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Don't let your stale bread go to waste! My young son and I will show you how to make homemade croutons from bread. It's so easy that it's a great beginner recipe for kids!

How to Make Homemade Croutons From Bread (Easy Enough for a Kid!)

Last Modified: January 26, 2018 // by Tracy Ariza, DDS // April 1, 2017 I may receive a commission if you purchase through links in this post. Learn more here.

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Don’t let your stale bread go to waste! My young son and I will show you how to make homemade croutons from bread. It’s so easy that it’s a great beginner recipe for kids!

Overhead view of a salad with homemade croutons

Today I’m going to share with you a simple, easy recipe which just happens to be my son’s very favorite recipe. Not only does he love croutons, but he loves getting in the kitchen and helping me make them.

He loves this recipe so much that when it was his turn this week to bring home the class recipe book, he wanted to write up the recipe for how to make homemade croutons from bread! I thought it was a wonderful idea because it’s a recipe that is simple enough for a 6 year old who hates writing to write it up on his own. When looking for pictures of him making croutons, I found some from 3 years ago! I guess he’s been happily helping me make croutons since he was 3!

A little boy seasoning cubes of bread to make croutons
Look who was making croutons when he was 3 years old!

Why Make Homemade Croutons from Bread?

I think you should be making your own homemade croutons for several reasons!

  1. You can save yourself a lot of money.
    I don’t know how much croutons are where you live, but here in Spain, it gets expensive to buy tiny little packets of crispy bread for your salad!
  2. They taste better!
    While the boys in the house will eat the store bought croutons, they absolutely love the homemade ones, and beg me to make more whenever we run out!
  3. YOU control the ingredients!
    Store bought croutons often use oils that I personally don’t ever use at home like corn oil, or who knows whatever other questionable ingredients. By making them at home, you can choose the oils and spices YOU feel comfortable using, and you can change up the spice blend as you choose fit!
    Not only that, but you can also choose whatever bread suits your diet, be it gluten free bread, or even a paleo bread if you can find one!
  4. It’s a fun, easy, beginner recipe for kids.
    If you’re kids want to start helping you in the kitchen, but you’re afraid that their “help” is only going to ruin things, homemade croutons is a perfect beginner recipe for them! Of course an adult will need to cut the bread into pieces for younger children like mine, and will also be putting them in the oven and taking them out. Otherwise, though, the recipe is so forgiving that you can let them shake the spices onto the bread themselves.

Can I make gluten free croutons?

Why, of course!

That’s one of the reasons I love being able to make them at home, I can choose the bread that is being used for the croutons. Feel free to use gluten free bread or even a paleo type bread. Whatever bread you normally eat can be made into homemade croutons.

It’s a wonderful way to recycle stale bread, too, or bread that would otherwise be too hard to use as, well, bread. 😉

How to make croutons from stale bread

Here in Spain the most common bread found is similar to French or Italian bread. They often buy several bars of bread each day for my husband’s fishing boat, and he sometimes brings home bread that would be hard as a rock in a day or two. Rather than throw it away, why not make it into croutons?

If you don’t have French, Italian or a similar baguette bread, though, don’t worry!

You can just as easily make these croutons with any sort of sandwich bread too! If it’s starting to get hard, it’s the perfect time to make it into croutons!

Just don’t use moldy bread. 😉

Customizing the homemade crouton recipe

This is one of those recipes that I sort of feel silly trying to write up into a recipe because we never measure anything out! And it doesn’t matter one bit! Here you can see that my son’s recipe for his school class was to basically pour some oil on diced bread, sprinkle on some herbs and salt, shake them up until well covered, and bake them until crispy! That’s really all there is to it of course- no need for precise measurements here!

A little boy's hand written recipe for croutons in Spanish with pictures of him making them
I’m afraid that you’re going to have to brush up on your Spanish if you want to follow my son’s recipe. 😉

We have a set group of herbs that we tend to use, mainly Italian seasoning herbs like oregano, rosemary, and basil. We also almost always use olive oil, garlic powder and onion powder.

That doesn’t mean that you have to make Italian Seasoned croutons, though! Once you have the concept down, you have a world of possibilities!

Want to make homemade croutons with more of a Mexican food vibe?

Try spices normally used in Mexican cuisine like cilantro, cumin, chili peppers, garlic and onion! You could even use a bit of a homemade tomato powder to make more of a Doritos type seasoning.

Want to make homemade croutons with more of an Indian food feel?

Try using turmeric, cumin, garlic, and chili powder, or use a remade curry powder or garam masala blend.

Can you add cheese and fresh herbs to your homemade croutons?

For awhile we loved adding grated parmesan cheese, and I was using fresh garlic and herbs for awhile. I found, though, that there wasn’t a lot of benefit to using fresh herbs and garlic. It only made the recipe more complicated, and if they didn’t dry out well when baked, that the final croutons didn’t keep for very long. Fresh garlic and spices made for moldy croutons in a few days.

When using dried herbs and spices, you can keep your croutons out of the fridge, and in our case they’ve never “gone bad” before they were finished!

While grated cheese can add a new demesne to the croutons, it also gives one more possible source for mold. For us, it wasn’t worth it, and I think I may actually prefer the croutons without better anyway. If you plan on using yours right away, though, by all means give it a try! I’d store any croutons with cheese or fresh herbs in the fridge, though, and would try to use them within a few days.

Let’s learn how to make homemade croutons!

My 6 year old son is ready to help show you how! 😉

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Don't let your stale bread go to waste! My young son and I will show you how to make homemade croutons from bread. It's so easy that it's a great beginner recipe for kids!

How to Make Homemade Croutons From Bread (Easy Enough for a Kid!)

Don’t let your stale bread go to waste! My young son and I will show you how to make homemade croutons from bread. It’s so easy that it’s a great beginner recipe for kids!
5 from 1 vote
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Author: Tracy Ariza, DDS

Ingredients

  • bread
  • extra virgin olive oil or other oil of choice
  • Italian herb blend or other seasonings of choice
  • garlic powder
  • onion powder
  • salt
  • freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

  • I know it will probably drive some of you crazy that there are no measurements on the ingredients, here, but bear with me! This all depends on the amount of stale or about-to-go-bad bread that you have on hand! Cut the bread into small cubes, just slightly larger than you want your final croutons to be. (They will shrink a little when dried, but not much.)
  • Place the bread cubes into a sealable container. I like to use glass and stainless steel containers, but I saved a few plastic ones for this sort of project. I didn’t want my son dropping a glass recipient on the ground and making a mess! 😉
  • Begin to pour a little bit of olive oil, or your oil of choice, over the bread cubes. We’ll be doing this a little at a time to make sure all of the cubes get well covered in oil.
  • Place the lid on the container, and shake it, to help cover all of the bread with the oil.
    Don't let your stale bread go to waste! My young son and I will show you how to make homemade croutons from bread. It's so easy that it's a great beginner recipe for kids!
  • Take the lid off and check on the bread cubes. Add more oil and cover and shake again as many times as needed to cover all bread cubes with a bit of oil. (How much you use will also depend on your preference.)
  • Begin sprinkling on the herbs and spices that you want to use. Now is also the time to add any garlic and onion powder, salt, pepper, and anything else you’d like to add to your croutons. Like before, we can add these little by little to check for flavor as we go.
    Don't let your stale bread go to waste! My young son and I will show you how to make homemade croutons from bread. It's so easy that it's a great beginner recipe for kids!
  • Place the lid on the container and shake it to help report the herbs and spices. Give on of the bread cubes a taste for flavor, and add more herbs, salt and pepper as you see fit!
  • Once you have your bread cubes well covered in oil and herbs, you can turn them into croutons! I find that the best way is to spread them out evenly over a baking sheet, and bake them in the oven on a low heat setting until they dry out and get crispy. If you have a fan/convection setting, this also will help speed the process along! If you set the heat too high in hopes of making them very quickly, you risk burning your croutons.
  • Once the croutons are crispy, take them out of the oven and allow them to cool. You can serve them immediately over a salad or soup, or just eat them plain as my son likes to do. 😉
    Don't let your stale bread go to waste! My young son and I will show you how to make homemade croutons from bread. It's so easy that it's a great beginner recipe for kids!
  • Store in a sealed container once cooled.
Course DIY Pantry Foods
Tried this recipe? Tag me today!Mention @thethingswellmake or tag #thethingswellmake!

See! That wasn’t so hard, was it?

I’d love to hear how it goes, and what your favorite spice blends are for croutons! (Leave me a comment below and let me know how it goes!)

Category: MIY Pantry Basics, Recipes, Soups & Salads

About Tracy Ariza, DDS

Tracy Ariza, B.A., D.D.S., left dentistry and the United States to found Oh, The Things We’ll Make!, writing to you from the Spanish Riviera. She loves making things herself in order to keep control of what goes in them. While far from perfect, she strives each day to live a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Cindy

    October 8, 2019 at 4:56 PM

    I have the crotons in the oven from your recipe right now. It is so easy. Thank you for your helpful information on how to make them.

    Reply
    • Tracy Ariza

      October 9, 2019 at 9:38 PM

      You’re very welcome, Cindy!
      I hope they were delicious! 🙂

      Reply
  2. Sarah

    April 21, 2019 at 9:48 PM

    How long do these last for? Also can you make croutons with fresh bread?

    Reply
    • Tracy Ariza

      April 23, 2019 at 8:37 AM

      Hi Sarah,
      How long they will keep really depends on how well you get all of the humidity/water out of them and if you decide to add in any perishables like parmesan cheese or fresh garlic to them.
      If you try to store them covered when you haven’t dried them out well enough, they can start to get moldy after several days.
      I’ve also made them before with fresh garlic and Parmesan cheese and those started to taste different (worse) 😉 after several days.
      If you use dried herbs, though, and get them nice and crispy, they can keep for several weeks!

      Reply
  3. Francesca

    April 7, 2017 at 8:14 AM

    Hey Tracy! Such a fun recipe!
    It’s so nice to involve the kids in the kitchen, it’s a great way to show them how to eat healthy, your son looks like so confident cooking!
    I’ll try it with Marina, she’ll enjoy it, I’m sure! 😉
    I’m willing to try another version for cooking the crustons, with olive oil and paprika, (here in Spain, pimentón de la Vera), the result would be a tipical Spanish flavour with an attractive red color.
    Looking forward to catch up with you next week! 🙂
    Francesca.

    Reply
    • Tracy Ariza

      April 7, 2017 at 9:55 AM

      Hi Francesca!
      Thanks so much for your comment!
      Yes, lately my son has been wanting to get in the kitchen with me, so I love having simple recipes where he can actually do most of the work himself. He’s very proud of himself and loves to say that he was the one who made them. 🙂
      It’s funny that you mentioned the Spanish spice mix because I was very tempted to add that to the list of spice blend mix ideas. I was going to suggest paprika, garlic, and parsley. That was the spice blend that my Spanish grandmother added to just about everything. 😉 Perhaps I’ll have to update the post with the idea.
      I’d love to hear how the mix goes, and if Marina has fun making them!
      ¡Besos! 🙂

      Reply

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Hello, I’m Tracy!

I love making my own natural products like soaps and lotions and my own pantry items like yogurt and salad dressings.
Why do I do it? Sometimes to save money, sometimes because it's healthier, but I always love having control of the ingredients!​
Oh, the things we'll make!...

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