Homemade Croutons
Published on March 24, 2023
Quick Summary
Croutons- Learn how to make homemade croutons that are crunchy on the outside, slightly chewy on the inside, and SO much better than store bought croutons. Use in salads, soups, stuffing, and more!
I love a good salad, especially when croutons are involved, but not any old croutons will do. I don’t care for store bought croutons, but I LOVE homemade croutons. They are SO much better and SO easy to make, I promise.
Today, I am going to teach you how to make the best croutons in under 30 minutes. You can use them in salads, as a garnish for soup, chowder, chili, in your favorite stuffing, grind them up in a food processor to make breadcrumbs, and so much more!
You will never buy croutons again…and you will want to use them in anything and everything because they are so good! Promise me you will make this Caesar Tortellini Salad. It’s our favorite!
Table of Contents
Easy Ingredients
- Bread-To make good croutons, you need to start with good bread. Use a crusty loaf of bread, like French, Italian, or Sourdough. Don’t use a regular loaf of sandwich bread. It is also best to use bread that is stale, that is at least a day or two old. So if you have stale bread sitting on the counter, don’t throw it out, make croutons! You can also use flavored breads to jazz up your croutons. Rosemary & olive oil, asiago cheese, or garlic are all great options. Don’t cut off the crust, the crust is what makes the croutons hearty and so delicious!
- Olive oil AND Butter-I use olive oil and butter. You need to toss the bread cubes in olive oil so they will crisp up in the oven. I like to add melted butter too for added flavor. If you need the croutons to be vegan, you can use just olive oil.
- Garlic Powder-I normally like to use fresh garlic, but with croutons, I like to use garlic powder so the garlic doesn’t burn in the oven and so all of the bread pieces are evenly coated with garlic.
- Italian Seasoning-Italian seasoning adds great flavor to the croutons and we always have a jar in our pantry.
- Salt and Black Pepper-Finish with salt and pepper for necessary flavor.
How to Make Croutons
You can make croutons in about 30 minutes and most of the time is oven time. The prep is easy and the results are SO delicious!
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Cut the loaf of bread into 3/4-inch cubes and place in a large bowl. Make sure the bread cubes are all the same size so the croutons cook evenly. You can also tear your bread if you want rustic bread cubes. I usually like to cut the bread with a bread knife to make sure they are the same size, but either way works!
- Drizzle the bread cubes with olive oil and melted butter. Sprinkle the garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt, and black pepper over the bread. Toss until all of the bread cubes are well coated.
- Spread the bread cubes onto the prepared baking sheet, making sure the bread cubes are in an even layer and not touching. If they are too close and overlapping, they won’t cook evenly and won’t crisp up.
- Bake for 12 to 20 minutes, tossing halfway through, or until the croutons are golden brown. Check early to make sure you don’t burn them. Time will depend on how thick your bread pieces are and how your oven cooks.
- Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Warning, it is hard to walk by the pan and not grab a crouton or two…or a handful:)
How to Store
Store cooled croutons in an airtight container on the counter for up to 5 days. You can also freeze croutons in a freezer bag or container for up to 6 weeks.
More Homemade Recipes
- Homemade Pita Chips
- Homemade Tortilla Chips
- Homemade Pretzel Bites
- Homemade Flour Tortillas
- Homemade Granola Bars
Homemade Croutons
Ingredients
- 1 loaf crusty French, Italian, or Sourdough bread
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Cut the loaf of bread into 3/4-inch cubes and place in a large bowl. Drizzle the bread cubes with olive oil and melted butter. Sprinkle the garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt, and black pepper over the bread. Toss until all of the bread cubes are well coated.
- Spread the bread cubes onto the prepared baking sheet, making sure the bread cubes are in an even layer and not touching.
- Bake for 12 to 20 minutes, tossing halfway through, or until the croutons are golden brown. Check early to make sure you don't burn them. Time will depend on the thickness of your bread and your oven. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?
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These croutons look amazing! I love the combination of olive oil and butter. This is a must try! Thank you for sharing these tips.
They have the best flavor!
I tried to give this 5 stars, but the stars stayed grey, lol! These croutons were SO good and super easy to make. I also made your balsamic dressing, which was really amazing 🙂
Glad you liked both recipes!
I put chopped garlic in a small pot with the olive oil and strain…gives you the fresh garlic taste….
Yes, these croutons are indeed MUCH better than its store-bought version! I’m making this recipe for the second time, and this time I’ll make enough croutons for the whole week long, woo hoo!
Thanks for the awesome recipe. Love you Maria & Josh! <3
I am so glad you like our crouton recipe! SO much better than store bought:)
Can you freeze these after you make them? Or would they go soggy? I have a BUNCH of stale bread!
You can freeze them for up to one month.
Love this recipe! Had leftover bread i had made. It was reheated once so it was ready to go ir to become croutons. Luckily I opted for croutons. Serving these with homemade soup. Can’t wait to pop these on a nice hot bowl of soup! Thanks for a great idea!
Since peas come from pods, shouldn’t it be two pods and their pea?
I was wondering. Since peas come from pods, shouldn’t it be two pods and their pea?
No because there is more than one pea per pod.
Ok, so this is the second batch I made. First batch was great but not ALL were very crunchy, but they were still amazing!!!! This time I lowered the oven to 350° so I could cook them just a little longer, about 18 minutes on the first side and then 5 minutes once I turned them. I have a little OCD so I turned each one by hand to get them evenly browned. I used aluminum foil under them and found they crisped better on the foil side. I also added some extra crushed dried parsley (1/4 tsp) and garlic salt (1/4 tsp) to the recipe. I mixed all the dry ingredients together in a small bowl and once the bread cubes were coated with the melted butter and oil, I was able to sprinkle the dry ingredients a little at a time. I intermittently added the dry mix while stirring the bread to coat each piece. They came out perfect and crispy.
They are better than I’ve ever had in a restaurant or store bought! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I’m hooked and I’ll be making them at home from now on!
I wish I could ass a photo to show how nicely they came out. But anyone who tries this recipe will be thrilled with the results.
Excellent. I used left over Hot dog buns and they came out great.Served as side/garnish for potato soup and were delicious. Easy recipe thanks.
You are welcome!
Mine never got crunchy but I gave the recipe five stars still because I think it had nothing to do with the recipe and either the bread I used or… something.
Wanted to use what was left of my BFs first attempt at baking a load of homemade gluten free bread for me at Christmas.
Surprisingly, while it was pretty stale in the fridge it wasn’t moldy and actually still had some softness to it. But I knew right away I wanted to try making croutons out of the rest of it and followed this recipe.
Was very simple took me about 10 minutes to get everything together. I put them in for 18 minutes and they were still kind of soft in the middle so I put them in for an additional four.
They crunched up slightly more but they’re still kind of soft and not crunchy like typical croutons!
What would you suggest doing in the future? they started getting pretty golden brown I was afraid they would burn if I left them in longer. Maybe cut them smaller next time? Cut them into pretty typical size pieces.
Too much olive oil?
Perhaps it’s because it’s gluten free bread?
They’re very tasty otherwise and incredibly easy. Just for some pizazz I added a little of lemon pepper seasoning to mine
Lower your temp and leave in longer to dry them out. The goal is to extract the moisture in the bread to get it crunchy.
Hey, I eat GF too and I’ve found that homemade GF bread has to be VERY stale, extremely hard, for it to not be soft when toasting or making croutons. This is specially true if you’re a beginner in terms of baking GF bread, and also if you use a store bought mix. It’s also worth noting that GF bread, not stale, doesn’t brown that much when making a toast. Usually I go for a low temperature in my pan, without any grease, for a looooong time each side. And it doesn’t get a truly nice brown or gold colour. So I would suspect that you’ll have to make the croutons in a specially low temperature setting for longer time. I’m about to do some following this recipe, also with a homemade GF bread that for whatever reason didn’t rise, so I’ll let you know how it goes with a lower temperature. Keep in mind I left my loaf of bread 3 days on the counter for it to be truly stale, I keep finding it still has moisture if kept on the fridge
I was wondering if rye bread would make good croutons?
Yes! I think they would be fabulous! I love switching up the bread!
I have made these delicious croutons 4 times and making them again today for our Sunday Family Dinner. They are simply yummy and surprisingly easy to make.
We used our homemade rustic loaf and homemade French bread in your recipe. Loved it! The next time we used the same ingredients plus some of our homemade Italian seasoning and also added in some onion powder. Delicious. I can’t help myself with playing around with recipes.
My recipe for croutons is similar but I add fresh garlic. I don’t melt the butter. I put all the ingredients into the food processor. Since the butter wasn’t melted you can spread this with a spatula on the bread slices and then cut into cubes.
I used leftover sesame seed hamburger buns and they still came out amazing. Your recipe literally changed my life/dinner. Every other night I have a Caesar salad with these croutons or soup with these croutons. Amazing with lobster bisque, New England clam chowder, squash soup, steak salad. Now I do not live without them!
Burnt to a blackened crisp the second i turned my back. My oven must be Way off.
Fantastic recipe. Super easy. Used left over split rolls and they look perfect and once they cooled off they crisped up beautifully. Love these in my caesar salad.
Perfect!!!!
i got 15 minutes in with mine, went for another 10 and they burned. and i know my oven is off. seems like lower temp, and maybe longer time or maybe not, works. i also may have made my pieces smaller so they just cooked faster. def gotta keep an eye on them.
These came out great! I used Some stale bread I had and added a small amount of crushed red pepper for a little kick. Thank you.
Takes salads to the next level. So easy to make and been eating this everyday! I use my small toaster over and eyeball the ingredients. A lil bit of this and a lil bit of that! Great as snack too!!
Glad you like the croutons! Our favorite!
I used whole grain hotdog buns that needed to be used up before going stale. I followed the recipe and cooking instructions but set my temp at 350 and only cooked for 15 mins because my oven runs a little hot, and they still got a little too browned. Just an FYI to anyone else who may have this issue. The flavor is good, so I will try again.
Husband approved! My husband loved these croutons I made him today. I added approximately 3 TBSP more of olive oil as my bread was very stale and needed the extra to coat it all, but not saturate. I love the versatility of this recipe and look forward to trying hard shredded cheeses on them next time.
Storage: Could I put them in the refrigerator in an air tight container to increase shelf life? though I doubt they’ll last past this week as I am finding him snacking on them. LOL
Thank you and looking forward to viewing more of your website contact!
Sure, if you want them to last longer you can put them in the fridge or even freezer.
Great recipes I had a loaf of la brea bakery cheese bread and added some pecorino romano to the butter/olive oil seasoning mix . Delicious
Sounds amazing!
They were smelling wonderful at the halfway point of the oven time, but we’re burned at the end of the second half. 🙁 if I try it again I will cut down the temperature or the time.
I made these croutons with the last, dried out piece of artisan bakery French bread. Then I ended up eating all of them before they made it to the salad bowl. 🙂 One question – they were delicious but crunchy all the way through. How could I get them chewy in the center? Different bread? Different thickness of the pieces? Different time or temp in the oven? I would happily experiment!
Don’t bake them as long if you don’t want them as crunchy. A different bread might help too, not super crusty loaf.
I’ve made homemade croutons before but adding butter put this recipe over the top!
Have made these several times. So good! I just read through the comments and can’t wait to try rye bread. I’ve made several different recipes for homemade croutons and these are the BEST!
Hi, Maria! I’m following you from Italy with a lot of pleasure, adore your recipes ❤ I think I’ll made this croutons with Tuscan bread but…ah…what’s Italian seasoning..?
Many many Kisses
Daniela
I read the reviews so was a little worried they wouldn’t be crispy enough. I needed them pretty crispy to crumble on top of ‘Vegan Jalapeno Popper Mac and Cheese’ (recipe also on Pinterest). I left the temp at 375 and cooked for 12 min., tossed & cooked another 2 min., then cooked a final 2 min. – checking often to make sure they didn’t burn. They came out perfect! Also used vegan butter with the olive oil – these croutons are delish. Thanks!
I had made baguettes last week and it would have pained me if I had to toss them because they went stale. I used them with this recipe…yummy! They are so good and will definitely improve my boring old salad for lunch tomorrow.
Glad you loved the croutons!
This recipe is so easy and the croutons come out so delicious. So easy to use these crumbs for croutons and bread filling. Keep up the good work
Hi there, after reading this awesome article
i am also delighted to share my know-how here with friends.
These are excellent and very easy to make! I made them to put in a Caesar salad. My daughter-in-law asked for the recipe. That is the ultimate compliment! I will never buy store-bought croutons again.
I made these croutons the other day. They were a big hit with my family. I did cook them with my pan lined with tin foil. They cooked perfectly, I did it this way because the bread I as using was fresh. They turned out perfectly crunchy and we’re not soggy. Thank you, I love using your recipes. I am getting ready to cook another one of your recipes tonight.
You’re doing a great job Man, Keep it up.
Can these be made in a convection oven? If so, what degrees should it be set on?
A baguette is a good start, nice and crusty and fills pan nicely. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn on you (too sad after all the work). Once you make a batch, you will never go back to store-bought! I make these for the whole family.
Perfect! All I had was a sourdough sandwich roll. Cubed it up. Seasoned it and baked for 12 minutes. Crisp but not hard!
I loved this recipe. I used 1 tablespoon garlic olive oil in place of one of the tablespoons of olive oil. Used 1/2 a teaspoon of garlic powder. This was a really good recipe and easy to follow. Cooked for 10 minutes, flipped the croutons over, then cooked another 6 minutes. Perfect, crunchy outside, with a nice golden color.
Have yet to make the croutons but plan to tomorrow. I chose this recipe for two reasons: 1) mention of “sourdough” and 2) mainly b/c of their website name “two peas and their pod”. A priceless name I know the recipe will be delicious! Giving recipe a five star for the second reason. 🙂
These croutons are great. Make them all the time. So tasty and add good flavour to salads
Super easy and delicious
The best!
These turned out great even though is messed up the instructions. I mixed all the spices, oil and butter together but it still coated the bread well. They were delicious in our Caesar salad
Perfect for a Caesar Salad!
Love salad
Soooo good and so easy to make! I’m glad I have a new use for the bread I have in the freezer that needs to get used up! Thanks for another fantastic recipe!
Easy and so much better than store bought!
This is by far the best homemade croutons I have ever made..5 stars..
Yahoo!
Delicious with my leftover sourdough bread!
Yum!
Thank you for the help in the kitchen Maria & Josh!!
You are welcome!
Quick and easy! Needed a little crunch on our scalloped potatoes with ham. These were delish. Granddaughter cleaned up the leftovers. We’ll remember this recipe. Thanks
You are welcome!