Pangrattato aka Italian breadcrumbs are super-fast and easy to make with simple pantry ingredients. Use leftover bread to make Italian Breadcrumbs that are flavored with garlic, onion, and herbs. Breadcrumbs make an excellent topping for baked pasta, for breading fish or chicken, used as a binder in fish cakes, meatballs, or meatloaves.
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Homemade Italian-style seasoned breadcrumbs
The best way to make use of leftover bread or the ends of the bread is to make breadcrumbs. Now making breadcrumbs is so simple you don’t need a recipe for it. And if you want to season the breadcrumbs with Italian seasoning, you can do it with the choice of herbs you like and some garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper.
I’m sharing a basic idea of how to season the breadcrumbs. Use this recipe as a base and make it your own, it’s adaptable and can be tweaked accordingly.
Making breadcrumbs at home is economical and way better than store-bought crumbs, as you know what’s in it and can customize the seasoning and flavor it to your liking. Make it today and I bet you won’t be buying from the store anymore.
All you need is any type of leftover bread loaf or the ends of the bread which some people ignore and don’t like to eat. A day-old bread works best, as it’s drier. If you are keen to try making your own breadcrumbs using fresh bread, then don’t skip the dehydration or toasting step.
While you can choose to use bread slices/loaves without toasting, I highly recommend you toast it first. Toasting in the oven is done to remove excess moisture and make the bread drier. Toasted breadcrumbs are great for breading or as topping for pasta. You can dry the bread in the oven or on the stovetop.
If bread is not dried well, it will not crumble in a food processor. Different breads need different drying times.
Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need-
- Bread
- Parsley
- Thyme
- Oregano
- Basil
- Red chili flakes
- Onion powder
- Garlic powder
- Salt & pepper
All the ingredients’ exact measurements are mentioned in the recipe card below.
- Bread – stale bread is best, when I say stale, it means day-old bread that does not have molds and isn’t spoilt. You can use any type of bread – white bread slices, baguette bread, multigrain bread loaf, whole wheat bread, or even dinner rolls. If you are someone who saves bread ends, the crust, or any leftover bread in the fridge or freezer, you can use that to make pangrattato.
- Dried herbs – I used a mix of dried thyme, dried oregano, dried parsley, and dried basil. You may use a choice of herbs to flavor as per your liking.
- Red chili flakes – optional, for little heat.
- Onion powder and garlic powder – optional, adding wonderful flavor to the crumbs.
- Salt and pepper – added to your taste.
How to make Italian breadcrumbs
Depending on the type of bread you use, please adjust the drying time. I used French baguette for this recipe and I dried the slices of baguette in the oven at low heat. You can also dry bread on the stovetop using a pan and dry the bread on low heat until dried out and toasty.
Preheat oven to 300F (150C).
Slice bread thin and even.
Place the bread slices directly on the oven rack or use a baking tray and toast/dry it preheated oven for 5 minutes, flip the bread, and toast for 5 more months. Keep an eye on bread, depending on the type of bread the drying time will vary. Do not brown the bread too much, you want the bread to be dried and toasty.
Remove the bread from the oven and let it cool for a few minutes on a wire rack.
Transfer dried bread to a food processor and pulse it until the texture you like.
Transfer the crumbs to a bowl and mix in the dried herbs, and seasoning, or add all the dried herbs and seasoning to the food processor and pulse it for 5-10 seconds to blend.
Store Italian breadcrumbs in a clean dry airtight container.
Use it as topping over pasta, baked pasta, breading for fish or chicken, or as a binder to make meatballs or meatloaves.
Useful tips
- Bread. Drier-day-old bread works great. You can use any type of bread – white bread slices, baguette bread, multigrain bread loaf, whole wheat bread, or even dinner rolls.
- Even sliced bread. Be sure to slice bread even and thin so it dries faster and evenly.
- Dry bread. If bread is not dried well, it will not crumble in a food processor. Different breads need different drying times. You can also dry bread on the stovetop using a pan and dry the bread on low heat until dried out and toasty.
- Make it your own. Customize the seasoning and flavor it to your liking.
Serving suggestions
You can use Italian breadcrumbs in endless ways. You can use it in recipes that call for plain breadcrumbs. Since Italian breadcrumbs have seasoning, you might have to omit the seasoning in the recipe to adjust the flavors.
Pangrattato aka Italian breadcrumbs make an excellent topping for baked pasta, for breading fish or chicken, and are used as a binder in fish cakes, meatballs, or meatloaves.
It can be used as a topping for cauliflower gratin, baked mac and cheese, and stuffed mushrooms.
You can use it as breading for chicken cutlets or fish.
It can also be used to mix with the meat to make meatballs or meatloaves.
Common questions
You can use any type of bread – white bread slices, baguette bread, multigrain bread loaf, whole wheat bread, or even dinner rolls.
Any leftover bread ends or crust from the fridge or freezer can be used.
Regular bread crumbs are just dried bread pulsed to crumbs. Italian breadcrumbs are seasoned crumbs with seasonings like garlic powder, onion powder, dried herbs, salt, and pepper.
Yes, you can. But you must dry it first. As fresh bread is soft and has a lot of moisture, it won’t crumble in the food processor.
Store Italian breadcrumbs in a clean airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. To store longer you can freeze them in freezer zip-lock bags. It will keep up to a year in the freezer.
More homemade kitchen staples
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📋Pangrattato (Italian Breadcrumbs)
Ingredients
- 4 oz bread day-old bread
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon red chili flakes
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300F (150C).
- Slice bread thin and even.
- Place the bread slices directly on the oven rack or use a baking tray and toast/dry it preheated oven for 5 minutes, flip the bread, and toast for 5 more months. Keep an eye on bread, depending on the type of bread the drying time will vary. Do not brown the bread too much, you want the bread to be dried and toasty.
- Remove the bread from the oven and let it cool for a few minutes on a wire rack.
- Transfer dried bread to a food processor and pulse it until the texture you like.
- Transfer the crumbs to a bowl and mix in the dried herbs, and seasoning, or add all the dried herbs and seasoning to the food processor and pulse it for 5-10 seconds to blend.
- Store Italian breadcrumbs in a clean dry airtight container.
- Use it as topping over pasta, baked pasta, breading for fish or chicken, or as a binder to make meatballs or meatloaves.
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe Notes
- Bread. Drier-day-old bread works great. You can use any type of bread – white bread slices, baguette bread, multigrain bread loaf, whole wheat bread, or even dinner rolls.
- Even sliced bread. Be sure to slice bread even and thin so it dries faster and evenly.
- Dry bread. If bread is not dried well, it will not crumble in a food processor. Different breads need different drying times. You can also dry bread on the stovetop using a pan and dry the bread on low heat until dried out and toasty.
- Make it your own. Customize the seasoning and flavor it to your liking.
Created by Jyothi Rajesh
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I’m Jyothi Rajesh (Jo for short) and i’m the founder of the food blog, Curry Trail where I share my culinary Adventures. I live in Bangalore, India. I’m a mom of two beautiful kids. My passion is creating and sharing delicious and easy recipes for the home cook. I have been blogging since 2007 and many of my recipes have appeared in both online and print publications over the years. Learn more about Jyothi Rajesh.
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