Air Fryer Croutons

At a glance

What stands out: Savory air fryer croutons are a crispy-crunchy addition to your next bowl of soup or salad. There’s no better way to use up day-old bread! These straightforward air fryer croutons taste miles better than store-bought and they are straightforward to mix.

How long it takes: 10 minutes
Equipment you’ll need: air fryer
Servings: makes 2 cups

We love bread, and stale bread is truly the gift that keeps on giving. It may not be suitable for sandwiches, but who cares?! You can use it for French toast, blueberry bread pudding, apple stuffing, and these fabulous air fryer croutons. If a well-balanced diet wasn’t a concern, we could possibly live on croutons.

Like from-scratch bread crumbs, this is an incredibly simple recipe, one of those recipes that make you wonder why you haven’t always been DIYing it versus buying it. Plus, the results are standout: crisp but not hard, evenly seasoned but not overly salty. Irresistible!

Float these bad boys in a bowl of smoky roasted tomato soup or scatter them over a bed of greens with your favorite vinaigrette (like from-scratch Italian dressing or Catalina dressing). We won’t blame you if you munch on a handful as a snack.

Crunchy Air Fryer Croutons

So much better than store-bought. Crispy air fryer croutons will ruin you for all other croutons, especially those hard, dried-out, salty store-bought ones.

Ridiculously straightforward. Bread, oil, seasoning, air fryer. Boom! That’s all you need to be on your way to air fryer crouton town, population YOU. There’s nothing to this recipe and you can easily make these croutons just before assembling a salad or while you wait for soup to warm up.

Instant upgrade. Bagged salads and canned soups go from ho-hum to high-end when you add air fryer croutons.

Highly customizable. We use a simple garlicky herb seasoning blend for these from-scratch croutons, but you can switch things up with your favorite herbs and spices.

Eric Said:

“This recipe worked evenly and we were able to take half a stale baguette to make tasty croutons, thanks!”

See More Reader Reviews

What goes in

• Olive oil: The bread cubes are tossed with flavorful olive oil. If you like, substitute melted butter for an even richer flavor.
• Seasoning: We use a simple blend of garlic powder, Italian seasoning, kosher salt, and black pepper. Garlic powder gives your croutons savory goodness without the bite of fresh garlic. (Don’t confuse garlic powder with garlic salt, or the croutons will be too salty.)
• Cubed day-old bread: You can cut the bread as large or as small as you like, or tear the bread into pieces for a more rustic appearance. Just make sure the pieces are roughly the same size for even cooking.

Cooking Tip

While some air fryer recipes let you get away with a little spritz of oil, we don’t recommend using any less than 1 tablespoon for a batch of croutons. The oil helps the seasonings stick and gives the croutons just the right crunch factor.

How it comes together

Combine oil and seasonings.Stir together the olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, Italian seasoning in a large bowl.

Add the bread. Toss the bread with the seasoned oil mixture until it’s evenly coated.

Put into air fryer. Arrange the bread cubes in an even layer in the air fryer basket.

Air fry. Air fry at 380ºF for 5 to 8 minutes, shaking the basket or tossing the croutons every couple of minutes. (If your air fryer basket is roomy and there’s lots of space for the hot air to circulate, you can skip the shaking.)

Cook until the air fryer croutons are golden brown and crisp.

Best Bread For Croutons

You can use any kind of bread you like, from sourdough to rye and rustic country loaves. Even everyday white sandwich bread will work although we do prefer a coarser-textured bread for croutons. Dry bread works better than fresh bread.

Ways to change it

• Experiment with different breads. We love everything bagels made into croutons. Whole grain breads with lots of seeds make memorable croutons.
• Make them unseasoned. If you’re making croutons for a recipe that already has lots of big, bold flavors, you may want to leave the croutons unseasoned. If you’re starting with a rich bread, you can even leave out the salt.
• Switch up the seasonings. Add minced fresh herbs like thyme, sage, rosemary or chives; or spices like smoked paprika or even curry powder. There are endless options for air fryer croutons!
• Add cheese. After you toss the bread with the oil and seasonings, add 2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese and stir to coat all the bread with cheese. Air fry as directed.
• Oven method: We've been baking croutons in our oven for ages. If you don’t have an air fryer, try oven-baked from-scratch croutons. The advantage to using an oven is that you can more easily make a big batch of croutons!

How To Use Air Fryer Croutons

Salads: Croutons are an essential part of panzanella salads. Try this classic panzanella salad with tomatoes or asparagus panzanella salad. For a different twist on panzanella salad, try sheet pan chicken panzanella, a one pan dinner! Croutons play a large role in an Italian-style salad, with romaine, tomatoes, kalamata olives, sliced red onion, and tangy Italian dressing. A Caesar salad with from-scratch caesar dressing and air fryer croutons is memorable! (Our Caesar croutons can be made in the air fryer, too.)

Soups: A classic tomato soup topped with croutons is a standby! Pasta e fagioli is another soup that goes well with croutons, or a creamy carrot soup. Substitute air fryer croutons for the toasted bread on French onion soup.

Keeping leftovers

Store your from-scratch air fryer croutons in an airtight container at room temperature. Make sure they are completely cool before storing. If the croutons are still warm when you seal them up, condensation will form on the inside of the container and make your croutons soft. They’ll keep for about 2 weeks but we're guessing they’ll disappear long before that!

• Yield: 4
• Prep: 5 minutes
• Cook: 5 minutes
• Total: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil (see note)
• ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
• ⅛ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
• ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
• ⅛ teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 2 cups cubed day-old bread (about ½ to ¾-inch cubes; see note)

Method

1. In a large bowl, stir together the olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning.
2. Add the cubed bread and stir to coat the bread with the oil and seasoning mixture. Place the seasoned bread cubes in the air fryer basket in an even layer.
3. Air fry at 380ºF for 5 to 8 minutes, shaking the basket or tossing the croutons every couple of minutes (see cooking tip below). Cook until they are golden brown and crisp. Keep a close eye on them, as cooking times can vary depending on your air fryer and the size of the bread cubes.
4. Once the croutons are golden and crisp, remove them from the air fryer. Serve as a topping for salads or soups. To store, cool the croutons completely and keep in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Notes

Pro tip: Try to cut the bread cubes roughly the same size so they cook evenly. If you make them smaller, they’ll cook a little more quickly; larger croutons will take a little longer to cook. The bread can be torn rather than diced for more rustic croutons.

Seasoning: Salt, pepper, and seasonings are optional in this recipe. If you want the recipe to be lower in sodium, omit the salt. Other seasonings of your choice may be substituted.

Oil: If you like, the oil can be reduced to 1 tablespoon. The croutons won’t be exactly the same but they are still crunchy and tasty, and if you’re looking to reduce calorie content, this may be a great option. Melted butter can be substituted for olive oil, too.

Cooking tip: If you make a single batch and have a decent sized air fryer, you might not have to shake the basket while they cook. If they’re not in a single layer and/or don’t have much room around them, you’ll want to shake the basket a couple of times so that they cook evenly.

Add cheese: After you toss the bread with the oil and seasonings, add 2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese and stir to coat all the bread with cheese. Cook as directed.

Oven method: If you don’t want to use an air fryer, try our baked from-scratch croutons. It works especially well if you’re making a bigger batch of croutons.