French Onion Crescent Rolls
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If you love French onion soup, you’re going to flip for these French Onion Crescent Rolls! They’re filled with sweet, caramelized onions and rich, melty Gruyere cheese, all wrapped in warm, buttery crescent roll dough. They taste like a gourmet appetizer but are actually quite easy to make with just 6 ingredients. This recipe is perfect for holiday parties, a Thanksgiving appetizer, or anytime you’re craving a cozy, flavorful snack!
Why you’ll love these rolls
Inspired by these viral Jalapeno Popper Crescent Rolls, I caramelized 6 pounds of onions in the testing and perfecting of this recipe. Now, I’m in love! These rolls are so flavorful, but you only need 6 ingredients to make them. They’re simple, cheesy, and perfect for all the french onion lovers out there!
I took these to a Friendsgiving celebration, and they were the first thing to go. I had friends at the party trying to find the recipe on my site before we ever sat down at the dinner table. Needless to say, these rolls are a must-make for your holiday celebrations! Here’s why I love them and know that you will too!
- All the flavor of French onion soup, in a handheld appetizer. You get rich caramelized onions and melty Gruyere in a simple, handheld appetizer. And if you want to double up on the french onion goodness and dip these rolls in French onion soup, I would not be mad about that at all!
- Perfect for parties and holidays. They look impressive, taste gourmet, and disappear fast, but require minimal prep and only 6 ingredients.
- A cozy, crowd-pleasing twist on classic crescent rolls. Warm, buttery dough wrapped around savory, cheesy filling makes them irresistible to everyone!
Ingredients
Here I explain the best ingredients for this French onion rolls recipe, what each one does, and substitution options. For the exact ingredient measurements, see the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Onions – you’ll need two pounds of onions for caramelizing. I recommend yellow onions for their nice, neutral flavor, but if you prefer a sweet caramelized onion, you can use sweet vidalia onions.
- Butter – I recommend unsalted butter, so you can salt the onions to taste. If using salted butter, cut the added salt in half.
- Salt – to bring out the flavor as the onions caramelize.
- Cream cheese
- Gruyere or Swiss cheese – Gruyere is a type of Swiss cheese that is typically aged longer than a traditional Swiss. Both cheeses have a nutty, slightly sweet flavor. I’ve used both to make this recipe and they both work great. If you want a little bit stronger flavor, use gruyere. If you want to save some money, use Swiss. You’ll want to freshly shred an entire 6 ounce block of Swiss, or gruyere, for this recipe.
- French onion soup and dip mix
- Crescent roll dough – using canned Pillsbury crescent roll dough keeps this recipe simple! You can purchase canned crescent dough sheets, or crescent rolls. If using crescent rolls, you’ll want to push the perforations together to seal up the dough for this recipe.
Instructions
I’ve included step by step photos below to make this recipe super easy to follow at home. For the full detailed recipe instructions, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Caramelize the onions. Dice up two pounds of onions. Melt butter in a large skillet on the stove over medium heat. Add the onions and cook for 5 minutes. Season the onions with salt, then continue to cook for 40-60 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes until the onions are caramelized.
- Combine the onions and cheese. Once caramelized, allow the onions to cool slightly before combining them with cream cheese, French onion dip mix, and shredded gruyere cheese.
- Spread crescent roll dough out on a large cutting board. If using rolls, instead of sheets of crescent roll dough, press the perforations together using your fingers, to form two solid sheets of dough. Spread the caramelized onion mixture evenly over each of the sheets of crescent roll dough.
- Roll up the dough. Starting with the short side of the dough, roll up each sheet of crescent roll dough tightly over the caramelized onion cheese mixture. Slice each roll of dough into 9 rolls using a serrated knife. Each roll should be about 1 inch thick, for a total of 18 rolls.
- Top the rolls. Arrange the rolls on a 13 inch x 18 inch baking sheet, lined with parchment paper (or coated in cooking spray). You want a little bit of space between each of the rolls, as they’ll expand in the oven. Top with grated gruyere (or Swiss) cheese.
- Bake the rolls. Place the rolls in a preheated 400°F oven for 15-18 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the rolls are golden brown.
Make ahead tip! You can caramelize the onions up to a week in advance and store them in an airtight container in the fridge. Once you have the onions ready to go, it only takes about 10 minutes to prep these rolls for the oven! I have a whole post on how to caramelize onions if you want more tips and tricks.
Ways to serve them
I’ve served these as an appetizer multiple times, but I’ve also served them on the side of soup. They’re perfect for dipping and dunking into any of these soup recipes
Caramelized Onion Rolls
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 pounds onion, diced
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 6 ounce block gruyere cheese, or Swiss cheese (grated and divided)
- 1 ounce packet french onion dip mix
- 16 ounces crescent roll dough, each can is 8 ounces
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large skillet on the stove over medium heat. Add the diced onions and cook for 5 minutes. Season the onions with the salt, then continue to cook for 40-60 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes until the onions are caramelized.
- While the onions are caramelizing, place the cream cheese in a large mixing bowl on the counter to soften. Grate the gruyere cheese. Measure out ½ cup of the gruyere cheese and set it aside. Add the rest to the bowl with the cream cheese.
- When the onions are almost done caramelizing, preheat the oven to 400°F.
- After the onions are cooked, add them to the bowl with the cheeses. Add the French onion dip mix. Stir to combine.
- Roll out both cans of crescent roll dough and press the perforations together.
- Spread the onion cream cheese mixture evenly over the crescent roll dough.
- Starting with the short side of the dough, roll up each sheet of crescent roll dough tightly over the cheese mixture.
- Use a serrated knife to slice each roll into 9, approximately 1 inch rolls (for 18 total).
- Arrange the rolls on a greased, or parchment-lined, 13 inch x 18 inch baking sheet, with a little bit of space between each of the rolls. If you don't have a baking sheet that big, separate them onto two baking sheets.
- Sprinkle the remaining ½ cup gruyere cheese on top of the rolls.
- Place the rolls in the oven and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until golden brown.
Notes
- You can caramelize the onions up to a week in advance and store them in the fridge until you’re ready to make the rolls.
- Any leftover cooked rolls should be placed in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Since these rolls contain dairy, they should not be stored on the counter at room temperature.
- Reheat them in an air fryer at 400°F for 5 minutes, or in a single layer on a baking sheet in the oven at 400°F for 6-8 minutes.
- This recipe makes 18 rolls, but you can easily cut it in half and only make 9 rolls, if you’re making the recipe for a small family side dish or dinner appetizer. Simply use one can of crescent roll dough, then cut the other ingredients in half to make the filling. You can click the ½ button, next to the word “scale”, above and it will automatically update all of the ingredients to make a half-portion of the rolls.
Nutrition Facts
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