Famous French Onion Pull Apart Bread

A sourdough round of bread is stuffed with butter, French onion soup mix, and cheese. The Famous French onion pull apart bread is slow smoked to melt and combine all those ingredients into a glorious appetizer to feed a crowd. 

Bread. I love the stuff, in many forms, prepared many ways, to satisfy my carb craving. One could say The Grillin’ Fools are obsessed with the doughy delight. This will be the 5th recipe in the pull apart category plus we have bruschetta and then there are the crostini recipes (we originally spelled it crostinis-sorry Wolfgang). So how did this version come about and why is it famous? I was assisting Scott at a Pinterest event he was conducting for other bloggers a while ago at a local restaurant.

One of the attendees was food and beverage professional, Angela Castelli. We had a conversation during which I mentioned a couple ideas I had for pull apart bread on the grill. Angela suggested creating a French onion version (thank you again Angela) and that was all the inspiration needed.

The famous part? I immediately thought of a now defunct downtown St. Louis department store known as Famous-Barr Company that had a small restaurant on the second floor that served what became legendary, fabulous, French onion soup. I thought perhaps I’d recreate that recipe and use it with the grilled version.

Didn’t happen.

I took the shortcut, easy way out to make the recipe less taxing for backyard grillers like me to tackle in what I call Famous French Onion Pull Apart Bread. 

Famous French Onion Pull Apart Bread Ingredients:

Our latest bread related appetizer, which also includes prosciutto wrapped brie.

How to Prepare Pull Apart Bread

Break out your favorite bread blade then carve bread into a diamond/grid pattern of one inch cubes without completely cutting through the loaf:

The finished result should resemble this.

Melt the butter in the microwave or saucepan, combine with the French onion soup, then hit it with the boat motor or blender:

Create a foil nest to maintain form during cheese stuffing and while on the grill, then fill in each crevice with the cheese:

Carefully drizzle the butter and soup mixture over the bread covering all the cuts. Utilize a turkey baster to get in deep if necessary:

How to Grill Famous French Onion Pull Apart Bread

Set up the grill for indirect cooking with coals on one side and none on the other and toss in a small chunk of mild smoke wood.

I used apple.

Other woods to consider could be pear or peach, I’m leaning toward milder smoke here:

While baking/smoking the bread, chop the crispy onions and fresh chives for added flavor and garnish:

Bake the soon to be famous French onion pull apart bread at 350 for 20-30 minutes uncovered:

Notice how the cheese has melted into the crevices and the bread is browning a bit?

Time for more cheese!

Then add the chives and crunchy onions.

Here’s an overhead look after everything has been added:

Close up shot would indicate a lot is going on in and on this loaf of sourdough:

After all the new cheese has melted and browned a bit, remove from the heat and serve.

Let’s take a bite! All you do is grab one of those chunks of bread and pull. How good does that look?

Pull Apart Bread Summary

So how was it?  The flavors were delicious, not overpowering, but once they all melded together they created a well nuanced flavor profile. The texture rocked my French onion world, soft flavorful bread inside, melty cheese, crunch of the onions, and the crispness of the smoked crust made my appetizer hall of fame. I considered topping with crispy bacon crumbles but decided to stay with the original flavor profile, but next time…it’s on! How would I improve or modify this recipe? I’d consider working more crispy onions down inside the carved loaf in addition to topping with them.

Could there be other uses for this concoction? You bet. I would consider many options such as using the butter/soup mixture to dress the bread on a patty melt or a crostini, mix into burgers or sliders, or changing up the cheese mix by adding Swiss and/or provel to the Gruyere. Imagine the flavor if applied to a flat top grilled cheese sandwich? The possibilities seem endless.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below or send me an email.

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Recipe Card:

Print Recipe

Famous French Onion Pull Apart Bread

Grilled pull-apart, cheesy bread appetizer inspired by French onion soup for what we call Famous French Onion Pull Apart Bread

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time40 minutes mins

Course: Appetizer, bread, Finger Food

Cuisine: American, American Fare, Finger Food, Grilling

Keyword: Appetizer, Bread, Butter, Charcoal, Charcoal Grill, Cheese Filling, Grated Cheese, Grill, Indirect Grilling, Smoking, Sourdough, Sourdough Bread, Two Zone Grilling

Servings: 6 People

Ingredients

• 1 loaf sourdough bread
• 1 to 2 cans French onion soup (depends on how wet you wanna' get)
• ¼ lb unsalted butter (1 stick)
• 1 to 8 oz Gruyere cheese grated, add more if you like, reserving a couple ounces to layer on after the first round melts
• 6 oz French fried onions rough chopped
• 1 bunch chives

Instructions

• Slice the bread in a grid pattern every inch, making sure not to slice all the way through the bottom
• Create a foil nest to place the bread in
• Fill the crevices with the grated cheese
• Now melt the butter in a pot with the French onion soup and blend together well
• Drizzle the butter/soup mixture over the bread making sure to get the liquid into the gaps in the bread. Be sure to reserve a couple ounces to add later
• Set up the grill for two zone grilling with coals on one side and nothing on the other
• Target temperature inside the grill is 350f
• Place smoke wood (a lighter fruit wood is preferred) on the coals and place the bread (in the foil nest) on the side with no coals and close the lid
• Bake for 20-30 minutes
• While the bread is baking, chop the chives and French fried onions
• After the initial cheese is melted, add the second set of cheese along with the French fried onions and chives and then close the lid
• Once the second round of cheese has melted, remove the Famous French Onion Pull Apart Bread from the grill and eat.

Greg Thomas

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This article was initially published on: October 24, 2018