I have developed a number of recipes that require a panko-esque bread crumb. My vegan tofu nuggets, tofu schnitzels and more recently my tofu meatballs. In developing these recipes, I have trialled my fair share of gluten free crumbing methods. My favourite? This gluten free panko which requires only a single ingredient.
Panko breadcrumbs are a super popular Japanese breadcrumb wherein the bread is cooked in such a way that it becomes crispy and light without browning. Panko crumbs are larger than traditional breadcrumbs and absorb less oil, so the result is crispier and lighter.
Let’s get this out of the way: panko is made with the crumbs of white bread, while this gluten free panko is made with rice crackers. Let me convince you why it works:
- Most store bought gluten free panko crumbs are made with rice flour and similar ingredients
- Panko is made by steaming the bread dough – rice crackers are made by steaming the rice mixture
- Panko is light and crispy and remains so after cooking – so do rice crackers!
- Rice bubbles (rice cereal) are often touted as a gluten free solution to panko. I find they are not as crispy and they result in a lot of droppage when crumbing
- The recipe is naturally gluten free but generally also egg free, nut free, vegan and dairy free (check the packet of rice crackers you are using)
- No cooking required!* This panko is ready in the time it takes you to blitz the rice crackers. *They do benefit from 5 minutes of dry toasting on the stove if you intend to deep fry – see notes below.
Why rice crackers?
I fell into the idea of using rice crackers for a few reasons. Although I have tested rice cereal in the past, I find that can be trickier to find a non-sugared version and they are expensive for what they are. In my tests, I also thought that cornflakes performed better and remained crispier than rice cereal (rice bubbles for us Australians).
Cornflakes performed better for me, but they are also harder to find without sugar on them. Corn is an allergen that people often request substitutes for and cornflakes don’t fit the bit for being pale and neutrally flavoured, either.
With super crunchy and crispy, pale and neutrally flavoured as the criteria, rice crackers seemed like the perfect fit. You can crush them as finely as you like. I actually find that the fine pieces are still as crispy as the chunkier pieces, which is great.
Better yet, they are also cheap, accessible and contain minimal extra ingredients. If you want to go a bit fancy, though? Try some chicken salt flavoured rice crackers or even seaweed rice crackers.
Last but not least, I found that using rice crackers resulted in less droppage than with other crumbs. They clung to my tofu schnitzels brilliantly and there was far less cleanup when compared to cornflakes or rice cereal. Win win!
What are rice crackers?
I figured this was important to chat about quickly because I don’t know for certain if rice crackers are as ubiquitous in other countries as they are in Australia.
At the time of writing, I have tested Sakata, Fantastic, Peckish and generic brand rice crackers and they all worked (although I didn’t love Peckish as they tasted different and were slightly less crispy).
Rice cakes and rice thins are not tested in this recipe and I don’t recommend them. We really want that hard snap crispiness of a rice cracker – rice cakes lack that crispiness.
I have not yet tested rice crackers from the Asian grocer as I haven’t been recently. A lot of the brands I have looked at online contain wheat and gluten which means they are not suitable for a gluten free panko. I will keep testing different brands and adding them to the list as I go.
In the meantime, look for hard, snappy style of rice cracker. In Australia, the plain variety of rice crackers are made with rice, a neutral oil and salt. That’s it! See the photo below for the style of rice cracker we’re talking about. Make sure the brand you are using is gluten free and made with similar ingredients. The flavoured ones tend to have a slightly longer ingredient list but they should be made with majority rice flour and be gluten free.
Tips for this gluten free panko
- I found that the rice crackers can be processed finely without losing their crunch. Pieces that are too big will be too crunchy and out of place, so make sure you process them finely. You can push it a little past the point you’re comfortable.
- I have experimented with different flavours to add a little something to whatever I’m making. Keep in mind the salt content of your final dish might need to be dropped back if you’re using a very salty or highly flavoured rice cracker.
- You’ll have a harder time blitzing stale rice crackers than you will fresh. I recommend using fresh out of the packet for the lightest, crispiest result.
- In my experience, you lose about 5-10g volume during the blitzing process. If you have a 90g packet of rice crackers, you might end up with 80-85g panko (with careful management not to lose too much).
- I will never forgive Sakata for shrinking their packet sizes. NEVER. However, I will concede that they are my preferred brand. This is purely because their seaweed rice crackers cannot be beaten in my opinion. BUT I WILL NEVER FORGET. I have tested other brands successfully too though (see the notes below the recipe).
An important note for deep frying your gluten free panko
During testing I discovered that these panko crumbs brown nicely if you shallow fry them but remain starkly pale if you deep fry them. This doesn’t affect the taste or texture of the finished product but it does ruin the aesthetic a little bit.
A simple solution? Toast them! I dry toasted mine in a frypan for 5-7 minutes until they were a medium golden brown. I then used them to crumb gluten free arancini which were deep fried in 170C/338C vegetable oil. During deep frying, the arancini barely took on much more colour – they stayed light golden brown. I left some in the oil for an extended period to test what would happen and a few flecks turned very dark brown, but overall the arancini didn’t change much in colour. I do think some of the deeply cooked brown bits were more associated with the egg I used to crumb the arancini rather than the crumb itself.
TLDR: brown the panko to the colour you’d like to see on your deep fried food because they don’t brown much during the deep frying process.
Places to use your panko crumbs
- Gluten free low FODMAP arancini
- Gluten free vegan tofu nuggets
- Gluten free vegan fish fingers
- Tofu meatballs (gluten free and vegan) coming soon
- Low FODMAP gluten free mac and cheese bake
Gluten free panko crumbs
Equipment
- Food processor
Ingredients
- 90-110g + rice crackers (plain or flavoured, see notes)
Instructions
- Roughly break up the rice crackers into your food processor. Blitz until the rice crackers become a fine crumb – you can push it a little further than you'd think.
- If you are deep frying with the crumb, transfer it to a frypan and place over a medium heat. Dry toast the crumb for 5-7 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately transfer it to a baking tray and spread to cool it. Once cooled, transfer to an airtight container ready for use.
Notes
- This recipe uses rice crackers like the ones pictured in the body of the post. I haven’t tested rice cakes or any other puffed rice product. I have tested rice cereal in my other crumbed recipes and find this is much superior in terms of crispiness and sticking power.
- I have tested Sakata, generic brand, Fantastic and Peckish brand rice crackers. I personally didn’t rate Peckish because they tasted quite ricey but that might just be me.
- In my experience, the crumbs take a moment to brown and require a well heated pan. I find this quite handy because it allows me to cook whatever I am making without the fear of burning the crumb.
- Interestingly, I find this panko browns when you fry something breaded in a skillet but it doesn’t brown if you are deep frying. When deep frying, you will need to brown the crumb prior to use if you want it to look like a regular panko crumbed product.
- You can make as much or as little as you like. A 90g packet of rice crackers makes about 80g panko. I’d recommend a double batch of panko (ie: 2 X 90g packets of rice crackers) for making my gluten free arancini.
- I found 100g was enough to generously crumb 2 fillets of fish. Use this a loose guide for how much you’ll need.
- Something I love about this method is that you can simply keep some extra rice crackers in the pantry for when the mood strikes or if you run out of your first batch. It is so quick and easy!
- I don’t recommend stale rice crackers though. They soften and don’t have the crisp snap of fresh ones. What do I mean by stale? I mean the half packet that hasn’t been in an airtight container. A fresh sealed packet should remain fresh if unopened, but a packet that has been lying around unsealed will start to stale and the rice crackers will lose their crispiness.
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