Cornbread Croutons

It's safe to say that cornbread is a mainstay on our dinner tables in the South. Whether we're celebrating a holiday or cooking a simple, hearty chili, cornbread is the humble companion that elevates so many of our favorite dishes. Over the years, we've discovered quite a few ways with cornbread; you'll find cornbread dressing on just about every Southern Thanksgiving table, and we've even turned it into a casserole.

Southerners always over-prepare, especially when we're cooking for friends and family, which often means we're left with plenty of extra food. But what to do with those leftovers? Luckily, we've devised a fantastic technique that brings new life to this classic Southern quick bread: Cornbread Croutons.

In this recipe, we toss cubes of cornbread with olive oil, salt, and pepper, then toast them in the oven until they achieve a lovely shade of golden-brown. The result is perfectly crisp cornbread nuggets, ideal for topping a salad (or really any dish that could use a bit of extra starch). We also love these cornbread croutons served atop chili or some of our other favorite soups. Since cornbread tends to be crumbly, handle it carefully when making the croutons.

Don't have any leftover cornbread on hand? No problem. Feel free to go with a pre-made cornbread from the grocery store or whip up a quick mix. Of course, we're always partial to homemade cornbread—if you don't already have an heirloom family recipe, give Ben Mims' Perfect Cornbread a try—but in this application (where the cornbread is cubed and toasted) it doesn't make a significant difference.