There are a few things we buy ready thinking that making them ourselves can be too complicated, but actually, they’re really simple to make and very superior. That’s the case with homemade croutons. When you learn how to make homemade croutons with olive oil you realize that they’re delicious, really simple to make and elevate any salad or soup.
Homemade Croutons with olive oil
for homemade croutons, you can use any bread you like. If you like bread with olives, go for it. If you like wholemeal bread, go. If you like to make it with gluten-free bread, ¡of course! You can even use old, hard bread and the result is perfect as well. I love to make them out of ciabatta bread or baguette, one that’s very airy so that the olive oil can penetrate it. I’m VERY generous with the olive oil for these croutons. If you use a nice quality olive oil, you can really feel the flavour in the final result.
How to keep them
Once ready, you can use your homemade croutons warm with soups, or let them cool down completely for a salad. Once cooled, you can place them in an air-tight container and keep them at room temperature for up to 5 days. They won’t last that long, probably, though! Like this, they star delicious and crispy. If you want some ideas to use them on, here go a few recipes:
Possible variations
Once you know how to make homemade croutons, you’ll be making them ALL THE TIME. And once you get the hang of it, you’re going to want to vary them up. The good news is that it’s extremely easy to make different versions of them. You can add one or several dried or fresh herbs to give it a different taste. You can also add chilli flakes, garlic, sumac, etc. It’s really simple to make different versions of these bread croutons and it’s even a really lovely gift when you’re invited to someone’s house.
Ingredients
- 2 ciabatta loafs the small ones, not the baguette-like in length, one of those
- Plenty olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Cut the bread in 3cm/1in cubes.
- Place the bread cubes on a baking tray and add a generous amount of olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C/350°F for 10-15min or until nicely golden. Allow the croutons to cool down completely before using on salads
- Store in an air-tight container once cool, keep for up to 5 days.
2 comments
Hi! Was thinking of making these croutons as a gift. The econd line of instructions read: “Place the bread cubes on a baking tray and add a generous of olive oil,” A generous what? How uch, pretty please. Thank you! These sound fab. xox
Hi kathleen! A generous amount it meant to say! I’ll correct it right now thanks for letting me know 🙂