Healthy Homemade Cheez-Its® — Gluten-free and Keto with Vegan Option
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If you love Cheez It Crackers, but you're trying to eat healthier, do I have a treat for you! Here is a great Healthy Homemade Gluten-free Cheez Its® Cracker recipe–and they're vegan and keto too!
Now you can enjoy your childhood favorite guilt-free!
I just love it when I can remake a processed food into a healthier version, like my “Almond Joy®” Bars, homemade protein bars, powdered sugar substitute, sugar-free lemonade, homemade ketchup, and 5 ingredient salad dressing.
If you're like me, Cheez-Its® were one of the most flavorful snacks of your childhood. I can't think of a time that I sat down with a box of those without almost polishing off the entire box.
Or at least more than I should have (ahem).
Anyone else with me?
Well, my CHEEZ-IT® days are over since I am gluten-free (and presently dairy-free due to an apparent food allergy), but thanks to Kate from Kate's Healthy Cupboard, I can have CHEEZ-IT®s again!
Well, sort of.
Homemade “Cheez-Its®” that are gluten-free, grain-free and even dairy-free, with a vegan option.
Now that's something to get excited about!
When you are on a special diet, having healthy snacks around is one of the biggest challenges I have found. It's fairly easy to pull off meals, but when the kids (or adults) are clamoring for something to eat, and the typical cheese sticks, crackers, cereal, cookies, and such isn't an option, you need to have easy to grab replacements.
These healthy crackers are a great solution to that problem.
These Homemade Gluten-free Keto Cheez Its Crackers are so good – they'll satisfy your craving for crunchy cheesy goodness without the refined flours, grains, and even without dairy!
What is Nutritional Yeast
Nutritional yeast has gained in popularity in recent years and is staple for many — particularly vegans or those who are allergic to dairy.
It gives a really nice cheesy-nutty flavor to dishes and can be made into many dairy-free versions of typical dairy heavy foods.
We've used it in our home for years since my son was born with a life-threatening milk allergy. Until we found nutritional yeast, our son had never had cheese sauce, grilled cheese, pizza with cheese — anything like that.
Imagine how thrilled he was to have his first Dairy-Free Grilled Cheese and “Cheeze” Sauce that he could dip things into.
And nutritional yeast doesn't feed candida, so if that is a concern (which it is for us), you should be fine eating it. However, there are some people who seem to react to it due to the fact that their systems are so sensitized to yeast from the proliferation of yeast in their system.
Besides these Homemade Keto Cheez Its, we have several favorite recipes using nutritional yeast:
Other Recipes Using Nutritional Yeast
– Nutritional Yeast Salad Dressing and
– “Dorito®” Popcorn
and Kate (the author of this recipe) has a few tempting ones as well:
– “Cheesy” Kale Chips and
– Cashew Alfredo Sauce
How To Make Cheez Its
Combine flour, salt, and yeast in a bowl. (Photo 1)
In another bowl, whisk the egg with the melted butter/oil and lemon juice. (Photo 2)
Combine the wet with the dry ingredients and stir until dough forms. (Photos 3 & 4)
Place the dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll out to about 1/8 inch thickness. (Photo 5)
With a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut dough into desired cracker size and sprinkle the top with more sea salt. Slide the bottom piece of parchment and crackers onto a cookie sheet. (Photo 6)
Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes until golden. (Photos 7 & 8)
The outer crackers will brown the fastest, remove those and continue to cook the remaining crackers
Recipe Notes
- Good options for an egg substitute include my Powdered Egg Replacer as well as a flax or chia egg.
- This is an “S” for those on the Trim Healthy Mama plan.
The nutrition values below were calculated using egg and butter.
Homemade Cheez Its – keto w/ vegan option
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups almond flour
- 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (plus more for sprinkling on top)
- 1 egg (or egg substitute)
- 1 tablespoon butter or coconut oil (melted)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Combine flour, salt and yeast in a bowl.
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk the egg with the melted butter/oil and lemon juice.
- Combine the wets with the dries and stir until dough forms.
- Place the dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll out to about 1/8 inch thickness.
- With a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut dough into desired cracker size (I use a ruler with a pizza slicer to get them straight and even) and sprinkle the top with more sea salt.
- Slide the bottom piece of parchment and crackers onto a cookie sheet.
- Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes until golden.
- The outer crackers will brown the fastest, remove those and continue to cook the remaining crackers.
Notes
-
- *Honeyville or Bob's Red Mill almond flour will work just fine for these crackers.
- I prefer using butter to make these a bit “creamier” tasting, but expeller pressed coconut oil will work for dairy-free option.
- Good options for an egg substitute include my Powdered Egg Replacer as well as a flax or chia egg.
- This is an “S” for those on the Trim Healthy Mama plan.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It may vary depending on ingredient brands, substitutions, and preparation methods. Optional ingredients are not included. Net carbs are typically calculated by subtracting fiber and sugar alcohols (such as erythritol) from total carbohydrates. This information should not be relied upon for medical or nutritional purposes.
What childhood snacks were your favorite?
Kate Criswell is a Fitness Trainer and Nutrition Coach who loves spending time in the kitchen tweaking recipes to make them healthier yet still satisfying and delicious. For more of her grain-free recipes and tips, visit Kate’s Healthy Cupboard at www.kateshealthycupboard.com.
Hi Adrienne,
I really love cheez, I’ll try it.
Hello,
Rather than yeast, do you think we could we substitute cheese if we are not dairy-free?
I think dried parmesan would work. I was thinking about adding that to the post and will do so now. Thanks and enjoy!
You could definitely use cheese in this recipe…I wish I could! Yu may not need the oil, since cheese adds fat, not sure though!!
Cheez-Its are my guilty pleasure – I love that I can eat them now without feeling guilty!! Thanks for the recipe. Pinned!
So.Delish!!! Can’t wait to try these!
I have a question. I deal with candida and never eat yeast. I have never heard of nutritional yeast. Am I right in assuming that this is the same as eating regular yeast? If so, I won’t be able to enjoy crackers. But I see there are other recipes to try. TY in advance.
It is not. There is some controversy about it but the most common viewpoint that I have read is that it doesn’t feed candida but some folks might find themselves sensitive to it depending on their severity and how they react to it. So I would personally try it and see how you do. Not medical advice, of course. I hope you can eat it!! If you can have dairy you could try dried parmesan instead perhaps.
Can you tell us how many servings it makes and how many crackers per serving? Or, how many crackers you got for the whole recipe? Thanks! MyFitnessPal recipe calculator gave me the following nutritionals for the whole recipe:
Calories 1479
Total Fat 117 g
Total Carbohydrate 66 g
Dietary Fiber 33 g
Sugars 8 g
Protein 72 g
I LOVE Cheez-Its and just had some for the first time in forever. I KNOW they are BAD, so I’m excited for this version! Does Nutritional Yeast ever go bad? I have some that’s been sitting in my pantry for years….
Hmmmm…I don’t know. I would check and see if it smells rancid. I assume it could – I typically leave mine in the fridge or freezer. Maybe Kate can help.
I have no idea if it goes bad! The Bragg’s container of it probably has an expiration date and I imagine it’s good for quite some time!!
These sound really good. Can you recommend a substitute flour? (My son is allergic to wheat, barley, millet, tree nuts, peanuts, soy, milk, sesame, lentils, and non-baked eggs. 🙂 On a side note…I just made him “mac&cheese” for the very first time (he’s 7yo) using coconut milk, nutritional yeast, and salt for the sauce. He absolutely loved it. Even his twin, who loves to eat the real thing anytime we go to a restaurant, gobbled it up.
I’m sure Kate will be by but I would think seed flours – have you tried sunflower or pumpkin?
Sounds like my son! I often grind up old fashioned rolled oats and use that in place of flour. Not sure how it would work for this recipe, but it’s an idea to try!
I’d try sunflower seeds. Pulverize them in a food processor to make a flour. I’ve made crackers with them before and they are delicious.
I have a cracker recipe that uses sunflower seeds made into a flour. They are so good and I think you could use them in place of almond flour. Just pulverize them in a food processor into a flour!
Oh wow, this really is a recipe to get excited about!!! I can’t wait to make these, my family will LOVE them 🙂
-Cassidy
Hi Cassidy – thanks!
Haha, yes, I ate Cheez its like they were going out of style! It might be good for me that I can’t have them anymore 😛 This vegan option sounds amazing! Nutritional yeast is a life saver AND it is actually a good source of nutrients. I was so surprised! Thanks for sharing, these look delicious!
Yea Mary- thanks so much for your kind words!