Crispy Pancetta Wrapped Croutons

October 28, 2014

Crispy Pancetta Wrapped Croutons | Sarcastic Cooking

Are you a “Soup, and…” kind of person?

I have been on a really big soup kick. I am rebuilding my freezer soup supply. Right now I have minestrone, creamy slow cooker chicken noodle soup, and some chili taking up about 1/3 of the space in my freezer. Things are looking good for our dinner sitch for the next month or so.

The only thing holding me back from an easy-peasy, heat up some soup for dinner scenario, is Mike.

Crispy Pancetta Wrapped Croutons - The perfect topping for your fave soup

Here is an example of our phone conversation when Mike is leaving work:

“Hey, what’s for dinner?”

“Soup.”

“And?”

Seriously?!?!?!

Every single time.

Ugh! So frustrating! I just want to take the contents of a Tupperware container, aka a brick of frozen soup, and dump it in a pot, crank the heat on the stove to high, and voila in ten minutes dinner is done! Because, after cooking recipes for the blog all day, the last thing I really feel like doing is pouring more of my brain energy into the always looming question of what’s for dinner.

Crispy Pancetta Wrapped Croutons | Sarcastic Cooking

Sorry if I just ruined some perfect image you have had of me always cooking and brainstorming in the kitchen. Wait, I think I maybe ruined that when I confessed my love for Taco Bell a while ago. Oops!

My solution to help you and myself deal with all these crazy “soup, and?” people is fancy croutons.

Melt a ton of cheese over some cut up cubes of bread in the oven. Add some olive oil, tabasco, and chili seasoning to cubes of bread and then toast. Ooooorrrrr, do as I did in this recipe and wrap a wonderfully salted meat around a cube of bread then bake. Boom! Now you have a little addition to soup to help make it more substantial of a meal.

Crispy Pancetta Wrapped Croutons

A crispy and salty topping for your favorite fall and winter soups!
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings 12

Ingredients

  • 1, Demi Baguette cut into about 12 cubes
  • 6 Thin Slices of Pancetta sliced in half
  • 1 Sprig of Thyme
  • Pinch of Black Pepper

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Wrap each half slice of pancetta around one cube of bread. Place the wrapped cube seam side down on a small baking sheet. Continue until all cubes are wrapped.
  3. Bake in the oven for 7 minutes. Remove pan, flip cubes over, and then bake for another 7 minutes.
  4. Top with fresh thyme leaves, black pepper, and then use on top of your favorite soup.

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  • Susan
    October 30, 2014 at 2:58 pm

    I need this in my life. Immediately. Although it’s unlikely it’ll even make to the soup. Regular homemade croutons never last at home, never mind ones that are wrapped in pancetta.

  • Francesca
    October 29, 2014 at 12:48 am

    My immediate thought when I saw these was : SEXY SALAAADDD, because bacon.
    But now you opened my eyes to sexy soup. \o/
    Woop!

  • Maggie @ A Bitchin' Kitchen
    October 28, 2014 at 9:28 pm

    Ahhh. Same problem with my boyfriend. I end up eating soup for lunch a lot because he just can’t do it for dinner. Soup and a hunk of bread is the perfect meal in my world. These croutons are brilliant. I made Tracy from Shutterbean’s white bean soup a few weeks ago and I think these would be an amaaaazing topping for my leftover frozen stash!

  • Kayle (The Cooking Actress)
    October 28, 2014 at 4:18 pm

    I’m the same! bahahaaaa. I’ll make dip or soup or something and Michael will be like “THAT’S NOT A MEAL!”

    he would looove these croutons! whether he could make a meal of ’em or not 😛