How to Make Seasoned Croutons

Figuring out how to make seasoned croutons at home is something I should have tackled years ago, but I never gave it much thought.  Sure, I dried bread crumbs, but I never bothered with flavorings.  Lately my eldest and I have been eating a lot of salads, and he likes to include seasoned croutons in every bowl.  At $2-$3 per bag, making your own croutons from bread that may be past it’s prime can be a real money saver.  You can also avoid questionable ingredients.  Here’s the ingredient list for Fresh Gourmet Butter & Garlic Premium Croutons, via Foodfacts.com:

Flour Unbleached, Enriched (Wheat flour, Barley Malt, Niacin, Iron Reduced, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Folic Acid ( Vitamin aB), Water, Soybean Oil Partially Hydrogenated and/or Cottonseed Oil Partially Hydrogenated, Corn Syrup High Fructose, Corn Syrup Solids, Yeast, salt, Garlic Dehydrated, Onion Powder, Wheat gluten, Parsley Dehydrated, Flavor(s) Garlic (with Yeast Extract autolyzed), Flavor(s) Natural Butter (with Milk Fat Enzyme Modified), Flavor(s) Natural and Artificial, Annatto color(s), Calcium sulfate (Sulfate), Calcium Peroxide (Alpha Tocopherol (tocopheryl), Butter oil, Dough Conditioner, Flavor(s) Smoke, THBQ (Thiamine (Thiamin), Hydrochloride, Antioxidant), Antioxidant

You don’t need all that extra stuff to make crunchy, tasty, toasty bread bits.  All you need is bread, fat,  seasonings and an oven.

Homemade Seasoned Croutons Recipe

Ingredients

• 8 slices of bread – any sort (Check out our 12 Homemade Bread Recipes post for ideas)
• 1/4 cup olive oil, or melted butter or coconut oil – your choice
• 1-2 teaspoons seasonings
  • For garlic croutons, try 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt or 1 teaspoon garlic and 1/8 teaspoon salt, plus 1 teaspoon dried parsley
  • For Italian style, try a pinch of salt with dried oregano or basil
  • We made a cheesy garlic with garlic powder and 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
  • Wellnessmomma has a great list of Homemade Spice Blends you can try

Directions

Preheat oven to 300F.  If you haven’t already sliced and cubed your bread, do so now for the quick way to make the croutons.  I sliced, stacked, and sliced again, making cubes roughly 1 inch by 1 inch by 1/2 inch.  they will shrink up a little as they are tossed in the oil.  Some folks trim the crusts, but we’re not that fussy.

Mix together fat and seasonings in a large bowel, toss bread cubes to coat.  Alternatively, some people prefer to paint the seasoned oil on the bread and then slice it, but this seems much more messy to me.

Spread the seasoned croutons on a baking sheet and place in the oven.  Bake 30-45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes or so, until crisp completely through.  Taste testing recommended – just don’t burn your tongue!

Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Store in a tightly sealed container in a cool dry location for up to a week.  For longer storage, keep in the freezer.  (The fats will go rancid over time if left out, so eating fresh is best.)  I popped mine into mason jars and put some on the salad topper shelf next to the sunflower seeds and the rest in the freezer.  You can also crush these and use them in recipes that call for seasoned bread crumbs.  Making these with bread that’s a bit stale is just fine, too.

And that’s all there is to it!  One more packaged food item off the list.  One note:  you may find your homemade seasoned croutons to be significantly more tasty than the store variety, so you may want to make a double batch.

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