Ina Garten Shows Us How to Make the Croutons from the Cover of Her New Cookbook

Queen Ina is at it again on Instagram: She just gave us another glimpse into her new cookbook, Cook Like a Pro, coming out this October. A month ago she let us in on a recipe from her upcoming cookbook — a super simple tomato salad — which she said is her favorite summer salad. And yesterday she posted a quick video where she explained her easy yet essential tip for making better homemade croutons. It also just happens to be the recipe she’s making on the cover of her cookbook! Gimme, gimme, gimme.

“When most people are making croutons, I think what they do is put the oil and the croutons in the pan at the same time,” Ina explains in the video. “But what pros do, is that they heat up the pan, put a few tablespoons of olive oil. Make sure the oil is really hot – in a hot pan it gets hot faster — and then put in the croutons. And that way the croutons get nice and brown, but they don’t absorb the oil so much.”

Ina then seasons the croutons with lot of salt and pepper. If you, too, also stopped in your tracks when you saw what she uses for said pepper mill (like, what is that contraption?) she answered a fan’s inquiry in the comments. It’s from PepperMate!

Buy: PepperMate Traditional Pepper Mill, $32

This is the most Ina tip ever. It might seem a little basic, but this tip is truly a salad-saver. Who wants soggy, oily croutons on their salad? And I’m sure most home cooks have gone about making croutons the “wrong” way and given up on the process. But no more!