I decided to make DIY croutons from bread when I accidentally left a couple of loaves in the oven for too long. They weren’t burned, they were just toast. This is an easy bread crouton recipe, and the homemade croutons that you’ll end up with will be seasoned exactly the way that you want, and will taste a lot better than the ones you get at the store.
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The recipe I used.
The recipe that I use is 3 cups of cubed bread and 1/4 cup of oil, plus any seasonings that I feel like adding. The basics are:
- 3 cups of cubed bread
- 1/4 cup oil
- About 1/4 tsp pepper or less depending on if you like pepper
- About 1/4 tsp salt
- About 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- About 1/4 tsp paprika
- Parmesan cheese if you want to add that (I forgot to this time)
The main thing is the oil to bread ratio, but after that you can add whatever seasonings you like. Make a note of how much you put in so that you can adjust it if you make them again and you want them to taste a little different.
For a recipe for a simple sourdough loaf, click here.
Cut the bread.
I had a full loaf of bread, and I cut the heels off since I had overbaked them. I just used the inside part of this loaf.
Cut the bread into cubes that are relatively even in size. I did four cuts the long way across and 5 cuts from top to bottom of each slice, but you can make them smaller if you want to.
I got 20 croutons from each piece of bread cutting them this way. Put the cubes in a bowl until the next step. This one loaf of bread gave me about 12 cups of bread cubes in total.
Mix the oil and seasonings.
For every 3 cups of bread cubes, use 1/4 cup of oil. I used a combination of vegetable and olive oil because I was low on olive oil. I was using a full cup of oil because I had 12 cups of bread cubes, so the spices were added in larger amounts. If you only use 1/4 cup don’t add as much of the seasonings to yours unless you like them to be strongly flavored!
I added about 1/4 tsp of black pepper into the oil. Adjust this amount if you’re not a big pepper fan.
Next was about 1 tsp of salt.
About 1 tsp of paprika. This is a good addition because it’s a smoky spicy flavor.
I added probably 1/2 tsp of ground garlic to the oil. Add more or less depending on what you like.
Whisk them all together.
Add the oil to the bread cubes.
Pour the oil over the bread cubes evenly a little at a time. You want to toss the cubes so that they get coated relatively evenly.
I eventually put the cubes on a baking sheet that had a piece of parchment on it to finish coating the cubes since I had so many croutons.
Finish coating the cubes and toss them to mix them up.
If you want to sprinkle parmesan cheese on them you can do that now, or add it to the oil before you add that to the bread. I totally forgot about the cheese this time and they still tasted really good, but you can add anything you like to these.
Get the supplies I used here using my Amazon affiliate links (as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases):
- Parchment paper: https://geni.us/BjBAO8
- Himalayan natural salt: https://geni.us/6iohoD6
- Baking pans: https://geni.us/5Prm8MZ
- Bread knife: https://geni.us/0ApvnQ3
Bake and store the croutons.
Bake the sheet at 375F for about 20 minutes, or until the cubes look golden brown and are crispy on the outside. They’ll still be soft inside for some of them, but that’s fine.
If they don’t look like they’re toasted enough you can leave them in for a little longer, just judge them based on the color. You don’t want them to get too brown or they’ll be really hard to eat.
Store extras in a sealed freezer bag, and when you use them later heat them up a little before serving. That will crisp them up if they’ve softened.
Make sure to squeeze as much of the air out of the bag as you can before freezing them. If you store any overnight at room temp put them in a sealed container and reheat them a little to dry them out before eating them. That will make them crisp up if they’ve absorbed moisture while being stored.
These are a really good addition to salads, or to eat by themselves. I had half a pan of them that we were eating for snacks and not many were left at the end of the day, they’re really good on their own.