Garlic Parsley Croutons

Name: Garlic Parsley Croutons
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 20 min
Ingredients: 3 cups Stale bread; 2 cloves Garlic; 1 tbsp Parsley (freshly chopped); 1 tsp Oregano (dried); 2-3 tbsp Olive oil; Salt to taste

Homemade croutons are a win win. We use up stale bread, a little fresh parsley, some garlic, drizzle of olive oil and seasoning to make this crunchy and delicious recipe. They are baked and not fried making for a healthier choice too.

This is one of those recipes where you think I am crazy for giving you a recipe cause who makes croutons at home? Like seriously?! You can buy them in a box from the store and they have many flavors etc. Let me tell you, we’ve been making our croutons at home for over 4 years now and we haven’t looked back. They are ridiculously simple to make and even better than the store bought. There! I said it! And I mean every bit of it. These croutons use up the stale bread in your house and you can scale up or down the recipe based on how much bread you have on hand.

Now lets understand something, you NEED stale bread for this recipe. You CANNOT make this with fresh bread also in saying this you cannot make it with moldy bread either. Bread that is 2 or 3 days old is perfect for this recipe. You can absolutely use a gluten free bread to make this recipe and you would need to bake the croutons for a lesser time as gluten free bread toasts faster than gluten bread.

I made this vegan as my brother lactose intolerant but you can add butter in place of the olive oil and it is absolutely delightful. I love the flavor of garlic and parsley hence why I’ve use them here, you can leave the garlic out if you like but don’t use garlic powder or granules. I’ve made this same recipe without the fresh herbs and just the dry herbs.

Baking vs Frying? Believe it or not, I have never fried my croutons. There are some things which work well once baked and this is one of them. I wouldn’t recommend frying these as you don’t need to. If you don’t have an oven then I would recommend making this over the stove by dry roasting the croutons on low low low heat for almost 20-25 minutes until evenly golden on all sides.

The flavors can be adjusted to your liking. Like for example I made a chili coriander crouton bottle for a friend of mine as a Christmas gift. Now I used chili flakes and fresh coriander chopped up. I also used a few ground up schezwan pepper corns, threw on a ribbon and label saying “Merry Christmas!”. These are great with soup, any soup of your choice works here. They are also a lovely way to add texture to a mundane salad. This makes for a yummy snack too. Hence you don’t need to worry what you are going to eat these croutons with, if you were my mum you would eat them with daal chawal (rice and daal) too!

A few substitutes:

Bread – any bread works here, just make sure it is a day or two old. It needs to be cut evenly for the croutons to cook at the same time or else some pieces with burn while others won’t color. If using a baguette, bread roll/buns cut the bread into 1 inch cubes, if using slice bread cut the bread into 3/4 inch squares.

Garlic – only fresh works here. You need to mince it with your knife or microplane grater.

Fresh Parsley – coriander is another option here incase you don’t have access to fresh parsley.

Dried Oregano – you can use dried sage, dried marjoram, dried thyme, dried rosemary etc.

Olive Oil – you can use any oil or butter here but make sure its something you like eating as you will taste it with every piece. Now the recipe says 2-3 tbsp as this may vary on the amount your bread soaks up. Once you’ve massaged the marinade into the bread it should look moistened. If there are pieces which are still dry then add little more oil.

Seasoning – Salt is a must but pepper is a personal choice. Sometimes I like adding a touch of paprika.

After the croutons are baked store it in an air tight container for up to 10 days. Honestly my croutons haven’t lasted that long but if you managed to keep them longer comment and let me know, Ensure no moisture enters the bottle as that will make them stale or soggy. Enjoy them however you like.

If you need help on how to make them, watch how I made it here. Happy Baking Ninjas!