You might be wondering: why would you want to make your own croutons?
Well, let me tell you the whys…and the ways 🙂
If you have leftover bread lying around and are about to throw it away. Stop right there!! Yes, it’s perfect for croutons. You want you use dryer, older bread. And that is not limited to white sandwich bread, you can use french bread, ciabatta bread, wheat bread, dinner rolls etc.
Experiencing real butter on toasted bread is heavenly. And crotons are bite-sized heavenly, buttery toasted bread that you can just pop in your mouth! Anyone who knows me knows my love for butter, real butter. Not margarine, not I Can’t Believe it’s Not Butter®, not light butter. But REAL butter, people. REAL butter.
I happened to have some old french bread lying around one day, I chopped it up into cube pieces, put it in a mixing bowl, drizzled butter, garlic powder and parsley flakes to it, and tossed it with a pair of tongs to coat it evenly. I did not include it, but you can add grated parmesan for another layer of flavoring. Reduce the amount of salted butter slightly if using parmesan.
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 🙁
Spread cubed bread infused with buttery goodness on a pan lined with aluminum foil. In our household, aluminum foil is a clean-up saving grace. Bake it at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. I used super dry (almost hard) bread this time around and I only need about 12 minutes in the oven. If you have less dry bread, you might need 15 minutes or more. When it is done, croutons are slightly brown on the edges, and are crispy and crunchy when you bite into them.
Make a bigger batch and keep it in an air tight container. You can eat it on salads and soups, or as a snack. These things are addictive.
Homemade Croutons
Ingredients
- 3 cups bread cubed
- 3 tbsp salted butter melted
- 1/2 tbsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tbsp dried parsley flakes
- 1 tbsp grated parmesan optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350oF degrees
- Cube dry bread and transfer to a large mixing bowl
- Melt salted butter and sprinkle butter over cubed bread in mixing bowl. Add garlic powder, parsley flakes and parmesan (optional) into bowl. Mix well using tongs.
- Transfer items in mixing bowl to baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Spread cubed bread out evenly - do not overlap and leave space between each bread
- Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes. Cool for 30 minutes.
- Serve or store in air tight container
Notes
- The dryer the bread the less cook time is needed in the oven
