Homemade Italian Breadcrumbs Recipe (Freezer Friendly)

Italian breadcrumbs recipe is so simple that you will never buy breadcrumbs in a package. They are used in many dishes; their fresh taste is important for authentic Italian recipes. Made with stale bread, homemade Italian breadcrumbs can be plain or flavored with fresh but simple ingredients, like fresh garlic, basil, or parsley, and freshly grated parmesan cheese. You do not have to buy them in the grocery store to save time, just make a large quantity and freeze them.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Equipment
• Instructions
• Storage and freezing
• How to use Italian breadcrumbs
• Top tips
• Recipes I make with these breadcrumbs
• 📋 How to make Italian breadcrumbs

Homemade breadcrumbs are an Italian pantry staple, the base for many traditional Italian recipes.

When freshly prepared, they will make a huge difference to your final traditional Italian dish.

They are often used as an additional ingredient to structure a recipe or as a garnish to make a crunchy topping.

As they are used in many Italian recipes, I like to make a large batch, keep them in the freezer, and, when cooking, defrost just the amount I need.

An Italian style bread crumbs supply in the freezer saves me a lot of time.

Other prep ingredients in my freezer are beef stock, chicken stock, fish stock, fish fumet, grated carrot, celery and onion to make a soffritto.

If you want to see what else I keep in my freezer to speed up my cooking time, you can read the article: Once a Month Freezer Meal Prep

Ingredients

Stale bread: I always keep stale bread to make breadcrumbs; I never throw them away.

It ties into my dislike of throwing food away unnecessarily. If I’m running low on stale bread, I buy a large baguette from the supermarket and leave it for 2 days before using it.

I would highly discourage you from using store-bought breadcrumbs or panko bread crumbs as they are too dry, flavorless, and lack structure.

Old bread, instead, contains some moisture and has a much softer and spongy consistency.

It can better absorb and retain the flavors of the other ingredients.

Type of bread

The best breadcrumb is made using soft white bread without added seasonings or herbs like baguettes, ciabatta, rosetta, michetta.

You can utilize leftover sourdough, whole wheat, and multigrain bread, even if they aren't the most optimal option.

Since they have a robust flavor and texture, they can overpower delicate dishes.

Do not use already seasoned bread or loaves of bread that are too soft or sweet, like hamburger or hot dog buns, or sandwich loaves.

The bread needs a stronger consistency to give that delicate crunch.

To flavor the bread I make my own Italian seasoning with fresh ingredients:

• Fresh Basil or Parsley
• Fresh Garlic: I never use garlic powder or onion powder. Fresh ingredients are always better and will make a big difference
• Parmigiano Regiano cheese, Grana Padano cheese or Pecorino cheese

See recipe card for quantity

Equipment

You can use a food processor with blades or an electrical shredder to grate the fresh breadcrumbs.

However, if the bread is too hard, it may break the food processor's motor.

It had happened to me twice with Braun before I learned the lesson.

KitchenAid has a stronger and more reliable motor, as it is gear driven, while other appliances are belt driven and, therefore, more fragile.

So I always used its Slicer/Shredder Attachment which worked fine until the pusher broke.

Unfortunately, I couldn't buy it as a spear part.

Kitchenaid changed the shape of the new shredded attachment, so I had to buy a new one.

While I like KitchenAid as a kitchen appliance, I DO NOT recommend buying this Slicer/Shredder Attachment as it is badly built and broke twice.

So now I use the old KitchenAid shredder and the stale baguette bread as the pusher or cover the hole with a crust of Parmesan.

However, KitchenAid now has a new shredder model that looks much stronger.

Instructions

Plain breadcrumbs

You can make some plain breadcrumbs and season them only if needed.

3. Use it in the recipe or store it in an airtight container

Seasoning plain breadcrumbs

1. Blend with an electric blender a cup of plain shredded breadcrumbs with basil or parsley leaves and a garlic clove
2. Add the grated parmesan to the breadcrumbs
3. Stir with a fork to remove all the lumps
4. Use it in the recipe or store it in an airtight container in the fridge

Making large quantities to freeze

Once a month, I make large quantities of breadcrumbs to stock up in my freezer, and I start with freezing grated parmesan cheese.

Grating the Parmesan cheese first saves you time, as you do not have to wash the shredder or food processor.

The bread will pick up any residual parmesan left in the shredder

Freezing grated parmesan cheese

You can buy large slices of Parmesan cheese at a fraction of the price in a wholesale shop like Costco.

Grated Parmesan cheese freezes well and does not solidify, so you can defrost only the amount you need.

For cooking, you can use Grana Padano instead of Parmigiano Reggiano as the taste is very similar, and the price is much more convenient.

You can also freeze small Parmesan blocks or Parmesan flakes.

Do not throw away the parmesan's crust; freeze them as well, as they can be added to soups.

Hint: To make the seasoned Italian breadcrumbs keep some Parmesan aside

Grating the breadcrumbs with fresh flavors

This is how I prepare a big batch of homemade breadcrumbs to freeze.

I always flavor my breadcrumbs with my own fresh Italian seasoning, never store-bought garlic powder, parsley flakes, or any other dried seasoning.

Using fresh flavors and your own breadcrumbs makes a huge difference to your recipes.

7. Mix them to distribute the flavor uniformly

Storage and freezing

For a few days, you can store the fresh bread crumbs in the fridge in an airtight container.

You can also store them in the freezer for a few months in a large freezer-friendly bag.

As the bread crumbs do not solidify, you can defrost only the bread crumbs you need for your recipe.

Once defrosted, you cannot freeze them again.

Keep them in the fridge and use them within a few days.

How to use Italian breadcrumbs

Plain breadcrumbs are used to coat complex fried food like Arancini, fried mozzarella, fried custard or baked casseroles like potato pie Gateau, Parmigiana.

Seasoned bread crumbs with herbs and parmesan add extra flavor to dishes like Italian chicken cutlets or nuggets, fried olive Ascolane, Eggplant or Veal Milanese, stuffed calamari, spiedini, and meat braciole without sauce.

The principle of Italian cuisine is to use simple ingredients and not waste any food,

So breadcrumbs are often the main ingredient in many Cucina Povera recipes, food for poor people like bread gnocchi Canederli, Eggplant meatballs, or stuffed red peppers.

The bread crumbs are often soaked in little milk to soften them in these recipes.

Top tips

• The best bread for bread crumbs is white bread like baguettes, ciabatta, rosetta, michetta
• Do not use bread seasoned with herbs, sandwiched sliced bread or sweet bread like brioche hamburger or hot dog rolls
• If you don't have stale bread, you can buy a baguette and leave it to dry for 2 days
• If you need it the same day, cut it into smaller pieces and dry it in the oven at 300 F - 150 C for 30 minutes to one hour. It should not be toasted but dried
• Use fresh herbs, not dried
• You can use plain breadcrumbs for deep fry coating

Recipes I make with these breadcrumbs

• Baked Swordfish and Braciolette
• Scallop, Shrimp, Salmon and Cod Fish Pie with a Mediterranean Twis
• Healthy Eggplant Parmesan
• Deep Fried Eggplant Balls
• Homemade chicken nuggets recipe
• Baked Breaded Chicken Breast
• Sicilian beef braciole recipe
• Vegetarian Eggplant Milanese
• Rice Arancini
• Meatballs with vegetable stew

If you are making these Breadcrumbs, leave your comment below I would like to hear from you. You can find more delicious ideas if you FOLLOW ME on Facebook, YouTube, or sign up to my newsletter.