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Easy, super-healthy, and cheese-y chickpea flour crackers that are high in protein (7.2 grams per serving), grain-free and vegan. Crisp, flaky and filling, you will love them!
Super-Power Crackers, Made with Chickpea Flour
Think of these as crackers with benefits.
Notably, a whopping 3.2 g of fiber and 7.2 g protein per delectable serving.
They are also:
- vegan (egg-free, dairy-free)
- nut-free
- seed-free
- gluten-free
- grain-free
You can call them what they are: Cheese-y Chickpea Flour Crackers!
Crackers are Actually Easy to Make!
Crackers have long been (since childhood) one of my go-to snacks, but I never made them from scratch until I began working with alternative flours. I am not sure what took me so long to give homemade crackers a go, but the exorbitant cost of “healthier” crackers–some of which leaned more cardboard than cracker in taste and texture– prompted me to get cracking with homemade crackers.
And guess what? They are really easy to make. Even if you (like me) do not favor rolling pins, crackers are very forgiving. It’s especially true with grain-free and gluten-free crackers. With the absence of gluten, doughs can be re-rolled and pinched and pressed into place without any worry of tough crackers.
How to Make Cheese-y Chickpea Flour Crackers
Ok, enough about crackers in the abstract, let’s get to these golden, addictive, cheesey crackers in particular.
Step 1: Mix the Cracker Dough
First up, the dough. It’s a one-bowl affair comprising chickpea flour, the oil of your choice, salt, a smidge of sugar, and water. To give them their eponymous “cheesey” flavor, nutritional yeast flakes and prepared mustard are also added. Stir the ingredients until you are left with a stiff, smooth dough (it should not be sticky).
Step 2: Roll the Dough
Onward to the rolling.
The key to making these crackers extra crisp and light is rolling the dough very thin. To do this, I divide the dough in half. To make the rolling easier, shape the dough half into a square-ish or rectangle-ish shape. Place it on a large piece of parchment paper that has been dusted with additional chickpea flour. I sprinkle some flour directly on top of the dough, too, to prevent sticking.
Now roll, baby, roll! Aim for a rectangle that is roughly 12×8 inches. You can pinch off dough and press it into thin or wobbly-shaped areas to achieve the rectangle shape.
Step 3: Cut the Dough
Cut the dough into rectangles (or squares, triangles, or any shape you like). I cut 40 crackers from each dough half.
If you like, brush off excess flour with a damp pastry brush, and (optional) sprinkle with a little bit of coarse salt.
Step 4: Bake the Crackers
Lift the parchment and dough onto a large baking sheet and bake in a 350F oven for 15 to 20 minutes until dry and light golden brown. Yes, these are as good as even better than they look!
Let the crackers cool completely, and then follow the same process with the remaining dough.
These crackers are completely addictive, but in the best of ways: they are very filling (in large part because of their high fiber and protein content), so unlike other chips and crackers, it is easy to stop at a single serving.
I should add, too, that they are CRAZY good with additions such as chopped fresh rosemary, smoked paprika, sesame seeds, and freshly cracked black pepper. Not all at once, though 🙂
In case you were wondering, yes, they are also great for dunking into spreads and dips!
Happy baking!
More Easy and Yummy Crackers to Make:
- 3-Ingredient Teff Crackers {vegan, gluten-free)
- 2-Ingredient Almond Flour Crackers {Keto, Vegan, Paleo}
- Almond Oat Chickpea Flour Crackers {vegan, gluten-free}
- Multi-seed Quinoa Crackers {vegan, gluten-free}
Cheese-y Chickpea Flour Crackers {grainfree, vegan, high-protein}
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 40 mins
- Yield: 80 crackers 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Easy, super-healthy, and cheese-y chickpea flour crackers that are high in protein (7.2 grams per serving), grain-free and vegan. Crisp, flaky and filling, you will love them!
Ingredients
- 2 cups chickpea flour (sifted, if lumpy), plus more for dusting
- 1/3 cup nutritional yeast flakes
- 1–1/2 teaspoons cane sugar (see notes for options)
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 cup neutral oil (I used avocado oil)
- 4 tablespoons warm water (more, if needed)
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- Optional: large grain sea salt for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Set aside a large baking sheet.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the chickpea flour, nutritional yeast, sugar, and salt. Add the oil, mustard and 4 tablespoons water, stirring until blended. The dough will seem dry at first, but keep stirring until completely blended. Add a bit more water, only if needed to combine all the dry ingredients. The dough should be smooth and stiff, but not sticky (see photos).
- Divide dough in half. Shape one half into a a rough rectangle or square and place onto a large piece of parchment paper (about the size of the baking sheet) that has been lightly dusted with chickpea flour. Using a rolling pin, roll dough very thin into about a 12-inch by 8-inch rectangle. Tear off pieces of the dough and squish them into place, as much as needed, to make a relatively even rectangle.
- Using a pizza cutter or large knife, cut the rectangle into 40 crackers. If desired, brush off any excess flour with a damp pastry brush and (optional) sprinkle with salt.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes until light golden brown. Remove from oven and lift parchment (with crackers) onto a cooling rack. Cool completely. Break into pieces.
- Repeat with remaining dough.
Equipment
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Notes
Storage: Store the crackers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks or freezer for up to 6 months.
Mustard: Other varieties o mustard, such as yellow mustard or hot mustard, can be used in place of the Dijon mustard.
Sugar: You can omit the sugar if needed, or use an equal amount of the sweetener of your choice. I added the sugar to create a balanced flavor, but it is not essential for the recipe to work.
- Category: Crackers, Snack
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 10 crackers
- Calories: 167
- Sugar: 2.7 g
- Sodium: 173.8 mg
- Fat: 8.5 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 14.5 g
- Fiber: 3.2 g
- Protein: 7.2 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Keywords: chickpea flour, crackers, vegan cheese, cheesey chickpea flour crackers, crackers made without grains, egg-free, dairy-free, gluten-free crackers, vegan crackers
Just made these and they turned out great! I have a tortilla press so I used that to get the dough nice and thin and than used my pizza cutter to cut into triangles. They taste like Cheez-its! but better!
★★★★★
Fabulous, Alesha!!!
Holy yum sauce! These came out delicious!!!
The first round I added thyme and sea salt and the second chives and sea salt.
I used the rolling pin to lightly press the seasonings in 😀 thank you so so so much for this wonderful recipe!!!
★★★★★
Yippee!!! thyme and sea salt sound like perfection for the seasonings, yum!
Hi! New to this recipe and I haven’t made it yet. I love a lot of your other recipes! Regarding this one, can I bake the crackers in a dehydrator?
Thanks!
Hi Wendi! I regret to say that I have never used a dehydrator, apologies that I cannot advise on this one!
My dough was a bit crumbly? Is it ok to add more water?
Yes, that will work!
My dough was a bit crumbly? Is it ok to add more water?
Hi Claire, yes, definitely!
These are the best crackers I´ve ever made. Thank you! I love your recipes. Love from Argentina.
★★★★★
Love back to you, Magali! So happy you are enjoying the crackers 🙂
Can the yeast be omitted for a plain flavour? Nutritional yeast gives our family headaches. Or would the recipe need to be adjusted?
Yes, you can definitely leave it out, Ronalee. I do not think you will need to add more chickpea flour. But since there is no gluten, it is easy to adjust along the way without a problem. So mix it up without the yeast, and if it seems to wet/tacky, add a small amount of more chickpea flour to achieve a dough that looks like my photos (irm, not dry, but also not wet). 🙂
Oof! It seems like the flour grind size will make a huge difference with these. I ordered some chickpea flour from Amazon but it looks far too large for these. My crackers ended up having the texture of granola rather than crackers (even in the thinnest of spots). To anyone reading this, if your flour is larger than what you’d normally use, definitely run it through a food processor first!
Hi Hillary,
Oh no , I am sorry these did not work out! Yikes, that does sound like some unusual chickpea flour.
Hi Camila,
Ok…just made these crackers (made the quinoa seed crackers the other day too, which were amazing), these are my new favorite cracker EVER!! I made them with fresh rosemary and sea salt and WOW….love the texture and how easy the dough rolled out. Thank you for this great website…there are many more recipes I’ll be trying!
Yay!!! So good to find healthy snacks to love, right? Rosemary & sea salt sounds like perfection to me 🙂
Made these yesterday with my 8 year old as she is recently gluten free and we are finding it hard to find yummy recipes which work. We used mustard powder instead of mustard and added some grated cheese. We had them with home made hummus which she also made. They were a huge hit and will certainly be making again. Thank you!
Joanne Taylor, I was also thinking of adding grated cheese! I’m allergic to yeast and thought cheese can give some flavor instead. Good that I came across your comment! I’m also gluten free due to a health situation and have a hard time finding yummy recipes. Thanks for the tips and hope your 8 year old is very happy with her food! 🙂
★★★★
Hi. These sound delicious . Can almond flour be used in place of chickpea flour ?
Hi Linda,
I have another recipe specifically for almond flour crackers 🙂 Here it is! 2-Ingredient Almond Flour Crackers You can add some nutritional yeast for cheesey flavor (or any herbs and spices that you like) 🙂
I can’t thank you enough for your recipes…you are one of the few recipe developers that I can count on for healthy, protein-filled cooking and baking ideas. I can’t have soy, dairy or gluten due to migraines and MAOIs, and your website has been the best resource! Thank you so much for sharing all of these wonderful recipes!
★★★★★
Hope, you are so very welcome! I am so happy that you have found recipes here that suit your needs. I am very appreciative of your taking the time to comment!
Wow! These are the best crackers I’ve done! Such a forgiving dough! Without being able to find plain white flour these challenging days I used the plenty of chickpea flour I had and never knew what to do with it… thank you so much xx
★★★★★
Wow, whay a compliment, Zee! Thanks so much, and so glad you like them!
Can you make them without Mustard? Allergy…
Hi Pam,
Yes, definitely!
Can the dough be made ahead of time then refrigerated for a few hours before rolling out and baking?
Hi Mich! I think that would work well, I do not imagine there would be any problems. 🙂
Is it possible to reduce the oil? Is that what make the crackers hold together or for flavor? I am intrigued with many of your recipes.
Hi Philis,
Yes, you can reduce the oil and the cracker will still “work” (roll out, look great, hold together). But the texture will be very different the less oil you add (especially if you go below 2 tablespoons. I tried these many times. The crackers with minimal oil are tough, not crisp).
In one of the photos it says to brush off the extra flour if desired but it looks like you are brushing ON something wet or oily?
Hi Linda,
No, no oil is added, but for both the photo and the recipe, I say with a “damp” brush. So yes, to make the brush damp, you have to dip it in water. Hope that clarifies! 🙂
Can these be made without the sugar? If not, can honey be substituted?
Thank you – these look great!
Hi Pat! Yes, you can omit it or sub in the sweetener of your choice. I have added a note to the recipe to this effect. Thanks for asking, as I am sure others will have the same question. 🙂
These look delicious and you’re just awesome, aren’t you?? ??
Katie, I need to hire you as my professional confidence booster 🙂 Thank you so much, and I hope you like these!