Bread is one of the most wasted foods so having great leftover bread recipes can help reduce food waste. Even if your bread has gone stale, there are still many ways you can turn that leftover bread into something delicious. I've pulled together a collection of sweet and savory leftover bread recipes, plus some tips on how to store bread and get the most from your loaf.
For more ideas on using up leftovers and reducing food waste, check out my
- Top Ripe and Overripe Banana Recipes
- Easy Leftover Potato Recipes.
- 10 Easy Leftover Gammon and Ham Recipes
Jump to:
- How to Store bread
- Top Tip
- Breadcrumbs and ways to use them.
- How to make breadcrumbs
- Ways to use leftover bread in Soups
- Using leftover bread to make stuffing
- Salads, Bruschettas and Crostini
- French Toast Recipes
- Bread Pudding
- More Recipe Ideas for Leftover Bread
- More Great Ideas for using up leftovers
- 💬 Reviews
How to Store bread
Bread should be stored at room temperature in a dry place and away from sunlight. Wrap the bread in an air-tight wrapping such as plastic, foil, or use a beeswax wrap. This will help keep it moist. Don't store bread in the fridge as it will spoil quicker.
Bread also freezes well. Homemade bread will keep for 2 -3 months. Store-bought bread for 4 -6 months.
Top Tip
If you regularly don't finish a loaf of bread, split it in half when you buy it and put half in the freezer. If you store bread already sliced, you can remove the slices as you need them.
Breadcrumbs and ways to use them.
One of the easiest ways to use up leftover bread, is to turn it into breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs can be stored in the freezer and used from frozen. Some common uses for breadcrumbs include :-
- As a crunchy topping on top of pasta bakes or gratins such as this Cod Mornay.
- As a topping for chicken or fish.
- Use as a binder in burgers or meatballs. Try these Red kidney Bean Burgers or Pork Meatballs.
- To thicken soups or stews
- Use them to coat fishcakes
- Add to a crumble topping for extra crunch.
- Homemade stuffing
- Bread sauce
Breadcrumbs are easy to make. Just whizz up your bread in a food processor. If you don't have a food processor, you can also use a grater.
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How to make breadcrumbs
Ways to use leftover bread in Soups
There are many ways you can use bread in soups, from croutons to dumplings to adding chunks of stale bread to your soup to soak up the liquid.
Using leftover bread to make stuffing
Leftover or stale bread makes great stuffing.
Salads, Bruschettas and Crostini
These Salads, bruschettas and crostini all originate from Italy and are traditional ways of using up day-old or stale bread to reduce food waste.
French Toast Recipes
French toast, also known as eggy bread or pain perdu (which literally means 'lost bread') is another traditional way of using up leftover or stale bread.
Bread Pudding
Bread pudding is a classic dessert for using up leftover bread and can be combined with lots of delicious flavours.
More Recipe Ideas for Leftover Bread
These recipes show what a wide variety of things can be made with leftover or stale bread. Some are savoury and some are sweet and they are all a great way of reducing your food waste whilst creating something truly delicious.
Jan
There are some great leftover bread ideas here! Thanks for including one of mine.