Homemade Croutons flavored with Garlic Sauce. Use in other dishes or as a snack all by itself. These are super easy to make and really available just about anytime. Since almost everyone always has a loaf of bread on hand.

Croutons

Croutons are extremely easy to make from fresh bread or bread that is going stale and is a great way to ensure you are using up everything with no waste. Using white bread is ideal for salads. Stale French Bread, Ciabatta, or Artisan loaves are recommended for soups. Since they produce crunchier croutons.

It’s really up to you. Just know that different breads produce different levels of crunch and the amount of moisture still in the bread determines this and is the main factor.

Stale Bread

I usually don’t eat the heels, and sometimes we don’t go through the bread fast enough, and it dries out a bit. These dried-out slices and the heels I leave out in a Bowl or dice for croutons. They air dry and become extremely hard and will stay there for months without issues.

Whenever I need Breadcrumbs, I just grab some and ground it up. I even use the dried out whole slices for French Toast. Yep, stale bread for French Toast is absolutely the best.

You can chop Stale and dried out bread into croutons, but you don’t get uniformity and it’s a bit messy. If you know you will need some Croutons, then cubing Fresh Bread or Stale bread and then letting the Croutons dry out ensures uniformity and is more ideal. The dried out cubed bread can also be ground for bread crumbs.

Fresh Bread

To make croutons from fresh bread, cube the bread to the desired size and spread them out on a baking sheet to dry. Ideally overnight, but longer like a week is ideal to eliminate all moisture. Once the croutons are dried, they can be placed into a bowl and set aside until needed and to further dry out.

Homemade Croutons Seasoning

The Seasoning consists of some form of Fat and various Herbs & Spices, along with Salt & Pepper.

Crouton FAT

Fat is what helps to add flavor and crisp the croutons up even more. Other Fats such as butter, oils, a mix of Oil & Butter, and even rendered fat with Butter can be used, especially Bacon Grease with Butter. It all depends on how you are using the Croutons and what flavors you want.

Crouton Seasoning

Season the Croutons anyway you like. Just add the Fat and the Seasoning to the bowl of Croutons and toss really well.

Italian Crouton Seasoning

Olive Oil & Italian Seasoning with some Parmesan Cheese and Salt & Pepper. These are also great for Caesar Salad Croutons.

Herb & Garlic Crouton Seasoning

Use the same Garlic Sauce with the additions of some Herbs. Entirely up to you what combination of Herbs you want. Some classic ones are Parsley, Marjoram, and Thyme.

Parmesan Ranch Crouton Seasoning

Use melted Butter with Dry Ranch mix and some Parmesan.

Baking Homemade Croutons

Bake the croutons in the oven for about 10 minutes at 350 F – 375 F. Toss them halfway through. Ensure that they are evenly spread out and not touching each other. Keep an eye on them because once they start to brown, the Browning process happens quickly.

Bake Stale Croutons until the desired level of browning is achieved. Then remove them from the oven to cool. Any leftover Croutons can be stored in an airtight container for up to 1 week.