Healthy Vegan Cheez-Its (Gluten-Free)

Apr 11, 2019 • Updated Jun 20, 2023

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Healthy Vegan Cheez-Its–a delicious twist on a classic snack made vegan, gluten-free, oil-free, and high in protein! Better for you and super fun to make at home!

a pink bowl filled with vegan cheez-its.

What Makes This Recipe Great

Shoutout to my cravings for inspiring me to try my hand at this recipe. You read the title right! My Healthy Vegan Cheez-Its crackers are gluten-free, oil-free, and as an added bonus, high in protein too. Can your regular Cheez-It do that?!

Earlier this week, I shared a Teddy Graham copycat recipe, and since then, I’ve been on a copycat recipe kick. I also realized that I could apply a similar recipe concept from that cookie to create a savoury cracker. I love the concept of recreating familiar flavours and making them vegan, and also better for your health! Win-win.

To make this healthy vegan, gluten-free Cheez-Its cracker recipe, we’re using chickpea flour (one of my absolute favourite ingredients, as you know), and for the cheezy-ness, we’re using nutritional yeast. It adds a whopping 11 grams of protein to this recipe and is also high in B vitamins and trace minerals (among other things). Add to that the 15 grams of protein from the chickpea flour, and we’ve got 26 grams of plant protein in this recipe–not even intentional!

crackers spread across a sheet of parchment paper

Ingredient Notes

chickpea flour: This flour is amazing and has 15 grams of protein! It’s completely gluten-free and has way more nutritional value than wheat flour.
fine oat flour
nutritional yeast: In addition to it being cheezy in flavour, as the name would suggest, there is some serious nutrition in nutritional yeast too. It adds a whopping 11 grams of protein to this recipe and is also high in B vitamins and trace minerals (among other things).
tahini: You know I love to use tahini in my recipes, and it’s holding our cracker together, adding creaminess to lend to the “cheeze” flavour and supplying those healthy fats.
cold water
baking powder
garlic powder
onion powder
a crack of black pepper
paprika
salt: Use salt to taste, and consider using a heavy hand–the original Cheez It is insanely salty, but you know your palate best!

optional

pinch of ground turmeric (for colour)
miso paste: I like adding a little miso paste for that deep savoury umami flavour and saltiness. However, it’s completely optional.
Vegan cheese: Grated or shredded cheese or pulsed in a food processor (highly recommended!!)

How to Make Vegan Cheez-Its

raw dough sliced into squares with a hole in the middle.

raw vegan cheez-it squares ready to be baked on a baking sheet

Preheat oven to 350F while you prepare your dough.
Sift in chickpea flour, oat flour, nutritional yeast, baking powder, and spices in a large mixing bowl. Whisk until combined, and no lumps remain.
To the bowl, add tahini, miso paste if using, and water by the tablespoon. Begin to mix the dough with a spatula or your hands and add additional liquid as needed until a dough forms. The dough should stick together and pull away from the sides of the bowl but not be too sticky to handle.
If using vegan cheese, grate it finely or pulse it in a food processor to break it down into small pieces. Incorporate and mix into the dough.
Place the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper and roll it out to create a thin layer. Aim for the thickness of a traditional Cheez-it (the thinner, the crispier the result!).
Using a knife or pizza cutter, cut horizontal lines and vertical lines to create cheez-it-sized squares, and poke a hole in the center of each square using a chopstick or other stick.
Bake at 350F degrees on a baking sheet for 12-15 minutes until the edges are crisp and the cracker is golden brown. Let cool completely before storing your vegan Cheez-Its.

an overhead shot of cheez-it crackers on a sheet of parchment paper

Secrets to Success

I recommend using Violife parmesan for these vegan Cheez-Its, as it grates wonderfully and has a great sharp taste to it. You can also use vegan cheddar cheese as well.
When making this vegan Cheez-Its recipe is to be sparing with the liquids you add, go by a tablespoon and only add as much as you need. Also, go as thin as you can with your rolling of the dough in order to achieve max crunchiness! The ridges, as you see here in the photo, are optional, and I’d actually recommend skipping that part because I found that it created a thicker texture in my crackers, took a lot more time (of course), and resulted in more of a biscuit.
If you really want that thin cracker reminiscent of a Cheez-It, you’re better off rolling the dough thin and scoring it to separate the crackers on the sheet pan. Lastly, if you feel inspired to use a cookie cutter to make various shapes, you know I support creative baking! Go crazy with the shapes but keep the shape small. Small and thin cracker sizes will produce the best results.
The last note is about adding vegan cheese to the recipe. I experimented with 2 batches, a second batch I made with added grated vegan cheese, and it was definitely delicious, but of course, not quite AS healthy. So, if you really want a super cheezy flavour and typically don’t find nutritional yeast cheezy enough, add the optional vegan cheese (see recipe notes). This vegan version does not disappoint!

Storage Tips

Let the vegan cheese crackers cool completely. Then, store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 month.

Recipe FAQs

Is there a vegan version of Cheez-Its?

The actual brand of Cheez-Its, Kellogg’s, does not make a vegan version. There are some storebought options at specialty grocery stores and online, but I prefer to make them homemade because they’re so easy to make and much tastier!

Do Cheez-Its contain dairy?

Yes! The classic storebought version is considered vegetarian because it does not contain any meat, but it does contain dairy (and gluten, too!). My homemade version of vegan Cheez-Its has no dairy!