How to Make Quick and Easy Croutons: Cheese Garlic Croutons Recipe

Tired of eating prepackaged croutons from the store? Looking for a way to jazz up soups and salads? Try making your own cheese garlic croutons!

Follow the recipe below to bake your own quick and easy cheese garlic croutons; you and your family will LOVE them!

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 6 slices of bread (wheat, Italian, French...pretty much any type of bread will work)
• one stick of butter
• 1 large clove of garlic or 2-3 small cloves, finely chopped
• dash of garlic salt
• dash of garlic powder
• handful of shredded mozzarella or Italian cheese
• Parmesan cheese, if desired
• microwave safe bowl
• plastic freezer bag
• spatula and/or spoon
• baking tray
• aluminum foil
• oven mitt or towel

1. Gather your ingredients.
   
   Food preparation is a lot easier if you have your supplies ready. Gather your ingredients and utensils before proceeding to step 2. Take your time; I'm not going anywhere.

2. Tear or cut your bread into small pieces.
   
   Do not worry about chopping it into perfect little cubes. I promise your croutons will taste just as good if they are torn into random shapes and sizes.

3. Using a microwave safe bowl, melt your stick of butter.
   
   Depending on your microwave, this should take about 20-55 seconds. To avoid burning your butter, microwave it for 15-20 seconds, stir, and repeat.
   
   * If you are replacing some of your butter with olive oil, heat the butter separately before mixing in the oil.

4. Add garlic powder, garlic salt, and the finely chopped garlic cloves to your butter mixture.
   
   Stir well, and set aside.

5. Coat the pieces of bread with the butter mixture.
   
   Dump your butter mixture into the plastic freezer bag and add the bread, shaking until well coated. If you're lazy like me, you can skip this step and just add the bread to your bowl of melted butter, stirring well.

6. Arrange the coated pieces of bread on a foil-lined cooking tray.
   
   Try to avoid overlapping the pieces; this may cause them to be soggy.

7. Sprinkle the croutons with Italian or Mozzarella cheese.
   
   Use the cheese sparingly; you are making croutons, not mini pizzas. If desired, sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top of the croutons instead of (or in addition to) the Italian/Mozzarella.

8. Bake croutons at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
   
   Because ovens and cooking times may vary, I recommend checking on your croutons after about 10 minutes.

9. Remove croutons from the oven, and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes.
   
   Serve with your favorite soup or salad, or just snack on the croutons directly from the tray! Enjoy!

Tips & Warnings

• If you have small children, let them tear the bread into pieces. It is a safe way to let them help you in the kitchen.
• If you are concerned about your weight or health, you might want to replace at least half of the butter with olive oil.
• For optimal results, allow croutons to cool overnight in a freezer bag or covered container. They taste better that way.
• Be careful when removing your tray of croutons from the oven! It will be HOT!

Resources

• More from this Author, Missy Nolan
• Quick and Easy Spicy Crab Dip

[tlarsen]

on 11/16/2009 Yum!

[deathbycherries]

on 10/7/2009 yum croutons are my fav.

[texasparky]

on 9/29/2009 (In the voice of Homer Simpson): "MMMmmmm"...Cheeese Gaarlic Crouutons!"