These gluten free Ritz style crackers are so much like the original, you won’t believe it! Crunchy, salty, and buttery, they’re the perfect savory snack.
Anyone else feel like it’s hard to find good gluten free crackers? Sure, they have rice crackers all over the place, but rice crackers remind me of styrofoam for some reason. They taste okay, but it always comes down to texture for me. And that’s the biggest problem with most of the gluten free crackers available nowadays–texture.
Lance makes a cracker that’s pretty good and is similar to Ritz, but it’s often hard for me to find them. Not to mention it’s a tiny box and usually most of them are broken. So I set out to make my own Ritz style crackers, mainly because that’s just how I roll.
The Ingredients Needed for Gluten Free Ritz Style Crackers
You most likely already have these ingredients in your kitchen:
- Kim’s gluten free flour blend (a store bought blend may be substituted, but hasn’t been tested)
- Baking powder
- Sugar (just a small amount)
- Salt
- Butter
- Vegetable or canola oil
- Water
Making the Crackers
You won’t believe how truly easy these crackers are to make!! A few minutes is all it takes and you’ve got some great crackers to serve with cheese, dips, or just about anything.
In either a food processor or mixing bowl, place the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt and briefly mix (or whisk/stir). Add cold butter and pulse to combine (or cut in with a pastry blender or use the beater blade and pulse). Add the vegetable or canola oil and water and pulse to combine, just until the dough comes together. You may not need all the water.
Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes. When ready to roll it out, lightly flour your surface and roll the dough to about 1/8-inch thickness. Cut with a small fluted biscuit cutter (I have this set and use the one that’s about 1 1/2-inches wide). If you don’t have a fluted biscuit cutter, you can always use a small round cutter, a square or rectangle cutter (for something like a Club cracker) or even just a pizza cutter. Cut the dough into strips with the pizza cutter and then into small squares or rectangles.
Place the crackers on a parchment or silpat-lined baking sheet about one inch apart. Take the blunt end of a wooden skewer (or another similar tool) and poke about 4-5 holes in each cracker. Bake at 400 degrees F for about 15-20 minutes, or until cookies are nicely browned.
Upon removing from the oven, brush the still warm crackers with a mixture of butter and salt. You can dial down the salt amount if you’d like, but when I did I felt like they needed more salt.
What Should I Serve These Crackers With?
I’m a huge cheese and crackers person. I love making charcuterie boards for Scott and I when we just want a light dinner. I’ll add cheese, crackers, and usually fruit and nuts, and some salami, prosciutto, or good pepperoni. It’s one of my favorite snacks of all time. These Ritz style crackers are just the missing link for my charcuterie love.
But there are so many uses for these crackers, let’s not limit ourselves to just one:
- Spread with peanut butter and dot with a little jelly. Make pb&j cracker sandwiches (I used to do this often for my kids’ lunch boxes and they loved it!)
- Dip into one of your favorite dips (like my family’s favorite pizza dip)
- Serve with my gluten free baked brie
- Spread with peanut butter (or any nut butter), make a sandwich, and dip the whole thing in melted white chocolate for the ultimate sweet and salty combo!
- Crush and use as a coating for chicken strips
- Crush and use as a salty crust for cheesecake or crumb crust pie (they’d be perfect as a substitute for the lady fingers in my gluten free white chocolate raspberry cheesecake or instead of graham crackers in my easy gluten free strawberry pie)
How to Keep These Crackers Crisp
These crackers seem to keep best in a sealed glass container. Keeping them in a glass container or jar, they’ll keep for at least a month. If you put them in a plastic baggie or container, they will most likely lose a lot of their crispness. To restore the crispness, simply place them back into a 350 degree oven for 5 minutes and they should crisp right up.
It only takes a few hands-on minutes to make these wonderful gluten free Ritz style crackers, so get in the kitchen and make them. You’ll have them for whenever the need for a great buttery cracker strikes!
Gluten Free Ritz Style Crackers
Ingredients
- 2 cups (280 g) Kim's gluten free flour blend (or your favorite blend with xanthan gum)
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1½ tsp kosher salt, divided
- 6 tbsp (85 g) salted butter, cold
- 2 tbsp vegetable or canola oil
- â…” cup (160 g) water, adding more as needed for correct consistency
- 3 tbsp (42 g) butter, melted (for brushing on top)
Instructions
- In the bowl of a food processor (or mixing bowl) place the flour, sugar, baking powder, and ½ tsp salt and pulse to combine (or cut in with pastry cutter, or pulse on and off using beater blade in a stand mixer).
- Add cold pieces of butter and pulse until butter is cut into small pieces.
- Add vegetable or canola oil and pulse again to combine.
- Slowly add water until the mixture comes together. It will almost look like a thick buttercream frosting (it will be sticky and too wet looking).
- Remove the dough and place it on a sheet of plastic wrap. Wrap it well and refrigerate it for at least two hours, but up to 3 days.
- Preheat the oven to 400° F.
- Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to about ⅛-inch thick. Cut out with a small 1½-2 inch fluted biscuit cutter and place on parchment-lined baking sheets about 2 inches apart.
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Using the blunt end of a wooden skewer (or other similar object), poke several holes in the tops of each cracker.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until crackers are evenly browned and crisp. They will crisp a little more after cooling.
- Mix 1 tsp of salt with the 3 tbsp of melted butter and brush on tops of crackers immediately upon removing from the oven.
- Store in sealed glass container for about one month. Re-crisp if necessary in a 350° F oven for about 5 minutes.
Adapted from Cupcake Project’s Homemade Ritz Cracker Recipe
Kim, this flour blend is absolute heaven. We make the crusty rolls, the Italian loaf and the English Muffins and everything is amazing. Can’t wait to try this one. Thank you for your incredible work.
Awe, thanks so much, Chris!
Hi Kim, could you please tell me how I would use this recipe to make a crust for a dessert? My husband just found out last week he has Celiac and it’s made a sad Christmas for him. I’m trying to make a favorite dessert that calls for Townhouse crackers to make the crust. I’d love your advice.
Hmmm, that’s a really great question and I’m very intrigued to think about the crust possibilities!
I would start by crushing them (either in a food processor or just using a large baggie and a rolling pin). Then maybe add some melted butter until the mixture sticks together enough to press into a pan, such as my graham cracker crust here: https://www.letthemeatgfcake.com/homemade-gluten-free-graham-crackers/ I would try to bake it to set the crust, just like the graham cracker crust, by putting it in a 350 F oven for 10 minutes.
Please let me know how it turns out!
I tried making these crackers, but I cooked them for 17 minutes at 400, and the came back uncooked and they were as white as the dough before I started cooking them. Is this normal?
No, not at all. And at 400 for 17 minutes, anything would show signs of baking so maybe it’s your oven? That really makes no sense to me.
Why is xanthan gum important to have in the flour? I haven’t made the yet, but I curious about the significance of the xanthan gum.
It’s a binder that helps bind everything together, provides an elasticity to the dough that is missing in gluten free baking, and helps provide some structure.
I tried these and the flavor was strongly of flour, rather than a ritz cracker. Any thoughts about what I did wrong?
Not sure. Did you use my flour blend or a store bought one?
These look so yummy! I definitely want to try these for my next gluten free charcuterie board! I think they would be so good on this board https://www.mmmboards.com/post/build-a-gluten-free-charcuterie-board
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
I made these and baking at 400 degrees for 15 minutes almost burned them and they weren’t crispy but soft.
Maybe a lower temp would work better? I’ll have to try that unless you have another suggestion? I used your flour mix which I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE in everything!
Hmmmm, that’s odd because they work perfectly at 400 in my oven with no burning and they’re very crisp. Maybe your oven temp is off? You could try baking them at a lower temp for longer to see.
This is a wonderful recipe!! I was wondering if you had a recipe for the classic cheez-its! I think they would go nice on a platter with these crackers
I don’t yet, but I do have these AMAZING crispy gf cheese wafers that are my absolute favorite: https://www.letthemeatgfcake.com/crispy-gluten-free-cheese-wafers/
I’d love to try this recipe. Can I substitute olive oil for the canola oil?
Have a 6 yr old diabetic 1 grandson that has to eat gluten free so this recipe will be a great one for him, but I don’t see nutritional values. Can you help? I discover this problem with a lot of posted relcipes. Thanks!
I’m sorry, Edwina. It costs more to get the nutritional values on a blog so I haven’t been able to do that as of yet. But there are websites that will give you nutritional values if you put in the information.
Is this plain table salt or kosher? 🙂
I always use kosher salt in baking (unless indicated otherwise) 😊
Check out Green Valley Creamery. Everything the have is lactose free. The butter is great! Real butter!
I was wondering if these would work with a butter substitute. I am new to eating gluten free, but I also have to eat dairy free as well. As Cheese,bread,and butter were my go to food/ingredients to make things yummy this is a huge adjustment for me.
My son has sever food allergies and has been craving “Ritz” crackers for months. We came across this recipe and all the ingredients were safe for him. He LOVED them and is so happy to have crackers again! Thank you!
So glad he enjoyed them 🙂
Hi! I’m still in the making. The only thing is, after I poured the oil the dough came together and it’s really soft. I can’t add any water to it. I’m putting it in the fridge to see what happen. Have you any advice? Thank you!
Hi, Vanina! Did you use my flour blend or another one? That could be the problem. Also, if your butter wasn’t cold enough that could have been a problem as well.
Well, these are great! The only thing you neglected to mention is that while you might be thinking, “I’ll make these crackers and we’ll snack on them this week,” your family will stand around the baking sheet and inhale them so they’re literally gone in minutes. Lol! I made rectangles and it was super easy and perfectly cheese-slice-sized. Thanks!
Haha!! That’s wonderful, Bet! I’m so glad you and your family liked them 🙂
OMG Thank you for this!! I was just at the store this weekend looking for a Ritz alternative as I love them with mayo and smoked oysters. I will definitely try this!
You are so welcome, Catherine! Mayo and smoked oysters? Never heard of it, but I’d probably love it and must try it 🙂