A method of producing extruded breadcrumb coating for food products, includes the steps of making a dough mixture (12) having a predetermined amount of water； extruding the dough in an extruder-cooker to form bread-like cooked pellets (16)； allowing the pellets to cool (20)； and milling the pellets to form breadcrumb coating (22). The amount of water added to the dough mixture is such that the moisture content by weight of the breadcrumb coating after milling, is between 12% and 22% at room temperature. The dough mixture is made by mixing the water together with a farinaceous material, a gelling agent in a predetermined amount to form a gel with approximately 50% of the water but not all of the water, leaving some water in an ungelled state； and a thickening agent in a predetermined amount to thicken the water which is in an ungelled state.
