Here's What You Can Substitute For Breadcrumbs
It's time to make dinner and you've found the perfect recipe. There's only one problem with your plan: You don't have breadcrumbs. Luckily there are loads of things you can substitute with. For a recipe that calls for 1 cup of breadcrumbs, you can substitute with a pretty obvious choice: bread. All you need to do is bake four small slices until they are hard and dry, then crush them in a food processor.
Out of bread, too? You can use croutons or stuffing cubes and crush them up — you'll need 1-1/4 cup if you go ahead with this method. Is a corner of your cupboard overfilled with stale crackers? Crush 3/4 cup up and you've got some breadcrumbs. Are you a big snacker and have extra chips laying around? If you crush 1 cup potato or tortilla chips you can get away without making a breadcrumb run (via HuffPost).
More alternatives to breadcrumbs
Want to be a bit healthier? You can use rolled oats as a breadcrumbs substitute. Just throw them in a food processor and you're good to go. If you have spices on hand you can cater the flavor to the meal you're adding them to. If you are making a meat dish, add crushed nuts as a coating instead of breadcrumbs and pack in some healthy fats. Seeds work, too (via Delish).
If you need breadcrumbs to act as a binder in something like meatloaf, cooked rice acts as an excellent substitute. Just keep in mind that it's not great for creating a crust for fried meat or as a topping on a casserole (via Taste of Home).
Some home cooks even turn to dry vermicelli noodles to act as a gluten-free alternative to traditional breadcrumbs — the only downside is that the noodles don't turn brown when cooked so they can end up looking a little wormish. However, none of us should be too surprised at that since vermicelli literally means "little worms" in Italian (via Diligent Chef).