Homemade Breadcrumbs
This is an easy recipe for homemade breadcrumbs; ideal when you have stale bread lying around.
I had a loaf of sourdough sitting on my counter for a few days, and instead of letting it go to waste, I turned it into the best homemade breadcrumbs. They’re crunchy, toasty, and way more flavorful than anything from the store.
Backstory for this recipe
Over the summer, I started my sourdough journey. It took me a while to figure out of to make good sourdough at home, but once I did, I couldn’t stop making loaves. My partner was looking at me like I was crazy for spending weeks nurturing my starter, then hours to prepare the dough, to get a loaf of bread. After tasting it, he understood why.
My problem was that I was baking too much bread for the two of us. I was giving loaves away and feeding it to our family and friends, but I had too much bread left over. I was looking at one sourdough loaf that was going stale and I knew I had to figure our what to do with it. We were planning our next meal and it was turkey meatloaf, which requires breadcrumbs. That’s when it clicked.
I was looking at the ingredients list on the container of breadcrumbs from the store: wheat flour, salt, yeast. Put simply, bread and salt. Then, I decided to take my stale bread, put it on an oiled baking sheet at low temperature and bake it until all the moisture was gone. I added a little bit of salt for seasoning and that was it: homemade breadcrumbs.
This recipe is so simple but so versatile. So many recipes use breacrumbs and it is convenient to be able to make them with bread you already have at home. It can also turn into a delicious topping for salads, pasta, and more.
Table of Contents
Use this guide to help you navigate through this recipe. You’ll find the full video, the detailed instructions and the full recipe at the end.
How to make this Homemade Breadcrumbs recipe (Video)
Homemade Breadcrumbs Instructions
Step 1. Cut or rip your bread into 1-inch pieces
It is best to use stale bread for breadcrumbs as most of the moisture is already gone. You also don’t want to use fresh bread that you could be eating with some delicious shakshuka instead!
Step 2. Pulse the bread pieces in a food processor until you get crumbs of your desired size
If you want panko-style crumbs, you will need to pulse less to keep bigger crumbs. If you want traditional bread crumbs, you will pulse more to get the bread pieces finer.
Step 3. Oil your baking sheet
Using olive oil, apply a thin and even layer of oil on your baking sheet. This will create a non-stick surface for the bread crumbs to bake on.
Step 4. Season your bread crumbs
After 5-7 minutes in the oven, pull out your baking sheet with the bread crumbs and season with your seasonings of choice. I only use salt, but you can include garlic powder, onion powder, italian seasonings/herbs. You can customize your crumbs the way you like them.
Step 5. Stir your crumbs
I like to use a spoon to stir the crumbs after seasoning them. It will also distribute the oil on the crumbs and help them bake more evenly.
Step 6. Bake until lightly golden
It usually takes me about 15 minutes to get the desired color on my crumbs. I will sometimes toss them a few times to ensure that they are evenly baked and I don’t get burnt edges.
Conclusion
These breadcrumbs are absolutely delicious. They taste completely different than what you will find in the store. Don’t worry, store-bought breadcrumbs are just fine. I wanted to try making my own breadcrumbs since I started baking bread at home. I did end up with fresher and tastier crumbs that could be use for many recipes: meatloaf, meatballs, or even as a topping for salads.
Homemade Breadcrumbs
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Preheat your oven to 325℉.
- Cut or rip your (stale) sourdough bread into 1-inch pieces.
- Pulse the bread pieces in the food processor until you get crumbs to your desired size. For panko-style crumbs, you will pulse less. For traditional crumbs, you will need to pulse more.
- Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil to coat the bottom of your baking sheet.
- Add roughly half of your bread crumbs on the baking sheet in an even layer.
- Bake the bread crumbs in the oven for roughly 15 minutes, until lightly golden. Halfway through the bake, lightly salt the bread crumbs and toss with a spoon. Return to the oven until done.
- When done, remove the bread crumbs from the baking sheet and set aside in a bowl. Let cool at room temperature. To store: keep the bread crumbs in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.