Homemade Croutons - 4 ingredients! Recipe - Rachel Cooks® (2024)

FAQs

Homemade Croutons - 4 ingredients! Recipe - Rachel Cooks®? ›

How to Make Croutons. All you need to do is cut the bread into cubes, toss it with olive oil, garlic powder, and salt, spread them on a baking sheet and bake. They only take 10 minutes to bake (but if you have really fresh bread, they'll take longer to get golden brown).

The key to crispy croutons is making sure that they're fully dried out in the oven and crunchy all the way through. They should not be chewy when they come out of the oven. Bake croutons in a single layer on the baking sheet to crisp up the bread, rather than steaming it.

Using too high heat. You want golden-brown croutons — not blackened ones. Tossing the bread cubes into a super-hot pan means they'll burn instead of toast. Instead, cook the croutons over medium to medium-high heat.

How long do croutons last? The expected shelf-life for homemade croutons is about two weeks. Moisture encourages mold, so make sure your croutons are completely dehydrated during the bake and let cool completely at room temperature before storing them away in an airtight container.

Simply make your croutons, place them into a freezer-friendly bag or container, and store them in the freezer. Take them out to thaw and then you're ready to enjoy!

If you have leftovers, you can simply re-crisp them by running them back in the oven for about 5 minutes on 350 degrees.

You want to make sure the butter has melted and seeped into the bread a little bit. If you don't like your bread too crunchy, remove it from the oven a little but earlier. If you're a crunchy garlic bread fan like me, you want to leave it in the oven until the edges of the bread turn golden brown.

Let croutons cool in a single layer on the baking sheet. Use immediately or keep in an airtight container for up to 2 days. To refresh stale croutons, bake for 3 to 4 minutes at 400 degrees.

Keep crispy stuff and cheesy stuff off

Since a salad is typically a high-moisture dish, it's best to keep anything crispy or cheesy off until serving. Crispy items such as croutons or fried wontons will become soggy and cheese will become soft.

Why do store-bought croutons last so long? ›

Commercially packaged croutons, due to their preservatives and packaging, can last significantly longer. They can often be stored at room temperature for several months without any noticeable degradation in texture or flavor.

If the bread is in a paper bag, remove it from the bag before putting it back into the oven. This step draws excess moisture out of the crust and makes it pleasingly crisp again. Plus, your kitchen will smell like warm, fresh bread. And what's not to love about that?

Let me explain: Most croutons are crunchy through and through, but these are designed to be crispy on the outside and chewy in the middle–far better for munching out of hand (or as a complement to tender salad leaves) than the hard, desiccated store-bought kind.