Make homemade croutons in 45 minutes with 5 ingredients. Crunchy and flavorful, perfect for salads, soups, or a healthy, economical snack.
- 1 lb (450 g) stale bread
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- ½ teaspoon coarse salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
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Preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
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Cut the stale bread into cubes, roughly about 1 inch in size. You should yield about 8 cups of cubed bread.
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In a large bowl toss the bread with oil, garlic, salt and pepper and mix until evenly coated.
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Scatter croutons evenly on a large baking tray.
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Bake at 325℉ (160℃) for roughly 22-24 minutes, stirring half way to ensure even browning. Bake until crouton are lightly golden, but dry.
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Once the croutons have cooled put into air tight containers and store at room temperature for up to 6 weeks. Enjoy in soups, salad and even as a snack.
- Use stale bread for best results.
- Go to the day-old section of your supermarket where you can get a loaf that is perfect for croutons at half the price!
- Get fancy and rather than use a plain loaf of bread, use one flavored with herbed cream cheese or with garlic and cheese.
- Croutons are great for making stuffing. Use our Sage Sausage Stuffing Recipe or your own favorite recipe.
- Double the recipe! The croutons will last for six weeks in your cupboard.
- Even if you only have a few pieces of leftover bread, it's so worth it to scale down the recipe and make a mini-batch of croutons. This tasty touch really takes a normal weekday dinner up a few notches!