Easy Homemade Croutons

Come learn how to make these easy homemade croutons! Who needs expensive bags of store-bought ones when you can make your own croutons exactly how you like them.

Click HERE to save these instructions for how to make Easy Homemade Croutons to Pinterest!

With spring (YAY) salad season arriving shortly, learning how to make croutons is a great thing to do. I love the flavor and crunch that a good crouton adds to a salad.

Adding croutons to a salad makes it seem more like a meal when there is a lot of varying color, texture, and flavor rather than just a pile of vegetables. Do you know what I mean?

Why Make Homemade Croutons?

You might be thinking, now why would I bother making croutons when I can just buy them? I’ll tell you!

First and foremost, you save money when you cook from scratch!

Bread is relatively cheap to make and to purchase. And since most of us usually already have bread on hand that we can use to make croutons at home, that makes them basically free!

If you have a loaf of bread that is getting a little bit past it’s freshness and is starting to get a tad stale, making croutons is the perfect way to use it up instead of tossing it in the trash. That allows you to make the most of everything you spent on the bread.

You can use any type of bread, including sandwich bread, or rolls to make croutons.

Also, you can be healthier when you control the ingredients! No mystery ingredients included when you make it yourself rather than using store-bought croutons. Plus, you can control the amount of salt and fat when you add it yourself.

Or, maybe you’re gluten-free — you can use your gluten-free bread to make gluten-free salad croutons!

Not to mention you produce less waste when you repurpose ingredients! You won’t be throwing away plastic bags that store-bought croutons come in when you make them homemade. And you’ll be able to repurpose and utilize bread that has gone stale and otherwise would get tossed in the trash can.

Lastly, you get to be creative when you customize your flavors! It’s fun to experiment and try different things in the kitchen. Whether that is learning a new skill, such as making croutons, or coming up with a new flavor profile to feature in your croutons, creativity makes life more fun.

Homemade Croutons Ingredients

For this easy crouton recipe, you’ll need:

• Dry bread
• Melted butter or olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Seasonings of your choice (i.e. fresh or dried herbs, garlic powder, etc)

Click HERE to save these instructions for how to make Easy Homemade Croutons to Pinterest!

How to Make Croutons

1. Choose the Right Bread

You’re going to want to make sure you start with good quality bread when making homemade croutons. A nice baguette, homemade or store-bought, or rustic white bread works great. Bread that you made or purchased and didn’t eat quick enough before it began to become stale is perfect.

Another thing that is perfect to make croutons: day old discount bread that has been marked down

Related: If you want to bake homemade artisan-style bread (leftovers makes great croutons), try this recipe: Rustic Rosemary Garlic Bread. Check out my 5 Tips for Baking with Yeast if you are new to bread baking.

2. Cut the Croutons

The size you cut the bread into really depends on your personal preference. I recommend 3/4 – 1 inch sized cubes of bread.

Don’t worry if the cubes aren’t all 100% uniform in shape as long as they are pretty close to the same size. You don’t want to end up with a portion of your croutons over or under cooked.

3. Toss with Oil or Butter

Place the cubes in a large, wide bowl and drizzle them with olive oil or butter. You’ll use about 1-2 tablespoons of melted butter or olive oil for each 2 cups of bread cubes. Or you can use half oil and half butter if you like that.

Toss the bread evenly to coat.

4. Add Seasonings (Your Choice!)

If you’d like to take it up a notch, go ahead and add some seasonings to your bread cubes. You might like just a simple salt and pepper. Or you might enjoy something stronger like garlic powder, onion powder, fresh herbs (thyme or rosemary are great), or dried herbs (basil or Italian seasoning are great).

A dusting of finely grated fresh Parmesan, Romano, or asiago also adds wonderful flavor to homemade croutons. One of my favorite crouton recipes is this recipe for Homemade Sourdough Garlic Butter Croutons.

5. Allow Plenty of Space 

Spread the bread cubes out evenly on a large baking sheet.There should be plenty of space so the cubes aren’t too close together or piled up on each other. You don’t want them to get soggy!

6. Bake until Crisp

Bake the prepared bread cubes in a preheated 375°F oven for 10 – 20 minutes (until they reach your desired crunchiness), stirring every 5 minutes. Make sure you keep at eye on your homemade croutons, because all ovens behave differently.

Alternatively you can toast in a toaster oven. I like them a little crunchier for use in soup since they will soak up a lot of liquid. Less crunchy croutons become soggy faster.

7. Let Cool

Cool completely before storing in an airtight container to maintain freshness and crunch.

Click HERE to save these instructions for how to make Easy Homemade Croutons to Pinterest!

Ways to Enjoy Croutons

Besides as a salad topper, there are a number of other ways to use homemade croutons. A few of my favorite uses are as follows:

Breading Meat

Next time, try using crushed homemade croutons rather than flour to bread your meat, like the chicken in this Chicken Parmesan with Sun Dried Tomato Sauce.

Sprinkle on top of baked casseroles

This is especially good on any cheesy, baked pasta dish. These are some of my favorite cheesy, baked pasta dishes to top with a sprinkle of crushed croutons.

• Green Chile Turkey Tetrazzini
• Jalapeño Bacon Mac n Cheese
• Southwestern Mac and Cheese
• Baked White Cheddar Mac n Cheese with Kale and Bacon
• Baked Mac n Cheese with Gruyere and Butternut Squash

Substitute crushed croutons for bread crumbs

You can use crushed Homemade Croutons instead of breadcrumbs in these tasty Chicken Meatballs. Or try this technique in your favorite meatloaf recipe for a flavor boost.

Rather than dipping crackers in soup, use these Easy Homemade Croutons to add crunch your favorite bowl of soup. Here are a few favorite soup recipes that pair nicely with Homemade Croutons.

• Minestrone Soup with Swiss Chard and Sausage
• Rosemary Chicken Chowder with White Beans
• Roasted Garlic and Cauliflower Soup
• Roasted Red Pepper Soup
• Potato Leek Soup
• Easy Tomato Florentine Soup
• Easy Cheesy Broccoli, Kale, Carrot Soup
•  Italian Sausage Orzo Soup

Want more soup recipes? Head over to the soup section of the recipe index and browse through the archives for even more soups to pair with homemade croutons.

Have you ever made homemade croutons?

Love this recipe for Easy Homemade Croutons?
Sign up for Good Life Eats email updates and never miss another recipe!

Click HERE to save these instructions for how to make Easy Homemade Croutons to Pinterest!

Be sure to follow Good Life Eats on Instagram. Tag @goodlifeeats and include the hashtag #goodlifeeatsrecipes so I can see what you’re cooking up in YOUR kitchen!