Whenever you need a quick, healthy, high-protein snack, reach for these Gluten-Free Quinoa Crackers! They're a cinch to make, are extra crispy and go with all your favorite dips!
I always assumed that crackers were hard to make. That they took forever to prepare, then you had to fry them up and it would end up being much more hassle than it was worth. I avoided them, didn't even look at recipes, because I figured it wasn't for me.
It wasn't until I started experimenting on my own, that I realized gluten-free crackers are actually quite simple. Just throw a few ingredients into a food processor, roll it out and bake it. They're almost easier than cookies!
And I mean honestly, what's better than crispy gluten-free quinoa crackers dipped in hummus? I know it's one of my personal favorites.
This is actually the first quinoa cracker recipe I ever made. I originally shared it back in 2012 and have since made countless other cracker creations. We have our Cheezy Kale & Quinoa Crackers, Garlic & Rosemary Quinoa Crackers and even Gluten-free Honey Graham Crackers.
But these little nuggets? These are the OG quinoa crackers and they were in desperate need of some love.
So we're sprucing up the post, giving you some process shots and share a few tips and tricks to make these crackers even more legit than the first round.
It all starts with toasting our flours. This is the trick to making these crackers have a robust, nutty flavor and it actually only adds like three minutes to the prep time. You can just toss it all together in a skillet until it starts to smell a bit nutty and then toss it in your food processor.
From there, it's just adding in the rest of your ingredients, whizzing it up to form a dough, rolling it out and toss it in the oven.
A few updates I made to the recipe which makes it more customizable…
- Use any other gluten-free, whole-grain flour as the second flour (I've used millet, sorghum and chickpea)
- Use any seed to replace the hemp seeds
- Use any sweetener to replace the honey
- Use any spice combination to replace the spices
So basically, these crackers can be tweaked and tweaked and tweaked again to suit all your snacking needs!
Another trick is to try and roll these out as thin as you can. That will reduce the baking time and create the wheat thin-esque cracker.
And my last trick? Let them sit in the warm oven with the oven door propped open slightly for at least 30 minutes to get a SUPER duper crispy cracker. It's optional, but it really makes them so crispy and delicious!
And while these crackers certainly make an awesome snack on their own (they are super high in protein after all), I'm also a fan of dipping!
I have a recipe for spinach hummus dip below, but these crackers would be equally as tasty if you served them with:
- Vegan Spinach Artichoke Dip
- Vegan Kimchi Queso Dip
- Sun Dried Tomato Pesto
- Spicy Mango Guacamole
- or even my Easy Pesto Hummus from this video!
Can't wait to see what flavors you make from these crackers ❤ make sure to share a pic with me on social media by tagging my Instagram account @simplyquinoa or using #simplyquinoa!
More Delicious Cracker Recipes:
Gluten-Free Quinoa Crackers
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa flour
- 1/2 cup chickpea flour or whole grain flour of choice
- 1/2 cup hemp seeds or seeds of choice
- 1 tablespoon Italian herb seasoning
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon raw honey
- 7 – 8 tablespoons cold water more if needed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Add the flours to a dry saute pan and toast on low heat until golden brown, about 3 - 4 minutes.
- Transfer the flour to a food processor and add the hemp seeds and seasonings.
- With the food processor running, add the olive oil, honey and 1 tablespoon of water. Add the remaining water one tablespoon at a time until you have a thick, pliable dough. (mine used 7 additional tablespoons)
- Shape the dough into a rectangle and place it between two pieces of parchment paper. Roll the dough between the two pieces of paper until it’s about ⅛” thick. Remove the top layer of paper and transfer the other piece (carefully!) to a baking sheet.
- With a pizza cutter, slice the dough into squares. Make them whatever size you like, they’re your crackers after all! Prick with the fork so they don't bubble.
- Bake the crackers in the warmed oven for about 15 - 20 minutes, or until they start to brown. The outer crackers will cook faster, so feel free to remove them first (maybe after about 11 minutes) until the others were done.
- Remove crackers from the oven and cool completely before breaking apart.* Serve with your favorite dip and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Filed Under:
Healthy Vegan Hummus
Ingredients
- 1 15 oz can organic chickpeas rinsed and drained
- 2 cups raw spinach
- 2 garlic cloves peeled and smashed
- 1/4 cup tahini
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- While the crackers are cooking, prepare the hummus. In a food processor fitted with the metal s-blade, combine all the ingredients and blend until smooth and creamy (or whatever consistency you desire!).
Notes
Nutrition
Filed Under:
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This is awesome. My family is OBSESSED with wheat thins and hummus, so I'm definitely going to have to try this on them 🙂
I made these today and it was super delicious my 4year old couldn’t stop eating them ! Some changes i made (omitted all the herbs/spices)..add 2 tbsp of honey, and instead of 1 cup of quinoa used 1/2 cup quinoa flour and 1/2 cup oat flour, and also flax meal + chia seeds, sunflower seed and pumpkin seeds..its was very delicious !
Thanks Kate! I really couldn't have been more surprised how easy crackers are to make. It makes me question why I've been spending $5 a box on gluten-free crackers all this time! There's so many variations with these as well – my next stop is brown rice crackers 🙂 Let me know how your family likes them!
These both look divine (and I don't toss that adjective around)! Thanks for sharing both recipes – I'm a hummus and snack fiend and can't wait to make both. 🙂
Thank you Jonathan! Let me know how they turn out for you .The hummus is seriously delicious! Way better than store bought 🙂
I cant wait to try these "wheat thins", before becoming GF I was an addict…so I am so very excitied! Now to but Quinoa flour….can I grind my own quinoa into flour?
Glad you found me 🙂 These are really great crackers. Plus they're baked and with no oil, much lower in fat than traditional wheat thins.
As for the flour, if you have a grain mill, you could absolutely grind your own. You could try to grind whole quinoa in a coffee grinder, but I don't think it will get as fine as flour. This may just make your crackers have more texture. And you might have to add a little bit more moisture to compensate for the coarser consistency.
Let me know what you try! I'm eager to see how other people fair with these crackers!
Sounds delicious. I’ve never thought of adding spinach and artichoke into hummus but it makes perfect sense. Think the honey in the crackers could be substituted with agave?
This hummus is AMAZING! I don’t like the taste of spinach one bit, but I always try to sneak it into my food somehow because of how good it is for us. I can’t taste it at all, but if you wanted to, you could just add more to the recipe I’m sure. I also added a bit of Parmesan cheese to the recipe. Just gives it a little something extra 🙂 I’ll be making this many, many more times to come.
Thank you, Molly! I’m so happy you like the recipe. And yes, I 100% agree with you. Any way that I can add spinach or kale into my recipes, is a winner in my book (I’m especially loving it in smoothies!). The cheese sounds yummy too (can’t eat dairy, but sounds delicious!). Let me know if you try any other variations!!
xo Alyssa
These crackers are wonderful! Thank you for sharing. My husband made them with hemp seeds instead of sunflower seeds, and ground millet grain in the coffee grinder instead of buying separate millet flour. We enjoyed the crackers with our favorite homemade hummus or with the Sweet Potato dip in Sue Shepherd’s “Gluten Free Kitchen” cookbook. I’m looking forward to trying your hummus recipe, too. Can you recommend other good gluten-free cracker recipes?
Hi Evelyn,
Sorry to say but hemp seeds are not supposed to be cooked. When exposed to heat, it becomes a carcinogen or rancid.
*********
Buying, Storing and Using
Look for shelled hemp seeds in the refrigerated section of natural food stores. Since the oils in hemp seeds can quickly go rancid, they are best kept cool and used quickly. Heating hemp seeds will destroy the nutritional benefits of the fatty acids, so add hemp seeds to foods after cooking.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/467050-shelled-hemp-seed-side-effects/#ixzz2BfDk1PIY
Hi Panna – thanks so much for sharing this great information! You’ve reminded me that I have some hemp seeds I need to use up 🙂
O-M- G these are the best crackers I’ve ever made!!! Your toasted quinoa flour has changed my life! The nutty delicious aroma when the seeds were toasted was matched only by the way these crackers smell! (both the dough and the finished cracker) Thanks so much for sharing and keep the ideas coming!
Thank you Hannah!! Toasted quinoa flour has changed my life as well 🙂 It’s sooo good and the peanut butter like flavor that comes from it is totally awesome! Please share any delicious recipes you come up with! I’m posting a waffle recipe today that is out of this world tasty. xo Alyssa
I made these tonight and they were really good. I wasn’t a fan of all of the spices but loved the direction the cracker was going. I plan on trying this again with roasted sesame seeds on top.
Here are my changes:
1. Omitted the spices and just added 1 tsp. of each onion powder, garlic powder, and salt.
2. Sprayed my paper with a light olive oil spray (omit if you don’t want the added fat)
3. Rolled the dough extremely thin for a crispier cracker.
4. After removing the top paper I sprinkled sea salt on and baked.
Hi Diana,
Thanks so much for your notes! I’m glad you liked them, but found some tweaks that worked for you. I haven’t made these in a while and I’m thinking I need to again. The thin dough sounds like a great idea!
xo Alyssa
Hi! I was just wondering if I could substitute almond flour for the millet? Do you think that’ll work ok? Wanted to check and see if that was do-able. 🙂
Hi Emily! Yes, I do think you could sub the almond flour. Just remember that almond flour behaves much differently than other flours so you may have to adjust your liquids accordingly. It’s not a 1:1 substitute. Please let me know how it works out for you! I love hearing my readers adjustments 🙂
xo Alyssa
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How do you think they’ll taste without the honey? They sound amazing. I’m on a strict no sugar diet (the Candida diet). Thanks!
Hi Laura! Can you eat any sort of sweetener? Like agave or brown rice syrup? I think they wouldn’t be as tasty without a little sweetness, but they would most likely still work and come out fine. I say give a try 🙂
The only sweetener I can eat (for the next few months) is stevia. I did decide to make the crackers yesterday and I think it turned out great! In fact, the crackers are gone already. 🙂 I can see how a touch of honey would be a great addition, but for now, this works well for me and my limited diet. Thank you!
I like that idea of stevia.. i need to watch my sweeteners too (high triglycerides) and raw honey seems to raise them, since they are refined. Agave is Not highly recommended for using now in the holistic nutrition field. Dr. Mercola has posted articles on he research showing Agave is worse than HFCS, it’s just stripped and refined fructose from an agave plant, like HFCS is from corn. Real cane sugar has less fructose. But raw honey is okay for those who can handle fructose in their liver and are very active.
thanks for this! I’m doing the candida diet now and had the same question!
Mine took a really long time to cook in the oven for whatever reason. It was in there for 35 minutes before it browned and started looking like crackers. Does that mean I did something wrong? I left out the spices except the garlic and salt.
This looks REALLY good and easy. I prefer tahini free hummus, since I don’t’ digest tahini well or it’s too high fat for my digestive system, but I can just omit and add a bit of EVOO. I have some extra Quinoa Flour & Sorghum flour i need to make something with, so this looks like a winner!! Love how many spices you used. The hint of honey must help too. I’ve made crackers before and it needed a little something extra. Thank you
these look so good! do you know if another flour can be substituted for the millet flour with success? new to baking gluten free and thought about buckwheat flour but did not know it the taste would overwhelm.. thanks for your wonderful site!
My son is allergic to sunflower seeds (in addition to peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, and milk). Are there any substitutions I could use for the sunflower seeds? I would love to make these for us. I happened to stumble across your site and am excited to try out your quinoa recipes.
these crackers are just what i was looking for,
thanks for the recipe
I’m so glad!
Where is the recipe? It was there yesterday. I wanted to make the artichoke hummus dip t go with the crackers.
I think something strange is happening with my plugin…! I have a note into my web team to help me get it back up and running. Stay tuned!
Hey, Alyssa. I can’t find the main recipe for the crackers. Am I missing something? Thanks!
I have given myself a headache looking for the recipe. I like Connie are having problems finding it.
So strange…it’s not coming up! Looking into that now, stay tuned! xo
This is such a great idea! I usually buy store-bought gluten free crackers, but now I can make my own! Thanks for the recipe!
You’ll love it!
Hi! Love your recipes!! The recipe states Serves: 30 crackers and the nutritional label states Serving Size; Amount Per Serving; As Served. I’m not understanding if the the nutritional values are based on one cracker or the whole batch (wishful thinking). Can you please confirm how many crackers the nutritional values are based on? Thanks!!!
Hi Alyssa
I’m wondering the same thing as Jane. Can you tell us the serving size, preferably in # of crackers?
Thanks!
The serving size indicated is for 1 cracker and 1/30th of the hummus. Which I’m now realizing isn’t that helpful! I’ve separated the two recipes out so you can find the individual nutrition facts for the crackers and then also the hummus. Hope that helps!
Hi Alyssa, I love all your recipes, . I haven’t made these yet but I will . I’m going to be in Portugal for 6 months this winter and things like quinoa flour are pretty much impossible to find and if you do it’s extremely expensive. So I’m assuming I can make these crackers with almond or coconut flour . , is this so ?
Chris from Canada ????????
Thanks, Chris! Actually I think you’ll want to use another grain-based flour – maybe brown rice, oat or sorghum. Almond and/or coconut do their own thing and I think the recipe would need to be adjusted quite a bit 🙂