Homemade Croutons
Homemade croutons are the best way to finish a salad! Learn what breads to use, how to season them, and how to make sure they’re perfectly crispy.
Servings 8
Ingredients
- 4 cups cubed good bread such as sourdough, focaccia, or a baguette (see notes)
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
Other optional spices:
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300°F.
- Place the bread in a large bowl. Add the olive oil and the spices and toss until the bread is well coated.
- Spread the bread evenly on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 10-20 minutes, tossing them every 5 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp around the edges but still slightly soft in the middle. Note that as the croutons cool, they will crisp up more.
Notes
For the best croutons with lots of crispy edges, slice the bread about 1-inch thick, then tear the slices into pieces around the size of a quarter. You can, of course, slice the bread for even pieces, but tearing gives more rustic edges that crisp up nicely in the oven.
Croutons that are perfectly crisp right out of the oven will be too hard to eat when they cool. For the perfect crouton, pull them from the oven when they are still have a bit of give to them – as they cool, they will crisp up perfectly.
Stale bread will crisp faster in the oven and will need less time to bake. Fresh bread will take longer and will need more time in the oven to get perfectly crisp.