Pork Panko Crumbs – Keto & Carnivore Diet Friendly Breadcrumbs

Ditch the store-bought traditional breadcrumbs or panko and try your hand at making 100% carb-free pork panko “bread” crumbs instead! They are perfect for breading homemade chicken tenders or adding structure to homemade meatballs and burgers – all without the guilt!

Earlier this year, my husband went on a strict carnivore diet. With this diet, people are only supposed to eat meat and animal products like cheese, milk, fish, and eggs. Keto diets are another example of diets that are geared towards limiting the intake of carbs.

There are several different reasons why going carnivore can be beneficial to some people on a short-term basis. In his case, he was mostly looking for help with inflammation, which it did help tremendously. (*Always consult with your doctor before starting any type of restrictive diet.)

In order to make the diet seem less restrictive, he came up with a way to still enjoy foods that used breadcrumbs or panko, but minus the carbs.

Since he couldn’t have chips, crackers, or breadcrumbs, his main crunchy “treat” was bagged pork rinds. Those same pork rinds can easily be turned into delicious breading for chicken tenders or binders for meatballs, burgers, mozzarella sticks, meatloaf, and so much more.

This is a great option for those who are also trying to be on a low-carb diet and it is 100% keto-friendly, gluten-free, grain-free, sugar-free, and additive-free panko! While I personally am a huge fan of carbs, it’s nice to have a healthy alternative to use at times!

How To Make Pork Panko Bread Crumbs

*Scroll down to the bottom of this post to see the full recipe, including exact measurements and amounts. You can also print out the instructions. I go into a bit more detail about the recipe here first, just in case you need it.

Ingredients & Equipment

To begin with, the only ingredient you need is pork rinds – that’s it! Depending on your location, pork rinds can also be called cracklings, cracklins, or chicharrones. They are all essentially just fried and puffy pork skin.  

You can definitely use pork rinds that you make yourself using pork skin, but we don’t have access to that type of product at the moment. However, we could find pork rinds in some of our local grocery stores.

The main key with my husband’s diet was to make sure we were only purchasing pork rinds that didn’t have any added ingredients like flavorings and whatnot. The only ingredients should be pork skin and salt. That’s it.

By using only pork rinds that have no additional flavor added, you can create your own flavor combinations when you go to use the pork panko later on. However, if you aren’t sticking to a strict keto or carnivore diet, then that may not be as important of a factor to you.

Besides your pork rinds, the only other things you need are a food processor or a high-speed blender and an air-tight container to keep the pork panko crumbs in. We chose to use quart mason jars for storing, but you can use any container that seals tight. (Here is the food processor my husband got me for Christmas. It has a huge, 12-cup capacity which is so nice for canning and preserving season! Product Link: Ninja Food Processor, Professional XL)

Instructions For Pork Panko Crumbs

First, start by getting out your food processor or blender. You can even make these by hand using a large plastic ziplock bag and a rolling pin. You just likely won’t be able to get quite as fine or consistent crumbs as you would using a machine.

Place your pork rinds into the food processor or blender. In my 12-cup processor, I am able to get an entire 5-ounce bag of pork rinds to fit. Do not overfill the container. Work in batches if you need to.

Then, just pulse the pork rinds for a minute or two until you reach your desired consistency. For panko, leave the crumbs a bit larger. For finer breadcrumb-like consistency, pulse the pork rinds a little more. Ours are probably more on the panko side usually.

Depending on how fine your crush the panko will change how much panko or “breadcrumbs” you end up with. We usually get about 4 cups of pork panko crumbs for a 5-ounce bag of pork rinds.

Store the pork panko crumbs in an airtight container in your pantry. Again, we usually just use quart-size canning jars because we typically have plenty of them on hand.

Ways To Use And Flavor Pork Panko Crumbs

You can use pork panko crumbs in any place where you would normally use breadcrumbs or panko. Swap them out with a 1 to 1 ratio. Try using them with main courses like breaded chicken tenders, homemade chicken nuggets, meatballs, chicken parmesan, meatloaf, or popcorn shrimp.

They can also be used in appetizers like homemade mozzarella sticks or roasted cauliflower. Toast them up with a little butter or oil and top your favorite baked mac and cheese recipe with them. There are really a ton of different ways you can use pork panko crumbs.

If you use bagged pork rinds that have salt and pork skin as the only ingredients, then you can always flavor your pork panko before use. Be sure to taste your panko before adding any additional salt because most bagged pork rinds come pre-salted.

Try adding these seasonings to change up the flavor of the panko. Play around with things and see what you can come up with.

• Garlic powder
• Onion powder or dried onion flakes
• Papkira, both regular and smoked
• Italian seasonings
• Parmesan cheese
• Pepper

Until next time, thanks for stopping by!
– Chelsea

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