Make It! – CHill’s Tasty Garlic Croutons

This post was originally written for and published at Fireflies and Jellybeans!  I LOVE this recipe and I'm getting ready to make another ginormous batch, so I thought it worth sharing here today! So, without further ado - my Garlic Crouton Recipe!

I love a good salad!  Especially dressed up with lots of veggies, bacon bits and croutons.  Lately I’ve been making my own croutons and I’m loving how cost-effective and super-tasty they are.  And they’re so easy to make!  Here’s what I do…

I use bread I have on hand to make my croutons.  I’ve used cheap store brand wheat bread as well as sourdough bread.  DH says he prefers the sourdough, so that’s what I used for my latest batch.  I use 4 slices of bread for a batch of croutons (in these photos I was making a double batch because we love these so much).

  I use four slices of bread per batch; cut the slices into 1” cubes (you don’t have to be precise – make the cubes whatever size you prefer).

Place the cubed bread into a bowl with a tight-fitting lid.

This recipe only requires three ingredients other than the bread; I told you it is super-easy!  Melt a 1/4 cup of butter (half a stick) in a microwave-safe bowl.  Mix 1 teaspoon of parsley flakes and 1/2 teaspoon of garlic salt into the melted butter. (I prefer super-garlicky croutons, so I usually use about twice as much garlic salt.  Feel free to adjust to your preference.)  Now pour the butter and spice mixture over the cubed bread, place the lid on your bowl and shake vigorously to coat all the cubes in the mixture.

Spread the coated cubes on a baking sheet of your preference; I just love my Pampered Chef stoneware for making croutons (and just about anything else).  Pop that into a pre-heated 300 F oven and set a timer for 20 minutes.  After twenty minutes, turn the croutons and return them to the oven; set a timer for another twenty minutes.  Bake the croutons until they begin to brown nicely (I prefer mine more crisp so I let them get very brown; feel free to adjust the cooking time to achieve the perfect crouton).
 Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

That’s it!  Super tasty, easy to make and much cheaper than most retail croutons!