I love adding croutons to my salad, but every time I go to the supermarket, and I see all of the ingredients in commercial croutons, I kinda just roll my eyes. Why must something so simple, become so complicated. I decided to just make my own. Figured it’s a great way to make them healthier and also save money.
As a part of a balanced diet, it is recommended that half of your plate should be filled with vegetables. Croutons are a fun way to up that veg intake. They add a delicious crunch to your greens, and makes that salad way more filling. We decided to pair these croutons with kale, parmesan, onions, black pepper, and olive oil.
These croutons go well with soups, salads, or even with your eggs.
Let’s get started! When you purchase the bread, leave it on the counter for a night or two until it becomes hard. Preheat the oven to 350F. Once ready, chop the hardened bread into 3/4″ cubes, and add it to a bowl.
Add the garlic powder, parmesan, and salt to the bowl. Mix well and then add the olive oil over the bread. Massage all of the ingredients into the bread cubes. Add the bread to a baking sheet, making sure all ingredients are scooped out of the bowl and rubbed onto the bread. Bake at 350F degrees for 10 minutes.
Enjoy with your favorite salad! For this salad, we massaged our tuscan kale with olive oil to help remove some of the bitterness. Then we added parmesan, black pepper, and onions. You can remix your salad with whatever ingredients you love!
After cooling, you can store the croutons in an airtight container, and enjoy with your salads for the week!
As part of this recipe, we’re going to include one of our favorite salad dressing recipes. It’s super simple, and pairs beautifully with any salad. Simply mix the ingredients below, and pour over your salad. This dressing yields 2 servings.
For the dressing:
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1 tablespoon of spicy mustard
- Juice of 1/2 squeezed lemon
- 3 gloves of finely chopped garlic (use a garlic press if you have it)
- 1/2 tablespoon of onion powder
- freshly ground pepper to taste
- 4-5 cups of cubed day old bread (we used 1/2 baguette)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons of finely grated parmesan
- Pinch of salt
- 1/3 cup olive oil
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When you purchase the bread, leave it on the counter for a night or two until it becomes hard.
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Preheat the oven to 350F.
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Once ready, chop the hardened bread into 3/4" cubes, and add it to a bowl.
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Add the garlic powder, parmesan, and salt to the bowl. Mix well and then add the olive oil over the bread. Massage all of the ingredients into the bread cubes.
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Add the bread to a baking sheet, making sure all ingredients are scooped out of the bowl and rubbed onto the bread.
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Bake at 350F degrees for 10 minutes. Enjoy with your salad! After cooling, you can store in an airtight container, and enjoy with your salads for the week!
I totally just made this and I must say it was POW POW POW.. thank you Queens for the awesome take on a Kale Salad.. we featured one on our website and I will have to add this to my lunch routine.
Thanks!
Nice! Glad you enjoyed!
Do you have nutritional info for the Kale Caesar??
we don’t only because the label didn’t generate accurate nutrition info, so we didn’t post it. This recipe is definitely under 350 calories though. Sorry I can’t be more specific!
I really love this recipe on Garlic Parmesan Croutons