Homemade croutons are so easy and simple to make! All you need is a bit of olive oil and seasoning for a delicious addition to salads and soups!
Homemade croutons are one of life’s little pleasures. They use up stale bread that is maybe past its sandwich/toast prime, are great in salads, delicious as soup toppers (you should try it!), and are sneakily really good as a snack on their own.
If you are anything like me you probably have some sort of kitchen experiment going on. While I have homemade vanilla brewing and some kombucha, I also have an almost-three-year-old starter named Seymour. We have been in a love-hate relationship ever since I made him.
I have left him unattended in the fridge for weeks without being fed, tried to freeze him once, and even almost threw him out due to the copious amounts of flour he needs. But yet, I still have him and he has become more of a friend in the past weeks because I have been occupying myself with perfecting my sourdough technique – and therefore have a lot of bread for croutons.
While I don’t have a recipe for sourdough starter or sourdough bread yet, I want to become more informed before I write about it, I do have two great yeast recipes! So, if you are just getting started in your bread and yeast dough journey, I would suggest trying to make some not so secret no-knead bread. And if you have a sweet tooth, these delicious cinnamon rolls (which I will likely repost soon as a small batch version).
Why I Love Homemade Croutons
When I was a kid, my parents (well more my dad because he is a meat lover) used to buy their meat at a restaurant/butcher shop called The Biftheque. If we were lucky, the restaurant made too many croutons for service and we could buy a bag. These croutons were the best I’ve ever had. They were garlicky, had some sort of green spice (maybe oregano or chives or…) and they were oily, but a good type of oily.
Unfortunately, the restaurant and butcher shop closed down and I thought these delicious croutons would be lost forever – but they weren’t. Behold these homemade croutons! The perfect little remedy for getting back my Biftheque croutons and using up stale bread!
Recipe Notes
There are not many notes I can give you about making these little gems – except for one: do what you want. I love them with garlic powder and some oregano because they remind me of the croutons I loved as a kid. But I challenge you to experiment! You can go the old traditional just olive oil with a sprinkle of salt route, or you can experiment with bacon fat instead of olive oil (PS. I have and it’s delicious).
So now, discovering your perfect crouton is your mission!
Also, as a note, I find the 1 cup of croutons to 1 tablespoon of fat is a nice little ratio – so feel free to scale down or scale up the recipe.
Hope you enjoy!
HOMEMADE CROUTONS
Homemade croutons are so easy and simple to make! All you need is a bit of olive oil and seasoning for a delicious addition to salads and soups!
INGREDIENTS
- 4 cups bread, torn into ½-inch cubes
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp dried oregano (alternatively, you can use dried chives, rosemary, etc.)
- Salt to taste (I like flaky salt for this)
INSTRUCTIONS
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Place rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 400°F on broil.
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Toss all ingredients together on a baking sheet and bake flipping halfway through until edges are toasted and the croutons are golden, about 10 minutes. Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.
RECIPE NOTES
There are not many notes I can give you about making these little gems - except for one: do what you want. I love them with garlic powder and some oregano because they remind me of the croutons I loved as a kid. But I challenge you to experiment! You can go the old traditional just olive oil with a sprinkle of salt route, or you can experiment with bacon fat instead of olive oil (PS. I have and it's delicious).
So now, your perfect crouton is now your mission to discover!
Also, as a note, I find the 1 cup of croutons to 1 tablespoon of fat is a nice little ratio - so feel free to scale down or scale up the recipe.
Did you make this Recipe?
Please let me know! Tag @thebeaderchef on Instagram and tag it #thebeaderchef
TOOLS I USED FOR EASY EGGS IN PURGATORY
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