Servings: 4 cups 1x
Scale
Ingredients
- 4-6 slices of bread, cut or torn into cubes (4 ounces or 4 cups loose packed)
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- Optional: 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a large rimmed baking dish with parchment paper.
- Place the bread pieces on the sheet pan and drizzle the oil evenly over top. Sprinkle the garlic powder and salt over the bread. Toss to combine and distribute the oil and seasonings, then spread the bread cubes out in a single layer.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring the bread cubes halfway through, until golden brown. If you prefer croutons that are softer, remove them from the oven at about 15 minutes. If you prefer croutons that are more crispy, leave them in the oven for 20 minutes or even a few minutes more, watching them carefully so they don’t burn. The croutons will also get more crispy as they cool.
- Remove the sheet pan from the oven and let the croutons cool. Serve over any salad.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
You can use any type of bread to make croutons, including both store-bought bread and homemade bread. The bread doesn’t have to be day-old or stale bread. In fact, I prefer fresh bread, so you can get croutons that are crispy on the outside but still tender and soft on the inside.
If making these croutons to top my caesar salad, omit the Italian seasoning.
Nutrition Information
- Serving Size: 1/8 of the recipe (about 1/2 cup)
- Calories: 60
- Fat: 2 g
- (Sat Fat: 0 g)
- Sodium: 98 mg
- Carbohydrate: 6 g
- (Fiber: 1 g
- Sugar: 1 g)
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg