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Homemade Croutons – learn how to make delicious, crunchy croutons from scratch! Super easy recipe you can customize to go with whatever salad you are making.
Salads are a staple in my house. We have this Simple Tossed Salad at least 3 times a week with dinner. And one of the reasons I can get my family to happily eat salad so often is the toppings!
Croutons are probably the thing they want the most on their salad, but we always have a stash of assorted crunchy toppings, nuts, seeds etc that are available to enhance a salad.

And the only thing that makes a salad better is when we have homemade croutons! There is just something about croutons made from scratch that take your salad from good to great.
If you have leftover bread of any kind, croutons are what you should make with it! You don’t need much, if you only have 1 slice of day old bread, you have enough to top a couple salads. Or you can make enough to store in the pantry for a couple days.
What You’ll Need
Croutons are so simple, you really need just 4 ingredients, and then you can add on and go crazy from there if you want.
- Day Old Bread
- Olive Oil or Melted Butter
- Salt
- Pepper
Those are the 4 basic ingredients. You can add garlic powder, onion powder, or any herbs that you like to up the flavor if you like.
What Bread To Use
You really can use whatever bread you have. If you like whole grain bread, then make whole grain croutons. I often use sourdough bread because that is what I have.
But you can use French bread, Italian Bread, Ciabatta Bread….literally whatever bread you have. Even sandwich bread makes better than store bought croutons.
How To Make Croutons
- Dice up your bread. You want to make sure that your bread cubes are about the same size. You can make them big or small, that is up to you. But you want them similar sized so they cook evenly.
- Arrange bread cubes on a baking tray and drizzle olive oil or melted butter over the top.
- Sprinkle the seasoning over the top of the bread. Here I am just using basic salt and pepper, but you can add garlic powder, dried herbs, parsley or whatever your like!
- Get in there and toss it all together. You want the bread to be evenly coated in the oil mixture.
- Then you just bake until crispy. You will want to flip them part way through the baking time to get them evenly browned.
Storing Croutons
After the croutons have cooled completely you can store in an air tight container for a couple weeks.
Ways To Use Homemade Croutons
If you can avoid just snacking on them they are perfect for so many things!
- Salads – BLT Salad, Caesar Pasta Salad or just about any salad you are making.
- Soups – They make a great topping to mix up the texture of soup. Use for French Onion Soup or even topping Butternut Squash Soup
- Stuffing – These are a great option when you are making Sausage Stuffing for the holidays.
More Recipes To Improve Your Salads
- Lemon Vinaigrette
- Antipasto Salad
- Creamy Balsamic Vinaigrette
- Greek Vinaigrette
- Spinach Chicken Salad
- Ranch Oyster Crackers
Homemade Croutons
Ingredients
- 1 loaf of bread, approximately 4 cups
- 1/4 cup olive oil or melted butter
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat bread to 400º F.
- Cut bread into small cubes.
- Arrange on a baking sheet in an even layer.
- Drizzle olive oil or butter over the bread, sprinkle evenly with salt and pepper.
- Toss everything together until it is evenly coated.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes, tossing about half way, until they are lightly browned.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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These are really yummy. Used them in a BLT salad and everyone loved them!
Yum! I love homemade croutons!
Very crunchy and tasty, adds a great element to any salad!
Everyone at my house really loved it! Can’t wait to make it again!
YUM I made some recently! The best!!