Have leftover dry bread lying around? Don’t throw them away…because they are perfect for Homemade Croutons! If you want to know how to make croutons, this post will guide you through the short list of ingredients you will need, plus step-by-step instructions, accompanied by photographs, on how to go about it!
These easy homemade croutons are coated in butter and garlic – they are crunchy, flavorful, and so dang addictive! Made with only 5 simple ingredients, they can be kept in a jar and are perfect for salads, soups, or snacking on its own!
The Only Homemade crouton Recipe You Need
If you’re looking for an easy recipe for croutons, this is it. I love making homemade croutons and add them to my tomato soup, Bruschetta pasta salad, or just snacking on it standing by my kitchen counter.
I mean, who doesn’t love toasted bread with lots of butter and garlic. That magical trio. HOW CAN YOU GO WRONG.
I used to buy croutons from the store, and then I make my own and discover how much better they are homemade. It’s fresher, crisper, with no additives added.
You can add lots of other herbs and seasoning to it, but I find that you really don’t need it. It’s so tasty with just a few simple ingredients.
That’s why it’s so easy to make Homemade Croutons – it really doesn’t need much to turn out fantastic.
When I make croutons, I’ll make a big batch of it so I can store the rest of it away in an airtight container for whenever I need them.
They are great to have on hand, and so much better than store-bought.
Ingredient Notes
To make Homemade Croutons, you will need these 5 simple ingredients:
- Bread: Cut into cubes. You’ll want to use drier, older bread — and that’s not limited to white sandwich bread; you can use French bread, ciabatta bread, sourdough, wheat bread, dinner rolls, etc.
- Salted butter: For best taste and results, use real butter. Not margarine, not I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter®, not light butter. But REAL butter, people. REAL butter.
- Extra-virgin olive oil: I like the combo of olive oil and salted butter as the “grease” for croutons. It has a neutral taste but is needed to toast up the bread in the oven.
- Garlic powder: For that fantastic garlicky flavor in every bite.
- Salt: To bring out the flavors!
How to make croutons from bread
I’m going to show you how to make a simple garlic butter crouton recipe from scratch, and then after that I will give you ways you can add on and modify your crouton recipe if you want to make it fancier.
Step 1: Prepare Bread Cubes
For best results, you will want to use dry, kinda stale bread for this — bread that’s sat out a couple of days works great.
Side note: When I say old, I mean pre-molding bread. If you see those green and black spots on your bread, they probably have expired their use even as croutons 🙁
First, using a knife, slice bread into cubed pieces, roughly ¾-inch cubes.
Add bread to a large mixing bowl, and drizzle melted butter, olive oil, garlic powder, and salt.
Give it a toss using a pair of tongs of a slim spatula, avoid squishing the bread too much.
Step 2: Bake
Spread cubed bread infused with buttery goodness in an even layer on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil (parchment paper works too, if you prefer).
In our household, aluminum foil is a clean-up saving grace.
I line them on all my pans prior to baking so that I have less dishes to wash! 😉 It’s pretty fantastic.
These unbaked homemade croutons can be slightly crowded and touch each other on the pan, but make sure to not overlap one on top of the other.
Bake it at 350℉ for 10-15 minutes, with your oven rack in the middle position for the most even bake. I used super dry (almost hard) bread this time around and I only needed about 12 minutes in the oven.
If you have less dry bread, you might need 15 minutes or more. The longer bread is in the oven, the more it will dry up. But also watch and lower heat if bread is burning but is not super crunchy yet.
Remove from the oven when croutons are done.
Homemade Croutons should be slightly golden-brown on the edges, and are crispy and crunchy when you bite into them.
They are also incredibly buttery, garlicky and DELICIOUS.
Make sure to let it rest for about 30 minutes or until it cools before transferring them to an air tight container. If it’s still warm, condensation will occur in the container and turn the croutons soggy (even if it’s air tight).
But let me tell you, whenever I make these Homemade Croutons, a fair amount is gone by the time it rests for 30 minutes.
I have a serious thing for the combination of butter and garlic, and these little crispy croutons are just so good once you have one it’s hard to stop.
Air Fryer Method
Don’t have the oven on for anything else today? Good news — these croutons air fry up beautifully, and it’s even faster.
Add the seasoned bread cubes to your air fryer basket in as close to a single layer as you can manage. If your basket is on the smaller side, work in batches rather than piling the cubes up.
Air fry at 350°F for 6-8 minutes, shaking the basket halfway through so all sides turn golden-brown. Keep an eye on them toward the end — these can go from perfectly golden to too-dark fast.
Storage Notes
Cooling: These croutons need to be completely cool before storing in an airtight container.
Storage: If the container isn’t air tight, croutons will become soft and soggy after a day or so.
Shelf life: When stored in an air tight container, Homemade Croutons should be good for at least 1 week.
Variations and Substitution
In this post, I’m showing you how to make croutons in the most basic, simple way.
If you want to make your homemade croutons fancier, here are some yummy seasonings and spices you can add to it:
- Herbs: Parsley, Italian seasoning, Oregano, Rosemary
- Spices: Onion powder, black pepper
- Parmesan cheese
If you want to make it healthier, here are some ways to do so:
- Butter swap: Substitute butter with extra-virgin olive oil — in other words, you’ll only be using oil and no butter at all.
- Bread swap: Use wheat bread, high-fiber bread, or gluten-free bread instead of white bread.
- Sodium reduction: Cut back on the butter and salt.
Or share with us and let me know other ways you’ve made your homemade croutons in the comments below! 🙂
Ways to Serve It
Homemade croutons are the perfect add-ons to soups and salads, and here are some of my favorites to go with it:
- Soups: Simple Tomato Soup, Creamy Potato Bacon Soup, Curry Butternut Squash Soup
- Salads: Fall Harvest Salad, Strawberry Bacon Spinach Salad with Lemon Maple Dressing, Crispy Chicken Salad with Honey Mustard BBQ Dressing
Tips and Tricks
- Bread age: Slightly stale, dry bread — sitting out a couple of days — works best. It soaks up the butter and garlic without turning mushy.
- Bread variety: Sourdough, French bread, ciabatta, or even dinner rolls all make great croutons — use whatever you have on hand.
- Cube size: Keep your cubes fairly uniform, around ¾ inch, so they toast at the same rate.
- Don’t overcrowd the pan: Spread the bread cubes in a single, even layer so they crisp instead of steaming.
- Melt the butter first: Melted butter coats the bread far more evenly than cold butter ever will.
- Toss, don’t stir: Use tongs or a thin utensil to gently toss rather than stir — it keeps the cubes from getting smashed and soggy.
- Check at the halfway mark: Give the pan a shake around the halfway point so every side gets some oven time.
- Watch the last few minutes closely: Croutons go from golden-brown to burnt quickly in the final stretch — don’t walk away now!
- Let them cool fully: Don’t skip this, if not the croutons will turn soggy in storage.
- Make a double batch: These disappear fast, and a big batch keeps just as well as a small one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, though stale bread is ideal since it’s already dried out. With fresh bread, just add a few extra minutes in the oven so it has time to dry and crisp up properly.
Almost any bread works — French bread, ciabatta, sourdough, wheat bread, or even dinner rolls. Avoid anything too soft and squishy, since it won’t hold its shape as well.
Yes, you can swap the butter for more extra-virgin olive oil and use only oil as the base. The flavor will be a little lighter, but they’ll still crisp up nicely.
This almost always comes down to storing them before they’ve fully cooled, or storing them in a container that isn’t fully airtight. Give them a full 30 minutes to cool first.
You can, though garlic powder distributes more evenly across the bread. If using fresh, mince it finely and toss it with the butter and oil so it coats everything evenly.
ENJOYED THIS RECIPE? Tell us what you think by leaving a rating and review below! 🤍
Homemade Croutons
Ingredients
- 6 cups bread cubed
- 3 tbsp salted butter melted
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350oF degrees
- Cut dry bread into roughly ¾-inch cubes and transfer to a large mixing bowl.
- Melt salted butter and sprinkle butter and olive oil over cubed bread in mixing bowl. Add garlic powder and salt. Mix well using a pair of tongs or spatula.
- Transfer items in mixing bowl to baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Spread cubed bread out evenly – do not overlap.
- Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes. Cool for 30 minutes.
- Serve with salads or soups, or store in air tight container .
Recipe Notes
- The dryer the bread the less cook time is needed in the oven
How long will these stay fresh if vacuum sealed?
Probably for about a week or two!
I always have extra sourdough bread on the counter and thanks to you, now I’ve got freshly made croutons too! Thanks for this recipe!
Yum! Sourdough makes such good croutons!
Heck yes! SO simple and a great way to use bread I had that was not going to make it another sandwich, haha.
Glad it was helpful Lynn!
Used your recipe to turn what I thought was useless bread into delicious croutons! Great recipe!
Thanks Tristin! Glad it was helpful!!
I love these tasty homemade croutons on my salads! 🙂 So flavorful and crispy. Need to make this more often when I have old bread.
YES! I feel the same way! Thanks for the feedback, Carrie!
So much better than store bought! I made a big salad for dinner last night, made your croutons, and the family loved them. This will be my go to recipe from now on.
Thank you Gina! Happy to hear your family enjoyed them.
Really great flavor. And so easy, definitely gonna use it on all the salads.
Yes! I try to make it whenever I can and always love it!
This is such a good way to prevent throwing out stale bread which I do a lot. I’ve made it a few times and they always come out great.
Yes! It’s such a great and yummy way to use up old bread!
These croutons are easy to make and way better than store-bought. So delicious. Thanks for sharing,
Thank you so much!