Meow Recipes: Peppery Torn Homemade Croutons

Peppery croutons on a sheet pan with olive oil.

We kindly ask, what even is The Soup Series without hand-torn, rugged, homemade crouton chonks to pile high into those cozy steaming bowls of fall weather goodness?

These bites are toasty, chewy, and saturated with big flavor from the fresh garlic, olive oil, and an aggressive amount of salt and black pepper. They are just the right balance of crispy meets olive oil-soaked and chewy, and they are just begging to be dunked, dipped, and popped into your mouth on repeat.

Or if you’re just in need of a movie night snack but you really want to up your game from popcorn, listen, a pan of these WILL DO. We’re in love.

Simple Rustic Goodness

If you are wondering why the torn/pulled apart version of crouton matters, it is because those rustic raggedy little edges leave the bread texture open and READ-Y so that all the yummy olive oil and garlic can sneak and swirl into all the delicious little bread pockets. When you slice through the bread and cube it, the knife kinda smooshes all those pockets and doesn’t let the olive oil sneak and it can make for a denser (maybe less pleasing) texture.

These bbs have all the crunch you desire without being…like, stabby?…on the roof of your mouth. And because of all the olive oil sneaks, they don’t get dry so that a weird cloud of crouton dust covers your table every time you take a bite.

The torn-apart method also gives you so much variation in size and shape. No ‘ton is the same! Kinda like snowflakes but so much more deeply rewarding. We want to talk to you about all the crispy little tiny bits that kind of break off the edges of the bread chunks and just become delicious little peppery salty soup crispies but, it’s too much. We could cry. They’re so perfect.

How To Make Perfect Homemade Croutons

And in case you need more selling than olive oil sneaks and no crouton dust, these are SO QUICK AND EASY to make.

Tear apart your sourdough into small chunks (this is also a nice stress-reducer?).
Add to a large bowl with olive oil and garlic, and massage oil into bread pieces (nice stress-reducer for the bread).
Season throrougly with salt and pepper and bake at 400 for about 15 minutes.
Hopefully they make it to your soup bowl, but if not, eat foreverandeveramen.

These hunky croutons also freeze super well! So if you have any leftovers, LOL but maybe you have more control, you can toss them in the freezer and then just re-toast them quick in the oven as needed.

Put Your Own Spin On Them

This recipe is also totally ready for you to customize however you want to crouton flex. We love love LOVE sourdough for this occasion, but you can certainly play around with different breads. After you eat them, you’re going to want to eat them all the time, so it’s nice to experiment to keep things exciting.

The spices can also be swipped and swapped.

Maybe you want to do a little rosemary/garlic number?
Something sage-y?
Would a chili oil toss be fun? Could be!

So many options. Tell us all about what you come up with because we are always ready to talk croutoning, you know?

How To Use Homemade Croutons

We don’t know that you need, like, a guidebook for this, but trust us when we say they are delicious in and on all the things! We love the rustic sturdiness for soup dips or chili dips, obviously, but they are a great salad addition as well! We would absolutely not be mad if they topped a casserole or two this wintery season with all their savory goodness.

And does anybody remember that movie night better-than-popcorn suggestion from earlier? Straight off the pan, pals!

Peppery hand-torn croutons on a sheet pan.

Get topping, get chomping, let all your crispy rich peppery crouton dreams come true. ♡

Homemade Croutons: FAQs

How long do homemade croutons last?

They should last at room temp for a couple weeks.

How should these be stored?

Store them at room temp in an airtight container.

What other spices could I use?

You really can do no wrong here with spice combos. A few ideas that would be really, really delicious: za’atar with a bit of olive oil or butter, cayenne and garlic powder, or a rosemary/garlic/parm little number.

Peppery Torn Homemade Croutons

Author: Lindsay
Total Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 8 servings

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Description

Toasty, chewy, peppery homemade croutons! Little bites of crispy-meets-olive-oil-soaked bread that are just begging to go with your favorite fall soup or on a delicious green salad.

Ingredients

Units

half a loaf of sourdough bread (THE BEST) but Tuscan bread or any kind of rustic loaf will work
1/2 cup olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely grated
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

Video

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pull the bread into crouton-y sized chunks.
Combine the olive oil and garlic in a large bowl. Add bread and massage to work the oil in (some of the bread might crumble into tiny pieces, which provides great texture variety). Season thoroughly with salt and lots of pepper.
Bake for about 15 minutes, turning once so they get evenly browned. Cool on paper towels to absorb excess oil.
Use for dunking, dipping, and sopping up all that amazing soup; freeze your extras and re-toast in the oven for future soup-ing!