Homemade Croutons

It’s easy to make homemade croutons! This croutons recipe makes crispy, flavorful bites that are tastier than store-bought ones.

Or how best to spice up your salad recipes? Attempt homemade croutons! This croutons recipe is great for using up a loaf of bread that’s starting to get stale or for adding an elegant touch to a salad. Cut bread pieces, add olive oil and spices and bake until crispy! There’s nothing quite like the crispy, crunchy crunch of a freshly baked crouton. It’s a pocket recipe we take out often: here’s what you need to know!

Ingredients for homemade croutons

Croutons are re-baked bread cubes that are seasoned and used to add texture to salads and soups. The word comes from the French crouton, meaning crust. Croutons were invented to use stale bread (before the invention of store-bought bread with additives and preservatives), much like bread pudding or panzanella salad.

For croutons, you don’t have to wait for stale bread: you can make this recipe right away with the bread you have on hand. Here are the ingredients you need for homemade croutons:

• Bread: A loaf of hearty artisanal bread makes the best croutons, as the open crumb provides the best crunchy texture. Breads like sourdough bread and French bread are preferred over something like whole wheat sandwich bread.
• olive oil
• garlic powder
• salt and pepper

How to make croutons

Once you have the ingredients, the process of making homemade croutons is very simple. Here’s what to do:

• Cut or tear bread: Cut the bread into cubes. (Remember that a medium-sized slice of bread has about 1 cup large cubes.) You can also tear the bread into smaller pieces, creating crispier croutons with crevices to catch the dressing.
• Mix with olive oil, garlic powder and salt: Place the cubes in a bowl and toss with olive oil, garlic powder, and kosher salt. Garlic Powder makes the most delicious salty garlic croutons.
• Boil 15 minutes: Bake the croutons at 300°F for about 15 minutes until crisp and golden.

flavors and ideas

Use this Homemade Croutons Recipe as a template! There are so many different ways to mix flavors and spices into a crouton. Here are a few ideas:

• Sour Dough Bread for sourdough croutons
• Rye bread for rye croutons
• ranch seasoning for ranch croutons
• smoked paprika for a touch of smoky flavor
• Dried Parsley for the taste of herbs

Ways to use homemade croutons

Of course, there are countless ways to use homemade croutons. We recommend making these when you have bread or want to impress your friends or family with a great salad. They take well to any salad recipe unbelievable! And of course they are indispensable for a homemade Caesar Salad. (For example, 100% required.) Here are some ways to use croutons:

storage information

You can save leftover homemade croutons, but you need to follow a few tips to keep them crispy over time. How long do homemade croutons keep? You can keep them for up to 2 weeks if you follow these tips:

• Bake croutons until golden brown. Croutons that are underbaked will leave moisture in the bread, causing it to go soggy over time. If you’re not sure, cook the croutons for a few more minutes.
• Allow the croutons to come to room temperature before storing. This way they will be completely crispy without any extra moisture from the oven.
• Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. If you’re concerned about the croutons remaining crispy, you can put a paper towel in the container to absorb the extra moisture.

More salad recipes and resources

do you like salads Here are some collections of our favorite salads and dressings:

This recipe for homemade croutons is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free and gluten-free.