How To Make Fresh Or Dried Bread Crumbs In A Food Processor

If you have leftover bread, don’t throw it out – turn it into breadcrumbs.  You can easily make breadcrumbs at home by using a food processor.  Food processor turns bread slices into bread crumbs in seconds!

When you learn how easy it is to make bread crumbs at home, you’ll never want to buy them at the store.  Homemade breadcrumbs will save you money and will prevent waste.   Homemade bread crumbs are a great way to use up those end pieces of bread that nobody wants to eat :)

Homemade bread crumbs are great in meatloaf, meatballs, stuffing, or as a breading for chicken or fish (check out my crispy breaded fish recipe).  You can also make seasoned breadcrumbs by adding a little Italian seasoning.

If the recipe calls for bread crumbs and you don’t have them in your pantry, now you won’t have to run to the store to get them – as long as you have bread at home, you can make your own bread crumbs.

How To Make Fresh Breadcrumbs

To make fresh breadcrumbs, you need the bread that’s not too soft.  Do not use the processed white sandwich bread like “Wonderbread” – bread that’s too soft and fluffy is only good for dried breadcrumbs, not the fresh ones.  For fresh bread crumbs, you can use bakery bread, supermarket bread that’s not too soft or bread machine bread.

Making fresh breadcrumbs is simple – just tear the bread into small pieces (about 6-8 pieces for each slice of bread) and put in a food processor bowl fitted with a steel blade.  Pulse it about 10 times with 1-second pulses, or until the bread pieces turn into crumbs.

You can store fresh breadcrumbs in an airtight container in a refrigerator for up to a week, or freeze them for up to 6 months.  If using frozen bread crumbs, you can use them directly from frozen or thaw them in refrigerator.

How To Make Dried Breadcrumbs

To make dried breadcrumbs, first you need to dry out the bread by baking it in the oven, and then process it in the food processor.

Preheat the oven to 200F.  Put the bread slices on the baking sheet in a single layer and bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

Let the dried bread cool down, then break it into pieces and process in the food processor.  You can store dry bread crumbs in a ziplock bag in a pantry for a month, or freeze them and use directly from frozen.