How to Make Breadcrumbs
Never again will you throw out stale, crusty bread.
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By Alice K. Thompson for Food Network Kitchen
Alice is a contributing writer and editor at Food Network
It's fast and easy to make your breadcrumbs. And doing so is an excellent way to avoid food waste. Although you can use fresh bread, the crumbs will be even better with slightly older bread or hard-to-love pieces like heels and scraps.
In this article, we cover the classic way to make breadcrumbs in a food processor, how to make them without a food processor, how to make seasoned breadcrumbs and our favorite breadcrumb-filled recipes.
How To Make Breadcrumbs
It takes just a few minutes, and once you have a stash of homemade breadcrumbs on hand you’ll find any number of uses for them: topping casseroles, coating cutlets, binding meatloaf, topping vegetables, adding crunch to pasta dishes and much more.
Step 1: Prep the Bread
Bread that's a few days old is ideal, or you can leave slices of bread spread out on a baking sheet at room temperature for several hours. In a pinch you can place the baking sheet in a 300-degree-F oven for a few minutes until the bread is just a little crispy. Cut or tear the bread into 1-inch pieces; this will help it process evenly.
Step 2: Process the Bread
Place about 3 cups of bread in a food processor fitted with the cutting blade; work in batches if necessary. Process until you have even, pebbly crumbs and don’t worry if some larger chunks are left.
Step 3: Make Dried Breadcrumbs, If Desired
Transfer the bread to a rimmed baking sheet. Pick out and break up or reprocess larger chunks. You can now use the breadcrumbs as is, or you can make dried breadcrumbs by baking them in a 300-degree-F oven until barely golden and toasted, 7 to 8 minutes, stirring often.
Step 4: Store the Breadcrumbs
You can store fresh or cooled dried breadcrumbs in an airtight container for up to a month or in the freezer for up to a year.
How to Make Breadcrumbs Without a Food Processor
No food processor? No problem. You can make breadcrumbs just with a knife and cutting board or with a box grater. Here’s how.
Making Breadcrumbs With a Knife and Cutting Board
- Cutting the bread in thin slices if it’s not already sliced.
- Cut each slice across into thin strips.
- Rotate the strips 90 degrees and cut across to make very fine cubes.
- Gather the cubes up and run your knife through them a few times using a rocking motion until they’re as fine as you’d like.
Making Breadcrumbs With a Box Grater
Use the largest holes on your box grater to shred bread into tiny bits prefect for breadcrumbs. This method is super-simple but works best with large pieces of bread (like sections of baguette or Italian bread) and bread that’s at least a bit hard and crusty; fresh, soft bread and thin slices will be difficult to rub through the holes of the grater. And one caution: Be sure to protect your fingers; it’s easy to nick your knuckles on the sharp grating surface.
What Kind of Bread to Use for Breadcrumbs
Most recipes that call for breadcrumbs assume you’ll be using white breadcrumbs, but that’s not your only option. Sourdough bread makes very tasty crumbs, as does rye, whole wheat or mixed-grain breads and most gluten-free breads. Rich loaves like brioche and challah can be used as long as the bread isn’t too moist to crisp up. And almost any kind of dinner roll and hotdog and hamburger buns make excellent crumbs as well. Pumpernickel makes very dark crumbs that can be dramatic on a casserole or over pasta.
How to Make Breadcrumbs Without Bread
Bread isn’t your only option for making crumbs. Just about any cracker can be made into dried (but not fresh) crumbs by breaking them down in a food processor or with a knife. You can also make crumbs out of pretzels and potato chips as long as the extra salt in these isn’t a problem. And dry cereals like cornflakes or crispy rice cereal can be excellent as long as they’re unsweetened: Just break them up and you’ll have lots of crinkly edges for excellent crisping and browning.
How to Make Seasoned Breadcrumbs
Also called Italian breadcrumbs, seasoned breadcrumbs are a convenient way to add a little extra herb and spice to recipes. There’s no wrong way to make them, but here’s a classic version that tastes close to what you’d buy at the supermarket:
Combine 1 cup of dried breadcrumbs with 1/2 teaspoon each parsley flakes, granulated garlic and Italian seasoning blend or oregano. Season to taste with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
And attention ranch seasoning fans: Try mixing a little ranch into your crumbs to add a distinctively tangy ranch flavor to your casserole toppings.
Never Throw Bread Out Again
All you need is a zip-close bag stashed in your freezer. Any time you have stale bread, or things like bread heels or broken crackers, pop them into the bag. Once you’ve got enough for a batch of breadcrumbs, spread the bread pieces on a rimmed baking pan and leave about an hour to thaw, then process into crumbs.
Recipes Using Breadcrumbs
These recipes showcase some of the most popular uses for homemade breadcrumbs, but once you’ve got them around, we’re sure you’ll come up with many, many creative uses for them.
Armando Rafael
Give Proteins a Crispy Coat: Fresh breadcrumbs give Crispy Pan-Fried Pork Chops a deliciously craggy and crusty coating. The same technique can be applied to any number of other cutlets like chicken and tofu or to fish fillets.
As a Crunchy Vegetable Topping: Grilled Chicken Salad with Parmesan Breadcrumbs is bursting with Italian flavor. Cooking breadcrumbs in olive oil to toast them up is great way to make them into a delicious and versatile topping, a technique you can borrow for any number of other dishes: salads, vegetables, pasta and more.
Armando Rafael
Bind Ground Meat: This Classic Meatloaf recipe alone could convince you to keep homemade breadcrumbs around. They’re an excellent binder for dishes like meatballs, turkey burgers, croquettes and crabcakes as well.
Top Off Casseroles: Making a crunchy, nutty topping on casseroles is one of breadcrumbs’ superpowers. In Buffalo Mac N’ Cheese, they play off a ultra-creamy filling of Cheddar, Jack and blue cheeses and make the whole dish picture-perfect.
Anna Williams
Bread Fried Foods: Just about no dish shows off breadcrumbs’ crispiness as well as Italy’s delicious stuffed rice balls, Arancini. These arancini are filled with a classic mix of cheeses, then crusted with a generous coating of breadcrumbs before being deep-fried. The balls are typically served as a snack or appetizer but you can add a crisp salad and a side of tomato sauce for dipping to make it a delightful full meal.
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