Ruby Tuesday's Croutons

I've never been a big fan of salad bar, but when my mother-in-law introduced me to the croutons at Ruby Tuesday, I was pleasantly surprised. They are slightly sweet, crispy outside and chewy inside. Delicious! If you ask your waitress nicely, she may bring you a small bowl of freshly made croutons, too. Their croutons are converting me into a salad bar person! 

"Hey, they look like treats! I'm hopeful...."

So I tried reconstructing them at home. There is a debate out there as to what kind of bread the restaurant actually uses, and some seem to think they use dark honey wheat bread. But I couldn't find that at my grocery store, so I used dark rye. I think dark rye worked fine because it was slightly denser than wheat bread; it stayed chewy inside after frying. Slight sweetness from brown sugar went well with a sprinkle of salt.

Toss with brown sugar

Don't fry them too long; you don't want them to be crispy inside.

Ruby Tuesday's Croutons

3 slices of dark rye bread (or dark honey wheat bread), about 3 cups
2 cups canola oil
2 tsp brown sugar
Sprinkles of salt

Cut slices of bread into small cubes. In a bowl, mix the cubes with brown sugar and toss well so the sugar sticks to them. You want to use brown sugar here because it's easier to stick to the bread than granulated sugar. Fry them in oil for 1 to 2 minutes. While warm, sprinkle with a little salt. They are better warm, but you can serve them at room temperature.

I can just eat these without a salad!

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