Learn how to make homemade croutons! With a delicious crunchy texture and rich garlic flavor, they're so much better than store-bought.
If you try these homemade croutons once, you’ll never buy them at the store again. This crouton recipe is easy to make with 4 ingredients—bread, olive oil, garlic, and salt—and it comes together in under 30 minutes. The croutons are crunchy, garlicky, and savory, perfect for adding texture and complexity to salads and soups. If you’re anything like me, you’ll want to eat them straight off the baking sheet too.
Like homemade breadcrumbs, these homemade croutons are a great use for stale bread. So instead of tossing that dried-out heel on your counter, put it to work in this recipe! You can even freeze bread scraps until you have enough to make a full batch of croutons from scratch. Waste not, want not! You’ll love having these crunchy, delicious cubes in your kitchen.
Homemade Croutons Ingredients
This crouton recipe has 4 main ingredients:
- Bread, of course! You can use any type of bread here, but I think a good crusty loaf is the best bread for croutons. Sourdough bread, baguette, or ciabatta will have a richer flavor and a more satisfying crunch than sliced sandwich bread, for example. Fresh bread and stale bread both work fine—you’ll just need to bake fresh bread longer in the oven.
- Extra-virgin olive oil – It helps the bread become crisp and browned in the oven. Feel free to use melted butter if you prefer.
- Garlic – It infuses the oil with savory flavor.
- And sea salt – To make all the flavors pop!
I list this as optional, but I also like to sprinkle my croutons with a little dried parsley when they come out of the oven.
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Croutons
This method for how to make croutons is super easy! It takes under 30 minutes, and most of that is hands-off baking time. If I’m making croutons for a specific soup or salad, I like to pop them in the oven first and prep the rest of the meal while they bake. Here’s how I make them:
First, cube the bread. Cut it into 3/4-inch cubes. Try to get them as even as you can so that they cook at the same rate.
Next, make the garlic oil. Heat two smashed garlic cloves in 1/4 cup of olive oil for about a minute, until the garlic is fragrant. Allow the oil to cool slightly before drizzling it over the cubed bread.
Next, toss. Toss to coat the bread with the oil and a few big pinches of salt. When everything is evenly coated in the oil and salt, spread the bread cubes in a single layer on a baking sheet.
Finally, bake! Pop the homemade croutons in the oven and bake until they’re golden brown and crisp, 10 to 20 minutes. The time will depend on the freshness of your bread and how crispy you like your croutons. The longer you bake them, the crispier they’ll be. Remove them from the oven, and sprinkle them with a little dried parsley. Enjoy!
Other Seasoning Options
As written, this recipe makes great garlic croutons, but you can feel free to spice them up more if you like! Try tossing them with other seasonings along with the salt. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Garlic powder, for extra garlic flavor
- Dried Italian seasoning, or other dried herbs like oregano, dill, or thyme
- Finely grated Parmesan cheese
- Freshly ground black pepper, for salt and pepper croutons!
- Red pepper flakes, or a pinch of cayenne for heat
Let me know what variations you try!
How to Use Homemade Croutons
I wouldn’t blame you for eating the rich, crunchy croutons straight off the baking sheet, but make sure to save a few for topping onto salads and soups! I especially love homemade croutons in green salads. Toss them with your favorite greens and my lemon vinaigrette, homemade Caesar dressing, or Greek salad dressing to make a simple side salad, or add them to any of these salad recipes:
They also add delicious crunch to creamy bowls of soup. I love sprinkling them over gazpacho in the summertime, and in the fall and winter, I often serve them with these soup recipes:
Storage
Homemade croutons keep well in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Homemade Croutons
Ingredients
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, smashed or halved
- 8 thick slices crusty bread, cubed, about 4 cups
- Sea salt
- Dried parsley, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a small saucepan, gently heat the olive oil and smashed garlic until aromatic, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat.
- Cut the bread into cubes and place them on the baking sheet. Remove the garlic from the saucepan and drizzle the garlic oil over the bread. Sprinkle with sea salt, toss to coat, and spread the bread in a single layer on the baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp. The timing will depend on your bread and how crispy you like your croutons. Sprinkle with dried parsley, if using.
Yummy! I used a loaf from Panera Bread. These croutons were perfect with tomato soup. Thanks for this recipe!
You can freeze croutons also. You can even freeze tortilla chips! No they won’t be soggy when thawed out. Love this!
This is my first time making croutons! AND, I topped your broccoli cheddar soup with them. SO YUMMY.
I used Costco French bread for these croutons, left my cubed bread out for three days (ooops, my cooking plans got derailed..haha), and they were perfect.
I’m looking forward to making them again soon!!
Hi Natalie, I’m so glad you loved the croutons and the soup!
These are delicious!
How do you keep them crunchy?
Hi Deb, they’ll stay crunchy if you store them loosely covered at room temp.
You can freeze them in freezer bags. They won’t be soggy when you thaw them out. I do this with tortilla chips too!
Alternatively, one could keep garlic olive oil in a jar, cube bread in the freezer and make croutons one baking sheet at the time as needed, (I would do it if my supermarket had a good price for stale but otherwise good bread, happens SOMETIMES).
Can definitely get inspiration from these recipes
These are fabulous and so quick and easy. I also experimented with a chilli infused olive oil and tasted fantastic. Your recipes are superb.
I have your first book but I must buy the Everyday one soon. Thank you Jeanine
Hi Fiona, I’m glad you enjoyed them and I’m glad you’re enjoying the book too!
I baked a loaf of no knead bread thinking that I was going to use it the next day, but that didn’t work out. So the next day while I’m thinking of what I’m going to do with my day old loaf of bread, I checked your blog and as it sometimes happens in the magical world of food bloggers, you had posted the perfect way to make something wonderful out of my day old bread just that very day. These croutons were so amazing. I didn’t have cucumbers to make your tomato and cucumber salad with them, unfortunately, but I put them over some hand torn raw kale, and dressed that with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and Parmesan cheese, and it was the perfect salad. Then, I turned on the Food Network, and Alton Brown was food processing some garlic croutons into crumbs to make a meatloaf, and I had also just bought some ground beef and vegetables at the farmer’s market, so tonight I made a riff on his meatloaf with leftover croutons, and it was so blissful. Sorry, I know you don’t eat meat, but I still wanted to tell you how you were the reason I had two blissful dinners in a row thanks to this recipe! You are awesome as always. I would not be able to eat as well without your expertise. You saved my day!
Hi Courtney, I’m glad to have posted the recipe at just the right time! 🙂