March 1, 2023
updated
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These homemade cheese crackers are deliciously salty, cheesy, and made with only 5 ingredients.
There’s no doubt that store-bought cheese crackers are a staple snack in almost every household, and today I’m sharing my easy recipe for homemade crackers that are just as cheesy and crispy.
Are Homemade Cheese Crackers Healthy?
We get a lot of requests for healthier homemade versions of common snacks to put inside lunch boxes. These cheese crackers are made with real Cheddar cheese, butter, and flour, minus the artificial flavors and mystery ingredients. It’s a much better alternative to the store-bought varieties.
I also have a recipe for gluten-free cheese crackers that’s just as crispy and cheesy, so no one feels like they are missing out on their favorite snack.
If you want more homemade versions of your kid’s favorite recipes, be sure to check out The Best Homemade Kid’s Snacks on the Planet.
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Ingredients
You can make these homemade cheese crackers with 5 basic ingredients you probably already have on hand.
Here’s what you need:
- Cheddar cheese: use grated extra-sharp Cheddar cheese.
- Butter: softened and cut into pieces.
- Flour: all-purpose flour.
- Salt: just a little to enhance the flavors.
- Milk: the liquid needed to bind the ingredients
How to Make Cheese Crackers
This recipe is easy to make, and the fun part is to get your kids involved and let them have mini cutters and cut any shape they want!
- Prepare
Preheat the oven to 375F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. - Create the Dough
Pulse the cheese, butter, flour, and salt in a food processor until the mixture is crumbly. - Add the Liquid
Slowly add the milk and until the dough becomes a ball. - Roll out
Divide the dough into 2 balls and roll onto a floured surface to ⅛ inch thickness. - Cut up
Cut the dough into 1-inch squares with a sharp knife or pizza cutter. - Bake
Place the crackers onto the baking sheet and bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the edges start to brown. - Cooldown
Allow the crackers to cool down to room temperature before serving as a snack or packing into lunch containers.
Watch this recipe to see how cheese crakers can be made at home!
How to Store Homemade Cheese Crackers
For best results, store these cheese crackers in an airtight container. Anything that’s not airtight will make them go stale faster, and I’ve found that packing them in zip bags often results in crushed crackers.
How Long Do Homemade Cheese Crackers Last?
Since there aren’t any preservatives in the recipe, these homemade crackers will begin to soften after 3 days. But no worries, they’re so good a batch will disappear fast when used as lunchbox sides or after-school snacks.
Cheese Snack Crackers
Ingredients
- 2 cups Cheddar cheese, grated extra-sharp
- ¼ cup butter, softened and cut into pieces
- 1 cup flour, plus more for dusting
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2-3 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375˚F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the cheese, butter, flour, and salt into a food processor. Pulse, for 5 seconds at a time, about five or six times, until the dough becomes coarse crumbs.
- Slowly add the milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, with the food processor on, until the dough becomes a ball.
- Divide the dough into two balls, and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Remove one dough ball from the refrigerator, and roll it on a floured board with a floured rolling pin until it is about ⅛ inch thick.
- Cut the dough into 1-inch squares with a sharp knife or pizza cutter. You can put a bit of flour on the blade of the knife to keep it from sticking. Use a toothpick or skewer to poke a hole in the center of each cracker.
- Place the crackers at least ¼ inch apart on the baking sheet. Repeat the process with a second ball of dough.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, with the rack placed in the middle of your oven, until the edges are just starting to brown. They might puff up too. If you are baking two pans at the same time, swap/rotate the pans halfway through.
- Place the baking sheet on a rack, and let the crackers cool completely. Eat or store in a covered container for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
More Cheese Snacks Recipes
If you find yourself always reaching for something savory and cheesy around snack time, then you’re sure to enjoy any of the recipes below. Whether you make them for lunch box snacks or to serve a crowd, they are perfect on any occasion.
Abi Dickson
The PERFECT alternative to Cheez-its.
Scatteredmom
Mine didn’t look like the photo at all, the puffed right up even though I stabbed each one with a fork. How do you get them so flat and crisp looking? Mine were more like cheesy pastry.
MOMables
rolling them out really thin is how we do it.
Kelli
But the thing is, it’s so hard to roll them out that thin and then gauge if they’re actually thin enough. There’s got to be a different way of doing it I wonder like using one of those pasta rolling contraption, lol
MOMables - Laura
I totally get what you mean! I always “guess-timate” and while I have those bands that you put on your rolling pin… I never use them. LOL
Amanda @MultiTestingMom
These were SO yummy! I featured them in a Back to School Lunch post. While they may last a few days, good luck on making it that far! SO good.
april
These sound great. I’m planning on trying the recipe today. But I’m wondering if they can possibly be stored longer than 3 days in an airtight container? In theory, making snacks at home as opposed to buying them in a box sound better but not if they don’t last long enough to make the time investment worth it. If this makes 3-4 cups, there’s no way we’d eat that many in 3 days. =(
I guess I’ll just have to make them and find out!
MOMables
April, these are “fresh” crackers. You can bake half of the recipe and freeze the dough. I have also frozen the pre-cut crackers and then transferred them to a zip bag once frozen. That way, you can pull out however many you need and bake.
Beth
Just made these with some leftover Parmesan and cheddar cheese- they are great! I didn’t use a food processor, just mixed it by hand with a fork and they still turned out perfectly. Thanks for the recipe.
Christine
My daughter (almost 6) and I LOVE these crackers! She enjoyed poking the holes in the middles before baking. ;) Although slightly softer than a Cheez-it, we think they taste even better. Thanks for an easy alternative to the processed boxed stuff.
Cindy A.
These sound great! Would different flours work the same? I was thinking of using freshly milled whole wheat or oat or brown rice flour or a mixture of flours.
MOMables
Cindy, if you mill your own wheat, make it super fine (like pastry flour). I have not tried them with other flours.
Matt Robinson
You are so right, makes you wonder what the heck is in the boxed versions of this. Such a great alternative, my boys would love these!
Sarah
Do you think it will be fine if I switch out the dairy and flour to make them GF and DF? Should I do anything else different?
Thanks!
MOMables
Sarah, I have not tried making these gf or df so I cannot recommend.
Sarah
I will let you know what happens.
LudicrousMama
There’s a GF recipe on the MOMables blog – just sub DF cheddar cheese shreds (might need up to 1/4c more than the cheese called for here) -or- nutritional yeast (1-2 Tbsp,) 1-2 tsp each onion and garlic powder, plus some paprika (2-3 tsp) and turmeric (1tsp) for that orangey color!
Nicole
Today my son was given a bag of cheez-its and since we don’t eat processed food he got super upset when I didn’t let him have the “cheese crackers.” So, I came home and made these so he didn’t feel deprived by not having what all the other kids were eating. They were very good. I added about a 1/4 teaspoon of paprika. I had to bake them in two batches. On the second batch I sprinkled a bit of salt on the top to be more like cheese-its and they are really good. My son ate the non-salted crackers and my husband and I ate some of the crackers with salt. I will definitely make these again. Thanks!