One-Pot French Onion Pasta

In One and Done, senior test kitchen editor Jesse Szewczyk uses one pan—like a Dutch oven, sheet pan, or cast-iron skillet—to make meals you'll come back to again and again.

Loaded with a wealth of caramelized onions, white wine, and fresh thyme, this French onion pasta recipe captures the savory sweetness of the beloved comfort food classic French onion soup and reimagines them as a cozy weeknight dinner. Best of all, it’s made entirely in one vessel: Add the dried pasta and water directly to a pan of sliced onions cooked to a ruddy jam. The pasta absorbs the sweet onion-infused cooking liquid while releasing its starches to create a creamy sauce that perfectly clings to the shells.

Properly measured water is the key here. If you add too much, the sauce will be soupy, but the pasta will be hard if you add too little. If you need an alternative for the wine, fresh apple cider is a great choice (you want something acidic to cut through the richness). Either way, be sure to scrape up the brown bits on the bottom of the pot. And, if at any time you feel like the onions are burning, add a few tablespoons of water to deglaze and stir things around to redistribute the heat.

We like lumache for this pasta dish, but you can swap in any short tubular type of pasta, such as rigatoni or medium shells. Though it’s cooked almost entirely on the stovetop, be sure to use an oven-safe pan. The dish is broiled just long enough to melt a blanket of shredded Gruyère cheese into its crevices, developing burbling deep golden brown spots and those crispy edges reminiscent of everyone’s favorite part of its namesake bistro favorite.