price was goin up on the box mix. Cant wait to try this.
I have not broken down the price on this, but I am pretty sure it is cheaper especially if you buy your spices in bulk or at Sam’s Club or Costco. I hope you enjoy it.
Sounds good…but I am always trying to reduce our salt intake. I know bouillon has salt…so to cut down on salt a little, do you think celery seed would work in place of the celery salt?
I think it would work flavor wise is you want less salt, but seed would be larger texture wise. You could always crush it though and I think it would work. I would love to hear if you try it.
Maybe try ground celery seed. I’ve seen that at the store 🙂
they also have lower sodium granules out there too, I forgot that part lol
Both of those would work well. Thanks for the ideas!
I don’t use onion soup mix, but have seen recipes calling for it and wanted to have some on hand. All i’ve done so far is collect several versions while web surfing. When I saw that you figured one out I thought, “Lynn’s recipe is probably right!”
Thanks, I hope you enjoy it!
I only use this in a few recipes here and there, but my homemade version is quite similar with the exception of the bouillon. I’ll have to try that. Thanks! I’m making homemade pudding today. 🙂
I can’t wait to try this one!!!!!!!
I hope you enjoy it.
We don’t have any food allergies here at my home, BUT I have to say I look forward to stopping by and seeing what you are making (and adding to my list of thngs to make or make). This one will definitely be added to the MUST make. We use a lot of onion soup mix …… from dips to mealoaf to whatever “calls to me” for a little “what is that?” This will be a savings to me for sure. Thanks for all your hard work in creating things we all love!
I’ve been making my own dried onion soup forever, mostly because the prepackage stuff has hydrogenated shortening (trans fats) in it, which unfortunately does irreversible damage to the lining of arteries every time it is consumed, and eventually causes heart attack and stroke.
Could something else be used in place of corn starch? We are gluten free and corn free due to allergies. But love onion soup mix for some of our recipes that we don’t have now. Thanks!!
I think you could easily use another starch or thickener. Maybe try tapioca or potato starch.
Thanks!! We will try potato starch since I have that on hand 🙂
This stuff is awesome–tastes even better than the package with the celery salt in it.
I am so glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for letting me know!
We don’t actually like onion soup, but I wanted to try this for recipes. We also don’t like crunchy onions, so at Lynn’s suggestion, I used all the ingredients as listed, than ran it through the grinding cup attachment of my stick blender.
Next, combined three teaspoons with 16 ounces sour cream and came up with a perfect imitation of Kroger French Onion Dip. As we are Mid-westerners transplanted to the West Coast, this was a happy day for us.
Thanks Lynn!
I am so glad that worked for you! Thanks for letting me know.
I am wondering what brand of beef bouillon/powder you use that if gluten free. Thanks!
Herb Ox makes a gluten free powdered bouillon that is gluten free. And I have several people that have asked that so I need to do a post on it. There are not many out there that seem to be gluten free, so I was glad to find the Herb Ox one. I hope that helps.
Question: does this equal one package? Want to know for substituting in the slow cooker pot roast recipe.
is there a beef boulion that is msg free? I have found a msg free chicken boulion at wallmart.