Vegan Italian breadcrumbs are the answer to your breading needs! They are super flavorful and so easy to make with some stale bread and simple seasonings.
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Y'all, finding pre-made, vegan Italian breadcrumbs is hard. Most of the store-bought breadcrumbs (at least around here) contain eggs.
It makes sense, from a cooking science point of view. Breadcrumbs are supposed to stick to your food, and egg is a binder. Adding eggs makes them more effective in that way. But it's not helpful if you don't eat eggs.
They also tend to contain cheese, because - let's be honest - cheese tastes good. But if you don't eat dairy, this isn't helpful either.
Luckily, it is SUPER easy and inexpensive to make vegan breadcrumbs at home. They'll work in any recipe that calls for breadcrumbs, and they take just a few minutes to make in your blender or food processor.
I don't know about your family, but mine will not eat the heels of bread. I'm not judging - I don't like the heel, either. It's basically a piece that's all crust. No, thank you!
Normally we compost our bread heels, and it always feels like such a waste tossing two perfectly good pieces of bread out of every loaf. Well, toss them no more!
The heels of your bread are perfect for making a batch of vegan breadcrumbs, even if your loaf has gone stale! Let's do this.
🔍 Finding Vegan Bread
Companies love adding unneeded animal ingredients to bread! When you're looking at the ingredients, keep your eyes peeled for eggs, milk, cheese, and honey.
But don't give up! There are totally vegan bread options out there. My family loves Dave's Killer Bread, and I'm pretty sure all of their breads are vegan. The green bag definitely is. Just check the ingredients, if you branch out to their other varieties.
We also love Kroger brand potato rolls and their store brand Ancient Grain Bread. Both are vegan and very affordable, as of this writing.
Store brands in general are a good bet, when you're on the hunt for vegan bread that's budget-friendly.
Finding a vegan bread that your family loves can take some squinting at ingredients and some trial and error, but once you land on something you like, shopping for bread becomes as easy as it was before you went vegan.
🥖 Ingredients and Substitutions
- bread - Use three to four slices. Go for three if your slices are big or thick and four if they're on the smaller side.
- seasonings - Feel free to adjust to taste, but for my vegan breadcrumbs, I am using Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper. The nutritional yeast gives the vegan Italian breadcrumbs a cheesy flavor, but you can omit it, if that's not your jam.
🔪 How to Make Vegan Breadcrumbs
Toast your bread slices really well.
Add all of the ingredients to your blender or food processor.
Pulse until you have a crumbly mix.
💡 How to Use Italian breadcrumbs
You can use these anywhere you'd use store-bought breadcrumbs. They're lovely sprinkled on top of baked macaroni and cheese, pesto pasta casserole, or other casseroles.
And, of course, you can use them for breading baked, fried, or air fried foods, like vegan chicken nuggets.
If you're new to eating vegan, you might be wondering how to get that breading to stick. Conventional recipes rely on eggs, but you can get breadcrumbs to stick to your food without eggs:
- cornstarch - This is probably my favorite binder to use. Just toss the what you're breading in plant-based milk mixed with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, then toss with cornstarch, then in the Italian breadcrumbs.
- aquafaba - Don't let the name intimidate you. Aquafaba is just the liquid from a can of beans. The stuff you'd normally send down the drain when you dump your beans into the colander.
- flax egg - Mix a tablespoon of flax meal with two to three tablespoons of water. Let that sit until it thickens, and use it just like an egg to get your breading to stick. Make sure you're using flaxmeal. Whole flaxseeds will not work.
🫙 Storage Directions
These will keep for a two to three days in an airtight container in your pantry, but I'd use them as soon as possible, especially if you were using stale bread. The shelf life will vary, depending on how close your bread was to going bad. You can store vegan Italian breadcrumbs in the fridge to help them keep longer.
💬 Frequently Asked Questions
Really, you can use any bread you like! Stale bread will work best, because it's drier. For fresh bread, just toast it a bit longer. You can use white, wheat, sourdough, rye, etc.
You can make vegan Italian breadcrumbs with almost any bread you like, as well: white, wheat, sourdough, etc. I'd avoid bread with a strong flavor, like pumpernickel, since it will overpower the seasonings.
If you prefer plain breadcrumbs to Italian breadcrumbs, omit all of the seasonings from the recipe below except for the salt, then follow the instructions as written. Easy peasy!
✨ More Vegan Basics
📖 Recipe
🍞 Vegan Italian Breadcrumbs
Ingredients
- 3-4 slices vegan bread toasted. If your slices are extra big, use 3. For regular bread, use 4.
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast optional
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to your blender or food processor. Pulse until you have a crumbly mix.
Holli Wyatt
Wonderful! Thank you!
Marge Teilhaber
Becky, what's your favorite vegan bread? Mine is Dave's Killer 21 seeds. Gotta make this and then have an instant no-recipe tofu recipe.
Becky Striepe
I love the Dave's bread in the green bag! The boys prefer Lewis Bake Shop 12-grain, though.
Dodi Walker
Can you tell me where you got the beautiful bowl with vegan stamped on it? My daughter would love it!
Becky Striepe
Yes! It's from Jeanette Zeis Ceramics. You can find her on Etsy.
Dianen
I've actually never made my own breadcrumbs! I've never bought Italian breadcrumbs though, because of the cheese and eggs. I love how easy to make this is. I bet these would be super delish on baked tofu!
Becky Striepe
Ooh, you're going to love them, Dianne! They are awesome on baked tofu, for sure!