Recipes

Homemade croutons

Name: Homemade croutons
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: Approximately 4 cups
Ingredients: 200 g plain bread, cut into roughly 1.5 cm pieces; 40 ml olive oil; ¼ teaspoon fine salt; Black pepper and ½ teaspoon dried herbs, optional

Published by Huy Hoang · 2026-10-14

Turn plain bread into crisp croutons for salads and soup.

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Fresh or slightly stale bread works here. Start with evenly sized pieces so the batch browns at a similar rate; avoid sweet breads if you want a savoury result.

Ingredients

Estimated: Approximately 4 cups · Preparation: 5 minutes · Cooking: 15 minutes · Additional chilling/cooling: 5 minutes

200 g plain bread, cut into roughly 1.5 cm pieces
40 ml olive oil
¼ teaspoon fine salt
Black pepper and ½ teaspoon dried herbs, optional

Method

Heat a conventional oven to 175°C. Toss the bread with the oil, salt and any seasonings until lightly coated.
Spread across a baking tray in one layer, leaving room between pieces.
Bake for roughly 12–16 minutes, stirring partway through. Start checking early: remove when golden and crisp, rather than relying only on the timer.
Let the croutons cool on the tray before adding to salads or soup. They firm up as they cool.

Prepared with AI assistance and published by Huy Hoang. This adaptation has not been kitchen-tested by The Makeshift Nest; timings and yield are estimates. It replaces an unavailable historical page and is not the former author's recipe.

After cooking

For help cleaning the baking tray after making your croutons, see Simply Maid's guide to cleaning baking tools.

Huy Hoang publishes The Makeshift Nest and is also the founder of Simply Maid.

Recipe reference

Adapted from King Arthur Baking's Homemade Croutons

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