You know all those fancy breading mixes that you buy for frying chicken and fish?  You don’t have to pay for those mixes, you can just make your own.  Make this easy bread crumbs recipe from leftover bread.  You can use extra hot dog and hamburger buns, or the last of that loaf of bread that is getting stale.  Once you have your basic bread crumbs, you can use them in meatloaf, meatballs, or season them up for chicken parm, or fried fish. 

It’s so easy, once you’ve done it, you won’t want to pay for bread crumbs at the market ever again! Bread that is a little on the stale side works best (just make sure there’s no mold), but you can use fresh bread in a pinch, it will just take longer to bake out all of the moisture.

I stick with plain bread crumbs to keep my options open for using them in recipes.  But if you mostly use Italian seasoned bread crumbs, mix in your favorite Italian seasonings and you’re ready to go whenever you need them!  Ok, gather up your bread scraps and let’s make some crumbs!

DIY Bread Crumbs Recipe

Ingredients:

Leftover bread (No measuring, however much you have will work)

Instructions:

Cut your bread into cubes.  The smaller the cubes the shorter the oven time.  I usually do ½ inch cubes.   Spread the bread cubes, and any crumbs from the cutting board, onto a baking tray.  Be sure to get them into one even layer. 

Place the baking tray in the oven and bake at 275f until all of the cubes are toasty brown and completely dry.  How long they need to bake depends on the moisture content of the bread you are using, so watch them closely to avoid burning.  Turn them with a spatula occasionally.   If you break open a cube and it’s not completely dry in the center, they’re not done.  Once they’re all toasted and dried, remove the tray from the oven and allow your toasted bread cubes to cool completely.

Using a rolling pin, crush the cubes into bread crumbs.  This may take some time, but be patient and keep at it until you have a fine, even texture to your bread crumbs.  If you have a food processor you can breeze through this step a lot faster!

Store your bread crumbs in an airtight container.

Here’s a link to my YouTube short for this recipe. 

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