I love French onion soup. I consider myself a bit of a snob for it, as I’m not a soup eater. However, there was this local restaurant that served the absolute BEST French onion soup I ever had. After 45 years in business, and thanks to Covid, the restaurant was closed and sold. I know the owners had the restaurant on the market long before quarantine, but that sealed the deal. Prior to Covid, I ate that soup every Monday. I even had my own table, table 43. If a different hostess was there and not my normal Debbie, I had to tell them 43 was my table. My two favorite servers, Billie for day shift, and Roger for night shift, knew me so well. As soon as I walked in, they would start a fresh pot of coffee for me. I really miss Western Ribeye, to say the least.

Back on track with this recipe. I have thought about cooking the soup myself, but some amazing things just cannot be replicated. So I came across a twist on the soup into a casserole. Why not? I’ll give it a whirl. Who doesn’t love casseroles on a very dreary, cold Sunday.

I came across this recipe on Pinterest, but changed it up to make it mine.

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a 9×13 oven safe dish. Cook 10-12 ounces of egg noodles according to package, drain, and set aside. While the oven is warming up, sauté chopped onions and brown one pound of ground beef.

Once the meat is brown and drained, I added minced garlic, pepper, and a tad salt. (There’s plenty of salt in the other ingredients that you shouldn’t add too much.) I added a packet of onion soup mix and two cans of cream of chicken soup. NOTE: You can use cream of mushroom. I’m allergic to fresh mushrooms so these wouldn’t technically cause a reaction, but anytime I can replace fungus in a dish, I’m all over it. So…you do you!

Mix that well and then add a tub of French onion dip. Stir until blended and add cooked egg noodles. Pour into your prepared casserole dish. I’m excited to use my new Le Creuset casserole dish my dad got me for Christmas. Sara is very envious of this piece. It’s not just versatile going from oven to tabletop, it’s gorgeous! Matches my Dutch oven I got for Christmas.

Sprinkle top with French’s fried onions. (I can eat those straight out of the can) I used the entire can to cover it…you may be able to use less. But I love those things. Bake for 25-30 min, until bubbly hot.

Yummy goodness. I’m extremely happy how this turned out. I will definitely make it again at some point.

This is not 100% Keto free, but sometimes it is okay to drift away for a tasty dish. I recommend this one.

Peace out, Trout!