Swap Croutons With One Soy-Based Ingredient On Your Next Salad

No matter what store you shop at, there never seems to be a shortage of croutons. The different crouton brands on the market today are seemingly endless, with flavor options ranging from simple to extravagant. You're bound to find a crouton to pair with whatever salad you're making, but sometimes the crouton's taste and texture just don't work with other ingredients. Thankfully, there are plenty of substitutes for croutons to ensure your salad isn't crunch-less. One of our favorite substitutes is the soy nut. Made from matured soybeans, soy nuts are a protein-packed alternative to croutons that are guaranteed to be your new favorite salad topping.

If you've never had soy nuts, throwing a few onto a salad is a great way to give them a try. You can buy them dry-roasted and salted, which makes them even more flavorful and crispy, though some brands offer different seasonings, too. In terms of flavor, soy nuts taste sort of like dry-roasted peanuts. They're nutty, slightly sweet, and they have a great crunch. And while croutons don't tend to add any health benefits to your salad, soy nuts do. They are full of vitamins and may help reduce the risk of heart disease — and yet, they're just as delicious and satisfying as a crouton. What's not to love? 

If you go for the simple dry-roasted and salted soy nuts, you won't have a hard time pairing them with salad, since their flavor is fairly neutral: They'll go with everything from a Caesar salad to an Asian-inspired crunchy bok choy salad. And if none of the store-bought seasoned soy nuts speak to you, you can buy plain soybeans and roast and season them yourself. This is a bit more time-consuming, but it will allow you to play around with flavor to better fit in with the other ingredients in your salad: Add some maple syrup for a sweet addition, or some cayenne pepper to kick things up a notch.

If you want something a bit more visually appealing but don't want to sacrifice the extra protein, top your salad with some roasted edamame for a pop of color. This is another great soy-based ingredient you should know about, whether you eat it cooked or roasted. Edamame is technically a soybean, but it's picked when it's immature, unlike soy nuts, which have fully matured. Though they aren't quite the same thing, they can produce a similar crispy topping when they're roasted and seasoned, and they possess many of the same health benefits. Add some garlic powder and Parmesan for a cheesy, punchy addition to your refreshing salad, or keep it simple with some salt and pepper.