These buttery homemade garlic croutons will add a nice bit of crunchy texture to any of your favorite dishes. Use these croutons in soups, salads, crushed on top of a casserole, or as a crust for lamb chops, pork, or in meatballs. Try these homemade garlic croutons in our Spring Pea Soup Recipe.
Ingredients and Tips
The bread! Your croutons will only be as good as your bread. I love to use a high quality sourdough baguette from a local bakery. However, you can use any type of sour or sweet baguette or loaf.
Butter and Olive Oil: I love using a combination of the two to create the best flavor, plus olive oil helps prevent the bread from burning.
Garlic: Garlic burns in the oven. Thus, in this recipe we use it to rub the bread, giving it that delicious garlicky taste.
Homemade Garlic Croutons
Step 1: Slice the bread into cubes
First, preheat the oven to 375 F. Cut the baguette into slices (about 1/2 in-3/4 in thick) on a slight bias. Then I like to cut some in half and leave some whole. If using a loaf, slice the bread and cut into cubes.
Step 2: Prepare the bread cubes
Rub each piece of bread with a garlic clove. Then in a large bowl, mix the bread cubes with the melted butter, olive oil, salt, and pepper to evenly coat.
Step 3: Bake
Line a baking pan with parchment paper. Then spread the bread cubes on the pan in one layer, they should not be touching. If there’s not enough room, bake in batches. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden. Check every few minutes to make sure they aren’t getting too dark, as they can burn very easily. The timing of when the croutons will be done depends on how thick they are and your oven temperature. Finally, remove from the oven and cool completely. Store in an airtight container.
Homemade Garlic Croutons
Ingredients
- 1 Good quality baguette or loaf of bread - Sweet or sourdough
- 3 Tbs Olive oil
- 4 Tbs Melted butter
- 2 Clove garlic, crushed or cut in half
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 F.
- Cut the baguette into slices (about 1/2 in-3/4 in thick) on a slight bias. Then I like to cut some in half and leave some whole. If using a loaf, slice the bread and cut into pieces.
- Rub each piece of bread with a garlic clove.
- In a large bowl, mix the bread cubes with the melted butter, olive oil, salt, and pepper to evenly coat.
- Line a baking pan with parchment paper. Spread the bread cubes on the pan in one layer, they should not be touching. If there's not enough room, bake in batches.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden. Check every few minutes to make sure they aren't getting too dark, as they can burn very easily.* Remove from the oven and cool completely. Store in an airtight container.