When you gather with a group of friends on a warm summer evening, it is sometimes so nice to chat over a glass of cold beer. But it’s even better if the beer comes with a corresponding snack.
It can be salted fish, chips, nuts, onion rings, etc., but the best thing is croutons prepared yourself.
Their preparation time is minimal, and you and your friends will enjoy it enormously. Try it - you won't regret it.
Salty croutons
Classic salty croutons are suitable not only for lovers of live foam, children enjoy crunching them with pleasure. 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 1cm 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:
Black croutons with garlic
We can say that this is the most classic option for beer snacks, which are always available in any bar or pub, but this type of snack can be easily obtained at home by preparing it instantly. This requires:
Salt, half a kilo of bread and vegetable oil, as well as two heads of garlic.
How to prepare, recipe:
- The bread is cut into slices.
- The frying pan is heated on the stove. Then three tablespoons of oil are poured onto it.
- On each side, fry the slices themselves until golden brown. A prerequisite is to use not very high heat so that they do not burn. This takes 3-4 minutes.
- The garlic is peeled, mixed with salt and the remaining unused oil.
- At the end, the ready-made croutons from the stove are spread with garlic and served to the table. Dill, which is sprinkled on the appetizer for taste, can also come in handy here.
Salty croutons with garlic
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.
- 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.
- Rub the underside with a clove of garlic.
- 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 prepare “Garlic croutons for beer”
For croutons, it is best to use stale bread - it crumbles less. Cut the bread into not very thin slices. Approximately 1 cm thick.
Then cut the bread slices into smaller pieces. You can make them in stripes, triangles, or like this. It is more convenient to rub such pieces with garlic.
Peel the garlic cloves and cut 1 clove into thin slices. Pour vegetable oil into a frying pan and add garlic there. Place the frying pan over medium heat and heat the oil and garlic. As soon as the garlic begins to brown, remove it from the pan.
Place pieces of bread in a frying pan and fry on both sides until golden brown. Do not make the heat under the frying pan high - the croutons can burn very quickly.
Place the croutons on a paper towel to remove excess oil. Toasts with a light garlic aroma are ready.
To give the croutons extra flavor and add spiciness, rub each crouton on both sides with peeled garlic cloves. Sprinkle the croutons with salt and serve with beer.
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.
Cheese croutons
Processed cheese tends to go well with beer, so many people like this option. The main difference between this recipe and the previous one is that it uses not a frying pan, but an oven-oven, although the composition remains the same minimal:
A few heads of garlic, as many slices of bread, salt if you like it, and cheese.
How to prepare, recipe:
- Each slice of bread must be salted, simultaneously squeezing out a head of garlic. Garlic is needed only for soaking, and is removed before frying.
- The slices are folded into a kind of sandwich so that the garlic is better absorbed into them.
- Leave the slices in this form for five minutes, and then swap them so that they are all soaked in a balanced manner.
- Then the oven is heated to 190-200 degrees Celsius.
- The remaining seasonings in the form of salt and garlic are shaken so that they do not burn.
- The crust, which is cut off on top, and the bread slices can be cut to the length you want. The main thing is to carefully cut them into pieces so that later you can put the pieces on the baking sheet itself.
- When the croutons are placed in the oven, they need to be cooked for 7-10 minutes, and after the first 2-4 minutes they need to be turned over. It is important that you get exactly croutons, but not crackers, that is, hard on the outside, but soft on the inside.
- Then the cheese is grated, which is important to sprinkle on hot croutons.
- If the croutons are not hot enough and the cheese is not melted, then the cheese along with the croutons must be put back in the oven for literally 1-2 minutes so that the cheese does melt.
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.
- The bread is fried until golden crisp.
- 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.
- 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 - pasties made with vodka!
Garlic croutons - beer recipes
One of the most popular beer snacks is croutons.
How nice it is to drink a glass of home-made beer with friends at sunset in the summer heat, followed by a good snack. They are easy and simple to prepare at home; the ingredients for such a snack can be purchased at any store. A huge number of recipes that can be made: with garlic, with cheese, spicy, spicy, cooked in a frying pan, in the oven, in the microwave, etc. The most common and simple recipes are described below. Any store-bought bread, white, rye, or loaf, is suitable for croutons. Old stale bread can also be used, the only thing is that it should not have mold on it. Make the slices no more than 1 cm and no less than 0.5 cm thick. Thick slices take too long to fry, and thin slices can quickly burn. You can serve croutons with beer cold or hot straight from the oven.
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.
How to cook?
Toasts with pepper
To prepare, take your favorite bread (black or white - to taste), cut into large cubes. Next, take a chicken egg, break it into a deep bowl and beat it, add finely grated cheese, tomato sauce, pasta or ketchup (whatever is in the refrigerator), ground red pepper and butter.
Mix everything thoroughly until smooth and spread the resulting sauce on sliced bread and fry in a frying pan.
The croutons are ready and can be served with beer.
Garlic croutons for beer
Cut the black bread into cubes or strips. Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan and add finely chopped garlic. Wait until it turns golden and discard.
Place the sliced bread in a frying pan and fry until golden brown.
Remember to turn the croutons over so they are evenly browned on all sides. You can also sprinkle them with any spices or seasonings to taste.
Ready-made croutons can be consumed both cold and hot. To cool them faster, place them on a flat plate; if you want them to retain heat longer, it is better to place them in a deep bowl. If desired, you can sprinkle them with grated cheese on top. On hot toast it will melt and then harden.
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: 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 remaining 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.
French recipe
The crouton recipe, unlike the above-mentioned cooking technologies, includes an egg. Such croutons will not only decorate the table for breakfast, but will also be an excellent help for lunch or dinner.
You will need:
- Bread (wheat) – 500 g
- Chicken egg – 2 pieces
- Vegetable oil – 100 g
- Salt, spices, herbs - to taste
Preparation
Beat the eggs until foam appears and add salt, a mixture of spices and herbs. Dip the sliced bread into the egg mixture and fry in a well-heated frying pan until a beautiful golden crust appears. Thanks to the egg, the croutons are crispy on the outside, but the inside remains soft and tender. This dish goes well with tomato juice or strong black tea.
IMPORTANT: In this recipe, the heat for frying should be medium, but since the power of the stoves varies, watch the cooking carefully. The crouton should not burn or fry very slowly. It takes about 1 minute per piece to fry it on both sides.
Video recipe for beer croutons like in a bar:
With these easy recipes you can please your family, treat your friends and feed your children. This crouton snack is very versatile and easy to prepare. Now you know the secret of how to feed everyone nourishingly, tasty and very quickly. Bon appetit!
Toasts with garlic for beer
Even the widest assortment of different croutons presented on store shelves will not force supporters of homemade products to abandon making them with their own hands. The main thing is to know some of the subtleties of the technology for creating this incredibly tasty snack for beer and to have very little free time. As a result, we obtain products that are undoubtedly much healthier than store-bought ones and are often more aromatic and tastier. Today we will prepare our own rye or wheat croutons for beer with garlic.
How to make croutons with garlic for beer - recipe in a frying pan
- rye or white bread to choose from – 480 g;
- garlic cloves – 10-14 pcs. or to taste;
- vegetable oil without aroma – 130 ml;
- coarse table salt - to taste.
Cut the rye or white bread into slices up to one centimeter thick and place them in one layer on a heated frying pan, after pouring a little refined vegetable oil into it. After the bread pieces acquire a beautiful blush on both sides, remove them to a plate. We pass the peeled garlic cloves through a press, mix with salt, add a little vegetable oil to the mixture and apply it to the still hot golden brown croutons. After the products have cooled and soaked a little, you can serve them to the table with a glass of beer.
Toasts with garlic and cheese for beer in the oven
- rye or white bread to choose from – 480 g;
- garlic cloves – 10-14 pcs. or to taste;
- hard spicy cheese – 125 g;
- table salt - to taste.
In this case, the technological process of preparing croutons for beer is somewhat different from the previous one. And this is not surprising, because now we will make them in the oven. To do this, cut the bread into slices and immediately cover it with a mixture prepared from peeled garlic cloves and pressed through a press and table salt. After this, place the bread pieces with the filling on top of each other in a stack and leave to soak for ten to fifteen minutes.
As time passes, shake off the salted garlic mass from the soaked bread, which we subsequently cut into sticks or slices of another desired shape and then place them on a baking sheet. We place the preparations in a hot oven and let them dry and acquire the desired blush for ten to twenty minutes. We maintain the temperature at 220 degrees. Two or three minutes before the end of cooking, crush the croutons with hard cheese grated on a fine grater and let it melt completely and, if desired, brown.
Ready-made croutons can be served with beer, either warm or already cooled.
