The Best Homemade Croutons Recipe

While so simple to make, there is nothing like homemade croutons, especially when served up in your favorite salad or soup recipe.

I love loaded-up salads like my Green Goddess or my Lemon Chicken Chopped salad where I can add as many things to it as I want, especially these croutons.

Croutons

Croutons are one of the easiest things to make and are a fantastic ingredient to help take your salad, or whatever you want to serve it with, to the next level.  They come from the word crouté, which means crust in French, and obviously they are crunchy, so it makes perfect sense.

My inclination into the history tells me that people, I’m guessing Italian, would use old crusty bread and use it as a garnish into a salad like a Panzanella, or even a soup such as Ribollita.

What Kind of Bread to Use

You can use just about any bread out there that you would like, and here are some of my recommendations:

• Baguette
• French
• White
• Italian
• Artisan
• Sourdough

How to Make Croutons

Follow these easy instructions for how to make this tasty recipe:

Cut the bread into bite-size pieces, roughly ½” by ½”.

Add them to a bowl and season them with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil.

Mix the croutons to ensure they are completely coated.

Spread out on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper and bake at 375° for 15-20 minutes.

Additional Spices to Add to Them

While my recipe is simply olive oil, salt, pepper, and bread, there are a number of dried spices you can add to the croutons to elevate the flavor.  Here are a few things you could add in addition to oil, salt, and pepper:

• Garlic Powder
• Onion Powder
• Oregano
• Basil
• Thyme

Make-Ahead and Storage

Make-Ahead: You can make these up to 3 days ahead of time.  Make sure they are covered and stored properly before serving.

How to Store: Keep in an airtight plastic container or bag and keep at room temperature for up to 7 days.

chef notes + tips

• You can also cook the croutons in a pan. Instead of tossing them in olive oil, you add it to a pan and cook the bread in the oil until browned and crunchy.
• You can also replace the olive oil with melted unsalted butter.
• The most classic recipe this would go well in is a Ceaser salad

What to Serve Them With

• Mandarin Orange Salad
• Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad
• Summer Panzanella
• Tuscan Bean Soup
• Mulligatawny

Be sure to follow me on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest, and if you’ve had a chance to make this then definitely drop me a comment and a rating below!

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The Best Homemade Croutons Recipe

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5 from 9 votes

While so simple to make, there is nothing like homemade croutons, especially when served up in your favorite salad or soup recipe.

Servings: 10

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Ingredients 

US CustomaryMetric

• 1 baguette cut into ½” cubes
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• sea salt and pepper

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 375°.
• Add the cubed bread to a large bowl and toss with the olive oil, salt, and pepper until evenly coated.
• Spread out on a cookie sheet tray lined with parchment paper and bake at 375° for 15 to 20 minutes or until browned and crunchy.
• Cool and serve.

Notes

Chef Notes:

• Make-Ahead: You can make these up to 3 days ahead of time. Make sure they are covered and stored properly before serving.

 

• How to Store: Keep in an airtight plastic container or bag and keep at room temperature for up to 7 days.

 

• You can also cook the croutons in a pan. Instead of tossing them in olive oil, you add it to a pan and cook the bread in the oil until browned and crunchy.

 

• You can also replace the olive oil with melted unsalted butter.

Nutrition

Calories: 105kcalCarbohydrates: 13gProtein: 2gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 153mgPotassium: 28mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gCalcium: 20mgIron: 1mg

Course: Salad, Soup

Cuisine: French, Italian

Author: Chef Billy Parisi