The best thing to do with day-old or stale focaccia bread? Learn how to make homemade focaccia croutons! I love using these homemade focaccia croutons in chicken Caesar salad, but they're also so good to add some crunch to a warm bowl of creamy tomato soup.
Next time you find yourself with leftover focaccia, don't throw it away. Turn it into croutons!
As much as I love making homemade focaccia, unfortunately it's one of those breads that's best eaten the same day. This means finding things to do with any leftover focaccia so it doesn't go to waste. Homemade croutons are the perfect way to give slightly stale focaccia a second life.
While you can make croutons from any type of bread (my soft-baked homemade ciabatta is also a great pick!), focaccia is one of the easiest breads to use since it bakes in a nice flat sheet and is so easy to cut into cubes.
Focaccia is already pretty oily, so you don't need much extra oil to turn it into croutons. You just need a little bit to help the herbs and seasonings stick.
I like to use Italian flavors like dried oregano, dried basil, and dried rosemary which go really well with a Caesar salad or tomato soup.
When I'm making homemade focaccia from scratch and I know I plan to use some to make these croutons, I often add those dried herbs right to the top of the focaccia dough before baking.
One- or two-day-old focaccia is my favorite choice when making croutons. It has already lost some of its natural moisture to evaporation which cuts down the amount of time it needs in the oven to dry out.
And no, croutons are not "just stale bread". Though technically, as soon as any bread is baked and cooled, the staling process begins, what we think of as "stale" bread has a dry, hard yet slightly chewy texture due to the way the starches in the bread break down as the bread ages. By speeding up the process of drying out the bread to make croutons, we avoid the unpleasant flavors and textures of genuinely stale bread to end up with tasty, crunchy croutons that are dried throughout.
How to Make Focaccia Croutons
This is one of those so-simple-it-hardly-needs-a-recipe recipes. It's super easy to customize to your own personal taste, and to scale up and down. Depending on the moisture content of your particular focaccia and how salty it is, you may need to adjust the ingredient quantities, seasonings, and timing of the recipe. The power is in your hands!
I'm not usually super precise with my measuring when I make these croutons; the only ingredient I'm cautious with is the salt. It's very easy to end up with overly salty focaccia, so you should definitely use a less-is-more approach if you're making any adjustments to what I've given in the recipe below.
Depending on how much moisture was still in the bread and how much oil you've added, it can take anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours for the focaccia croutons to dry out entirely in the oven.
Make sure you give them enough space so the evaporating steam isn't getting trapped by neighboring croutons. The more crowded your sheet pan is, the longer it will take the focaccia croutons to dry out.
Don't worry about flipping every crouton every single time. If you don't flip one the first time, you'll probably get it the next time you stir. They will dry out even if you don't flip them at all. The stirring just helps speed up the process a bit.
This is an easy-breezy low effort recipe. No need to stress yourself out.
I check the croutons for doneness by taking one crouton off the sheet pan and taking a bite (they are hot, have a glass of water handy). I am generally a risk-averse person, but for focaccia croutons I'll chance a burned tongue. The outside dries before the inside, so I pay close attention to how the center of the crouton feels as I bite through.
If it still feels soft or chewy in the center or I'm able to tear the crouton in half, I know the croutons need more time in the oven. A fully dried crouton will crunch and shatter when you bite it, all the way down to the center.
Avoid Burning Your Croutons: Use an Oven Thermometer
Most ovens don't run at the temperature they say. I once lived in an apartment where mine was a full 50 degrees off! I knew this because I had an oven thermometer.
Croutons need to be dried at a very low temperature. If your oven runs hot, you'll end up with toasted or even slightly burnt croutons. If your oven runs cold, it'll take longer for them to dry. Using an oven thermometer to know what the actual temperature is inside your oven will help you get the temp just right.
This is the oven thermometer I use. It has a large dial which makes it easy to see in a dark oven.
👩🏻🍳 Practical Tips & Recipe Notes
- To keep homemade croutons crispy, it is super important that they are completely dry inside. Using a shallow sheet pan with plenty of space will help these focaccia croutons dry quickly. Don't be afraid of giving them extra time in the oven if you aren't sure. It's a low temperature, they won't burn! Store them in an airtight container with a paper towel to absorb excess moisture so they stay crisp.
📖 Recipe
Italian Herb Focaccia Croutons - Uses Day-Old Focaccia Bread!
Recipe Notes
- A bite-sized cube of soft focaccia bread is very different from a bite-sized cube of hard bread. When you cut the focaccia into cubes, cut them slightly smaller than you think they should be!
- If using other seasonings, aim for about 2-2½ teaspoons total. Different seasoning blends have different intensities; adjust accordingly!
- Dried rosemary leaves are big and pointy. Pinch and crush them between your fingers as you add them just to break them up a little.
- Once your focaccia croutons are fully dried out and cooled, store them in an airtight container; you may find tucking a paper towel inside helps absorb any excess moisture. Focaccia croutons can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for two to three weeks. You can also refrigerate them or freeze them for up to 3 months. If your croutons seem to be a bit soggy after a day or two in storage, they probably weren't fully dry when you took them out of the oven or the container wasn't fully sealed. Crisp them back up in the oven at 350°F for a few minutes before using them.
- Other Focaccia Crouton Seasonings: Dried thyme, garlic powder, crushed red pepper flakes, parmesan cheese, nutritional yeast, seasoned salt, tomato powder. You can also use blends like garam masala, Old Bay, or Everything Bagel Seasoning (pulse it in a spice grinder to turn it into a powder first). If using a store-bought seasoning blend, check the ingredients; if salt is high up on the list, you may not want to add more salt to your croutons.
Ingredients
- 4 cups day-old focaccia (about 7 ounces, cut into 1" cubes)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (or use olive oil spray)
- 1 teaspoon diamond crystal kosher salt (use half as much of any other type of salt)
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250°F.
- Place cubed focaccia in a large mixing bowl and drizzle with olive oil, dried herbs, and salt. Toss and stir to combine until all the pieces are somewhat evenly coated.
- Arrange the cubed focaccia in an even layer on a shallow, rimmed sheet pan. Give them a bit of breathing room so they're not all pressed up against each other.
- Place the sheet pan in the oven and leave the croutons to dry. Stir or shake the pan every 15-20 minutes to help them dry evenly. This can take anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours, depending on the moisture content of the bread, how dry it was to start with, and how much oil it absorbed.
- Let croutons cool completely before storing. To keep homemade croutons crispy, it is super important that they are completely dry inside. Store in an airtight container with a paper towel to absorb excess moisture for 2-3 weeks.
David Thompson says
I make a lot of focaccia and this was a perfect way to use the leftover portions. It’s so good that I will make croutons as part of my holiday gift baskets.