These crispy Italian Pangrattato breadcrumbs are spicy and deeply savoury, with chilli, lemon and sun-dried tomato. A perfect topping for simple pasta dishes, risotto or salads.
🍴Why you will love this recipe
Pangrattato — literally “grated bread” in Italian — is a crunchy, flavour-packed breadcrumb topping that instantly elevates simple meals. It adds texture and bold savoury notes to plain pasta, roasted vegetables, risotto, soups and salads.
This version is quick to make and loaded with chilli, sun-dried tomato, lemon zest, thyme and garlic for a vibrant, slightly spicy finish. It’s an easy way to add interest to weeknight dinners without extra fuss.
Pangrattato is naturally vegan and makes a brilliant alternative to grated cheese as a finishing touch — aromatic, crisp and satisfying.
📝 What you need
Ingredients
Bread — Sourdough gives the best texture and flavour, but any bread works. Slightly stale bread is ideal. Pulse to fairly coarse crumbs rather than fine breadcrumbs for the best crunch.
Sun-dried tomatoes — Use jarred sun-dried tomatoes for depth of flavour. Reserve a little of the oil from the jar to cook the breadcrumbs in, or use olive oil if needed.
Lemon zest — Adds a fresh, fruity lift and a bright colour to the finished pangrattato.
Equipment
You’ll need a way to make breadcrumbs: a mini chopper, small food processor or blender will do. For small batches a compact processor is handy; for larger quantities use a bigger bowl if you have one.
👩🏽🍳 How to make your Pangrattato
For a printable recipe with full quantities and timings, see the recipe card below.
Break the bread into chunks and pulse in a food processor to coarse breadcrumbs. Finely chop the sun-dried tomatoes.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and breadcrumbs and cook gently, stirring often, until the crumbs are golden and crisp. Stir in the sun-dried tomatoes, chilli flakes, thyme leaves and lemon zest, cook for another minute, then season to taste and serve.
🔪 Top Tips & FAQs
Avoid burning the pangrattato. Cook over gentle to medium heat and keep stirring. Watch closely — the breadcrumbs can go from golden to burnt quickly.
Keep the crumbs coarse. Pulse the processor in short bursts and shake the bowl occasionally to preserve texture. Coarse crumbs give a better crunch than very fine breadcrumbs.
Sourdough gives a great texture and flavour, though ciabatta or other crusty loaves work well too. Slightly stale bread is preferable; if your bread is fresh, toast it briefly before pulsing.
If you want to store pangrattato, omit the lemon zest, thyme and sun-dried tomatoes when cooking. Cooked with just garlic and chilli flakes, the crumbs will keep in an airtight container for 6–8 weeks. Add fresh herbs, lemon and tomatoes just before serving.
🍽 If you liked that…
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Vegan Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese
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Puttanesca Vegan Pasta Bake
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Red Wine Bolognese with borlotti beans
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Lemon Roasted Courgettes with herbs
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📖 Recipe
Pangrattato Breadcrumbs with sun-dried tomato and lemon
Kate Ford | The Veg Space
Ingredients
- 1 slice slightly stale bread (about 40–50g; sourdough recommended)
- 5 sun-dried tomato halves from a jar
- 2 tablespoons oil from the sun-dried tomato jar (or olive oil)
- 2 cloves garlic (or 1 tsp ready-chopped garlic)
- 1 tsp chilli flakes
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 4 stalks fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme (leaves only)
Instructions
- Break the bread into chunks and blitz to coarse breadcrumbs. Be careful not to make them too fine.
- Finely chop the sun-dried tomatoes.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of the sun-dried tomato oil in a large frying pan. Add the garlic, then the breadcrumbs. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, for 3–4 minutes until golden and crispy.
- Remove thyme leaves from stalks and grate the lemon zest. Add thyme, lemon zest, chilli flakes and chopped sun-dried tomatoes to the breadcrumbs. Season with salt and pepper.
- Cook for another minute, then remove from the heat and serve immediately over pasta, risotto, vegetables or salads.
Video
Notes
Watch the heat. Breadcrumbs can burn quickly, so keep the pan moving and adjust the heat as needed.
Pulse, don’t blend. Short pulses in the processor keep the crumbs coarse and give better texture.
Nutrition
Calories: 101 kcal
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