Homemade Artisan Crackers (4 Flavors)

Give snack time an upgrade with homemade artisan crackers. Crispy, salty, savory, and endlessly customizable, the simple dough comes together quickly and easily in one bowl from basic pantry ingredients. These flavorful flatbread-style crackers are perfect for picnics, dunking into your favorite dips, and pairing with cheese or charcuterie.

Have you ever made homemade crackers before? I must admit, I haven’t played around with making crackers much over the years that I’ve been baking. I love this recipe for homemade cheese crackers, but that’s actually the only other cracker recipe on my website!

My team & I wanted to develop a great foundational cracker recipe, one that could be used as a jumping-off point for lots of different flavors. We tested many, many (I do mean many) batches until we got it right. And the resulting recipe you’ll see below makes crispy, salty, savory cracker deliciousness!

Why You’ll Love These Homemade Artisan Crackers:

• Made from simple, basic ingredients
• Customizable for so many flavors
• A no-yeast savory baking recipe
• Kid-approved
• Adds an instant upgrade to a charcuterie board
• Dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, and vegan recipe
• Fantastic with hummus, crab dip, various cheeses, or serve with a cranberry pecan cheese ball
• No mixer or food processor required; the dough comes together super quickly in 1 bowl with a wooden spoon. Back to basics!

8 Basic Ingredients for Homemade Crackers

Here’s what you need to make them:

1. Flour: You need all-purpose flour for these crackers. We tested this with different varieties of gluten-free flours and the crackers were chip-your-teeth hard, so we don’t recommend substituting gluten-free flour here. Whole wheat flour created incredibly tough crackers, too. (You can try using 1/2 all-purpose and half whole wheat, though.)
2. Sugar: Just a bit—these crackers aren’t sweet! Sugar helps create a crisp texture by inhibiting gluten development and contributes to the browning of the crackers. 
3. Salt: Essential for flavor.
4. Onion & Garlic Powder: More essential flavor! We tested versions without these, and the crackers tasted a lot like plain wontons.
5. Rosemary or other add-in: Finely chopped fresh rosemary gives the plain cracker base amazing savory flavor, but you can swap this out for something else. More on our favorite varieties below.
6. Water: Brings all the dry ingredients together.
7. Olive Oil: You need some for the dough, and more for brushing on top before baking.
8. Flaky Sea Salt: For topping before baking. We like Maldon sea salt. (Not working with the brand, just genuinely use and love it!)

4 Favorite Ways to Flavor

Let Me Show You How to Make Them

Start by whisking together all the dry ingredients, including any herb/seed add-ins.

Pour in the water and olive oil and stir together with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula:

Turn the slightly wet dough out onto a floured countertop and knead it by hand, sprinkling on a little more flour as you go, until it’s no longer sticking to your hands and you can form it into a ball. This only takes a minute or two. Return the dough to the bowl and cover it.

Let the dough rest for at least 10 minutes before rolling it out.

After it’s had its rest, cut the dough in half:

Start with just one half of the dough, keeping the other half covered while you work with the first.

Roll out the first half of the dough until it’s very, very thin. The thinner you can get the crackers, the crispier they will be after baking.

If the dough keeps shrinking back as you try to roll it out, cover it lightly and let it rest for 5 minutes, then try again. As the gluten relaxes, it will become easier to roll out. (It will most definitely shrink at first, so don’t get worried if it does!)

Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into rectangles, about 3 x 1.5 inches in size. A ruler is helpful here, but don’t worry about trying to cut perfect rectangles. The crackers will all shrink a bit and end up wonky shapes with uneven edges—all part of their rustic charm! These are handmade crackers, they’re not going to look like they were cut by machines in a factory.

The number of crackers you’ll get depends on how thin you roll the dough, how large you cut the crackers, and how much scrap you discard. My team and I typically got around 75–80 crackers per batch (but to be honest, we usually lost count…).

Transfer the cut crackers to a parchment-lined baking sheet. It’s best to use a light-colored (silver) baking sheet, rather than a dark-colored one, so the crackers don’t over-brown. I use and recommend these half sheet pans.

Dock (i.e., poke holes in) the crackers several times with a fork. This helps steam escape and prevents large bubbles forming. (You’ll still get some bubbling, that’s normal.)

Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with flaky sea salt. If you like, you can also sprinkle a little more of your chosen add-in on top, such as sesame seeds or everything bagel seasoning.

And bake! At 425°F (218°C), these crackers take about 9–12 minutes, give or take, depending on the size and thickness you make them. You’re aiming for golden brown, crispy crackers. They should continue to crisp up a bit more while they cool on the baking sheet.

And then repeat the shaping/baking steps with the remaining half of the cracker dough.

Success Tips for Making Homemade Crackers

• Let the dough rest. Trying to roll it out too soon is an exercise in frustration, trust me on this!
• Roll the dough out suuuuuper thin. The crackers need to be very thin to bake up crispy. Too thick and they taste a little chewy.
• If the dough keeps shrinking back as you roll it out, cover it lightly and let it rest for 5 minutes to allow the gluten to relax, then try again.
• Use a light-colored (silver) baking sheet, not a dark baking sheet, and make sure your parchment paper is safe for high-temperature baking.
• Rotate the pan(s) halfway through baking, for even browning. Ovens can have hot spots, and this recipe will show you where they are!
• We don’t recommend using gluten-free flour in this recipe. The test batches we tried with different brands of GF flour came out chip-your-teeth hard. You’re better off looking for a cracker recipe that has been developed specifically to be gluten free.
• Homemade crackers get stale a lot faster than store-bought crackers, because they don’t have added preservatives. Store them in an airtight container in a dry spot, and, if needed, re-crisp them in the oven at 350°F (177°C) for up to 10 minutes.

Get creative and have fun with it—let us know what flavors you try in the comments!

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