Italian-Style croutons on top of spinach leaves in a white bowl on top of a white and brown towel next to a metal baking sheet (with logo overlay)

Italian-Style Croutons

Making croutons from scratch is easy, and cheaper than buying from the store. Customize with any seasonings you prefer for a tasty salad.

Jump to Recipe

Almost any time of the year, I enjoy a grilled chicken salad for lunch or dinner. Sometimes both! We will marinate some chicken in Italian salad dressing, then throw it on the grill. Cut it into strips and throw it into a salad. Justin and I like very different salads, but the one thing we can agree on is having croutons in the salad.

I prefer more of a house salad with shredded cheddar cheese, a hard-boiled egg, and Italian dressing. Justin prefers a Greek-style salad with either mozzarella or feta cheese, olives if we have them and Greek dressing. We have always bought the Italian-Style croutons from the grocery store. One day, I decided to try making some at home. 

We make our own homemade bread often, so I was able to use up some of that. Most of the time, we can finish off a loaf of bread in a couple of days, but others, it just doesn’t happen. So, rather than throwing it out when it eventually gets moldy, I used it to make some croutons. 

In the end, the croutons didn’t take very long. And, since we used almost an entire loaf, we made enough for many salads over the next few days. Making them at home was also much cheaper than the store-bought and we can control exactly what goes in them. 

The boys had a bit of fun helping with this one because it works best to use your hands to mix the oil and seasonings onto the bread cubes. Of course, any chance that momma allows them to get messy is always fun!

When the boys help make food, they are more likely to eat it. They’ll sometimes eat a bit of a salad, but their favorite part is the croutons. I made them the deal that they only got to eat these if they ate all of the lettuce too. It kind of worked. Not perfect, but got them to eat a small amount of salad!

Italian-Style Croutons Step by Step

Ingredients

  • 1 loaf French bread (slightly stale)
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 4 tbsp Italian seasoning
  • 1 tbsp garlic powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350F. Slice the bread into cubes about 1-inch square. If you like your croutons flat, you can cut them in half after making them squares. We didn’t have a problem with the square shape. 

Cut pieces of bread in a pile on a dark wooden surface

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the oil with the seasonings. You can add whichever seasonings you prefer at this time. We use Italian seasoning and garlic powder for our croutons. Add the bread to the bowl and gently mix it all together. I find using hands works best so you can be careful not to tear up the bread too much. 

Cut pieces of bread covered in seasonings in a stainless steel mixing bowl on a dark wooden surface

Lay the oil-soaked bread out in a single layer on a baking sheet. If it doesn’t all fit, you may have to do multiple batches of baking. 

Cut pieces of bread covered in seasonings on a metal baking sheet next to a mixing bowl with more pieces of bread

Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until they are golden brown and crunchy. Stir at least once to turn most of them over as they cook. 

Italian-Style croutons on top of spinach leaves in a white bowl on top of a white and brown towel next to a metal baking sheet (vertical)

Recipe

Originally Published On: September 11, 2017

Last Updated On: July 31, 2023

Italian-Style croutons on top of spinach leaves in a white bowl on top of a white and brown towel next to a metal baking sheet

Italian-Style Croutons

Making croutons from scratch is easy, and cheaper than buying from the store. Customize with any seasonings you prefer for a tasty salad.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course:
Homemade Staple
Cuisine:
American
Keyword:
bread
|
salad
Servings: 2 cups
5 from 7 votes

Ingredients

  • 1 loaf French bread (slightly stale)
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 4 tbsp Italian seasoning
  • 1 tbsp garlic powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350F
  • Chop bread into 1 inch cubes
  • Mix oil and seasonings in a large bowl
  • Add bread to bowl and gently mix to cover bread (using hands works best)
  • Lay out on a baking sheet in one layer
  • Bake about 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and crunchy
Click the buttons below to share and print this recipe
Pin Recipe Print Recipe
Nutrition Facts
Italian-Style Croutons
Amount Per Serving (0.25 cups)
Calories 215 Calories from Fat 72
% Daily Value*
Fat 8g12%
Saturated Fat 1g5%
Sodium 331mg14%
Potassium 110mg3%
Carbohydrates 31g10%
Fiber 2g8%
Sugar 1g1%
Protein 6g12%
Vitamin A 43IU1%
Calcium 62mg6%
Iron 3mg17%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutrition content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.

Salad Dressing Recipes to try

36 thoughts on “Italian-Style Croutons”

  1. 5 stars
    CROUTONS were my total JAMMMMM when I was a kid – I mean, that’s why I ate salads, YA KNOW?! LOL!! And I especially loved the ITALIAN ones with the garliccccccc! You’re bringing me back 🙂

  2. 5 stars
    I enjoy a nice homemade chicken salad all the times. Let me share my secret with you, not only I enjoy those croutons on my salad, I snack on them.

  3. 5 stars
    I love home made croutons as they really do taste better than the packaged stuff. I eat salads year round, even in the winter, and adding a few to my dish gives me great pleasure.

  4. Oh this is too funny! Great minds think alike – at one point in my blogging schedule, my Caesar Salad with Homemade Croutons was scheduled to come out at the exact same time as this post did! Will have to try this version of a crouton recipe sometime, so we can completely cut out store-bought croutons from our lives!

  5. Croutons are great topping to add to salads, they make them so tasty! I didn’t know how easy was to make them from scratch!

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating