These irresistible Parmesan Thyme Bread Crust Snacks are made using bread crust off-cuts!
I don’t know about you but my freezer is valuable real estate. So when I opened it the other day to realise that my bag of bread crusts were taking up an inordinate amount of space, I decided I needed to do something about it.
More croutons? More breadcrumbs? I needed neither. Besides, the bag of bread crusts was substantial (from an “English afternoon tea” and several attempts to create these Mini Quiche Toast Cups) and neither of those two options would use up more than a few cups.
So I decided to make sweet and savoury snacks made out of bread crusts. For the savoury, I went for parmesan and thyme, and for the sweet, I went with the classic flavour combination of Cinnamon Sugar Bread Crust Treats.
I could rattle on for paragraphs about why these Parmesan Thyme Bread Crust Snacks are so great, but you’ll get bored so I’m going to be short and sweet:
1. Thrifty.
2. Something different.
3. Ready in 10 minutes.
4. Versatile.
5. Insanely addictive.
6. They look like chips.
7. Little kids can’t resist them.
8. Big kids can’t resist them.
Swap out the thyme for whatever herbs you fancy. Add a sprinkle of chilli for a bit of a kick. Serve it up in a creative way and your guests will have to look twice before they realise what it’s actually made of.
OK, enough rattling on! Here’s the recipe!
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Parmesan Thyme Bread Crust Snacks
Ingredients
- 6 cups bread crusts (enough to spread out over 2 baking trays), preferably stale
- 7 - 8 tbsp olive oil
- 1/3 cup parmesan cheese , grated
- 1 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
- Black pepper
- Optional - fresh thyme to garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
- Place bread crusts in bowl. Drizzle over olive oil, tossing the bread crusts as you go (with your other hand) so as to distribute the olive oil as evenly as possible.
- Add remaining ingredients and use hands to toss through the bread crusts.
- Spread out over 2 baking trays. Do a taste test to make sure it is seasoned to your liking - adjust if required.
- Bake for 5 to 8 minutes until golden brown and crunchy (check the ones in the middle of the tray). The tray on the top shelf will be ready first. The bottom tray will take a couple of minutes longer.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
I have to eat gluten-free bread so I always save the crusts. I found this recipe and it is so yummy!
I added all of the ingredients to a blender plus a couple of cloves of garlic and it was delicious!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it DH! N x
Delicious! Solves my problem of what to do with leftover bread crusts piling up in my freezer. I also saved the crumbs and smaller pieces to add to salads as croutons.
Can you freeze them? Also can you use frozen bread crusts? I just happen to have 10 loves worth of left over bread crusts and I don’t want to waste a piece lol.
Yep! You can freeze bread crusts for ages and you can use them straight from frozen in this recipe. Not sure if you can then re-freeze them, but they keep at room temperature for a while. 🙂
I did not like them. Too much thyme for me. But I would like to try the cinnamon sugar variety.
I’m sorry to hear that Liz! I do love thyme personally 🙂 N x
Hi. I liked the idea to use bread crust. Can I use mozzarella or Cheddar instead of parmesan cheese?
Hi Sam! Sorry to say that it won’t work quite as well, they won’t go quite as crisp where the cheese is 🙂
Made these for lunch today as a side and did use shredded mozzarella cheese. Followed the directions and tossed in the shredded cheese in a large bowl. At the end of their baking time, I put them under the broiler for a few minutes. They turned out delicious and crispy. Everyone just loved them. Next time will substitute the thyme for garlic salt and naturally omit the salt. Yummmmm
That’s so great to hear Annie! Thanks for letting me know – N x ❤️
What is the time limit for keeping them, can I keep them in my pantry for a few days?
In your experience, how long will these keep in a closed container?
2 days would be good – 3 if it’s a super airtight one 🙂
Hi Nagi,
We love these things! I’ve just finished making a half/half batch ( half cinnamon sugar, half savoury) to use up lots of left over crusts after having a houseful on he weekend. I now make these so regularly that I keep a jar of each spice mix in the pantry ready to go! Thanks for another great snack that keeps the kids out of my supply of arrowroot biscuits meant to be used for slice bases. 🙂
Cheers, Corrina
Thanks Corrina! And what a coincidence – I just made a batch of these on the weekend too with leftover crusts!! 🙂
Wow! The Parmesan Thyme Bread Crust Snacks are absolutely the best!! I followed the recipe and the snacks disappeared in minutes!!! You’re right about using stale bread — that works best. Also, the finer the Parmesan is grated the better it sticks to the bread. I usually don’t cut the crusts off of bread, but I had oral surgery and could not chew the crusts for a few weeks, so I googled “uses for bread crusts” and found this recipe. I’m now cutting bread into cubes and using this recipe for croutons. Just put the snacks in a pretty bowl and you’ll see how fast they disappear at a party — a great appetizer!!!!! Thanks for this recipe!!!!
WOO HOO!!! So glad you enjoyed these Shelly, THANK YOU!!!! N x
I tried these tonight after Googling what to do with leftover crusts. Despite growing thyme outside my front door by accident and not knowing what to do with it being vegetarian, this recipe has awakened my love of thyme and I’m going to use it more in other dishes. These were lovely and crispy with loads of flavour. I dipped them in a home made tzatziki and they were fabulous. Healthier than chips and a nd a great use of leftovers.
Woo hoo!!! SO GLAD you loved it Aleerak! N x
How to you get the cheese to stick to the crust like the one shown in the picture?
It tastes awesome, but mine were like melted pizza cheese crusts
Hi there! I found that the parmesan kind of half melts so it sticks to the bread crusts while it is baking. Any bits that fall on the tray that the bread sticks are touching or on top of turn an awesome golden brown and melt so they definitely stick to the bread sticks. It is best to use grated parmesan to help it stick, not shredded (at my supermarket you can get very finely shredded parmesan which doesn’t work as well. The kind to get is the one that is like sand – or grate it yourself at home). What kind of cheese did you use??? Parmesan shouldn’t “melt” perse, not like mozzarella cheese.
very great idea, this would be perfect for my soup companion. 🙂
I love, love, love this idea! Your love for potatoes is like my love for everything and anything bread – I AM the carb queen! 🙂 Fabulous picture too!
NO – I’m the Carb Queen!! Don’t steal my title 🙂
This is a creative way to serve these crunchy crusts ! I just saw them too late, otherwise I was gonna add them to the salad I made today. I’ll pin them for next time !
P.S. the subscription button on my blog was fixed, so you can subscribe if you’d like. Sorry about that!
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I love this idea! The recipe is perfect for me as I was thinking of making a bread and butter pudding tonight for dessert and I would need to cut off the crusts for it… definitely going to be making this recipe!
Cool!! Love to hear what you think of them! I seriously couldn’t stop eating them….they were PERFECT with a Saturday afternoon wine!