Air fryer croutons

It is so easy to make crunchy air fryer croutons using any type of bread you like: sliced or unsliced. Add them to all of the salads!

Recipe notes

To make these vegan croutons, start by dicing up your bread into ½" pieces. If you have a whole loaf, you want cubes. Obviously, with sliced bread, you can't control the width.

Because you can't control the width with a sliced loaf, you may need to stick to the lower end of the cooking time. Check your croutons frequently, so they don't overcook!

Once you have diced your bread, toss it with spices and olive oil, then air fry until it's browned and crunchy.

Make sure to shake your basket and check on the croutons often! Shaking will help them cook evenly, and frequent checking avoids burnt results.

Once they're fully cooked, serve them over soups or salads for some flavorful crunch.

What kind of bread to use for croutons?

What I love about making my own salad croutons in the air fryer is that it's quick and that I can use basically any bread I have on hand. Anything that will stand up to dicing will work fine -- pre-sliced or unsliced loaves both work.

In the photos and videos for this post, I used sliced bread, because that's what we had in the pantry.

Gluten-free bread is also totally fine, as long as it doesn't fall apart when you dice it into small pieces.

Very thin-sliced pieces will burn very quickly in the air fryer. If your bread is labeled as "thin sliced", your croutons may cook up even faster than four minutes. Keep an eye on them!

Stale bread will definitely be easier to dice, but you can use fresh bread in this recipe.

How to store them

Any leftover croutons will keep for two to three days in an airtight container in the pantry.

📖 Recipe

Air fryer croutons recipe

It is so easy to make crunchy air fryer croutons using any type of bread you like: sliced or unsliced. Add them to all of the salads!

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Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Vegan

Keyword: air fryer croutons

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 7 minutes minutes

Total Time: 12 minutes minutes

Servings: 12

Calories: 119kcal

Author: Becky Striepe

Ingredients

• ▢ 2 cups diced bread - ½" pieces, see note
• ▢ ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions

• ▢
  In a large bowl, toss together the bread pieces with spices,salt, and oil, then transfer the bread to your air fryer basket.
• ▢
  Air fry at 400° F for 4-8 minutes, shaking every couple of minutes, to make sure the pieces cook evenly.

Equipment

• Air Fryer

Video

Notes

You can use pre-sliced or unsliced bread for this recipe. Sliced may cook up faster, since you can't control the thickness of the slices. Very thin slices will burn easily in the air fryer, so keep a close eye on thin-sliced bread in the air fryer basket.

The cooked croutons will keep in an airtight container in the pantry for 2-3 days.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Air fryer croutons recipe

Amount per Serving

Calories

119

% Daily Value*

Fat

 

3

g

5

%

Saturated Fat

 

0.4

g

2

%

Trans Fat

 

0.01

g

Polyunsaturated Fat

 

1

g

Monounsaturated Fat

 

1

g

Sodium

 

235

mg

10

%

Potassium

 

58

mg

2

%

Carbohydrates

 

19

g

6

%

Fiber

 

2

g

8

%

Sugar

 

2

g

2

%

Protein

 

4

g

8

%

Vitamin A

 

1

IU

0

%

Vitamin C

 

0.1

mg

0

%

Calcium

 

50

mg

5

%

Iron

 

1

mg

6

%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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Ideas for using salad croutons

Air fryer croutons are lovely on basically any green salad. Here are some ideas for you!

• Fried Tofu Salad
• Taco Salad (I'd substitute chili powder for the rosemary in this case.)
• Strawberry Spinach Salad

They're also delightful on soups. Try them on:

• Broccoli Cheese Soup
• Yellow Split Pea Soup
• Creamy Pumpkin Black Bean Soup