Homemade croutons are a great way to use up that stale bread or unwanted bread ends in the pantry. Packed with flavor and delicious on anything!
This homemade croutons recipe is simple, easy, and delicious. What more could you ask for? With a few basic seasonings and a little parmesan cheese, you can have the perfect homemade croutons for Caesar salad or any other dish you serve them with.
P.S. You don’t actually need to serve them with something, eating homemade croutons as-is like a snack is perfectly acceptable.
Making these homemade croutons doesn’t take too long either. In under an hour you can have an entire batch ready to eat! And one batch could easily last you through several salads.
These crispy croutons are packed with flavor despite only using a few ingredients. Try them today and let me know how they turn out, I’d love to hear it! I’d also be curious to hear about how you used them (as a snack on their own, or with a particular salad). I love getting extra ideas for their use!
How to Make Homemade Croutons
- Preheat your oven to 300 F degrees.
- Cut your bread into cubes. The easiest way to do this is to slice your bread like normal and then stack a few slices and cutting them into long strips and then turning those strips into cubes.
- Spread the bread cubes out into an even layer on a baking sheet.
- In a small bowl combine the olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and parmesan cheese. Drizzle the mixture over the bread cubes.
- Toss the cubes together so that they are evenly coated.
- Bake in the oven until they’re crispy and golden brown. This should take about 30-35 minutes.
- Let them cool completely before adding them to your salad and keep the unused cubes stored in an airtight container.
How long do homemade croutons last?
Homemade croutons with parmesan cheese has a shelf life of just a few days (about 3) but without the cheese, they can easily last up to 2 weeks!
This is pretty great news because once you learn how to make homemade croutons for caesar salad you’re going to want to use them, so there should be plenty of salads and bread cubes in your future.
What kind of bread should I use?
You can use any type of bread to make homemade croutons. I like to use regular sandwich bread because I have it on hand, but you can use cubed sourdough bread, french bread, gluten free, or any other variety that you think would be great!
That should give you plenty of time to use up and enjoy the bread that’s not being eaten in your home! You can also save up your uneaten bread by putting a piece or two in a zipper topped bag in the freezer until you have enough to make a batch of croutons. Then just have them thaw and use as directed.
Homemade Croutons Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 cups bread cubes see note
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300ºF.
- Cut bread into cubes. This is most easily done by slicing the bread as normal, then stacking a few slices and cutting them into long strips, then cutting the strips into cubes.
- Spread out the bread cubes in an even layer onto a sheet tray.
- Drizzle the bread cubes with the olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and parmesan cheese.
- Toss the bread crumbs so they are evenly coated.
- Bake in the oven until they are crisp and golden brown, about 30-35 minutes.
- Let cool before dressing a salad with them. Store in an airtight container.
Notes
Nutrition
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Alli says
I love making these!