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!
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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 merely an approximation. Optional ingredients are not included and when there is an alternative, the primary ingredient is typically used. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts since they have been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
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.
These are wonderful. I will divide into 2 and use two baking sheets to make them thinner and two let them cool on the pan for 30 minutes before eating. I think this will help with getting them crispy.
So glad you like them!!
These are amazing! So impressed by how they turned out! I did 4 tb yeast and added a tsp garlic per a previous poster, 1/2 tsp turmeric, and ghee instead of butter. They took awhile to get crunchy – I watched the oven like a hawk and eventually turned the temperature down to 225 for over an hour. A savior for Whole30!
Ooohh your variation sounds lovely!!! Thanks for the information. The turmeric is a great addition!!
Question – what do you mean by that you turned the oven down to 225 for over an hour? You mean you didn’t bake them at 350? Thanks!
Thanks! Yes, they needed more time to get crunchy but I didn’t want to burn them.
Sorry for all the back and forth–so did you cook at the higher temp for any period of time? I would like to try it your way but not sure what it is yet LOL!
Good question, I flew by the seat of my pants! ? I did try at this recipe temp at first, but they weren’t getting crunchy, so I turned the temp down and tested them every 10 minutes. I think it ended up taking over an hour but they were great! I think they are pretty forgiving too on the temp as long as you get the crunch you want!
Thanks much – super helpful! I’m going to add this to the Recipe Notes!
Hi Adrienne,
Do you know if I could use flax meal as an egg replace for vegan option?
Nutiva-organic butter flavored coconut oil should be good good replacement for the butter.
Thanks so much!
Paula
Hi there! I think you could try it. Egg replacers can be a little finicky. I don’t remember anyone who has tried it but please LMK how it goes. I have new photos just about ready to go in the post. I hope you like these! Thanks for reading!
I love the flavour but mine aren’t crispy. Should I increase the temperature or the length of cooking time? The thickness of them maybe a bit more than the recipe but the size of my cooking tray determines that, if I don’t want to waste some of the mixture.
Hi there. Sorry for the delay! I would guess thickness is it? maybe bake twice – on 2 different trays?
Are there nutritional values for these and how many is a serving?
Hi there. Sorry for the delay. We finally got the nutritional info up there for you. Hope that helps and that you like them!
Hi
How many cheeze it per your macros?
Thank you
LeiLani
Hi there – it really depends on how big you make them. The macros are listed by a fraction of the recipe. Enjoy!
Awesome! I cooked at 300 degrees for 40 min
So glad to hear it!!
I was really surprised at how well these turned out. I added 1/2 tsp of garlic powder and 1/2 tsp of rosemary. I might add an extra tablespoon of nutritional yeast next time for more cheesy-ness. But these really are great! Not crazy about having to babysit the pan to get the edges off before they overcook. But I’d say these are worth it. Will make again.
That is so great! Cheez sitting, huh :)? Have you tried these Lentil Crackers? https://wholenewmom.com/recipes/cracker-recipe-homemade-crackers-lentil-recipe/ They get rave reviews.
I have an almond and coconut sensitivity. How would they turn out if I used regular non-gmo wheat flour?
If you use a grain instead of almond flour they will be different so follow the instructions in this post but go backwards. https://wholenewmom.com/recipes/pumpkin-snickerdoodles-with-gluten-dairy-egg-and-sugar-free-options/ Hope that works well!
We LOVE these crackers!!! I add all Sorts of different flavorings to them!!!
So glad to hear it! Adding seasonings is such a great option!
Thank you for this wonderful recipe. It’s a popular addition to our grandson’s GFCF diet, (made with coconut oil). The whole family loves them too.
So glad you liked them!!!
Is there any way we can make this nut free as our school has a nut free lunch policy? We are also following a ketogenic lifestyle. Thanks
Hmmmm…for keto that is tough. What other flours do you use? You could try sunflower seed meal but the taste will be different.
I basically just use Almond OR Coconut Flour but for school lunches I cannot not use the Almond flour. We tried sesame seed flour but we did not like the taste. It will be even more challenging in Sept. when our son starts JK as he has allergies to milk & eggs. School lunches will be a problem to keep nut free as well. Oh the challenges of it all!!!
I have found some great recipes on your site to try at home though so Thank You for all your hard work.
I wonder if pumpkin seed might work. Those and sunflower grind up pretty well in a coffee grinder. Might be worth trying. With coconut you will have to have egg in there. I really don’t know how well that would work but you might be able to do it. I hope you saw these. They should be a help for you: https://wholenewmom.com/recipes/honey-bunches-of-oats-coconut-chips/
These work well with seed butter: https://wholenewmom.com/recipes/snickerdoodle-cookie-dough-balls/
These do we well. They are a bit messy to cut sometimes, but worth it. I’m working on making them better so they cut more neatly. https://wholenewmom.com/recipes/healthy-chocolate-almond-joy-home-made-candy/
Hope that helps! I have 2 more recipes coming soon that should be helpful too!
These are amazing and totally helped with my cheez- it cravings! Thanks for the awesome recipe!
You are so welcome and glad you liked them!
What is the nutritional value for this recipe? Thanks.
Hi Elaine! Thanks for reading. I’m working to get nutritional values on the blog but they are not easy to do and the recipe program that I have might be needing a change in May or June so that might mess things up for a bit. If you have an online calculator that you trust you can use that in the meantime. Thanks for your patience!
I’m trying to make the recipe with coconut flour, but I can’t get it to form a dough. It remains crumbly. Any suggestions, other than go buy some almond flour and give it another try?
Oh I’m sorry – coconut flour is very very drying – it SOAKS up liquid. You could add some liquid and try but it’s not an easy flour to work with for baking unless you are using eggs. Hope the next one goes better!
Can your use brown rice flour instead of almond flour?
That should work. Just watch the texture to see how it seems. Hope it works well!
How long will they keep in the pantry?
Gosh – I don’t know. Depends on how warm your house is too. I would keep them in the fridge if you are going to have them around for any length of time.
The recipe sounds great! I’m just wondering about the link to the nutritional yeast. That brand has added synthetic vitamins. Did you change your mind about the issue with that?
Thanks! I switched out the link for a non fortified yeast – hope that helps! I haven’t changed my mind, but I do eat some fortified on and off b/c it’s what we have and I am not sure if a little is that much cause for concern.
Great, thanks so much! 🙂
I can’t wait to make these! I noticed there is a ? instead of how much thickness to roll it. Any advice on that?Thanks!!!
Just fixed that. No idea how that happened! Sorry!
thank you!!!!
These are delicious! I can’t believe how much they taste like cheez-its!
So glad to hear it!!
I’ve made this recipe several times and I love it. I wonder if some of the negative reviews are due to people assuming nutritional yeast is the same as baking/bread yeast (which it is not!). Just make sure you’re using the correct ingredients, and this recipe is definitely a keeper.
Great to hear. I wonder….or Brewer’s yeast maybe? That stuff is terrible!