How to Make Croutons From Leftover Bread

Croutons add crunch to a salad.

Croutons are a way to use up leftover bread. Stale bread, bagels, English muffins and other breads will work. Save the heels from different types of bread for more variety. Once you make croutons, they can also be crushed and uses as bread crumbs in recipes.

Things You'll Need

• 4 slices of bread
• 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese
• ¼ teaspoon each of preferred seasonings
• 2 tablespoons of salad oil

Instructions

1. Cut bread into cubes and put it in a bowl. Cubes should roughly measure about 1 inch. The bread can also be torn for rustic looking croutons or cut with a knife for neater squares.

2. Choose the seasonings. Instead of Parmesan cheese, Romano or other hard cheeses can be used. Olive oil, canola oil or melted butter all work well. Seasonings like pepper, parsley, garlic or other herbs can be added to taste.

3. Mix the seasoning and oil in a small bowl.

4. Add the seasonings to the bread cubes. Toss to coat evenly.

5. Spread the croutons out on an ungreased cookie sheet. Cubes can be close together but they should not be overcrowded. They need air to dry out.

6. Bake the croutons at 325 degrees until crisp. Larger, denser pieces of bread such as cubed bagels will take much longer than white sandwich bread.

7. Cool croutons. Store in a glass jar or a plastic container with a tight lid.

References

• University of Nebraska Extension; Homemade Whole Grain Croutons; Alice Henneman