Homemade Croutons: the easy and tasty recipe for making croutons

Homemade croutons are delicious cubes of crispy bread, perfect to serve with creams, soups, salads or to eat as a snack. You can make them with any kind of bread with a lot of crumbs, and it is also a good way to use up stale bread. Croutons can be made in a pan or in the oven in a few minutes: you just need to toast the bread with a little oil and your favorite flavorings. Here's how to make golden and crispy homemade croutons in no time.

How to make Homemade Croutons

Cut the bread into slices of about 1 centimeter, remove the crust if you prefer, and then cut the slices into cubes.

If you want to bake the croutons in the oven: place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, add the oil, salt, pepper and herbs, stir and bake in a preheated oven at 200° for about 10 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally.

If instead you want to make them in a pan: add the oil and herbs and toast the bread cubes for about 15 minutes over low heat. The croutons are ready to pair with your dishes.

Tips

You can make croutons with stale homemade bread, better if 2-3 days old or not too fresh. Alternatively you can also use whole wheat bread or bread in a box: for 4 people you need about 12 slices. In both cases remove the crust to avoid that the croutons take on a bitter aftertaste after cooking.

Flavor the croutons as you like: rosemary, paprika, turmeric, hot pepper, according to the dishes you will prepare. Spicy croutons with hot pepper, for example, are perfect for soups such as a cabbage soup or a lentil soup. Rosemary flavored croutons are best for chickpea soup as well as for pumpkin soup. If you want to flavor croutons with garlic, rub the bread slices with a clove of garlic and then cut them into cubes.

How to store Homemade Croutons

If you don't eat the bread croutons right away, you can store them for a week in a cool, dry place inside a tightly closed container.