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These crunchy, grain-free almond flour crackers are baked simply with almond flour, tapioca starch, an egg, a bit of butter and some sesame seeds. They're crispy, buttery, and truly addictive!
Why I love these almond flour crackers
- Perfect crunchy texture: Almond flour has a lot of fat, and tends to make baked goods very soft. By adding tapioca starch and baking it low (325°F) and slow (15 minutes), we get super crispy, buttery-tasting crackers.
- Simple, adaptable recipe: You can add more or less seeds, swap out the butter for oil, and vary the amount of water for crackers that turn out crispy and delicious every time.
- Maintain texture: These crackers will keep their crisp texture for at least a week at room temp as long as you keep them in a sealed glass container.
- Perfect for appetizer platters: Since these relatively neutral-flavored crackers are all about texture, they go with everything from hummus and spinach dip, to salsa, a block of sharp cheddar cheese or a charcuterie board.
Recipe ingredients
- Almond flour: Finely ground almond flour that has been blanched (skins removed) forms the base of these crackers. I really like Blue Diamond brand finely sifted flour; nuts.com has a great one, too, & I like the Wellbee's brand that I see on Amazon. Make sure it's blanched (skins removed) and finely ground/sifted.
- Tapioca starch/flour: Adds crispness and crunch to the crackers; absorbs some of the oil from the almond flour. You can try replacing it with superfine sweet white rice flour (also called glutinous rice flour).
- Baking soda: Adds some rise in the oven, but mostly helps the crackers brown in the oven.
- Salt: brightens the other flavors. I use kosher salt because it's easier to measure accurately in baking, but table salt works, too.
- Sesame seeds: Adds a nutty crunch and depth of flavor to the crackers.
- Butter: Adds flavor and crispy texture.
- Egg: Binds the crackers together and adds structure.
How to make almond flour crackers
Make the cracker dough
Whisk together the dry ingredients, then mix in an egg beaten with 1 tablespoon melted butter, and a bit of water. Add more water a bit at a time until the dough holds together well when you squeeze it.
Shape the crackers
Working with one half of the dough at a time, roll it out between two pieces of parchment paper until it's about 1/8-inch thick. Use a pastry cutter, pizza wheel or sharp knife to trim the rough edges, then cut shapes that are about 1-inch square. Use a butter knife or offset spatula to transfer the squares to a prepared baking sheet.
Bake the crackers
Bake the crackers at 325°F for about 15 minutes or until they're pale golden. Let them cool on the baking sheet, and they'll turn crispy as they cool. Store in a glass jar at room temperature.
Recipe tips & tricks
Roll the dough, don't press it
Don't stress about rolling the dough to exactly 1/8-inch thick, and don't press too hard on the parchment paper with the rolling pin, or you'll see wrinkles in the crackers.
As you're rolling out the dough, your hands are a more reliable indicator of even dough thickness than your eyes. Run your palms over the dough lightly to judge thicker spots, and then roll those out a bit thinner.
Add water slowly
You will need to add water by the 1/4 teaspoonful until the dough holds together well. Without the water, the dough will feel moist but will still crumble, due to the oils in the almond flour.
You may find that the dough breaks apart into very irregular pieces during rolling. If that happens, the dough just needs a bit more water. Just knead in water, a few drops at a time.
Pick the right almond flour
Almond meal is more coarsely ground almonds that still have their skins, and it won't work in this recipe. Be sure you're using finely ground blanched almond flour, which means that they've removed the skins on the almonds and ground and sifted them to a fine texture.
Here are the brands of almond flour I like best right now:
- Blue Diamond finely sifted blanched almond flour (I find it at my local grocery store and on Amazon, but you can get a much better price at Sam's Club)
- Costco's Kirkland brand superfine blanched almond flour (by far the best price, if you can find it in stock and you are a Costco member)
- Nuts.com superfine blanched almond flour
substitutions
Recipe variations & substitutions
Dairy free
The only dairy in this recipe is butter, and you can replace it easily with an equal amount of virgin coconut oil or even extra virgin olive oil.
Egg free
Try replacing with 1 “chia egg” (1 tablespoon lukewarm water mixed with 1 tablespoon ground white chia seeds). If you don't mind the taste of flax, try a flax egg. Either should work well.
Almond free
Even though these are almond crackers, finely ground hazelnut flour would probably work well. I don't think you can replace the almond flour with anything nut-free, though. Instead, try our gluten free wheat thins crackers recipe, which are gluten free and nut free and super hearty and crispy.
Adding more seeds
Sesame seeds are my favorite here. But you can replace some or all of them with poppy seeds, chia seeds, flax seeds, hemp seeds, or a combination of all of them.
Other mix-ins
If you'd like to replace the seeds entirely, you'll need something else that's quite small. Anything bulky like chopped nuts will make it too hard to roll out the cracker dough, so don't add them to the dough.
Try adding some aromatic spices like 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1 teaspoon of minced dried onion, or 1 teaspoon of bagel seasoning for a ton of flavor. You can also sprinkle the tops of the raw crackers with some sea salt.
You can also add finely chopped nuts to the tops of the shaped crackers. Stick with soft nuts like pecans or walnuts or they might overpower the texture of the crackers—and brush the tops of the raw crackers first with some egg white to help the nuts stick.
Storage instructions
Store these crackers in a sealed glass container at room temperature and they will stay crispy for at least a week. If you store them in plastic, they'll lose their texture quickly, so avoid that.
You can freeze them for longer storage (up to 2 months, even), but they will lose some crispness. To refresh, spread them out on a lined baking sheet, sprinkle lightly with lukewarm water, and toast at 250°F for about 5 minutes.
Frequently asked questions
If you replace the butter with virgin coconut oil, these crackers are dairy free, grain free and Paleo.
For even crispier crackers, try brushing them with melted butter while they're on the baking sheet right before you place them in the oven. You can also try swapping the amounts of almond flour and tapioca starch, using 3/4 cup (90 grams) of finely ground almond flour and 1 cup (120 grams) of tapioca starch, instead of the reverse.
You can flip the crackers about halfway through baking, but you really don't need to. They'll still become crisp in the oven without flipping them. If you do turn them over halfway through baking, you will get crackers that are more evenly brown on both sides, since the underside is what browns.
Almond Flour Crackers Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup (120 g) finely ground blanched almond flour
- ¾ cup (90 g) tapioca starch/flour
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 3 tablespoons sesame seeds, and/or poppy seeds
- 1 tablespoon (14 g) butter, melted and cooled (or virgin coconut oil)
- 1 (50 g (weighed out of shell)) egg, at room temperature, beaten
- Lukewarm water, by the 1/4 teaspoonful
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325°F. Line large rimmed baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper and set them aside.
- In a large bowl, place the almond flour, tapioca starch/flour, salt, baking soda and seeds, and whisk to combine well.
- Whisk together the butter, egg and 1/4 teaspoon water. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients, add the egg mixture, and mix until the dough comes together.
- Knead in more water by the 1/4 teaspoonful until the dough holds together without crumbling.
- Divide the cracker dough in half, and work with one half at a time. Cover the other half with plastic wrap so it doesn't dry out.
- Place the first half of dough between two large sheets of unbleached parchment paper and roll out as close to 1/8-inch thick as possible.
- If the dough splinters quickly and seems to fall apart as soon as you begin to roll it, it's too dry. Knead in some water until it holds together well.
- To prevent the rolled-out dough from having a crinkled appearance, do not press too hard with the rolling pin. Rather, apply medium pressure and roll back and forth over the dough.
- Remove the top layer of parchment paper and cut out shapes that are approximately 1 1/4-inch square using a cookie cutter, pizza or pastry wheel, or sharp knife. Gather and reroll any jagged scraps of dough.
- Lift the shapes off the parchment with an offset spatula or knife, and place about 1/4-inch apart on the prepared baking sheet. They will not spread during baking.
- Repeat with the other half of dough.
- Place the baking sheets, one at a time, in the center of the preheated oven and bake until lightly golden brown all over and dry to the touch, about 15 minutes.
- Allow the crackers to cool completely on the baking sheet. They will cool quickly.
- Store in a sealed glass container (not plastic!) at room temperature to maintain crispness.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I found these crackers to be a little too salty the first time I made them, so I cut the salt in half and used unsalted butter the second time. There is also a slight aftertaste of bitterness, which I’m beginning to suspect could be from the baking soda. I think that starting with only 1/4 teaspoon of lukewarm water is far too conservative. I would like to try making these crackers a third time, but hesitate, based on the above previous results.
Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough. You don’t waste any like that and you don’t have to reroll it to use the scrapes.
Nicole, these are lovely! I’ve been really craving some kind of “multi-grain” hearty snack crackers recently. These are definitely going on my Try It Soon list. Thank you for the effort you put into getting your photogenically uniform edges and showing us what a gorgeous cracker can be…and I love that you take a very practical and approachable next-door neighbor tone and remind us that they don’t have to be as gorgeous as yours to taste good! You’re great at making your recipes doable for the home baker.
is it sad that I’m too lazy to make crackers and that my kids only like those boxed almond thin crackers with cheese dust? maybe some day because I know you make some good cracker! :)
My kids like those, too, Jennifer. I have to say that a lot of boxed GF crackers are nasty. I don’t blame them for needing cheese dust to get them down.
The “wheat thin” crackers are really, really tasty. And not that hard! Not much harder than pie crust! (And this is coming from me, who thinks making cookies is too much work.)
Haven’t tried baking crackers yet, but these may have to go on the to bake list :)
I will definitely be making these!!!!
I do have a pastry cutter, but I find my pizza cutter does a much better job on the wheat thin style crackers. I’m sure it’s up for the job here!