Caramelized Onion & Cheese Galette
This Caramelized Onion & Cheese Galette was inspired by the flavours of French Onion Soup, but with a twist. It's features caramelized onions and gruyere (obviously), but it also has leek and lentils for added flavour, colour and protein!
If you want a true French Onion Soup recipe, I have one here. And if you want another winter inspired soup, check out my Coconut Turmeric Carrot and Lentil Soup.
What you need to make this caramelized onion & cheese galette
All ingredients can be found in the recipe card below:
Substitutions for this cheese galette
Additions:
- Herbs: if you want to add fresh herbs into the dough, go right ahead! I have used rosemary (about 1 Tbsp), but I think thyme would also be really good with this recipe.
- Balsamic glaze: this galette is quite rich, so I like to drizzle a little balsamic glaze on top to brighten it up. It's optional, but yummy!
Substitutions:
- Make it vegan: this recipe is vegetarian, but could be made vegan. Use vegan butter in the pastry dough and to caramelize the onions. Find a gruyere-like cheese replacement, and instead of an egg wash, use a plant-milk wash.
- Make it gluten free: the filling of this recipe is gluten free. To make the entire recipe gluten free, swap for a gluten free pie dough recipe.
Caramelized Onion and Cheese Galette FAQs
A caramelized onion and cheese galette is a rustic, free-form tart made with flaky pastry, sweet caramelized onions, and topped with Gruyere cheese — perfect as an appetizer or light meal.
Caramelizing onions usually takes 30–45 minutes over low heat. Slow cooking brings out their natural sweetness and rich flavour.
Yes, you can make your galette dough maximum 2 days in advance. Make sure it's wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and kept in the fridge.
Absolutely! Puff pastry or pre-made pie dough makes this recipe even easier while still tasting delicious.
Serve it warm or at room temperature with a side salad or bowl of soup for a cozy meal.
Caramelized Onion & Cheese Galette
Ingredients
Dough
- 300 g all-purpose flour
- 3 g salt
- 150 g butter, unsalted, cut into large cubes cold
- 100 g water ice cold
Filling
- 3 small cooking onions
- 1 leek
- 3 tablespoon butter, unsalted
- 1 ½ teaspoon thyme, dried
- 1 ½ teaspoon rosemary, dried
- 1 cup brown lentils, cooked or canned
- ½ cup gruyere, shredded
- 1 egg
- balsamic glaze optional
Instructions
Make your dough
- In a large bowl add your flour and salt. Add your butter and use your hands to rub it into the flour. Continue until the butter is all incorporated and about the size of a pea, but it's okay if there are some larger chunks. Next add your water, starting with 75g. Use a fork to combine. Add the remaining water until the dough comes together.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly dusted surface. Knead until no dry spots remain. Do not overwork (this isn't bread).
- Shape into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap.
- Chill for at least 1-2 hours.
Make your filling
- Cut your onions and leek. For the onions, I like to cut them in half (length wise) and then slice them. For the leek, I don't cut it in half before slicing.
- To a large frying pan, over medium high heat, add 2 tablespoon butter. Wait until it melts, then add your onions. Stir to combine the onions and the butter, and then spread them out in the pan to allow them to cook evenly.
- Allow them to cook for 20-25 minutes*, stirring occasionally. If your burner is really hot, you might need to lower the heat to prevent the onions from burning. If you notice they're sticking to the bottom of the pan, you can add a little more butter.
- Add another 1 tablespoon butter and your sliced leek to the onions. Stir to combine, and then let cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add thyme, rosemary and a pinch of salt. Stir to combine and cook for another 5 minutes or so.
- Add the lentils, and stir combine. Taste and add more herbs or salt if you think it needs it. Remove from heat and set aside.
Make your galette
- Preheat oven to 400 °F
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Remove your dough from the fridge and let sit for 5-10 minutes before rolling it out.
- Remove from the plastic wrap and move onto a lightly floured surface. Roll into a large circle about ⅛" thick and gently transfer to your parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
- Transfer all your filling onto the dough. Spread it out leaving 1-2 inches of dough for the crust.
- Fold the crust over some of the filling, and brush with your egg.
- Sprinkle about ¼ cup of your gruyere cheese over the filling.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.
- Remove from the oven, and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
- Let sit 5 or so minutes, then slice and serve! Garnish with balsamic drizzle if you have it.
Notes
Nutrition
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I love making this galette in the winter because it's like French onion soup in solid form. I hope you love this recipe as much as I do!