Shake and Bake is easy to make at home. It just takes some seasonings and breadcrumbs, plus a little trick where you add oil to the crumbs.
Shake and Bake is such an all-time classic and for good reason. In minutes you can prep chicken or pork that ends up nice and crunchy and well-seasoned. All you need are breadcrumbs, some basic seasonings, a sturdy plastic bag (I use ziptops), some oil, and your meat of choice.
What Is Shake And Bake?
Shake and Bake was introduced in the 1960s when it seemed like everything came out of a can or box. Kitchen shortcuts were all the rage. But, in my opinion, it’s easier to whisk up homemade Shake and Bake because I almost always have the ingredients in my pantry and spice rack. Why go to the store for the pre-made stuff when I can do it myself? Also, this way I know exactly what’s in it.
Really good Shake and Bake is simply a mixture of plain breadcrumbs, onion powder, garlic powder, a few herbs, salt, and pepper, and some oil. Pretty basic, right?
Why Is Oil In The Mixture?
You put the oil right in with the breadcrumbs. If you’ve breaded meat for pan-frying before, you probably remember that oil is not mixed in there. That’s because, when you pan-fry, you put the oil in the skillet. That oil meats the breading on your meat and toasts it in the pan.
For Shake and Bake, we’re baking the meat. When you bake things, they don’t get the same kind of intense heat from the direct contact with the hot pan. To get the breading to toast well is therefore a bit more challenging. By putting the oil right in with the breadcrumbs, that coats each crumb in oil. As the crumbs and oil heat in the oven, they are in direct contact and the crispy toasting process can happen. And that is why there’s oil mixed into the breadcrumbs.
Can It Be Made Ahead?
Yes, you can double or triple it, no problem. It’s really handy to make a big batch of Shake and Bake and then have it in your pantry to use as needed. The thing is though, you don’t want to put the oil in there and store it. It will not last as well.
Instead, make a big batch of the dry ingredients (the breadcrumbs and then seasonings). Store it in a sealed container. Then, when you want to use it, measure 1 and 1/4 cup of the mixture into a ziptop bag and add 3 tablespoons of oil. Mix it well and then add your moistened meat.
How To Use It
The recipe below makes enough for one meal for my family with leftovers. It coats 2-2.5 pounds of meat or poultry really well.
To coat the meat, you simply moisten the meat lightly with water. To do that, turn on your kitchen faucet at a very gentle level. Hold a piece of meat under it and let the water drizzle around it. Alternatively, you can fill a bowl with water and dunk the meat in there. The idea is to get it just a little bit wet so that the breading will stick.
How Long To Cook Meat or Chicken With Shake and Bake On It
Preheat the oven to 450F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray it lightly with cooking spray. If you use a non-stick baking sheet, you can skip the foil and spray. Add your coated meat or poultry to the pan. Bake until it is at a safe internal temperature, 165F for chicken, 145-160F for pork. For boneless pieces of meat or chicken, go with about 30 minutes. For bone-in, it’ll be more like 45 minutes.
Which Meats To Use
The answer is yes and no. It’s great on chicken, turkey, pork, beef, lamb, even on fish too. And by great, I mean it tastes great. The flavors in the seasoning are truly amazing. However, the crumbs do need at least 30 minutes to get brown and crisp. You therefore don’t really want to put it on anything thin that will cook in less that 30 minutes. I recently tried this recipe on thin pork loin chops. The breading itself was crispy and delicious, but the chops were overcooked and dry by the time the breading was browned.
My favorite things to use Shake and Bake on are chicken thighs, chicken drumsticks, and pork chops. It makes everything so crunchy, crispy, and delicious.
Podcast Episode: Making Shake And Bake Mixture
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make this dish, with some great tips along the way, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
Print
Homemade Shake and Bake Recipe
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 – 45 minutes
- Total Time: 0 hours
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Entree
- Method: bake
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
Shake and Bake is easy to make at home. It just takes some seasonings and breadcrumbs, plus a little trick where you add oil to the crumbs.
Ingredients
- 1 cup unseasoned, plain breadcrumbs
- 2 tsp. onion powder
- 2 tsp. dried parsley
- 2 tsp. dried basil
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. paprika
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 3 Tbsp. cooking oil
- 2 – 2 and 1/2 lbs. of skinless chicken pieces or pork chops*
Instructions
- In a ziptop bag, mix together the breadcrumbs, onion powder, dried parsley, dried basil, salt, paprika, and garlic powder. Store in sealed bag until ready to use, or up to 6 months.
- When ready to use, preheat oven to 450°F. Line a baking sheet with foil.
- Add the oil to the bag and squeeze it around until all the crumbs are coated.
- Moisten two pieces of poultry/meat with water, shaking off any excess. Put the pieces into the bag. Seal the bag and shake. Remove the pieces and put them onto the prepared pan. Repeat with remaining pieces.
- Bake until cooked to a safe temperature, 165°F for chicken and 140-165°F for pork, as read on an instant read thermometer pierced into the thickest part without not touching any bone. That will be approximately 45 minutes for bone-in chicken and for thick bone-in pork chops, or 25-30 minutes for boneless chicken pieces or for most boneless pork chops.
Love this recipe? I’d appreciate it if you could scroll down and add a *5 star rating* to help others know they’ll love it as well!
Notes
*Note: Nutritional info is given for 2 lbs. of boneless skinless chicken breasts coated in the mixture.
This post originally appeared in February 2019 and was revised and republished in March 2021.
Excellent and ingredients require nothing special. I did use half bread crumbs and half panko.
Thank you, Sybil! Glad the half and half crumbs worked out well for you.
Nice and easy. Used italian seasoning instead of parsley and basil.
Thanks, Teresa! Glad you enjoyed.
Amazing! Making this recipe with boneless chicken thighs was awesome! I love the “no fuss” prep using ingredients I have on hand, and will definitely make and keep the seasoning mix in my pantry for future use. It’s too hot here in the south right now to turn on the oven, so I cooked them in my air fryer, and with great success!! Thank you, Christine!
Melissa, I’m so happy you liked it! I love this one too. It’s comforting and easy. Thanks for coming back to let me know what you thought!
I am so happy I found this! This is exactly how my mom used to make it. She had a tub of seasoned breadcrumbs in the pantry and then she’d put them in a bag with oil. You’ve made my day!
Thank you, Cheryl! Love when my recipes help recreate food memories.
How long is it good for in the cupboard in air tight container??
It’ll keep for 6 months, Kari. Hope you enjoy using it!
Hello,
I love that Your Recipe ingredients are readily available. Is the chicken in your Shake and Bake Recipe skinned? As well, I do not see the temperature and duration of the baking anywhere in your Recipe.
Keep up the good work and stay safe.
Bernard
Thanks, Bernard. We were going to just have this recipe be the seasoning mix but since you asked, we decided to add that info also. Enjoy!
You have salt listed twice (1 tsp and another 1/2 tsp at the end of recipe) for the Homemade shake and Bake. Is this correct? 1 1/2 tsp all together?
Sorry about that, Kathy, we’ve corrected it above. It should only be 1 tsp of salt. Thanks for pointing it out!