I love croutons but I don’t typically buy them for a couple of reasons. First, it’s rare that I would go through a whole bag of them, so the majority of the bag would go to waste. Second, many of the store-bought brands are loaded with fat, calories and salt, so more often than not, if I want to add croutons to a dish, I just use a few slices of old bread and make my own. It’s hard to provide exact amounts of the ingredients here because it varies depending on how many pieces of bread you’re using. My advice is to use less oil and salt than you think you need and use more pepper or other spices like garlic powder, cumin or paprika to add flavor without sodium. Also, taste the chunks before you bake them to determine if they need a little more seasoning, too.
Kitchen Tips:
- -3 teaspoons are equal to 1 tablespoon. Keep that in mind because it might save you some preparation time.
- -A good, sharp serrated bread knife is the easy trick to getting the perfect little ½-inch squares that you can buy in the store.
- -Croutons are an easy and delicious way to add a little bulk or weight to a soup or salad.
Homemade Croutons
Ingredients:
- -Pieces of stale, old bread
- -Around 1 teaspoon olive oil per slice of bread
- -Salt, pepper, chili pepper, garlic powder, to taste (or whatever dried herbs and/or spices you prefer)
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Preparation:
Heat the oven to 350° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
To cut the bread into ½-inch squares:
Stack the slices on top of each other and begin slicing 1/2-inch wide sticks.
Rotate the sticks of bread 90° and begin slicing again to create chunks.
Place bread chunks, oil, spices and herbs in a large bowl and toss together.
Spread the bread chunks out in an even layer onto the parchment paper and bake until crispy, around 10-15 minutes, tossing them once after around 7 minutes.
Happy Cooking!