Croutons with sauce are a quick snack, an excellent appetizer for beer or something more intoxicating. You can even take them to a picnic or barbecue, because such food does not require cutlery.

You can use any croutons, but the best one is black bread, cut into thin strips and lightly dried in a frying pan (dry or with vegetable oil). A standard single serving of bread is 200 g. At the same time, you can prepare a variety of sauces for croutons.

Basic recipe

• 250 g sour cream (the thicker the better);
• 50 g dill (preferably fresh);
• 4-5 cloves of garlic;
• a pinch of salt (or a small spoon of soy sauce, but this is already a variation of the recipe),
• pepper (optional - also ginger, coriander and other spices).

Squeeze out the garlic. Chop the greens, then lightly crush them with the flat side of a knife - this will release the juice, making the sauce for the croutons more flavorful. Mix all ingredients.

By the way! This basic sauce (and its variations) can be served with a variety of dishes. He is “loved” by meats, fried vegetables and popular snacks (say, onion rings).

With processed cheese and soy sauce

• 5 large spoons of sour cream (thicker);
• 1 large spoon of soy sauce;
• 30 g of processed cheese (it can be replaced with hard cheese, but it is better to take processed cheese);
• a couple of cloves of garlic;
• a large spoon of dill;
• salt and pepper.

Freeze the cheese a little, then grate it on a fine or medium grater. Mix all ingredients.

Alternatively, these croutons with cheese sauce can be prepared a little differently. Instead of sour cream, take 200 ml of milk, also use 200 g of cheese (sausage cheese will do). , garlic, pepper - no changes. Bring the milk to a boil, add grated cheese, boil until the cheese melts (if the cheese turns out to be “harmful” and refuses to melt, puree it with a blender). Then add the rest of the ingredients.

With baked garlic

• 250 ml sour cream;
• a large spoon of olive oil;
• head of garlic;
• 2 large pinches of aromatic herbs;
• salt and pepper.

We will prepare it like this:

• Do not peel or separate the garlic. Carefully cut off the “lid” from the head and pour in olive oil. Bake it in the oven for half an hour, covering with foil.
• Grind the slightly cooled garlic and add the rest of the ingredients for this recipe.
• Heat the prepared garlic sauce for the croutons a little on the stove (but make sure it doesn’t boil under any circumstances, the sour cream “won’t like it”), and serve immediately before it cools down.

Tzatziki (Greek recipe)

• 400 ml sour cream (thick, but the lightest in fat content);
• 1 large spoon of lemon juice;
• 2 cucumbers (the total weight of vegetables should be about 200 g);
• 3-5 cloves of garlic;
• 2 large spoons of olive oil;
• 20 g of greens;
• a tablespoon of sweet red and a pinch of black pepper;
• a little salt.

Remove the skin from the cucumber. Grate the vegetable on a coarse grater. Add salt, place in a colander, and after 15 minutes squeeze, removing all the juice. Mix all ingredients.

This sauce for croutons is also ideal for boiled potatoes and shish kebab (any meat).

Instead of sour cream, it is better to take natural unsweetened yogurt!

Double (with mayonnaise and sour cream)

• 2 large spoons of sour cream (you can take it thoroughly, with a large mound);
• 1 spoon of mayonnaise (also with a mound);
• 2-4 cloves of garlic (larger ones are better);
• a pinch of salt;
• a few sprigs of fresh herbs (or a pinch of dried, frozen);
• a little pepper.

This sauce for croutons is prepared as simply as other similar sauces: squeeze out the garlic, chop the herbs, and mix everything. For sour cream, take the “golden mean” fat content, that is, 15%.

It is better to let the finished sauce sit for 10 minutes before serving.

By the way! You can add some spices here for color and piquancy. For example, a teaspoon of sweet paprika.

Features of making croutons

In a frying pan

• Heat a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil.
• Cut the bread into cubes.
• Reduce heat to low. Fry the bread until crusty. If you are afraid that it will burn, turn off the heat when the croutons are still a little soft, and let them cook (dry) in a hot frying pan for 5-10 minutes.

For perfect black bread croutons, it is better to buy a Borodinsky loaf. Although another black (for example, round “Kyiv”) will also work well.

In the oven

Mix marinade:

• from 50 to 100 ml of olive oil;
• a teaspoon of dried Provençal and fresh domestic herbs;
• a few cloves of garlic.

Prepare the marinade. Let it sit for about 15 minutes so that the herbs give all their aroma to the oil.

Cut the whole loaf into thin strips. Soak the bread pieces in the marinade.

Place them on a baking sheet and dry in the oven for up to 15 minutes. Make the heat moderate (about 150 degrees).

In the oven with sauce

You can not only dip croutons in the sauce, but also bake them in it!

For this recipe you need:

• 50 g of the fattest sour cream (can be replaced with butter);
• 0.5 teaspoon of mild mustard;
• 40 g hard cheese;
• garlic, herbs, salt.
• Cut the baguette (preferably stale) into slices.
• Mix sour cream (softened butter), chopped herbs, squeezed garlic.
• Place all baguette slices on a baking sheet. Spread with sauce and sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake for about 7 minutes at 200 degrees.

You can serve baked croutons with cheese and garlic sauce for first courses (for example, simply putting the croutons in a plate with soup, classic or puree), or use them as a regular snack. They are good with both morning coffee and evening beer.

Classic salty croutons are suitable not only for lovers of live foam; Children enjoy crunching them. If you, as a caring parent, are worried that you cannot expect high quality from store-bought crackers, try this recipe and win little hearts with your dish.

You will need:

• White bread – 500 g
• Vegetable or olive oil - 6-7 tablespoons
• Salt, spices - to taste

Preparation

Cut the bread into cubes or slices approximately 1 cm by 1 cm. Fry them over low heat with the addition of vegetable or olive oil, whichever you prefer. As soon as a golden crust appears, the croutons are ready. Sprinkle them with a mixture of spices or regular fine salt, depending on your preference. The dish is ready to serve!

IMPORTANT: Try not to overdo it with frying oil. Not everyone likes fatty croutons, no matter how delicious they are. If your hand still trembles, and there is more oil in the frying pan than the required volume, the appetizer can be laid out on napkins that will absorb excess fat. This will not affect the taste of the dish in any way, and the snack will be saved.

Garlic recipe with garlic like in a bar

Garlic croutons go very well with fresh beer, especially since this is a common snack in many catering establishments. The recipe is only slightly different from the previous one.

You will need:

• Stale bread (white) – 500 g
• Garlic – 2-4 cloves
• Vegetable or olive oil – 30 ml
• Salt - to taste

Preparation

Cut the bread into slices or sticks 1 cm thick. Fry the croutons over low heat with the addition of vegetable oil until golden brown. Peel the garlic, crush it or grate it. Add salt and vegetable oil to the resulting slurry. Mix well. Rub the resulting sauce onto the prepared croutons and serve.

Video recipe

This video clearly shows the process of preparing garlic croutons:

Classic toast with egg

This rather satisfying snack is made from a loaf or French baguette; in a pinch, you can take white bread, but the croutons will not be so tender.

1. The bun is cut into portions and fried on both sides in a small amount of vegetable oil. To reduce fat content, you can fry one side or dry the slices in a toaster.
2. Rub the underside with a clove of garlic.
3. The top one is spread with mayonnaise and sprinkled with chopped hard-boiled egg.

If desired, you can pepper them and sprinkle with finely chopped green onions.

Welsh toast

Bringing the recipe to life will take a little longer than the previous ones, but the result will amaze with its taste. For preparation you need:

• Loaf – 1/2 pcs.
• Butter – 50 gr.
• Beer – 100 ml.
• Dry mustard – 1 teaspoon.
• Salt, ground black and allspice - to taste.
• Sugar – ¼ teaspoon.
• Pickled cucumbers – 2 pcs.
• “Cheddar” – 300 gr.

Melt the butter over low heat and add coarsely grated cheese. It is introduced little by little and, stirring, achieve homogeneity of the mass. After this, carefully pour beer into the mixture, add spices, sugar and salt. Remove from heat and add raw egg yolks. Grind thoroughly.

The hot fried bread is spread on one side with the resulting mass and sent to the oven until it turns a light brown crust, decorated with puff cucumbers and served hot.

From black bread

If you have acquaintances or friends who are not indifferent to savory dishes, then they will appreciate black bread croutons.

You will need:

• Bread (rye or Borodino) – 200 g
• Milk – 1 tablespoon
• Butter or margarine – 2 tablespoons
• Salt, spices - to taste

Preparation

Cut bread without crust into slices or cubes. Soak them in milk with added salt or spices. Add butter or margarine to a preheated frying pan and fry the croutons over low heat until golden brown. Serve the dish warm; if desired, you can prepare garlic sauce for them separately.

How to make garlic sauce

The peculiarity of garlic sauce is that it is suitable not only for croutons. In cafes and restaurants, this sauce is offered for main meat and fish dishes, since garlic goes well with well-fried steak or tender fish fillet. Just as good as main dishes, garlic sauce is good for side dishes. And preparing such a sauce is not at all difficult.

You will need:

• Sour cream – 30 g
• Mayonnaise – 30 g
• Garlic (optional) – 1-2 cloves;
• Dill and salt - to taste.

Preparation

Combine crushed garlic with sour cream and mayonnaise. Add herbs and salt to the resulting sauce. The sauce recipe can be varied with various herbs and spices. The amount of sour cream and mayonnaise can be increased if desired. The sauce will be even tastier if you make your own mayonnaise and use homemade sour cream.

Video recipe for making garlic sauce:

FOR REFERENCE: In all the recipes given above, it is not necessary to fry the pieces of bread in vegetable oil. They can be dried in a frying pan or on a baking sheet in the oven. This way they won't turn out too oily.

The main thing is to add salt and spices before going into the oven. You can grate croutons with garlic both before and after cooking. Often this snack is made from stale or stale bread. The only condition in this case is the absence of mold. Many housewives will agree that it is more convenient to make croutons from stale bread. Fresh bread is too soft, but stale bread cuts better.

Creamy croutons

Cut the rye bread into portion triangles and dry in any convenient way. Then, while it is hot, grease each piece on both sides with butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper; you can add other seasonings to taste. Place croutons on a plate and sprinkle with herbs.

Fish croutons

To prepare them you will need:

• baguette or loaf.
• Herring fillet or any salted fish – 300 gr.
• Boiled medium-sized carrots - 2 pcs.
• Hard boiled egg – 2 pcs.
• Butter – 50 gr.
• Green onions – 2-3 “feathers”.

Fish fillets and carrots need to be minced, add finely chopped eggs and mix with soft butter until smooth. Fry the baguette pieces or dry them in the oven, spread herring oil on one side, sprinkle with herbs.

Salmon toast

These croutons are made from white bread or a loaf, but to diversify the snack you can also buy or prepare puff pastry yourself; it turns out tender and unusual.

1. The bread is fried until golden crisp.
2. Smoked salmon (150-200 g) is cut into small pieces, about the size of a fingernail, an equal amount of Ricotta cheese or any other type of curd is added to it, everything is mixed until smooth.
3. The resulting mass is laid out on croutons.

You can decorate them on top with thin slices of fresh cucumber, this gives the appetizer freshness.

Also, don’t forget about an excellent snack for beer -!

Homemade croutons with cheese

If regular croutons seasoned simply with salt and garlic seem too simple to you, we offer a version of this dish with cheese.

You will need:

• Bread – 7 slices
• Garlic – 7 heads
• Cheese – 100 g
• Salt - to taste

Preparation

Rub each piece of bread with garlic and salt. Remove the garlic before frying, otherwise it may burn and ruin the entire taste of the dish. Place the croutons among themselves so that they are evenly saturated with garlic juice. You can leave them for a couple of minutes, move them and leave them again. While the oven is heating, cut the bread slices into arbitrary slices or sticks. Place them on a baking sheet and cook until crust appears. At the end, sprinkle with grated cheese and serve.

IMPORTANT: Do not overcook the croutons in the oven, otherwise they will turn into crackers! The center of the toast should be crispy on the outside but soft on the inside.

From beer bread

The secret of the taste of these toasted croutons is not in the technology of preparing the croutons themselves, but in the bread. It is unlikely that you will be able to buy something like this ready-made, but those who like to experiment with dough will undoubtedly enjoy the process and the result. The recipe makes 12 servings.

• 1.5 cups whole wheat flour.
• 1.5 cups of premium flour.
• Baking powder for dough – 15 g. or soda slaked with vinegar.
• Salt – 1 teaspoon.
• Sugar - 3 tablespoons.
• Dark beer – 350 ml.
• Rectangular baking dish 10*20cm.

Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl until evenly distributed. Pour in beer. If soda is used, introduce it after beer, after extinguishing it. Knead thoroughly. Grease the pan with melted butter and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Place the dough in it and place in a preheated (180°C) oven.

Approximate baking time is 60 minutes. The best way to check readiness is with a toothpick or knitting needle, sticking it into the center of the loaf; when there is no dough left on the pulled out needle, you can remove it. Cut the cooled bread into pieces and dry, grease each slice with butter, and sprinkle with caraway seeds if desired.

Lithuanian recipe

The main feature of this snack is the bread. It’s ideal if you can find Lithuanian grain, but if not, you need to choose a loaf with a dense texture, with heavy dough and small holes.

• The crusts are cut off and only the soft part is used. It is cut into strips 1cm thick. and 3-5 cm long. They are fried in a frying pan slightly greased with olive (sunflower) oil until a crust appears on all sides. It is important that the dough inside does not dry out, but remains soft.
• Hard cheese is grated on a medium coarse grater, mixed with mayonnaise and crushed garlic. Take such an amount of mayonnaise so that the mixture does not “float”, but maintains a dense consistency.
• When the croutons have reached the desired condition, increase the heat under the frying pan and add the spicy mixture to the bread. There is no need to cover with a lid, otherwise the crackers will become soggy from condensation.
• Mix thoroughly until all the croutons are covered with a layer of melted cheese.

The appetizer is served hot. If desired, you can supplement it with any spices or herbs.

Croutons have long been considered one of the best snacks to go with beer. They are tasty, natural, easy to prepare and inexpensive. If you don’t yet know how to properly prepare croutons for beer at home, then I recommend that you familiarize yourself with the suggested recipes. We will consider options with garlic, cheese and simply salty flavors.

To make delicious croutons for beer, it is better to use whole bread rather than sliced ​​bread, since store-bought bread is too thin. Stale bread is also suitable, as long as there is no mold on it. The optimal thickness of the slices is 0.5-1 cm. Thicker pieces take a very long time to fry and are uncomfortable to eat, while thin pieces burn, losing their taste.

Salty croutons recipe

A good option for those who prefer a neutral beer snack that doesn’t interfere with enjoying their favorite drink. Add only salt. Milk makes the croutons softer without changing the taste.

Ingredients:

• bread (white or black) – 200 grams;
• milk – 1 tablespoon;
• butter (margarine) – 2 tablespoons;
• salt - to taste.

Preparation:

1. Cut the bread into slices.

2. Moisten the slices with milk and salt.

3. Heat a frying pan, add butter (margarine).

4. Fry the slices until crispy.

5. Serve warm.

Garlic sauce for croutons

A universal item suitable for all crouton recipes. If there are people in the company who do not like unflavored croutons, then you can make this sauce for them. If desired, you can add any seasonings and spices to the composition.

Ingredients:

• sour cream – 30 grams;
• mayonnaise – 30 grams;
• garlic (optional) – 1-2 cloves;
• dill and salt - to taste.

Preparation: squeeze the garlic, mix all the ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Garlic croutons for beer

Garlic croutons have become a classic beer snack; they are served in almost every bar, but they are no less tasty at home.

• bread (white or rye) – 500 grams;
• garlic – 2 heads;
• vegetable oil – 7 tablespoons;
• salt - to taste.

Preparation:

1. Cut the bread into slices.

2. Heat a frying pan on the stove, pour in 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil.

3. Fry the slices on both sides over moderate heat until golden brown. On average, each piece takes 3-4 minutes.

4. Peel the garlic, pass it through a garlic press, mix with salt and the remaining 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil.

5. Spread the warm croutons with garlic and serve. They can be decorated with finely chopped herbs on top.

Croutons with cheese

The taste of processed cheese goes well with beer; many gourmets like this crouton recipe. Instead of a frying pan, we will use the oven.

• bread – 7 slices;
• garlic – 7 heads;
• cheese – 100 grams;
• salt - to taste.

Preparation:

1. Squeeze a head of garlic onto each slice of bread and add salt. Garlic is needed here only for impregnation; we will remove it before frying.

2. Place all the slices into one large sandwich so that they better absorb the garlic juice.

3. Leave for 5 minutes. Then swap the pieces in the pyramid, it is very important to do this for the first and last slices, which are soaked the worst. Leave for another 5 minutes.

4. Preheat the oven to 180-200°C.

5. Shake off any remaining garlic and salt that may burn from the slices.

6. Cut off the top crust, and cut the slices themselves into pieces of the desired length, for example, divide them into three even parts, and place them on a baking sheet.

7. Place the croutons in the oven. Approximate cooking time is 8-10 minutes. After 3-4 minutes, I recommend turning the slices over to the other side, this way they fry better. We need to get a crispy crust, but the inside of the bread pulp should not dry out completely, otherwise it will not be croutons, but croutons.

8. Grate the cheese and sprinkle it over the hot croutons.

9. If the cheese has not melted well, then the croutons with cheese can be placed in the oven for 1-2 minutes.

It’s even easier to prepare croutons for beer in the microwave; it will take you 5-6 minutes; the whole process is described in the video.