Lamb Vindaloo French Onion Soup
The flavors of spicy lamb vindaloo and savory French onion soup combine in this bowl of comfort topped with naan and lots of cheese! There is nothing more comforting to me than either of these two recipes separately, so as you can imagine, when they come together it is pure winter warmth in a bowl. I live my vindaloo spicy and it adds such a great twist to the sometimes one-note French onion soup. In my opinion, it brings it from an appetizer to a full meal!
The inspiration for this recipe
I was inspired to make this mash-up because one of the main flavorings in vindaloo is cooked onions. I thought to myself, what if I add a bit more onions and cook them a little longer. You end up with something that tastes like french onion soup and lamb vindaloo combined! All that was left was to top it with bread and cheese, so of course I grabbed naan and put tons of cheese on it.
Start with the lamb
Brown the lamb on all sides, then add some broth. Bring it to a simmer and let it cook slow for a few hours until it’s so tender that it will fall apart when you press on it with a spoon.
Next start the onions
The lamb takes a few hours, and the onions take about an hour and a half so it’s good timing to start them right after each other. Add all the onions to a pan with some oil and just cook them low and slow until they get beautifully browned. I usually wait to salt them until about 30 minutes in.
Add the vindaloo spices to the french onion
Ginger, garlic, and chili peppers in the pan. I used both fresno and serrano peppers and kept the seeds in so it would be spicy. If you want it more mild you could use just fresno peppers and remove all the seeds. If you wanted it more spicy you could use just serrano peppers, or even add a habanero to the mix. Then add all the spices like garam masala, coriander, cumin, and turmeric. Adding them now helps them wake up a bit. I also added some flour and butter to this step to help thicken the overall soup, but you don’t need much.
Then lamb and some broth go in, and then just bring it to a simmer and you are basically finished.
Finish the Lamb Vindaloo French Onion Soup
The final step to serve the lamb vindaloo french onion soup is adding naan bread on top and then a ton of cheese! Broil this in the oven until it gets browned, bubbly and so tasty!
Serving the lamb vindaloo French onion soup
Make sure you have a plate or cutting board to put under the hot vindaloo french onion soup bowls because they can be messy! People will want to eat all the cheese and other bits that fall to the side.
This might be my favorite thing that I have made in a while! All the vindaloo spices add so much flavor to the soup! And the level of heat was just what I was looking for.
The cheesy naan bread on top balanced the heat and was great for dipping into the soup.
Twists on this recipe
You could use beef for this vindaloo French onion soup if you don’t like lamb. I would use chuck or round personally. You could also use pork or chicken which are actually more traditional in Vindaloo. Speaking of traditional vindaloo, these are the main recipes I have used as a guide in the past for creating tasty vindaloo dishes!
For more tasty vindaloo twists, check out my vindaloo tater tots. For more french onion goodness, check out my french onion stuffed onions!
Lamb Vindaloo French Onion Soup
Ingredients
Lamb
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1.5 pounds lamb shoulder chopped into bite sized pieces
- 1 cup chicken or beef broth
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- fresh cracked black pepper
Soup
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 6-8 large sweet onions sliced into thin 1 inch long strips
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- fresh cracked black pepper
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 2 inches ginger grated
- 3 serrano or fresno peppers minced, seeds optional
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- 2 teaspoons coriander
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon kashmiri chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/8 teaspoon clove
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon flour
- 4 cups chicken or beef or onion broth
Finish
- 4 store bought naan rounds
- 2 cups grated gruyere cheese
Instructions
- Add the oil to a pan over high heat. Add in the lamb and season with the salt and pepper. Cook to brown on all sides.
- Once the edges of the lamb are browned, add the cup of broth and turn the heat to low. Cover and simmer lightly for about 2 hours until the lamb is tender and falls apart when you press on it.
- Right when the lamb starts simmering, get the onions going because they take over an hour.
- Add the oil to the pan on medium heat and add in the onions. Cook about 30 minutes, stirring often, to soften and cook out a lot of the water. Season with salt and pepper.
- Cook another 30 minutes, stirring often and adjusting the heat as needed to further reduce and brown the onions.
- Continue to cook more until they are deep brown and have drastically reduced.
- Add the garlic, ginger, and hot peppers to the pan and cook 3 minutes. Add in the spices and flour and butter and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Stir in the vinegar. Add in the cooked lamb and pan juices. Add in the broth and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer and cook about 20 minutes. If it feels too thick, you can add some water. to get the desired texture.
- Preheat broiler to high. Add the naan to the top of each bowl. Top with the cheese. Broil until crispy and melty!