Garlic "Parmesan" Croutons (gluten free, vegan)

I'm not much of a salad eater. Which is ironic since most people who learn I'm a vegan usually respond with the comment, "What do you eat, salad?"

Rarely.

But these croutons have rocked my not-so-into-salad world. I tossed them into my tofu BLT salad and slathered it in ranch dressing...and suddenly I'm seeing a lot more salad in my future.

A quick hint, I start my croutons a few days ahead, since I bake my own bread. I cut the bread and let it "stale" in the refrigerator a day or two, as stale bread seems to make a better crouton. You can sub any stale bread in place of the Sweet Potato Flat Bread, just be sure you have about 4 cups of cubed bread to start.


GLUTEN FREE CROUTONS

Yield: About 4 cups of croutons
Prep Time: 10 minutes + time for preparing 1 recipe Sweet Potato Flat Bread
Cook Time: 50 minutes

You will need a very large (or two small) cookie sheet and parchment paper for this recipe.

Ingredients

1 recipe Sweet Potato Flat Bread, cut into bite size cubes
2 Tbsp vegan butter, melted
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 heaping tsp dried parsley
2 heaping Tbsp nutritional yeast

Preheat oven to 325˚ F. Line cookie sheet(s) with parchment paper.

Cubed bread.

Combine herbs and salt in a small bowl. Place bread cubes in a separate, large mixing bowl.  Drizzle about 1/4 of the melted vegan butter and 1/4 of the herb mixture, tossing to coat the bread cubes. Repeat this process until you've used all the butter and herb mixture to coat the bread cubes.

Place bread cubes in a single layer on lined cookie sheet(s).

Pre baking.

Bake bread cubes at 325˚ F in for 10 minutes, then stir and return to oven for another 10 minutes. Continue baking and stirring, shortening time between stirring as the cubes darken. Bake until the cubes have thoroughly dried out and become crouton crunchy. Keep a close eye on your first batch, all ovens bake a bit differently and it's easy to burn these within a few minutes.

Post baking.

You can serve these immediately, warm or cooled. Cool completely before storing and eat within a day or two for best flavor and texture.

Chomp. Yum. Mmmmmmm!

*gluten free, can be soy free if using non-soy vegan butter

© 2016 Ahimsa Kitchen and Marty Tribble | Reproduction of this post without written permission is unlawful.