Who doesn’t love croutons? They add texture and complexity to creamy bowls of soup, bulk up light summer salads, and make just about any meal more fun. Do you want croutons on that? Yes, please!
Luckily, homemade croutons are incredibly easy to make. All you need is good crusty bread (tip: the better the bread, the better the croutons), garlic, olive oil, plenty of salt, and a little dried parsley. Yep, this crouton recipe is that simple, and the results are fantastic. The homemade croutons are crunchy, rich, and garlicky – far better than any you’d find at the grocery store. Once you learn how to make croutons at home, you won’t look back.
Croutons are very easy to make with just two main ingredients and a few basic seasonings. You’ll need bread, of course, as well as olive oil (or melted butter), salt, pepper and garlic powder. The oil or butter helps the bread develop crisp, golden edges, and the seasonings bring out the croutons’ best.
How to Make Croutons
This method for how to make croutons is super easy! It takes under 30 minutes, and most of that is hands-off baking time. If I’m making croutons for a specific soup or salad, I like to pop them in the oven first and prep the rest of the meal while they bake. Here’s how I make them:
First, cube the bread. You want good-quality country or French bread for this recipe, but don’t worry about it being super fresh. Day-old (or days-old) bread is fine – the goal is to get it nice and crispy, so leftover bread has a head start! Cut it into 3/4-inch cubes. Try to get them as even as you can so that they cook at the same rate in the oven.
Next, make the garlic oil. Many garlic croutons are seasoned with garlic powder, but I prefer the sharp, complex flavor of fresh garlic in this recipe. To achieve it, I make an infused garlic oil. Heat two smashed garlic cloves in 1/4 cup of olive oil for about a minute, until the garlic is fragrant. Allow the oil to cool slightly before drizzling it over the cubed bread.
Next, toss. Toss to coat the bread with the oil and a few big pinches of salt. When everything is evenly coated in the oil and salt, spread the bread cubes in a single layer on a baking sheet.
Finally, bake! Pop the homemade croutons in the oven and bake until they’re golden brown and crisp, 10 to 18 minutes. The time will depend on the freshness of your bread and how crispy you like your croutons. The longer you bake them, the crispier they’ll be. Remove them from the oven, and sprinkle them with a little dried parsley. Enjoy!
- Grill them! In the fall and winter, baked croutons are my go-to. But in the summertime, I often make grilled croutons instead. They’re slightly less crisp than the baked kind, but they have a delicious charred, smoky flavor. To make them, drizzle thick slices of country bread with olive oil and grill them for a few minutes per side, until char marks form. Remove the grilled bread from the heat, and rub it with the cut side of a halved garlic clove to infuse it with garlic flavor. Then, cube the bread. That’s it!
- Swap the seasoning. I love this simple garlic and dried parsley seasoning, but feel free to customize this crouton recipe to your tastes. For a more intense garlic flavor, toss the bread with garlic powder before you bake it, or toss the baked croutons with grated fresh garlic as soon as they come out of the oven. Replace the dried parsley with another dried herb like oregano, dill, or chives, or sprinkle the croutons with dried Italian seasoning. Let me know what variations you try!
How To Make Croutons | 1 Minute Tips | French Guy Cooking
FAQ
What are croutons made of?
Is croutons bread healthy?
What’s the difference between croutons and bread?
Do croutons have a lot of calories?
How do you make croutons?
Croutons are very easy to make with just two main ingredients and a few basic seasonings. You’ll need bread, of course, as well as olive oil (or melted butter), salt, pepper and garlic powder. The oil or butter helps the bread develop crisp, golden edges, and the seasonings bring out the croutons’ best. Making croutons is a straightforward process.
Can you make croutons out of bread?
Good news! You can make croutons out of just about any bread you have on hand. Using day-old bread is best for getting the crunchiest croutons. Whether it’s a leftover piece of artisan French bread (as I used here), a loaf of sandwich bread, or something in the whole wheat family, croutons can be on the menu.
What are salad croutons?
Croutons are chunks of bread flavored and seasoned with herbs or spices that are rebaked in the oven or sautéed on the stove. You can totally customize flavors and seasonings, but here are the basics you’ll need: The big flavor for salad croutons comes from the oil or butter you toss them with.