Group · Starchy foods
Breadcrumbs
Breadcrumbs are dry bread reduced to crumbs. That is all, and it is already a lot: they are used to coat, to top gratins, to bind a stuffing or to add crunch to an oven-baked vegetable. The Japanese version, panko, is coarser and absorbs less fat when fried.
On nutrition facts, they show 365 kcal per 100 g, with 74.3 g of carbohydrate of which 64.6 g starch, 10.3 g of protein, 5.4 g of fibre and only 1.6 g of fat. The figure to watch is the salt: 0.72 g per 100 g, inherited from the bread they are made from.
Macronutrient breakdown
Nutrition table per 100 g
| Calories | 365 kcal |
| Kilojoules | 1550 kJ |
| Protein | 10,3 g |
| Carbohydrate | 74,3 g |
| Fat | 1,6 g |
| Fibre | 5,4 g |
Micronutrients per 100 g
All measured nutrients, ranked by share of the daily reference intake.
- Manganese0,56 mg28 %
- Copper0,17 mg17 %
- Vitamin B10,18 mg16 %
- Phosphorus113 mg16 %
- Potassium208 mg10 %
- Magnesium31,3 mg8 %
- Zinc0,81 mg8 %
- Iron1,1 mg8 %
See the other 10 nutrients
- Omega-6 LA0,76 g8 %
- Vitamin B50,3 mg5 %
- Selenium2 µg4 %
- Calcium26,8 mg3 %
- Vitamin B60,04 mg3 %
- Omega-3 ALA0,05 g3 %
- Vitamin B94,3 µg2 %
- Vitamin B30,2 mg1 %
- Vitamin A9,25 µg1 %
- Vitamin K10,28 µg0 %
Anses Ciqual 2025. Source: Anses, 2025, Ciqual food composition table
Tips
It is not the breadcrumbs that make a coating fattening. At 1.6 g of fat per 100 g, they are almost lean. What changes everything is the oil bath: a fried breaded escalope absorbs several times the weight of the breadcrumbs in fat. The same breaded escalope baked in the oven stays light.
The oven method that really works. Toast the breadcrumbs dry for two minutes in a frying pan before coating: they take on colour by themselves, and there is no need to brown them in oil. A light spray of olive oil is then enough.
You can make them at home, for free. Heels of stale bread, a few minutes in the oven and a whizz in the blender: you get breadcrumbs that are less salty than shop-bought ones and you stop throwing bread away. It is one of the few anti-waste habits that also improves the product.
They are useful well beyond coating. A spoonful mixed with parsley and garlic transforms baked tomatoes. In meatballs or a meat loaf, they hold moisture and stop the mixture from drying out.
Gluten. Made from wheat bread, they contain it. Fine polenta, cornflour or quinoa flakes make gluten-free coatings, with a different texture but a convincing result.
Sources
Average nutrition values per 100 g, given for guidance (spices and condiments are eaten in small amounts; values vary by brand and preparation).
