• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Trending: Healthy New Year
  • About
  • Shop
  • Work with Me
  • Contact

Cooking for Keeps

  • All Recipes
  • Course
    • Appetizers
    • Bread
    • Breakfast
    • Casseroles
    • Cocktails
    • Dips
    • Main Course
    • Pasta
    • Salads
    • Sandwiches
    • Sauces
    • Side Dishes
    • Soups & Stews
    • Stir Fries
    • Sweets
  • Protein
    • Beef/Lamb
    • Chicken/Poultry
    • Pork
    • Seafood
    • Vegetarian
  • Method
    • Casseroles
    • Slow-Cooker
    • Grilling
    • Minimal Ingredients
    • Quick
    • Air Fryer/Instant Pot
    • Oven
    • No cook
    • Stovetop
    • Kid Friendly
    • Dinner Party Worthy
    • One Pan
Home Bread
Easy easy

Easy Homemade Croutons

By: Nicole 6 Comments
Posted: 04/17/17

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.

These easy homemade croutons are SO simple to make and the a wonderful way to use leftover bread. I promise, you’ll never buy store-bought croutons again!

Easy Homemade Croutons

Store-bought versus homemade – an argument I’m very familiar with and admittedly pretty passionate about. What foods are worth it, and when should you just say screw it and hightail it to store to pick up a freaking jar of salsa?

For some people maybe it’s never worth it, but for myself? I’d say it depends. It depends on the amount of time you have. It depends what’s on sale at the store. Will the ingredients be ten times more expensive than just buying it??

Easy Homemade Croutons

With that said, a handful of the items I personally believe have a better quality when you make them yourself are ricotta, ALL dressings, cookies, biscuits, and pie dough, although even I will admit when I’m against the clock I have no shame in purchasing any of those items from the store on occasion. However, out of the thousands of convenience foods you can buy at the store, the one item I’ve never bought, nor will I ever buy are store-bought are croutons.

One, they’re SO easy to make. Two, I’m willing to be you have everything you need for them in the pantry 99% of the time. And three, the flavor is infinitely better than anything you’ll find at the grocery store.

To me, store-bought croutons just taste fake, and I can spot a fake a million miles away. There is nothing that irritates me more at a restaurant than when a beautiful salad is set down in front of me and it’s littered with processed croutons. I’m constantly taken aback when even some of the nicest restaurants try to fool me, and what’s even more baffling, is a restaurant has all of the necessary ingredients right at their disposal. Why??

Easy Homemade Croutons

Anyways.

Let’s start with the bread. I have used dozens of different kinds over the years, and while different breads yield different textures in the end, this recipe works for any kind of bread you’ve got leftover over in the pantry. Here, I used a mix of ciabatta, which resulted in a super crunchy crouton, and leftover sesame seed hamburger buns, which resulted in croutons that literally melted in my mouth. Both equally delicious, but completely different in texture.

I also love to use focaccia, sourdough, whole-wheat and sometimes, even leftover sandwich bread – honestly anything works.

Next, the fat. And YES without fat, you will not get buttery, delicious croutons, you will get dried bread, which is gross, trust me. I like to use butter for flavor, because I mean, do I need to explain? BUT feel free to use a mixture of butter and olive oil, I do not however, recommend using all olive oil since it’s such a strong flavor.

My favorite seasonings that go with pretty much any salad are simple: garlic powder, Italian seasoning and salt. If you want some spice, add a bit of cayenne. For smokiness, add a little bit of chipotle powder.

Here’s how it goes. Toss the day-old bread with melted butter, cover in seasonings, spread on a baking sheet, bake until golden brown, serve!

Easy, perfect croutons ready for any salad. Or for snacking…

Easy Homemade Croutons

5.0 from 4 reviews
Easy Homemade Croutons
 
Print
Prep time
10 mins
Cook time
12 mins
Total time
22 mins
 
Homemade croutons are SO easy to make and the a wonderful way to use leftover bread. I promise, you'll never buy store-bought croutons again!
Author: Cooking for Keeps
Serves: 6 cups croutons
Ingredients
  • 6 cups day-old bread cut into ¼ inch cubes (I like to use ciabatta but you can use literally whatever leftover bread you have.)
  • 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter (this makes A LOT of croutons!)
  • 1 tsp. italian seasoning
  • 1 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1 tsp. salt
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Add cubed bread to a large bowl. Drizzle ¼ of the butter over the bread cubes. Use a spoon to toss the bread crumbs in the butter. Repeat three more times. Each cube should be completely coated in the butter.
  3. Mix italian seasoning, garlic powder and salt together in a small ramekin. Sprinkle half over the bread. Toss. Repeat.
  4. Transfer bread cubes to a large, rimmed baking sheet.
  5. Bake for 6 minutes, pull out and bake another 6-7 minutes or until the croutons are golden brown and crispy. Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.
  6. Will store for one week.
3.3.3077

Easy Homemade Croutons

Meet Nicole

Welcome! My lifelong passion for delicious food and cooking has evolved over time into an equal love of showing you an elevated meal can be easy, approachable and most importantly, tasty. Dive in and find something perfect for you and your family!

Read more...

You May Also Like...

  • Pumpkin Beer Bread with Pumpkin Butter
    For Chic Sake Friday ~ Pumpkin Beer Bread with Homemade Pumpkin Butter
  • Homemade Rice-a-Roni is a healthier update on classic Rice-a-roni. Creamy, easy to throw together and so delicious! Kid-friendly as well!
    Homemade Rice-a-Roni
  • Homemade Hollandaise Sauce

Never miss a recipe!

Loading

Reader Interactions

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Have a question? Submit your question or comment below.

Recipe Rating




Rate this recipe:  

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  1. Lizzie says

    Posted on 4/18/17 at 4:12 pm

    I, too, will NEVER buy croutons. E-V-E-R. I’m not so much of a purist that I insist on baking my own bread to make them, but … the only thing I do insist on is tearing whatever bread you use rather than cubing it. Makes for more nooks & crannies. Yum.

    Reply
    • Nicole says

      Posted on 4/18/17 at 6:29 pm

      Love this idea! I’m totally going to tear them next time! Thanks Lizzie!

      Reply
      • Lizzie says

        Posted on 4/18/17 at 6:41 pm

        Rustic just looks more interesting because you get different shapes!

        Reply
  2. Mammaw3 says

    Posted on 2/28/22 at 3:34 am

    These croutons are delicious and super easy to make. I just used sandwich bread, cut it up into pieces and put it into a brown paper bag overnight. I cut the recipe into thirds and baked a little longer than the recipe stated. My family and I loved them.

    Reply
  3. Mary says

    Posted on 10/4/22 at 8:25 pm

    These are addictive! Hubby and I love them, so fresh and tasty!

    Reply

Primary Sidebar

hey

Meet Nicole

Welcome! My lifelong passion for delicious food and cooking has evolved into an equal love of showing you easy elevated meals can be approachable and most importantly, tasty.

Read More

Browse by Difficulty

Easy easy Medium medium Advanced hard

Reader Favorites

Best Chicken Enchilada

Best Chicken Enchilada Recipe

Italian Stromboli

Italian Stromboli (5 Ingredients!)

French Onion Chicken Skillet

French Onion Chicken Skillet

One Pot Mexican Past

One Pot Turkey Mexican Pasta

Subscribe to latest recipe updates

Loading

Trending

Coconut Curry Meatballs

Coconut Curry Meatballs

Bulgogi Beef Lettuce Wraps

Bulgogi Beef Lettuce Wraps

Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup

Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup

Spinach and Ground Beef Stuffed Shells

Stuffed Pasta Shells with Ground Beef and Spinach

meet nicole

Cooking for Keeps Cooking for Keeps
I'm Nicole. A born and bred food lover, cook since age seven and girl behind all the recipes and photographs you see here. Welcome!

subscribe

bloglovin feedly

popular posts

[tptn_list]

browse recipe by difficulty

easy

medium

hard

Instagram

[instagram-feed]
follow Nicole

Healthy Eats

Baked-Sweet-Potato-Chips-with-Blue-Cheese-Sauce-and-Bacon-5

Easy

Pan-Roasted Salmon with Garlicky Kale and Citrus Vinaigrette
Baked-Sweet-Potato-Chips-with-Blue-Cheese-Sauce-and-Bacon-5

Medium

Baked Sweet Potato Chips with Blue Cheese Sauce, Bacon and Green Onion
Spicy Pumpkin and Butternut Ramen PS2

Medium

Spicy Thai-Style Pumpkin and Butternut Ramen

Never miss a recipe!

Loading

By Course

Appetizers

Breakfast

Quick and Easy

Main Course

Soups

Salads

Side Dishes

Sweets

Explore

About Nicole

Shop Favorites

Press

Work With Me

Privacy Policy

Accessibility

Contact

© 2023 Cooking for Keeps
Site Credits Designed by Melissa Rose Design Developed by Once Coupled
Back to Top