Homemade Croutons

Learn how simple it is to make Homemade Croutons! Perfectly seasoned and customizable they will take your soup or salad to the next level! 15 minutes is all you need.

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Homemade Croutons

Oh, croutons how I love you so, with your superpowers of turning cringeworthy stale bread into beautifully crisp and flavorful salad and soup toppers. 

I have always been someone who hates to throw away unused food. They say there are two types of people “those who check every expiration date and those to don’t believe in them” I am the sort who will ignore any expiration date if possible to avoid throwing away perfectly good food. 

That’s why I LOVE making homemade croutons so I can put all of that stale, and otherwise useless bread to good use. This recipe for homemade croutons is so simple, you pretty much can’t mess it up even if you tried. 

With a little oil and the perfect combination of seasoning, you’ll end up with croutons so good, you’ll wonder why you ever opted for the store-bought bags.

What Type of Bread Do I Need For Homemade Croutons?

There are really endless possibilities when it comes to what type of bread you can use to make your own homemade croutons. I typically stick to using leftover bakery bread, but even use your every day sliced bread if you’re in a pinch. 

Here are a few of my favorite types of bread to use: 

• Slender baguette or a loaf of Italian
• Sourdough
• French bread
• Garlic bread (not garlic cheese bread)
• Multigrain bread 

How To Make Homemade Croutons

Like I said before, it’s really almost impossible to mess up this recipe. As long as you keep an eye on the oven, and don’t pour an entire bottle of seasoning on top, odds are you will still have a perfectly edible crouton when all is said and done. 

You can always adjust the recipe to your liking with different bread or seasoning, but you should definitely give this recipe a try first! 

Simply, preheat oven to 375°F.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or foil and set aside.
Cut the bread into cubes, and place in a large bowl. Next, you’ll drizzle with oil and sprinkle with cheese and seasonings and toss until bread is well coated.

Once the bread is coated, place the cubes in an even layer on prepared pan and bake until crispy, tossing halfway through. When you’ve reached desired crispness, remove the bread from the oven, let cool, and use immediately or store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Tips For Making The Best Homemade Croutons

• You’ll want to use a bread knife to cut your bread, and it’s even quicker if you use an electric knife.
• The recipe is written for a full loaf or about 4 cups of bread cubes, but it can easily be cut down to smaller batches. Often I will just cut up however much bread we have and I will eyeball the rest.
• The staler the bread is, the quicker it will toast/brown, so be sure to check on the bread occasionally to avoid burning 
• If you’re in a hurry, you can just broil them in the oven for about 1-2 minutes until toasty – but watch them closely if they are under the broiler, they will burn quickly.

Ways To Use Homemade Croutons

There are lots of ways to add these amazing homemade croutons to your next lunch dinner, or mid-day snack. 

Here are a few of my favorite ways to use up all my homemade croutons:

• Plopped in a hearty soup: There’s nothing that goes better with homemade croutons, than a steamy bowl of roasted tomato soup, or french onion soup. 
• Topped on a fresh salad: I always add a handful of croutons to my simple Italian salad, and it’s so good!
• Crushed into breadcrumbs: Don’t run out and but bread crumbs next time you want to top a casserole or bread some chicken. Just use a rolling pin or food processor to cruch up the croutons into your preferred size breadcrumbs. 

Check Out More Easy Bread Recipes Here!

No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread – An easy way to make artisan-style crusty bread at home! The best part is, very little effort is needed and it’s foolproof! Anyone can make it.  Just 5 minutes of mixing in the morning and you can have delicious homemade bread with soup by dinner! 

Homemade Artisan Bread In 5 Minutes – I’ve found a way to make delicious homemade Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.  It’s so easy, this bread almost makes itself! 

Cheese Stuffed Chicken and Spinach Pizza Bread – Bread dough sprinkled with seasoned chicken, fresh spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and stuffed with Mozzarella and provolone cheese.  Served warm dipped in Alfredo sauce.

Hard Apple Cider Bread – It’s super simple to make. The buttery top crust is thick and crunchy, making it the perfect companion to soups, chili, dips, honey butter and more! 

Homemade Cinnamon Cinnamon – A simple quick bread recipe with a thick cinnamon and sugar crust and a swirl inside. Sweet, and incredibly moist loaf that will bring warmth even to your coldest of days.

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Tools Used To Make These Homemade Croutons

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Electric Knife

I’m in love with this kitchen tool! Back in the ’70s, almost every kitchen had an electric knife. They are not a big investment (you can easily get one for $10-20 and they last forever)I’ve had one for as long as I can remember. Electric knives are so handy for carving meat like a turkey, roast and I always use it to slice the meat for my Flank Steak Sliders but they also make slicing and cubing bread quick and effortless. 

Glass Mixing Bowl Set

Everyone should have a good set of mixing bowls in their kitchen. This set is my favorite because the variety of sizes means I always have exactly what I need available. 

Aluminum Half Sheet Pan

This is my favorite sheet pan to use. I have about 4 I use in my kitchen pretty much every time I bake anything that needs a baking sheet. They are perfect oversized pans!

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