Croutons are arguably the best part of a salad. Toasty, crunchy, garlicky cubes of bread which still have that chewy, soft center.
Let there be no mistake - these are not qualities you will find in store bought boxed croutons. Oh no, the best croutons are always homemade.
I personally cannot stand boxed croutons. The are usually hard enough to break a tooth on and are covered in a powdered flavoring of some kind. If I'm going to be putting croutons on my salad, the only way that is happening is if they are homemade. Croutons are SO easy to make and I'm going to go ahead and say that 100% of the time, they will taste better than anything store bought (gasp!).
While any loaf I bread technically can be turned into a crouton, I prefer to use BreadSRSLY Gluten-Free Sourdough. I HIGHLY recommend using this bread as not only is it some of the best sourdough I've ever tasted...it is also gluten-free. Win-Win!
Aside from the bread, you only need garlic, olive oil and Parmesan cheese. It couldn't be any more simple than that.
I guarantee you won't ever think about buying boxed croutons again after you make these once. Throw these on a salad, your favorite bowl of soup...or simply eat them freshly toasted and warm out of the oven. I don't judge!
Parmesan Garlic Croutons (Gluten-Free!)
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Bake Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 4
Ingredients:
- 3 cups sourdough bread (gluten free), cut into 1" cubes - I recommend BreadSRSLY gluten-free sourdough, but any sourdough would do
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 4 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated
Baking Accessories:
- Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Prepare baking sheet by lining with parchment paper.
- Slice bread into 1" cubes. This should yield about 3 cups of bread. In a large mixing bowl, toss bread with olive oil and garlic.
- Transfer bread to baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, toss croutons on baking sheet and return to oven for another 5 minutes.
- After a total of 10 minutes of baking, sprinkle cheese over croutons and return to oven for a final 5 minutes to melt cheese and finish toasting croutons.
- Remove from oven and add to dish of your choice. If you would like to reserve for later use, these keep well stored in an airtight container.
Nutritional Information (1 serving):
155 calories - 4 g Protein, 23 g Carbohydrates, 5.5 g Fat