Those little boxes of pre-made crumbs for poultry are convenient, but so expensive! And really, the packets of “shake & bake” are common things you probably already have in your kitchen.
I make my own bread crumbs, so for me the cost is a few cents for the spices. I save all bits of bread – the ends of the loaves no one will eat, rolls or breads that are starting to dry out (but haven’t gotten any black or green moldy colors yet!), left over homemade bread past it’s prime. All I do is rip up into pieces and put it into my food process and whir it up into crumbs. Process until the crumbs are fine enough to your liking. If you want larger panko-like crumbs, stop before the crumbs get too small.
Since these are, in essence, fresh bread crumbs, I then put them in a resealable bag and into the freezer they go to prevent any spoilage. Whenever I need crumbs – for meatloaf, for breading – I just pull out my bag and take out what I need.
This saves money, uses up food that isn’t good to eat in the present form, and prevents waste. Mix up a quick batch and put it on your pantry shelf, ready to go.
This recipe is for chicken – the next issue will have the pork version, and I’ll be using it in a pork chop dish.
Fos Pines Copy Cat Chicken Shake & Bake
a homemade version of the premade supermarket variety
Ingredients
- 3 cups bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup vegetable/olive oil
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp sugar or sugar substitute
- 2 tsp garlic salt
- 1/2 tsp smoked chili powder
- 1/2 tsp dried parsley
- 1/2 tsp dried basil
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
Instructions
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combine all ingredients together, making sure it is well combined with no lumps of bread crumbs
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store in an air tight container in pantry until ready to use.
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pour out and use as needed on any cut of chicken.