How To Make Homemade Croutons

Do you have some bread and butter around the house? And a couple of spices? That’s all it takes to toast up some homemade croutons that you can add to your salads or soups. Once you learn how to make homemade croutons, you’ll really enjoy how lightly crunchy they are compared to the big hard cubes sold in the stores.

This homemade crouton recipe can also be adapted in lots of different ways. It’s a good way to use up any type of bread that you have around, and you can try different spices for different flavored croutons. I use a small amount of garlic powder and parsley flakes for a light seasoning, but you could also increase those spices or try spices like oregano or basil for a little more flavor. You can also substitute olive oil for the butter.

This recipe works best with bread that is slightly dried out or a little stale. I use bread from a regular store bought loaf of sandwich bread, but I take the bread slices out of the wrapper and let them set out for several hours to dry out a little bit.

Make your own croutons

Recipe for Homemade Croutons


Ingredients:
4 slices of bread – cubed
2 tablespoons butter – melted
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon parsley flakes

1. Cut the crusts off the bread and then cut into small cubes. I get about 22 to 24 cubes from a slice of bread but I like my croutons kind of small. Place the bread cubes in a large mixing bowl.

Homemade Croutons

2. Melt the butter in the microwave. Stir the garlic powder and parsley flakes into the melted butter.

3. Pour the melted butter mixture over the bread cubes. Stir to coat all the bread cubes with some of the butter.

4. Spread the bread cubes out in a single layer on a baking pan.

croutons 2

5. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 10 to 15 minutes or until lightly toasted, stirring the bread cubes once or twice during that time for even toasting.

croutons 3

6. Remove from oven and let cool. Store in a covered container.

Make your own croutons

Don’t let your croutons sit out to cool too long because they will be munched on by hungry family members tempted by their toasty buttery crunchiness. They might never make it to your crouton jar!

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5 Comments

    1. Hi Chris – The croutons stay fresh for several weeks. I keep them in an airtight container and we usually use them up in the course of a few weeks. They have never gone stale during that time. I think the key is to keep them in a good container.

  1. I know that some stores will sell specialty butter that already has herbs in this. But I almost used my left over bread heads to make croutons but instead I made meatloaf. I love your blogs!

  2. Yes new pan – You should see the old ones 😀 And bread painted with melted butter is pretty yummy even though it doesn't sound that way. We will say *drizzled with a seasoned butter mixture* That sounds better!

  3. I will say that I worked at a Steakhouse (not Longhorn) and this is how they made their croutons. Wonder Bread painted with melted butter.Did you get new pans? They look nice.