Use leftover bread to make your own pangrattato, aka homemade Italian breadcrumbs with simple pantry ingredients!

Homemade breadcrumbs are hands down the best way to use leftover bread!

Food waste is a shame and we have always tried to avoid it as much as possible.

But considering the current events, it's even more important to make the most of whatever foods we have at home. 

Everybody seems to be giving homemade bread a try lately.

So, if you're lucky enough to have found yeast and flour, you can surely make the most of leftover homemade bread with this breadcrumbs recipe.

If you don't make bread at home, use any kind of artisanal bread you can get your hands on.

Italian ciabatta, French baguette, spelt or wholemeal bread, they all work wonderfully well, but try to avoid the seedy loaves of bread for best results.

Making pangrattato at home is quite popular in Italy, and every household has its own version. 

Most specifically, this is the recipe we use in Sicily to make chicken, beef or fish cutlets.

I've been making homemade Italian breadcrumbs since I was a little girl helping my mum in our Sicilian kitchen.

It's actually the very first recipe my mum taught me all these years ago, and I've never tried a different version because this is simply the best!

ITALIAN BREADCRUMBS INGREDIENTS

No need to use weird or complicated ingredients for this easy recipe.

All you need is 4 simple pantry ingredients most probably you have already at home.

BREAD

Use freshly made bread or leftover bread.

If your leftover bread is kind of dry and hard you can skip the oven step, and place it directly in the food processor.

This means you'll get your own breadcrumbs in less than 5 minutes.

PARMIGIANO REGGIANO OR GRANA PADANO

Parmesan cheese (or Grana padano cheese) is what makes pangrattato so special.

It gives so much flavour to any kind of breaded meat recipe you'll use it for.

However, if you want to make vegetarian or vegan breadcrumbs, substitute with a vegan alternative, or skip the cheese altogether.

SEASONING

Parsley, garlic are my go-to options.

If you're not a fan, you can skip them altogether. I often make it without garlic for a kid-friendly option.

HOW DO YOU MAKE PANGRATTATO?

This is the easiest recipe you will stumble upon, I promise.

Making breadcrumbs at home is super simple and takes about 5 minutes of active work for a big batch.

Start by cutting the bread into slices, then arrange them nicely on a baking tray.

Place in a preheated oven and let the slices toast for about 20-30 minutes, depending on the oven.

You want the bread to be crunchy but not too golden, so low oven temperature is the key.

Once the bread is nicely dry and crunchy, remove it from the oven, and let it cool.

In the meantime, finely chop the parsley, and finely grate the garlic and parmesan cheese.

Note: You could throw everything in the food processor together with the bread and pulse until combined. However, I find that doing the above step by hand preserves the quality of the ingredients best, so trust me on this.

Once the bread slices have cooled down, place them in a food processor (or a powerful blender) and mix until crumbly, it should take about 2-3 minutes.

You can play with the texture of the breadcrumbs here, I prefer mine not too fine, as it adds a nice little crunch when breading cutlets, in a similar way panko breadcrumbs does.

Transfer the breadcrumbs in a bowl, and add the parsley, parmesan and garlic, then season with salt and pepper to taste and give it a nice mix.

There you go, your delicious Italian breadcrumbs mix is all ready!

How long do homemade breadcrumbs last?

This Italian breadcrumbs mix will keep well in the fridge for up to 5 days.

To make the most of it, I recommend storing it in the freezer, where it will keep fresh for up to 2 months.

Because this mix contains cheese, it’s not recommended to store it in the pantry.

However, if you make plain breadcrumbs (just bread), you can store it at room temperature in the pantry for a few days, and up to 2 weeks in the fridge.

Always store the prepared breadcrumbs in an airtight container.

What to use Italian breadcrumbs for?

There are endless ways to use it. I use it all the time to make my classic Italian breaded chicken cutlets recipe. But you can use the same recipe and swap the chicken for pork, beef and even fish (tuna, swordfish or cod fillets work amazingly well), or make a simple pasta with breadcrumbs.

You can also use it as a base to make meatballs. Just add an extra egg or two, minced beef, a little milk and mix everything together, and your meatballs mixture is ready in a blink.

MORE TRADITIONAL ITALIAN RECIPES

• The BEST Italian Pizza Dough
• Magic Italian Water Cake
• Classic Italian Frittata

DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?

Please let me know how you liked it! Leave a comment below and share a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #thepetitecook! Looking at your pictures always makes me smile *and super hungry*!

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