How to Make Homemade Seasoned Breadcrumbs

Homemade seasoned breadcrumbs can be made with crushed croutons in air fryer or baked in the oven. Italian seasoning or plain can be made. Options for breadcrumb substitutes too if you run out.

Air Fryer Breadcrumbs

We have made this as a Cosori air fryer recipe and as Ninja Foodi breadcrumbs as well. It doesn’t matter what brand of machine you own, it will work using the directions below. I will also include step by step for baking in the oven as well. You can use a loaf of bread cubed, or bake your own.

That is right, if you want to go all out and bake homemade bread first you’d want to let it cool, slice, and leaving it out on the countertop overnight is even better. If your loaf is really really soft it won’t slice super well unless you have a special knife that is super sharp. Dicing into bite size pieces is even harder unless it’s day old bread.

How to Make Breadcrumbs

If you see here the bread sliced rather nicely without yanking apart into weird shapes because it wasn’t super fresh. I typically make another batch to save and use when I have half or a full loaf that needs to be used up really.

Once they are toasted to golden brown and crunchy all you need to do is crush it into fine pieces. The easiest way to do that is with a food processor. You could use a blender for that instead if that is all you had too. Add all the seasonings you like on the bread, or wait and do it now.

Breadcrumb Substitute

So if you find yourself making our Lipton soup meatloaf recipe and OMG not only are you out of your canister of crumbs but you don’t have bread either you can use;

• Croutons
• Potato chips
• Oats
• Almonds add calcium and would be gluten free
• Oats
• Crushed chips like Ritz or Wheat Thins works
  • we prefer this in our Jiffy corn casserole recipe
• Dry stuffing mix, Pepperidge Farm herb is the best
• Plain cereal like cornflakes smashed will work too
• We share ideas on how to bread chicken without eggs here too

I mean look around your house and see what you could use as a sort of binder. If you try one out of desperation you actually might find that everyone likes that way better. Stuffing mix is actually quite amazing since it is already packed with seasonings, just crush or blend until it’s fine enough.

Gluten Free Breadcrumbs

If you needed a substitute that was acceptable for someone with celiac you could do it with this homemade seasoned breadcrumbs recipe for sure. You likely have a loaf of acceptable bread at home for them, feel free to follow the same directions below.

Timing may vary because it is made differently and usually more dense so keep an eye on your pieces of bread in the machine.

• Cut stale bread into 1″ inch squares. No need to remove the crusts, I prefer that they stay on.
  • you can use both types of bread, white or wheat are best
• Transfer the bread to the air fryer basket and roast at 340 F for 4-6 minutes or until browned and crispy. Spraying a bit of olive oil on top will enhance the toastiness.
• Place the toasted bread slices, paprika and thyme in a food processor and pulse.
  • You can use other spices and herbs too like Italian seasoning.
• Grind in pulses of 10-15 seconds. After each pulse, check how finely crushed the bread crumbs are. If you want to get a smaller crumb, grind them longer.
• Transfer the homemade bread crumbs to a jar or container, tightly close the lid and use when needed. To keep the crackers from getting damp, you can store them in the refrigerator.

You can now use them to make oven fried fish, air fryer tilapia or for vegetables like our salt and pepper zucchini chips. WAY better than store bought because you can customize the flavors. Even add some red pepper flakes for a spicy version if you like.

Homemade Breadcrumbs

If you have leftover bread at home and just kills you to throw it away, make seasoned breadcrumbs this week! Just have fresh bread but want to make this too? Just set it out at room temperature overnight and you’ll be ready to make this in the morning.