I have always loved making fresh homemade salad bowls full of my choice of goodness. As I love to have a bit of crunchyness in my salads, I always add croutons to all my traditional salad mixes.
Initially, I would go out to shop for packaged croutons which were available in most grocery shops in various flavors like Garlic & Herbs or Parmesan. Obviously, these would never be fresh and always have some kind of preservatives in them to increase shelf life.
Then one fine day, when making a salad and ironically feeling lazy to go down to the grocery shop to buy some croutons (yes, I was trying to eat healthy but not wanting to act healthy by going down for a 5 minute walk to the grocery shop), I had an idea!!!
I had some left over bread which wasn’t really super old but wasn’t super fresh either and I decided to make my own Homemade Crispy, Crunchy, full of flavor hot and fresh CROUTONS!
Now I always do this whenever me and hubby love are in the mood for a good bowl of salad. You can also use these in soups, I always do when I make creamy mushroom or tomato soups.
P.S. – you can make these croutons and just eat them plain like a snack too, they are so simple to make and so yummy tasting.
Ingredients: If a measurement is not specified, then it’s as per your taste
- 3-4 Bread slices, hot dog breads or buns (depending on the size, if small then 4 if large then 3)
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Dry garlic sprinkles or powder
- Dry Oregano sprinkles
- Dry Basil sprinkles
- Crushed Black Pepper
- Cajun Spice
- Mixed herbs for cooking (optional)
- A pinch Salt
- Parmesan – to sprinkle after they are done
- I sometimes also like to add Chipotle or BBQ seasonings depending on their availability and I also like to drizzle a tiny bit of balsamic vinegar on them for a nice and tangy taste (alternative for salt).
Method:
- Pre-heat oven to 200* degree C.
- Cut your bread slices in even, medium bite size chunks
- Take a baking tray and cover it with aluminum foil
- Place the bread chunks on the tray closely together
- Drizzle the olive oil generously and evenly all over the pieces
- Then sprinkle all the seasonings, garlic, oregano, basil, black pepper, Cajun, salt, and other (if you choose).
- Give it a nice shake to make sure all the pieces are well coated with all the goodness.
- Bake the croutons for 10 to 15 minutes (timings and temperatures may differ for different ovens)
- I usually rotate the baking tray half through
- Serve with a yummy salad or a hot soup
Me too. xD
I use the leftover breads when I make tomato soups.
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Works magically with soups (my fav mix is with a mushroom soup) and its great with any type of salads too 🙂
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Cajun Spice is an interesting addition!! Gonna try this recipe for sure 🙂
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Cajun spice is a real secret in this one. Let me know how it works out for you 🙂 Take a picture and tag us 😉
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[…] so good since the ingredients go really well together. I even did my own dressing and threw in some fresh homemade croutons (super […]
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