If you have missed those crispy Cheez It crackers since going gluten free, I am so excited to share my newest recipe with you. These cheesy crispy Gluten Free Cheez Its Crackers taste just like the the real thing! They are flaky and light and full of flavor!
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Who used to love eating Cheez Its Crackers? I remember loving them way back before we went gluten free. My kids would snack on Cheez Its and Goldfish! They are the perfect finger food for snacking!! You can dip them into a hot cream cheese dip, or enjoy them plain!
This cheese cracker recipe is also great for making gluten free goldfish crackers! Check out the directions to make this classic kid snack!
Why these homemade Cheez Its crackers are the best:
- I can’t say enough about these homemade gluten free cheese crackers! They are buttery with flaky layers, crispy, and full of sharp cheddar cheese flavors! They taste like the real thing!!
- This dough is really good for using cookie cutters! I used my small star cookie cutter to make some star-shaped crackers, too!
- This dough is not that sticky, so it is easy to work with!
I also have a delicious gluten free sourdough discard crackers recipe to try if you love to make crackers!
I just made your Gluten Free Cheez It Crackers-they’re fabulous! They’re ridiculously easy to make and taste even better than the original non-gf ones. I’ll be making them often.
jane, blog comment
Keep up the good work!”
Allergen Information:
My homemade Cheez Its recipe is gluten-free, nut-free, oat-free, and soy-free.
Ingredient Notes:
For the full list of ingredients and amounts, please go to the recipe card below.
- Gluten free flour blend – I tested this recipe using both Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten Free Flour Blend and King Arthur’s Measure for Measure Gluten Free Blend. That doesn’t mean others will not work. I just have not tested other flours.
- Xanthan gum – If your gluten free flour blend doesn’t contain a binder like xanthan gum or guar gum, please add 1 teaspoon.
- Sharp cheddar cheese – If you want your crackers to be the most like Cheez It Crackers, you want to use sharp cheddar. You can use mild, but the flavor will not be as rich and cheesy. Be sure to check to see if your shredded cheese is gluten free.
- Butter – I recommend using unsalted. If you use salted, you will need to reduce the amount of added salt the recipe calls for.
You are seriously going to love how easy this gluten free cheese crackers recipe is to make! I have only recently started to make crackers because I had this image in my mind that they were difficult to make…I wish I had tried sooner because I was so wrong! Crackers are easy to make, and it is easy to customize flavors!
Step-By-Step Photos and Directions:
Step 1: Add all of your ingredients to a food processor. You want the cheese to get cut up into fine pieces, so mixing by hand will not have the same effect.
Step 2: Mix on medium speed for 30 seconds. This is what your dough will look like. If your dough isn’t easy to work with, your gluten free flour blend may be starchier than what I used. If that is the case, a tiny bit more water will help.
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📢 Sandi says: Every gluten-free flour blend has a different starch-to-grain ratio. The brand of gluten-free flour you use will affect the moisture of the batter. If your cake batter is too runny, add more flour, and if it is too thick, add more liquids.
Read Why Gluten-Free Flour Blends Vary to learn more about this.
Step 3: Preheat your oven to 375º F. Place your cheese cracker dough onto a piece of parchment paper. Dust your rolling pin with some gluten free flour to prevent sticking.
Step 4: Roll the dough out as thinly as you can, where you can still move the cut pieces of cracker. Use a pizza cutting wheel or pasta cutter to make cracker shapes.
Step 5: After you cut the crackers out, gently move each cracker with the pizza wheel, so there is a distance between them all. This will prevent them from sticking together as they bake.
Step 6: Use a chopstick to poke a hole into each unbaked cracker. Sprinkle the crackers with coarse salt. You can skip this step if you are trying to be low in sodium.
Don’t forget; you can use a mini cookie cutter if you prefer to make shapes like stars and goldfish.
Step 7: Bake the crackers for 15 minutes or until golden.
If you love these crackers, you will also love these crispy Gluten Free Cheese Straws!
Frequently Asked Questions:
Regular store-bought Cheez Its are not gluten free, which is why I am so excited about this new recipe for gluten-free Cheez Its!
Most shredded cheese is gluten free, but it is very important always to read the labels to verify the shredded cheese you buy is gluten free.
I store the crackers in an airtight container.
These crackers should last for up to 3 days. These crackers do not have preservatives like regular store-bought mass-produced crackers, so they will not keep fresh as long.
First of all, thank you for sharing this recipe. My son and husband can not have gluten and are always trying to steal my girl’s cheese crackers. I wanted to try and find an alternative the whole family could enjoy and these were absolutely amazing.”
Sam, Blog comment
More Delicious Gluten Free Snacks:
Love This Recipe?
If you made and enjoyed this recipe, I would be incredibly grateful if you could leave a comment below. Please include which flour blend you used. This will help others know this recipe is delicious. Thank you!
Gluten Free Cheez Its
Ingredients
- 8 ounces cheddar cheese mild or sharp
- 4 tablespoons butter unsalted
- 1 cup gluten free flour blend * see note
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
- 3 tablespoons cold water
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt for sprinkling over the crackers
Optional Additional Seasoning:
- ⅛ teaspoon onion powder
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Instructions
- Add 8 ounces cheddar cheese, 4 tablespoons butter, 1 cup gluten free flour blend, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder, 3 tablespoons cold water, 1 teaspoon coarse salt , and 1/8 teaspoon onion powder to a food processor. You want the cheese to get cut up into fine pieces so mixing by hand will not going to have the same effect.
- Blend the ingredients on medium speed for about 30 seconds. If your dough isn't easy to work with, it is possible your gluten free flour blend is starchier than what I used. If that is the case a tiny bit more water will help.
- Preheat your oven to 375º F.
- Place your cheese cracker dough onto a piece of parchment paper. Dust your rolling pin with some gluten free flour to prevent sticking.
- Roll the dough out as thinly as you can where you can still move the cut pieces of cracker. Use a pizza cutting wheel or pasta cutter to make cracker square or rectangle shapes.
- You can also use mini sized cookie cutters to cut out shapes like goldfish!
- After you cut the crackers out, use the pizza wheel to gently move each cracker so there is distance between them all. This will prevent them from sticking together as they bake.
- Use a chopstick to poke a hole into each unbaked cracker. Sprinkle the crackers with coarse salt. If you are trying to be low sodium, you can skip this step.
- Bake the crackers for 12-15 minutes, or until golden.
Notes
- I have tested this recipe with King Arthur Measure for Measure GF and Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 GF blend. That doesn’t mean others will not work, I just have not tested other flours.
- If your gluten free flour blend doesn’t contain xanthan gum or guar gum, please add 1/2 teaspoon.
- I love using sharp cheddar best, but you can use mild. White cheddar will give a slightly different flavor, and it will not turn out with that famous Cheez It orange color.
- Because these crackers have no preservatives, they should keep around 2-3 days in an air-tight container. My guess is they will be eaten up much quicker than that though :-).
SPECIAL NOTE
Please know that every gluten free flour blend has a different starch to grain ratio. If you use a blend I didn’t test, my rule of thumb is to add more flour if your dough or batter is wet and add more liquid if the dough or batter is too dry!
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.
My daughter loved CheezIts before developing a gluten allergy. She was ecstatic, after a 7-year absence, at how close these were to the taste/texture of a CheezIt. Help someone and they are basically appreciative; however, help someone’s child and they are beyond-measure grateful. You helped me be a better Dad!
It was important to mix all cheese in a food processor although I then mixed that processed cheese with dry ingredients by hand in a regular bowl. My dough was rolled quite thin but probably would try for even thinner next time. I baked them about 22 minutes before they got crunchy and the color, although not the fake orange of a CheezIt, darkened from starting very pale.
Hi Rick, I am so happy I was able to bring joy to you and your daughter with the Cheez Its!! Letters like this make what I do 100% worth it.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! These are delicious 😋! I was craving cheezits and found your recipe today a d made them. They are way better than the boxed, store bought version!! ❤️ I look forward to seeing more recipes from you!
You made my day. I am so glad you loved the Cheez Its. I have hundreds of delicious recipes. I can’t wait to hear what you make next!
Absolutely delicious. They double in thickness while baking, so do as the recipe says and make them as thin as you can (while still being able to separate them for cooking). I used Bob’s Mill gluten free without xanthum gum, so added the teaspoon of xanthum gum as suggested. I had really been missing cheeze-its and these hit the spot.
I am so glad you loved these gluten free Cheez Its. Thank you so much for coming back to leave a message.
These satisfied my craving for cheese it’s! I am just wondering if I’m supposed to use melted or softened butter for these? Thank you for the great recipe!
Hi Hannah, I am so glad you loved this recipe! I use cold butter in the food processor, which helps keep these crackers flaky.
What an easy and delicious recipe. can’t wait to experiment with different variations. Habinero cheese next! I actually made the dough and separated it into several bits wrapped them in wax paper and kept in the fridge for 4 days baking only what I wanted to eat that day. Perfect.
Please keep me posted on how your flavor variations go…I need to find habanero cheese!!
My son is on a restricted diet so buying snacks off the shelf doesn’t really happen… I decided to try these honestly I didn’t have high hopes of a gluten free crack. I was really wrong. These are DELICIOUS my son loved them. Thanks so much for this great recipe. Just make them…
Also I end up using 4 tablespoons of water. Second time making them I seen them first time three tablespoons wasn’t enough and slowly added more until texture was right. I think every gluten free flour is different.
Very simple and easy to make.
You absolutely made my day. I love when someone with a restricted diet can enjoy my recipes. Thank you so much for coming back to leave a review.
I need to make these ahead. Can you freeze these for later?
Hi Patty, I have not tested freezing them. It should be okay, but you will want to recrisp them in an oven or toaster oven so they don’t get soggy when thawing.
I used cup4cup gluten free flour and they were delicious! I’m going to try to make them thinner next time. Definitely make sure they are golden or they will remind you more of a biscuit than a cheez-it but delicious either way!
I am so glad you loved the recipe. Thank you!
They’re tasty but don’t taste like cheese it’s. Totally different texture and flavor. I used sharp cheddar too but mine didn’t come out orange at all . I made them as thin as possible but they’re still kinda a little bit chewy in the middle. Still they do taste good!
Hi Wendy, I am glad you loved the flavor. It is hard to know about why your texture/flavor varied without knowing the gluten free flour blend you used.
I just made your Gluten Free Cheez It Crackers-they’re fabulous! They’re ridiculously easy to make and taste even better than the original non-gf ones. I’ll be making them often. Keep up the good work!
Thank you so much for your kind words. I am so glad you loved these crackers!
First of all, thank you for sharing this recipe. My son and husband can not have gluten and are always trying to steal my girl’s cheese crackers. I wanted to try and find an alternative the whole family could enjoy and these were absolutely amazing. Recipe was so easy and I’m all about great results with minimal effort. My 4 year old enjoyed rolling the dough out and it was not a big deal they were not perfectly shaped. I used a lactose free cheese and a truffle butter that needed to be used up along with French sea salt for the garnish. It’s great that I could alter slightly and still have them turn out! I was not thinking about my butter being salted and will take that into account in the future. Everyone loved these and I might be making more tomorrow! (The first batch is gone already)
You made my day!! I am thrilled everyone loved these Cheez Its and you no longer need to worry about them getting into non-gluten free crackers! I love you experimented, it is good to know lactose free cheese worked so well. Thank you!
These are so yummy. I used sharp white cheddar because that is what I had. I will roll them out thinner next time.
I am so glad you loved these crackers. Several people mentioned white cheddar, and I need to try it because it sounds really good. Thank you!
These are awesome! I made two sizes, one for dipping and one for munching. I also used aged cheddar so needed more water, but they taste amazing!
Cutting these cookies into different sizes is such a good idea! Thank you.
I’m pulling these out of the oven for the first time and couldn’t help but try a few, and I am pleasantly surprised how much they actually taste similar to cheez its. A great recipe!
I am so glad you loved these Cheez Its. Thank you so much!
Should the butter be cold or softened?
Hi Faye, I put it in cold. It helps to form the dough.
I honestly have been missing Cheez Its so badly since my celiac diagnosis and no “dupe” was good enough. This recipe is perfection. Instead of a food processor I used my Ninja blender.
Thanks so much! Can’t wait to make these again and again
I am thrilled you loved the recipe. I have heard good things about the Ninja blender!
How long do you think they would keep in a heat sealed bag?
Hi, I have no experience using heat sealed bags so I am not sure. You could ask in my FB Group, Gluten Free Living and Recipe Share.
So good!
I made it with goat milk cheddar, goat butter, and arrowhead mills 1-to-1 gluten free flour .
It was still mostly soft after the prescribed baking time (maybe I didn’t roll them as thin as you) but they were so good we ate most and let a few bake for 5 more minutes to crisp up. I started with a half batch because I was afraid it might taste goat-y but it didn’t at all. I will definitely be making these again.
I haven’t tried goat cheese, but we eat it often…thank you for the feedback!
Hello and thank you for sharing this recipe. Regarding the cheese, is it 8oz dry measuring cup after shredding or 8oz by weight?
Hi Sandra, I used an 8 ounce package of shredded cheese.
Can I use liquid cheese instead of shredded and how much should I use?
Thanks!
Hi Leslie, I haven’t tested this recipe with liquid cheese.
Has anyone tried using these crackers in Chex party mix?
Hi Carol, I haven’t heard of anyone doing this, but I bet it would be tasty!
Wow! These are easy and delicious and taste exactly how I remember cheez it’s! Thanks for the recipe 🎉
You are very welcome, Heather. I am glad you enjoyed the crackers.