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.
Just made these – they taste good but I really don’t taste cheesy to either me or my kids. I made some simple paleo crackers the other day and I think these taste almost the same.
Not sure if anyone is watching this, but could you add more nutritional yeast for more “cheese” flavor? What brand did you use for the nutritional yeast? I also wanted dairy free so used coconut oil, maybe the butter helped bring out the cheese? What about ghee being used instead of the coconut oil? An last, what other gluten free flours could be used that maybe wouldn’t compete with the “cheesy” flavor?
Again, they taste good – just can’t taste any different between these and the regular almond paleo crackers.
Hi there. Sorry they didn’t turn out as expected. I am sure you could add more of the nutritional yeast. I do think that the yeast tastes cheesy but I guess if you’re going for real cheese taste you might be disappointed. I would think that the butter would help too. Ghee is a great idea. As for GF flours, if you’re thinking grains, you could do rice and maybe a small amount of millet or buckwheat or sorghum. The proportions will be different but I think it would work.
I made these with cashew flour and a chia egg and they turned out great! The cashews and nutritional yeast really compliment each other to create that “cheese” flavor! Really crispy and flaky, the perfect crunchy snack that I’m always craving! Thanks for the recipe 🙂 Will definitely be making these again.
So glad to hear it!!!
This recipe was followed exactly. These “crackers” taste nothing like cheez its. Waste of ingredients…
I am so sorry you had that experience. I have had so many people (particularly on Facebook) tell me that they loved the recipe. Do they taste so bad that they are inedible? Just b/c they don’t taste like Cheez Its to you, perhaps they can still be eaten :). Thanks.
I agree. While they make a great cracker alternative, they don’t taste anything like ” cheez it’s”.
I just made these. The flavor is good, but the feel in the mouth was chalky….dry clay like..very dry….I had to drink water after every bite :(. When I formed the dough it was not at all dry, but was very moist and a bit sticky. I used Bob’s Red Mill’s almond meal. I made sure I measured the ingredients correctly. The only difference was that I used only 2 tbsp nutritional yeast instead of 3 tbsp. Baked only for 12-15 mins. As noted in the recipe, I removed the outer ones because they were browning. What must have I done wrong here?
My favorite snack when I was younger was cheesy popcorn with hot sauce on it! Now I make it with nutritional yeast and coconut oil. But my favorite treat was hundred grand candy bar. Tried one for the first one in 10 plus years and it was not that great :(. It was plasticity and bland. So sad but then super cool because I now have changed my palate for good food, not evil food looking poison! Love your cheek it’s recipe. My friend shared them with me and now I found another place to get good easy recipes! Thank you :).
Welcome! I wonder if you’ve seen this recipe – it’s one of our favorites :). https://wholenewmom.com/recipes/dorito-flavored-popcorn-dairy-free/
I’m not sure how long these will last. We eat them pretty fast around here! I know they’re fine for at least a week. You could try freezing half the dough and only make half at a time.
I know I’m coming in late to this post, so I don’t know if anyone will respond. However, I didn’t see anything in the post or the comments about shelf life or expiration dates. Because there’s egg, do they have to be refrigerated? Supposing I don’t have a family to help me eat them right away, how long before they go bad?
I am not sure but the almonds will spoil after too long as well. I will see if the author can drop by. Thanks!
is there anything besides nutritional yeast i can use? im out and our local health store will be out for the next 2 weeks
You could try some parmesan cheese to taste. I think it would be great!
These are terrific! I can’t believe how much they taste like Cheez its! The tang of lemon juice works so well with the nutritional yeast. The texture is different from actual Cheez its, of course, but the flavor is right on! I used a flax egg and olive oil, and I added extra water because the dough is a little dry and tough to pull together. Next time I may use a tad less flour. I also sprinkled a little course sea salt on top, which is a must — this really makes it!!!! Thank you for an easy, delicious recipe.
So glad to hear! Thanks for coming back to tell me!
Hi, I tried these today with the chia egg (no allergy, just had no eggs in the house). They came out very dry and crumbly. The taste is good, just wondering if there is something I can do to make the dough bind better?
Hmmm…Maybe they needed more water? How was the dough?
I would make sure there’s ample spray on parchment paper before placing the crackers to bake. I would also add a little bit more water to the seed/egg substitute.