Cheesy, crispy, and salty, these homemade Cheez-Its taste just like the real thing. They're super easy to make with just 5 ingredients and a super simple process.
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Why We Love This Recipe
- Just 5 ingredients: Cheese, milk, flour, butter, and salt. That's it!
- Simple recipe: Just pulse everything in a food processor, roll out the dough, cut it, poke a hole in each cracker, and bake! This is easy enough that you can do with your kids.
- Tastes just like store bought: These crackers are just as crispy, cheesy, and salty as the real thing!
Ingredients and Notes
Here's what you'll need to make these homemade cheez its:
- Cheese: We used a sharp yellow cheddar, but you can also use white. If you want the cheese flavor to stand out in the final cracker, be sure to use a sharp or extra sharp cheese variety. It's best to shred your own cheese from a block of cheddar, as store-bought shredded cheese contains anti-caking agents.
- Flour: We used all purpose flour.
- Gluten free: We have not personally tested this recipe with gluten free flour. A few people commented that they have tried it and they did not turn out very crispy.
- Butter: Unsalted is best. If you're using salted, cut the listed salt amount (½ teaspoon) in half. Make sure the butter is cold when you put it into the food processor.
- Milk: We used cold, whole milk in this recipe. 2% or skim should work as well, though we haven't tested it with lower-fat milks.
- Salt: We always use a coarse kosher salt. If you're using regular table salt, you'll want to add less than the stated quantity in this recipe.
Equipment
Zwilling Fresh & Save
Since these crackers are at their best when they're crispy, it's important that you get them into an airtight container right away so they stay super fresh and keep their snap and crunch. We highly recommend Zwilling's Fresh & Save containers to ensure your crackers stay at their best for as long as possible.
These containers can be vacuum sealed to keep food fresh for up to five times longer(!) than regular containers. We've been using Zwilling's Fresh & Save line for years now, and they're the only storage containers we use - there's a drawer in our house that's filled with them, and our fridge is packed with Fresh & Save containers.
Best of all, they're dishwasher safe, microwave safe, freezer safe and they come in plenty of sizes. The glass ones that we show here are also oven safe! So go ahead, try them out!
We also love that the Fresh & Save line has vacuum seal bags – they're ideal for long term freezer storage.
If you're looking to store dried foods in your pantry, Zwilling also has you covered with their CUBE container sets. It's the same vacuum seal technology as the Fresh & Save containers, but made for dry ingredients!
They also come with reusable labels, measuring and prep tools and more for optimal organization. I'm moving into my new house in a few months and can't WAIT to organize my pantry with these Cube containers!
Step-by-step Instructions
PREP: Preheat oven to 325˚F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
STEP 1: Add the cheese, flour and salt to a food processor and pulse several times. Add in the butter and pulse a few more times, until the dough is crumbly.
STEP 2: Add in the milk, then pulse several more times. The dough won’t come together in a ball, but it should come together when you press it between two fingers.
STEP 3: Transfer to a lightly floured surface. Roll into a large rectangle, rolling as thinly as possible. We go even thinner than ⅛-inch as they puff up quite a bit when baking.
STEP 4: Using a knife, pizza cutter or fluted pastry wheel, slice into 1-inch squares. Use the flat end of a skewer to poke a hole all the way through each cracker. Transfer to sheet pans and sprinkle with more salt.
STEP 5: Bake for 17-20 minutes, until deep golden brown on the bottom of each cracker. If they are too light, they won’t have much crisp. Let cool completely before enjoying!
Expert Tips and FAQs
- Use a fluted pastry cutter to get those trademark edges.
- Be sure to roll it out as thin as possible. If it's not thin enough, they puff up into what almost become squares.
- Add salt before cooking in the oven - it won't stick if you add it after.
- Store these in an airtight container and they'll keep for about a week, or even longer if you're using Zwilling Fresh & Save containers! If they start to lose some of their crispiness, you can reheat them in the oven for 5-8 minutes.
Related Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Homemade Cheez Its
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 150-200 crackers 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Cheesy, crispy, and salty, these homemade Cheez-Its taste just like the real thing. They're super easy to make with just 5 ingredients and a super simple process.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt, plus more for topping
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, cubed
- 2 tablespoons whole milk (cold)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325˚F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Add the cheese, flour and salt to a food processor and pulse several times. Add in the butter and pulse a few more times, until the dough is crumbly.
- Add in the milk, then pulse several more times. The dough won’t come together in a ball, but it should come together when you press it between two fingers.
- Transfer to a lightly floured surface. Roll into a large rectangle, rolling as thinly as possible. We go even thinner than ⅛-inch as they puff up quite a bit when baking.
- Using a knife, pizza cutter or fluted pastry wheel, slice into 1-inch squares. Use the flat end of a skewer to poke a hole all the way through each cracker. Transfer to sheet pans and sprinkle with more salt.
- Bake for 17-20 minutes, until deep golden brown on the bottom of each cracker. If they are too light, they won’t have much crisp. Let cool completely before enjoying!
Notes
Storage: These will last up to a week in an airtight container. If they start to lose some of their crispiness, you can reheat them in the oven for 5-8 minutes.
Gluten free: We have not personally tested this recipe with gluten free flour. A few people commented that they have tried it and they did not turn out very crispy.
Butter: Unsalted is best. If you're using salted, cut the listed salt amount (½ teaspoon) in half. Make sure the butter is cold when you put it into the food processor.
Salt: We always use a coarse kosher salt. If you're using regular table salt, you'll want to add less than the stated quantity in this recipe.
Cheese: It's best to shred your own cheese from a block of cheddar, as store-bought shredded cheese contains anti-caking agents.
Be sure to roll it out as thin as possible. If it's not thin enough, they puff up into what almost become squares.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Snacks
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 10 crackers
- Calories: 89
- Sugar: 0.2 g
- Sodium: 133.3 mg
- Fat: 6.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 5.2 g
- Fiber: 0.2 g
- Protein: 3.3 g
Elise says
We make these ALL the time with Namaste Gluten Free flour and they turn out SO great! We do add a bit more milk because gf flour is dry and we live in the desert but it still SENDS. They’re not super crispy crunchy but they’re delicious. We make a double batch and they’re still gone within 3 days. If you can’t roll out and bake the entire batch at once, you can put the rolled, cut, unbaked crackers on a plate in the fridge while you wait for the oven to free up. It keeps the butter cold and the layers in the cracker. Phenomenal
Linda Kurkechian says
Wow! Such a delicious treat! These were really easy to make, and they taste so good! I had to add a little more milk to get the dough to come together. Also, I agree that the thinner, the better when rolling out the dough. I used salted butter and skipped sprinkling salt on them before baking. Great recipe, ladies!!
Alyssa says
SO good! It’s hard not to eat the whole batch!
Jas says
I needed a little extra milk to get it where it needed to be. My 5 year old had a lot of fun helping with these, and family went crazy over them! So yummy and ingredients are good 🙂 thank you!
Lauren says
I made these but didn’t have any sharp cheddar. I used Monterey cheese and they were amazing. I had lots of dough leftover and stuck it in the freezer for next time
Janine says
These are fabulous! And they taste just like the real thing only better. So glad to have a little snack cracker that's healthy, easy to make, and tastes good. Thanks for the recipe! <3