For many people, the solution for what to do with stale bread is to either feed it to the birds or add it to the compost pile. However, you need not (and should not!) surrender those slices just yet.
If that stale bread is also moldy—even just one slice in the loaf—you should discard the bread, according to the USDA. But if your slices are simply starting to harden or become less moist, they’re actually in perfect shape for these brilliant ideas for what to do with stale bread.
What to Do With Stale Bread
Read on for our best recipe ideas using stale bread.
Bread Stuffing
Whether you call this “stuffing” or “dressing,” no Thanksgiving menu feels quite complete without it, if you ask us. Most recipes, including this fan-favorite Buttered Stuffing with Mushrooms, call for drying out bread cubes overnight or in a 300° F oven for 15 minutes or so, until the outsides are just lightly toasted. When you’re starting with stale bread, you can skip that step and simply proceed to assembling and baking the recipe.
Bread Pudding
Fresh bread is just fine for bread pudding, true. But stale bread has the ability to soak up even more of the custard, leading to more luscious and rich results. On your quest to cook and bake through the many strategies for what to do with stale bread, we suggest using our Make-It-Mine Sweet Bread Pudding as a template. Its mix-and-match format is designed to work well with stale baguette, white, whole-wheat, cinnamon-swirl, challah, or sourdough bread.
French Toast
The same holds true for French toast recipes. Standard slices straight from a freshly-baked or just-purchased loaf are A-OK, but slightly dry bread is even more absorbent of that flavorful custard. Give this technique a try with our stovetop French Toast for One or in this dessert-worthy Pressure Cooker Blueberry French Toast Casserole. Or if you’re in the mood for something savory, don’t miss our Sausage-Asparagus Stuffed French Toast Breakfast Bake.
Strata
French toast isn’t the only a.m. option for what to do with stale bread. Eggs, cheese, and dried bread cubes act as the foundation of nearly every strata recipe. Often, a collection of vegetables, proteins, and even fruits (in the case of our BHG team favorite Pear-Bacon Strata) join the party. That means in addition to resuscitating stale bread, stratas are also terrific vehicles for putting leftover elements of other meals and snacks to great use. (Now we’re on a food waste-reducing roll!) Get this: You can even casserole the bonus bread stuffing we just discussed. Save this Leftover Stuffing Strata recipe to whip up after the next big holiday.
Panzanella
“Day-old bread is best for soaking up the dressing,” our recipe developers explain while introducing our quick and easy Chicken and Strawberry Panzanella. With berries, baby kale, and rotisserie chicken in the mix, that variation on the bread salad concept eats like a meal—and one that is “fancy enough to prepare for guests,” according to one five-star reviewer. If you’re in the mood for something more traditional, try this Panzanella side dish or a chunky, grilled, and gorgeous Tuscan Bread Salad.
Breadcrumbs
Every recipe for breadcrumbs starts with (you guessed it!) bread. We love turning to this alternative for what to do with stale bread when we have a random assortment of leftover end pieces, sandwich buns, slices, or cut-off crusts. You have our full permission to mix and match bread types in a single batch of breadcrumbs; they’ll blend up into a versatile mix that can be used as a breading for fried or air-fried items, a crunchy crown on a casserole, a binder in fish cakes, meatballs, or meatloaf, or as a garnish for pasta or salads.
Croutons
While we’re on that topic, one of the most popular toppings for salads happens to be another solution for what to do with stale bread: Homemade Croutons. Even if the bread is stale, you will still want to bake the bread cubes; this helps dry the melted butter that acts as “glue” to ensure that the seasoning adheres. Once the stale bread is spiced up and baked until golden brown and crispy, no one will ever guess that the croutons started with your cast offs.
Meatballs and Meatloaves
Depending on the exact recipe, dry bread crumbs and an egg or a panade (a paste made of milk and bread) is often used to bind the meat and seasonings together in meatballs, such as our slow cooker Spicy Italian Meatballs, and just-like-mom-made Meatloaf. The stale bread might not get billing rights in these recipes, and most diners will never guess there is any bread in the mix. (So with that in mind, you’ll definitely want to alert everyone who might have a dairy or gluten intolerance.) The bread soaks up the moisture from the egg or milk, and lends that juiciness back to the meat and leads to tender results.
Bread Soup
Translated from Italian, “ribollita” means “reboiled.” It’s an apt term for this Mediterranean recipe, which was dreamed up as a way to remix yesterday’s leftover bean and vegetable soups. Toss in pieces of stale bread, and voila: you have a new creation that errs more toward a thick and hearty stew. Our big-batch Holiday Slow Cooker Ribollita is one of our go-to recipes to feed holiday dinner guests after the main event. “Pappa al Pomodoro” is another traditional Tuscan staple that usually showcases fresh tomatoes, stale bread, garlic, basil, and olive oil. Our Tomato Bread Soup earns extra flavor thanks to 2 cups of leftover bread stuffing in the mix.
Pallotte Cacio e Uova
While we’re in Italy, let’s take a moment to celebrate the budget-friendly, stale bread-based brilliance that is Pallotte Cacio e Uova. Essentially meatballs made with stale bread and Parmesan cheese instead of ground beef, pork, sausage, or veal, we learned about—and luxuriated over bowls of—this classic Italian recipe while touring the Abruzzo region in the central Eastern part of the country. Pair it with a glass of light-bodied red wine and a chopped salad and no one will miss the meat (or notice that the entree started with stale bread).
Egg Bread Bakes
No need to mourn the fact that you have a full loaf of Italian or French bread that’s gone a bit stale. She’ll work just fine as the edible “bowl” for one of our favorite feeds-a-crowd brunch recipes. Besides the bread, our Egg and Sausage Bread Bakes ask for just 7 other ingredients.
French Onion Soup
The savory beef broth and caramelized onions are great on their own. But what really sets French Onion Soup apart from the soup competition—and makes it irresistible every time we see it on a restaurant menu—is the cheesy toast topping. With slices of stale bread at the ready, you can recreate a similar experience in a mere 20 minutes with this Multicooker French Onion Soup recipe. If stovetop is more your style, try Roasted French Onion Soup or our unique and main dish-worthy Spinach French Onion Soup with Tortellini.
Muffin Pan Melts
Normally, if you’d construct a sandwich with less-than-fresh bread, it would be quite apparent and taste quite subpar. But if you’re using stale slices as the base of muffin pan melts like our Muffin Pan Tuna Melts, that extra dose of dryness doesn’t matter. Lightly brush the crust-free stale bread slices with melted butter, then press them into greased muffin cups. Then fill each edible bowl with a cheesy, creamy tuna mixture and bake until the filling is bubbly.
Stuffed Bagels
Leftover bagels are rarely an “issue” in our office. However, if you’re lucky enough to have some, dress them up as Sheet Pan Egg-Stuffed Bagels. Think of it as a grown-up twist on eggs in a basket/toad in a hole/eggs in a nest, just with half of a bagel as a base instead of a piece of toast. Use a round cookie cutter to slightly widen the center hole, fill it with an egg, then top with your desired flavor-boosters. (We adore tomatoes, olives, herbs, and feta cheese.) Bake until the egg reaches your desired doneness and you’ll feel like you hit a hole in one.
Fattoush
Curious about what to do with stale bread that’s flatbread or pita? Tear it into pieces, then roast or fry them to turn it into fattoush. This Middle Eastern chopped salad stars vegetables, fresh herbs, and crunchy pita “croutons” all tossed in a zesty and light vinaigrette. Give it a shot in this Falafel Fattoush.