Lately I’ve been craving something crunchy…a small snack that can give a chance to the normally slightly gooey and soft texture you get with keto. I’ve done cheese chips, and I’ve gotten a little tired of them. I’ve done flax chips, which are filled with phytoestrogens and getting a bad rep. So what’s left? I figured I could make something out of chia seeds, since I had done similarly with tortillas – and boy was I right.
These chia seed crackers are absolutely amazing. Granted they aren’t the prettiest bunch of crackers, they are well worth the effort to put in. They’re crunchy, packed with flavor, and full of healthy fats. These’ll be my new go-to crackers! If you’ve gotten a little tired of the same old, same old with your crackers, then definitely give these a try! You’ll notice a large difference in the texture, and a (what I think to be) better flavor.
In the picture, you can see a sauce served with the crackers. If you’re interested, that’s my Roasted Garlic Chipotle Aioli – super delicious to eat with these as a snack.
So, what do you normally make your crackers out of – and what do you spice them up with? Let us know in the comments below!
Yields 36 total Low Carb Chia Seed Crackers
The Preparation
- 1/2 cup chia seeds, ground
- 2 tablespoons psyllium husk powder
- 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 1/4 cups ice water
- 3 ounces cheddar cheese, grated
The Execution
1. Preheat oven to 375F. Grind 1/2 cup Chia Seeds in a spice grinder. You want a meal like texture.
2. Add ground Chia Seeds, 2 tbsp. Psyllium Husk Powder, 1/4 tsp. Xanthan Gum, 1/4 tsp. Garlic Powder, 1/4 tsp. Onion Powder, 1/4 tsp. Oregano, 1/4 tsp. Paprika, 1/4 tsp. Salt and 1/4 tsp. Pepper to a bowl. Mix this together well.
3. Add 2 tbsp. Olive Oil to the dry ingredients and mix it together. It should turn into the consistency of wet sand.
4. Add 1 1/4 cup ice cold water to the bowl. Mix it together very well. You may need to spend extra time mixing it together as the chia seeds and psyllium take a little bit of time to absorb the water. Keep mixing until a solid dough is formed.
5. Grate 3 oz. Cheddar Cheese and add it to the bowl.
6. Using your hands, knead the dough together. You want it to be relatively dry and not sticky by the time you finish.
7. Put the dough onto a silpat and let it sit for a few minutes.
8. Spread or roll the dough out thin so that it covers the entire silpat. If you can get it thinner, keep rolling and save the excess for a second cook.
9. Bake for 30-35 minutes in the oven until cooked.
10. Taken them out of the oven, and while hot, cut into individual crackers. You can either use the blunt edge of a knife (don’t cut into the silicone), or a large spatula.
11. Put the crackers back into the oven for 5-7 minutes on broil, or until the tops are browned and well crisped. Remove from the oven and set on a rack to cool. As they cool, they get more crisp.
12. Serve up with your favorite sauces. I’m using my Roasted Garlic Chipotle Aioli.
This makes a total of 36 servings of Low-Carb Chia Seed Crackers. Each serving comes out to be 32 calories, 2.4g fats, 0.4g net carbs, and 1g protein.
| NUTRITION | CALORIES | FAT | CARBS | FIBER | NET CARBS | PROTEIN |
| 1/2 cup chia seeds | 467 | 29.5 | 40.4 | 33 | 7.4 | 15.9 |
| 2 tablespoon psyllium husk powder | 112 | 0 | 25.6 | 22.4 | 3.2 | 0 |
| 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum | 4 | 0 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0 | 0 |
| 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder | 3 | 0 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.1 |
| 1/4 teaspoon onion powder | 2 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 |
| 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano | 1 | 0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0 |
| 1/4 teaspoon paprika | 2 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| 1/4 teaspoon salt | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1/4 teaspoon black pepper | 1 | 0 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| 2 tablespoon olive oil | 239 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 1/4 cup ice water | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 ounce cheddar cheese | 344 | 28.3 | 2.6 | 0 | 2.6 | 19.5 |
| Totals | 1173 | 85 | 71.5 | 57 | 14.5 | 35.7 |
| Per Serving (/36) | 33 | 2.4 | 2 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 1 |
Low-Carb Chia Seed Crackers
Ingredients
- ½ cup chia seeds ground
- 2 tablespoon psyllium husk powder
- ¼ teaspoon xanthan gum
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 ¼ cup ice water
- 3 ounce cheddar cheese grated
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F. Using a spice grinder, process the chia seeds into a mealy texture.
- Add the processed chia seeds to a bowl with psyllium husk powder, xanthan gum, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, paprika, salt, and pepper. Mix well.
- Add the olive oil to the dry ingredients and mix until the mixture takes on the consistency of wet sand.
- Add some ice-cold water to the bowl and mix very well. This may take some extra time, as the chia seeds and psyllium husks take a while to absorb the water. Keep mixing until a firm dough is formed.
- Grate the cheddar cheese and add it to the bowl.
- Knead the dough until relatively dry and no longer sticky.
- Place the dough on a Silpat and let sit for a few minutes.
- Spread or roll the dough out thinly, so that it covers the entire Silpat. If it can be made thinner, keep rolling and save the excess dough for a second batch.
- Bake for 30–35 minutes. Remove from the oven and cut into individual crackers while still hot using a spatula or other blunt edge (so as not to damage the silicone).
- Slightly spread the crackers, so they are no longer touching. Turn oven to broil.
- Broil the cut crackers in the oven for 5–7 minutes, or until the tops are browned and crisp. Remove from the oven and set on a rack to cool and crisp up even more.
- Serve and enjoy!
These look good. I always wonder when a recipe calls for an ingredient that must be ground, is the measurement before or after grinding?
Hey GrannyM!
Typically when I call for something that has to be powdered or ground, the measurement is before I do the powdering/grinding 🙂
That was quick! Thank you 🙂
You’re welcome – let me know what you think when you get the chance to make them!
I bet the color would be more “cracker normal” if you used white chia seeds. Also, varying the type of cheese will make the flavor stronger or weaker (mozzarella for weaker cheese flavor, extra-sharp cheddar for stronger, swiss for medium, etc). I make crackers similar to these but with lupin flour, butter and cheese. What does the Psyllium add to it?
Hey Eric!
For sure – the cheese would impact the flavor quite a lot, but it’s a very flavorful “herby” taste that I get from them, rather than a cheesy taste. White chia seeds would do the trick, but I ordered 4 bags of these type (black ones) off of Amazon, so it’s going to be a while before I use them all up 😛
As for the psyllium, it really just thickens the dough more and makes it more workable. It doesn’t add too much flavor from what I can tell, but I needed it for the thickening agent. I like psyllium and keep putting it into my recipes because it seems to be working well – but I’m sure you could sub it out for lupin flour or something else in this one.
Hope you like them!
Craig – I am going to make these for our Super Bowl party this Sunday. Do you know approximately how many days these stay fresh? A day, a week? Should they be stored in or out of the fridge? Thank you! Loving all your recipes so far!
I’ve kept them for a few days, and I stored them outside of the fridge. You could always store them cold and re-bake slightly for a few minutes before serving to get them crisped up again. Thanks for the compliments!
I’ve kept them for a few days, and I stored them outside of the fridge. You could always store them cold and re-bake slightly for a few minutes before serving to get them crisped up again. Thanks for the compliments!
Hi! I can’t have dairy, but this chia cracker really interests me. It would be a good way to add some fiber and texture to my diet, and would go really well with my liver pâté. Do you think I’d have any luck trying them without the cheese (like without the texture being affected too much)? Perhaps I could sub it but I don’t really see with what. I’d probably need to add some more seasoning, too.
The cheese really acts as a binder and helps them crisp up. You may be interested in trying to sub some of the cheese for flaxseed meal. Try to get the dough dry and crumbly, and then roll it out as you would normally.
This recipe was awesome over christmas, my favourite thing to eat is cheese and crackers, so these were mighty awesome, and tasty. I opted out for all the spices used, and used fresh ground cumin and mustard seeds for a floral and bitter bite which is a good pairing with the likes of brie, shropshire blue and dorset smoked cheese. I actually ended up over cooking them a bit, so they were really crispy BUT – If you brush a little olive oil on, and some rock salt, them place in a lid-tight container they will soften up a bit.
I’d defiantly go for a less strong cheese on this recipe too – as normal cheeses like cheddar tend to burn and turn bitter when baked for that long. Mozzerella was much better 2nd time around, but I only needed about 1/3 of a fresh ball, shred it ask much as you can so it distributes evenly. Or for extra gewy crackers, and if you make them a bit thicker – use a brie or camembert!
Thanks for letting me know about the Mozzarella. I’ll definitely keep that in mind. I like the bite in the cheddar when I’m using the cracker for dips, but if I’m pairing with cheese I’ll make it with Mozz. Thanks for all the insight and I’m really glad you like the recipe!
Made these and found that no matter how much I mixed and kneaded, couldn’t get the dough to be not sticky. At the expense of adding carbs, I used a bit of flour, just enough to make it workable and roll it out. Still turned out absolutely delicious, but I think next time I will start with 3/4c water and then go up from there. Excellent recipe!
I’d definitely try to skip out on the flour next time. Worst case scenario try some coconut flour out, but I think starting off with a bit less water would do the trick. Glad to hear you like them!
I made these crackers last night. Had a similar “sticky ” issue with the dough. Instead of rolling, I ended up spreading it on the silpat – it was easy enough with a spatula. After baking it for 35 minutes on 375F it was a little on the soft side. At this point I cut them into squares and put back the crackers into the oven at 325F for 20 minutes to dry them out more. It turned out great. I really appreciate your inventive recipes!! Thanks Craig!
I may have to revisit the issue with the sticky dough and see if there was anything that could have caused it on my side. It’s possible that there is just too much water – I’d suggest going a tad slower next time on it and seeing how it turns out (maybe 1 cup only). Glad you liked them though – the silpat idea is awesome!
I just made these (substituted coconut flour for psyllium as I didn’t have any on hand) and they turned out SO great!!! This recipe is a lifesaver as I’ve been struggling to find something to eat cream cheese or salsa on (other than veggies).
I have a question, what size silpat/baking pan did u use to make these? Would like to know the dimension of the crackers? Thank u!
Those look awesome, but I was wondering if there’s a way to replace the cheese?
Would a flat pan (no edges) be a suitable substitute for baking the crackers? (Aside from things sticking.)
Is there a particular advantage to ice water instead of room-temperature water?
Curious if these might go with guacamole, but the seasoning doesn’t seem compatible. I’m sure they’ll turn out delicious either way!
A flat pan should work fine. I found that the mixture kept together better when using the ice water, but you could probably get away with using room temperature without too much trouble.
You could always change the seasoning to include some cumin and oregano for a better flavor profile to the guac 🙂
Just made these. I didn’t roll the dough thin enough, so it turned out with the texture of a Boboli. Gave me the idea to use it as a pizza crust–added a bit of sauce and some mozz–YUM! So thank you for the recipe that didn’t turn out quite right for me, because it turns out I wanted pizza more than I wanted crackers anyhoo 🙂
I can’t blame you, I always want keto pizza haha!
Holly how many pizza bases did you get from the recipe ? Does the base get soggy with sauce? Sounds like a lovely idea…Thanks
Hi …would these work as crispy cookies if I add sweetener and omit the seasonings? What kind of flavours would work best with chia seeds ( please advise quantities too). One that comes to mind is crushed black sesame . I’m looking forward to trying a sweet version of this. Thank you
I don’t see why not. I’d recommend using a liquid sweetener since it won’t change the quantities in the recipe. Omit the spices and use spices that you’d like to use instead.
Given that I intend making sweet versions of the same I would likely have to omit the cheese. What can I replace it with so as to not compromise the consistency of the dough? Thanks
HI everybody. I went out on a limb and tried making these with no cheese. I had to cook them a little while longer, and sprayed them with olive oil at the end, but they turned out great. Note that I broil on Low instead of high. I cut them into Chia tortilla chips, having nachos tonight. Hoorayyy!! https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
So I didn’t look at the comments before making these, and I didn’t roll them thin enough, the first time and the texture was more like pita or flat bread, I’ve been using the first attempt as “mini sandwiches.” The second time, I used 1/2 to make the “crackers” (I roll it between two pieces of parchment paper to 1/16th inch with my rolling guides I got 10 years ago and barely use) and they turned out great. The other half I rolled “thin” and they turned into GREAT flat breads for my gyro meat.
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe both ways – your flatbread style sounds really fantastic and now you have me wanting to remake these to try it out. Thank you for the awesome feedback!