Sourdough Croutons (The Ultimate Guide)

Ingredients You’ll Need

• Sourdough Bread, cubed: You’ll need half of a loaf of sourdough bread cut up in to cubes. Of course, if you want to use an entire loaf of bread to make croutons, just double all of the ingredients in the recipe. Traditionally, day-old bread, or bread that was past its prime, was turned into croutons. This is a great use for old sourdough bread, but you can also use freshly baked sourdough bread to make croutons if you so choose. Use my beginner sourdough bread recipe if you want to make your own sourdough from scratch.
• Oil or Butter: You’ll use two tablespoons of any type of oil, or even butter, for this recipe. A neutral vegetable oil will make plain croutons, whereas olive oil, butter, or coconut oil will impart some flavor of their own to the croutons.
• Salt: You can use any type of plain salt for this recipe: Kosher salt, sea salt, or table salt. I developed this recipe using 1/4 teaspoon of Morton’s Kosher salt for one batch of croutons. If the salt you use is much finer, use less salt so that your croutons don’t get too salty.
• Herbs or Spices for Extra Seasoning (Optional): I usually use 1 teaspoon of Italian herbs and spices for “Italian-style” sourdough croutons, but you can use 1 teaspoon or less of any type of herbs, spices, or a seasoning blend of your choice.
• Hard Cheese, grated (Optional): I used 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese in this recipe to make my “Italian-style” sourdough croutons. If you want to add cheese to your croutons, use a 1/4 cup of a hard grating cheese like grated parmesan, grated pecorino Romano, or grated Asiago cheese.

Variations of Optional Seasonings

In addition to the bread cubes and salt, try adding these possible oil and seasoning variations to spice up your sourdough croutons:

• Italian-style croutons: 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil + 1 tsp Italian seasoning blend + 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• Buttery Italian-style croutons: 2 Tbsp melted butter + 1/2 tsp dried oregano + 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• Garlic butter croutons: 2 Tbsp melted butter + 1/2 tsp garlic powder + 1/4 cup grated asiago cheese
• “Cacio e pepe” croutons: 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil + 1/2 tsp ground black pepper + 1/4 cup grated pecorino Romano cheese
• Spicy croutons: 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil + 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes + 1/2 tsp dried oregano + 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• Everything bagel croutons: 2 Tbsp melted butter + 1 tsp everything bagel seasoning
• Lawry’s croutons: 2 Tbsp vegetable oil + 1 tsp “Lawry’s” seasoned salt (omit the 1/4 tsp of salt in the recipe, since Lawry’s seasoned salt already contains salt)
• Dano’s croutons: 2 Tbsp melted butter + 1 tsp Dano’s original seasoning blend (omit the 1/4 tsp of salt in the recipe, since Dano’s seasoning blend already contains salt)

In the sourdough crouton formula used for this recipe, different variations of oil/butter, herbs and spices, and hard grating cheeses can be used in hundreds of different combinations to created seasoned croutons using the ingredients that you have on hand. Feel free to experiment with what you have in the pantry at home.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 400°F (204°C). You can prepare the croutons in the time that the oven preheats.
2. Slice half of a loaf of sourdough bread (about 8 slices) into small cubes that are 1/2 inch to 1 inch thick. (Note: For extra crunchy croutons, lay the sourdough bread cubes out on a sheet pan and allow them to air-dry at room temperature for 1-2 hours before making the sourdough croutons.)
3. In a large mixing bowl, toss the bread cubes with 2 tablespoons of liquid oil or melted butter. Add the 1/4 teaspoon of salt and stir to combine.
4. If you want to include other herbs, spices, or grated cheese, add those ingredients to the bowl now and stir them to combine them thoroughly with the bread cubes.
5. Arrange the seasoned bread cubes on a metal sheet pan and spread them out into a single layer. The more the bread cubes are separated on the pan, the crispier they will bake up in the oven.
6. Transfer the sheet pan into the oven and bake the sourdough croutons at 400° (204°C) for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. You may want to turn the sheet pan around halfway through baking if the croutons are not baking evenly.
7. After baking, remove the sourdough croutons from the oven and top your salad immediately. You can also let the croutons cool at room temperature and serve them whenever you’re ready to eat.