Learn how to make homemade croutons from scratch with this simple, customizable croutons recipe.
Have leftover bread?
Make croutons! ♡
Homemade croutons are just about the easiest thing ever to make, and a million times better than anything you can buy at the store. They’re also easy to customize with whatever seasonings you might be craving, they can be made with any kind of bread that you have on hand (including gluten-free), and they’re easy to make as large or small, soft or crispy, plain or seasoned as you might prefer. Plus, if you’re trying to eat more greens in your life, I’m convinced that having a fresh batch of croutons around is one of the best motivators to toss together a quick salad. Or they’re also delicious for topping a fresh bowl of tomato soup or gazpacho (<– new recipe coming tomorrow, stay tuned!) this time of year.
So grab that leftover bread, and let’s bake up a quick batch!
HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE CROUTONS | 1-MINUTE VIDEO
Homemade Croutons Ingredients:
To make homemade croutons, you just need three main ingredients:
- Bread: Ideally at least a day or two old, any variety will do.
- Olive oil: Or melted butter, if you prefer.
- Seasonings: Totally up to you! I always, always add garlic powder to my croutons. Plus salt and black pepper. But any other seasonings are up to you! I often turn to Italian seasoning or blackening seasoning, and will occasionally sprinkle on some Parmesan cheese too.
How To Make Croutons:
Simply:
- Dice your bread: Choose whatever size of cubes you prefer, either cut with a knife or torn into small chunks by hand. It’s just important that the croutons be uniformly sized so that they cook evenly.
- Toss with oil and seasonings: In a large bowl, drizzle the bread evenly with the oil and seasonings. Then toss until evenly combined.
- Spread out on a baking sheet: Turn the croutons out onto a parchment-covered baking sheet, and spread out in a single layer.
- Bake until crispy: Flipping the croutons once halfway through baking. Then baking until they croutons reach your desired level of crispiness. (If they start to get too brown, lower the heat and let them bake lower and slower.)
- Serve or store: Then serve immediately. Or let the croutons cool until they reach room temperature, then store in a sealed container for up to 2 weeks.
Ways To Use Homemade Croutons:
Some of my favorite ways to use homemade croutons include:
- Salads: Especially any kind of Caesar salad, or my favorite Everyday Salad.
- Soups: Especially hot tomato soup, or authentic Spanish gazpacho (recipe coming soon!)
- Stuffings/Casseroles: Especially around the holidays
And of course, anytime you need breadcrumbs, just use a rolling pin or food processor to break those croutons up into your preferred size of breadcrumbs.
Enjoy, everyone!
How To Make Homemade Croutons
Ingredients
- 1 loaf of bread (about 12 ounces), cut into 3/4-inch cubes
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning, homemade or store-bought
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
- In a large bowl, evenly drizzle the olive oil over the bread chunks. Then evenly sprinkle the Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt and pepper over the bread. Toss gently until well-combined.
- Spread the bread cubes out in a single layer on a baking sheet.
- Bake until golden, turning once halfway through cooking in order to brown all sides of the croutons. Cooking time will depend on the thickness of the cubes, so watch to be sure that they do not burn. (Mine generally take between 15-20 minutes.)
- Remove from oven, and let cool completely. Use immediately, or store in an air-tight container for up to 1 week.
Notes
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
I was making a salad for lunch today and realized we had about 4 leftover hamburger buns, knowing we won’t be needing them I decided to use those. I halved the recipe with the exception of the oil which I ended adding more after halving it. Everyone loved them. They really crumbed up so they cooked in about 12 mins but they added a nice crunch to the salad. I always make use of old hamburger or hotdog buns by making garlic bread to go with meals, this was another great way to use leftovers. Thanks.
Highly recommend using butter instead of oil.
Can I leave them on the counter like store-bought croutons or do they have to be refrigerated?
I make my own bread and had some leftover. This recipe was easy and it was delicious! We’re never going back to store bought. Thank you!
can these be frozen in a zip-lock bag once they are made and cooled??
Had a 12” french loaf that was stale so decided to make croutons. Your recipe seemed tasty so I used it. As always I added a little more of this and a little less of that to taste and the result was excellent. Thank you for this wonderful recipe and thank you for the work it takes to produce a blog.
So easy….so tasty…had to hide from the family so there would be some for supper!
I used the empty bread bag to shake up all my ingredients.
This was a good and easy recipe. I used garlic infused olive oil that I had on hand and left over the garlic powder in the recipe. My husband wanted to eat them as a snack.
I took a dredge, drilled out the holes to 1/8 of an inch, to accommodate the spice size, and used that to evenly spread the spices over the croutons. Before that, I bought a California Olive Oil aerosol extra virgin olive oil sprayer to evenly coat the croutons. Everything came out wonderfully.