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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Croutons are so quick and easy to make in the air fryer! Just dice up your bread, toss with oil and spices, and air fry until they're crunchy and perfect.
I seasoned these air fryer croutons with garlic, onion, and rosemary, but feel free to use your seasonings of choice. You can even stick to just oil and salt, if you want to keep things simple.
Or, add your favorite herbs like Italian seasoning, paprika, nutritional yeast, etc.
Use air fryer croutons to add crunch to any green salad. They're also great to add some extra texture to cozy soups, like broccoli cheddar soup, split pea soup, or corn and potato chowder.
✓ Ingredients and substitutions
- bread - Use whatever bread you have on hand! Gluten-free bread is fine to use, if needed.
- spices - I'm using a mix of onion powder, garlic powder, and rosemary, but feel free to use whatever herbs and spices you like!
- salt - Brings out the flavors of the spices.
- oil - Helps the croutons get really nice and browned and crunchy in the air fryer.
🥣 How to make air fryer croutons
In a large bowl, toss together the bread pieces with spices, salt, and oil.
Transfer the bread to your air fryer basket.
Air fry at 400° F for four to eight minutes, shaking every couple of minutes, to make sure the pieces cook evenly.
💡 Helpful tips
- When putting the croutons into the air fryer basket, spread them out into as close to a single layer as you can. Some overlap is fine.
- You can make air fryer croutons using pre-sliced bread. Depending on how thick the slices are, your croutons may cook faster, so just keep an eye on them, especially if your bread slices were thin.
🫙 Storage directions
Any leftover croutons will keep for two to three days in an airtight container in the pantry.
💬 Frequently asked questions
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.
🍴 Salad ideas for air fryer croutons
📖 Recipe
🥗 Air fryer croutons recipe
Equipment
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.
Got a question? Tried this recipe? Leave a reply!