Save Money by Making Homemade Breadcrumbs

Making your own breadcrumbs is a great way to repurpose stale bread.

Making your own ensures they will be made with fiber-rich, whole-grain breads. Freeze leftover bread in a zipper-top bag until you are ready to bake. Your homemade breadcrumbs can be frozen, too, for up to six months.

Breadcrumbs can be fresh or dried. The two are different from each other and are not necessarily interchangeable. Dried breadcrumbs can be purchased in stores. Both are easy to make at home from leftover bread.

Fresh (or soft) breadcrumbs

Tear the bread into pieces, put it into a blender or food processor and pulse until the crumbs are the size you want. It’s best to use stale bread for breadcrumbs. One standard-size slice of bread will turn into about one-half cup of crumbs. If using a blender, do one slice at a time.

Dried breadcrumbs

When making dried breadcrumbs, the bread is dried first by baking the slices in a slow (300-degree Fahrenheit) oven until it’s completely dried and toasted, about 20 minutes. Let the slices cool before breaking into crumbs.

You can add flavorings to crumbs to be used on top of casseroles or coat skinless chicken breasts or cutlets. Try fresh or dried herbs, lemon zest or sesame seeds.