Sourdough Anchovy Croutons

Turn your leftover sourdough bread into crispy, savory croutons for salads, snacking, and more.

By
Sasha Marx
Sasha Marx
Senior Culinary Editor
Sasha is a senior culinary editor at Serious Eats. He has over a decade of professional cooking experience, having worked his way up through a number of highly regarded and award-winning restaurant kitchens, followed by years spent in test kitchens for food publications.
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Updated June 21, 2023
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Photograph: Sasha Marx

Why It Works

  • Gently cooking anchovies in olive oil until they break down and dissolve creates a super-savory base coating for the croutons.
  • Slowly toasting the croutons gives them the perfect golden brown, crunchy texture, breathing new life into old bread.

All bread lovers—from avid bakers who are turning out beautiful loaves of sourdough on their own to people like myself who don't have a functioning oven but will happily walk a few miles to pick up a bâtard from their favorite bakery—have experienced bread overflow issues at some point. Maybe you got excited and baked or bought one boule too many, or maybe there just aren't enough bread-eaters in your household to take down an entire miche in two days.

My kitchen counter always has a half-finished loaf of bread taking up space on it. But I don't look at having stale bread around as being a problem; I view it more as an opportunity, because it means I get to make anchovy croutons. These deeply savory croutons are made with just three ingredients—olive oil, anchovies, and the aforementioned leftover bread—and can be cooked to crunchy perfection either on the stovetop or in the oven.

I start by gently cooking anchovies in oil until they break down and dissolve, lending the olive oil salty, umami-rich depth of flavor. Then, I coat bread pieces with the oil and slowly toast them until crisp and golden brown. Once ready, you can toss the croutons into a Caesar or panzanella salad, snack on them throughout the day (how I usually end up eating most of a batch), or store them for later use in an airtight container.

Of course, the delicious stale bread cooking possibilities are endless—from Spanish migas and Italian ribollita to American Thanksgiving stuffing—but when you just need to use up some bread without having to plan, shop, and prepare a whole stand-alone dish, then making a batch of these croutons is your best bet for quick and easy flavor payoff. Homemade breadcrumbs are great and all, but we need snacks! And you can always chop up some croutons to make crumbs if you need some of those, too.

May 2020

Recipe Details

Sourdough Anchovy Croutons Recipe

Active 5 mins
Total 40 mins
Serves 16 servings
Makes 4 cups
Cook Mode (Keep screen awake)

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup (120ml) extra-virgin olive oil

  • 6 salt- or oil-packed anchovy fillets (20g)

  • 9 ounces (255g) sourdough bread, cut into 3/4- to 1-inch pieces (about 6 heaping cups; see notes)

Directions

  1. If Baking Croutons: Adjust oven rack to middle position, and preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).

    In a large skillet, combine olive oil and anchovies. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring and breaking up anchovies occasionally with a wooden spoon, until anchovies have dissolved, about 5 minutes for oil-packed anchovies, and 10 minutes for salt-packed anchovies.

    20200526-anchovy-croutons-sasha-marx1

  2. Add bread to skillet, toss to thoroughly coat pieces with oil on all sides, and arrange in a single layer in the pan.

    If Cooking Croutons on Stovetop: Cook over medium-low heat, turning and moving bread pieces every 5 minutes (you want to cook bread pieces on all sides so they crisp and color evenly, and you also need to move pieces around in the pan to adjust for hot spots and uneven heating of the skillet), until golden brown and crisp on all sides, 25 to 30 minutes.

    If Baking Croutons: Transfer skillet to the oven, and bake until golden brown and crisp, rotating pan and turning bread pieces over halfway through cooking, 15 to 20 minutes.

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  3. Transfer croutons to a rimmed baking sheet, and using a rubber spatula, scrap any remaining oil and bits of anchovy in the skillet over the croutons. Let croutons cool to room temperature, 5 to 10 minutes. Once croutons have cooled, they can be used right away or stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 7 days.

Special Equipment

Large skillet, rimmed baking sheet

Notes

While this recipe was developed using leftover sourdough bread, it will work with any type of hearty bread, and works with both fresh and stale bread. If the loaf of bread you are using is very stale and difficult to initially cut into pieces, you can dampen the loaf briefly under cool running water just until it softens enough for slicing.

Make-Ahead and Storage

Croutons can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 7 days. Depending on humidity, after a few days you may need to lightly re-toast croutons to revive their crunch.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
114Calories
8gFat
8gCarbs
2gProtein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 16
Amount per serving
Calories114
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 8g11%
Saturated Fat 1g6%
Cholesterol 1mg0%
Sodium 142mg6%
Total Carbohydrate 8g3%
Dietary Fiber 0g1%
Total Sugars 1g
Protein 2g
Vitamin C 0mg0%
Calcium 11mg1%
Iron 1mg4%
Potassium 26mg1%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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