Homemade Sourdough Cheese Crackers – Better Than Cheez-Its & Made From Scratch

Certain snacks just live rent-free in your memory. Cheez-Its are absolutely one of them — those little orange squares with the crispy edges, the salty punch, the cheesy flavor that somehow keeps you reaching into the box for one more handful. If you grew up eating them, you know exactly what we are talking about. And if you have ever wondered whether you could make something just like them at home, from real ingredients, with no mystery additives and no preservatives, the answer is yes. Better than yes, actually.

These homemade sourdough cheese crackers are a from-scratch version of that childhood classic, and they are genuinely remarkable. The secret weapon is sourdough discard — that unfed starter you might otherwise throw away — which adds a subtle tang that makes these crackers taste more complex and interesting than anything from a box. Combined with real cheese, a little cream, and pantry staples you already have, the result is a crispy, flaky, deeply cheesy cracker that will ruin store-bought for you permanently.

I have made these with just about every cheese you can imagine, and I will share everything I have learned below. The short version: you can use whatever cheese you love, and each one gives you a slightly different result. One combination in particular stood out above the rest — more on that in the cheese section. Whether this is your first time making homemade crackers or you have been baking for years, this recipe is approachable, forgiving, and completely worth the effort.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Real ingredients only — no preservatives, no artificial flavoring, nothing you can’t pronounce
• Uses sourdough discard — a great way to reduce waste and add flavor at the same time
• Completely customizable with your favorite cheese
• Incredibly crispy, flaky texture that holds up for weeks
• Makes about 200 crackers — plenty to snack on and share
• A perfect Better Bites snack — all the crunch and satisfaction of a boxed cracker, made from scratch

What You’ll Need

• 180g (1 ½ cups) all-purpose flour
• 7g (2 teaspoons) baking powder
• 9g (2 teaspoons) granulated sugar
• 6g (1 ½ teaspoons) kosher salt
• 226g (one 8 oz block) cheese of your choice, finely grated
• 100g (½ cup) sourdough discard, unfed
• 168g + 15g (¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon) heavy cream, divided

The Most Important Decision: Choosing Your Cheese

Here is the beautiful thing about this recipe — the cheese is entirely up to you. One full block of any cheese you love goes into the dough, and whatever flavor that cheese has is exactly the flavor your cracker will have. Bold cheese, bold cracker. Mild cheese, milder cracker. It is a recipe that rewards experimentation, and I have done a lot of it.

After making these with sharp cheddar, extra sharp white cheddar, pepper jack, gruyere, gouda, and more, two cheeses really stood out — and they do very different things.

Colby Jack — The Cheez-It Dupe

If your goal is to make something that closely mimics that classic Cheez-It flavor — that slightly mild, salty, savory orange cracker from your childhood — Colby Jack is the move. After trying many cheeses, Colby Jack came closest to recreating that authentic, nostalgic Cheez-It experience. The flavor is familiar and approachable, the color is spot on, and the melt and texture it creates in the dough is ideal. If you are bringing these to a party, making them for kids, or just want that pure childhood snack energy, reach for Colby Jack.

Sharp Cheddar — The Bold, Cheesy Bite

If you want a more intense, pronounced cheese flavor — the kind of cracker where you really taste the cheese in every bite — sharp or extra sharp cheddar is your best friend. The flavor is deeper, slightly more tangy, and unmistakably cheddar. These are the crackers for the serious cheese lovers in your life. White or yellow cheddar both work beautifully; white gives a slightly more subtle flavor, yellow adds a little extra sharpness.

Other Cheeses Worth Trying

Pepper jack adds a gentle kick of heat and makes a cracker that is excellent with a bowl of tomato soup. Gruyere produces a more sophisticated, nutty cracker that feels fancy enough to serve on a charcuterie board. Smoked gouda creates something smoky and rich that is addictive in a completely different way. The rule of thumb is simple: use a cheese you already love eating on its own, since it will be the dominant flavor in the finished cracker.

Whatever cheese you choose, grate it yourself from a block rather than using pre-shredded bags. Pre-shredded cheese is coated in anti-caking agents that prevent it from melting and incorporating properly into the dough — it will affect both the texture and the flavor of the cracker. Block cheese finely grated is the way to go.

Ingredient Breakdown — What Each One Does

All-Purpose Flour

The structural base of the cracker. All-purpose flour gives enough gluten development to roll the dough thin and hold its shape during baking without becoming too tough. Measure by weight if you can — even a small amount of extra flour can make the dough stiff and difficult to roll to the right thickness.

Baking Powder

A small amount of baking powder gives the crackers just enough lift in the oven to create that light, flaky texture rather than a dense, hard bite. Do not skip it — it is what separates a truly delicate cracker from something that feels more like hardtack.

Sugar

Just two teaspoons — you will not taste sweetness in the finished cracker. Sugar here encourages browning and adds a very subtle depth to the overall flavor that balances the salt and cheese. It is a background player but a necessary one.

Salt

Salt brings out the cheese flavor and seasons the dough. Kosher salt is called for here because it dissolves evenly without creating overly salty pockets. If you only have fine table salt, reduce the amount slightly as it is more concentrated by volume.

Sourdough Discard

This is the ingredient that elevates these crackers above any other copycat recipe. Sourdough discard — the unfed starter you remove before feeding your active starter — adds a gentle, complex tang to the dough that makes these crackers taste like they came from somewhere special. You do not need an active, bubbly starter for this recipe; unfed discard at any stage works perfectly. The discard also adds a little extra structure and chew to the dough, making it easier to roll thin without tearing. If you do not have a sourdough starter, this recipe is a great motivation to start one.

Heavy Cream

Heavy cream does double duty here. Most of it goes into the dough as the liquid that brings everything together — the fat in the cream makes the dough pliable and gives the crackers their rich, slightly tender bite. The reserved tablespoon is brushed over the top of each sheet of crackers before baking, encouraging a beautiful golden color and a very slight crunch on the surface. Do not substitute milk — you need the fat content that comes from heavy cream for the right texture.

How to Make Sourdough Cheese Crackers — Step by Step

Preheat your oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Grate the cheese finely. Use the fine side of a box grater or a food processor. The finer the grate, the more evenly it distributes through the dough. The cheese acts like a dry ingredient at this stage.

Combine the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and grated cheese until the cheese is well-coated in flour and the mixture looks uniform.

Mix the wet ingredients. In a small bowl, stir together the sourdough discard and ¾ cup (168g) of heavy cream. The mixture will be thick and a little gloopy — that is exactly right.

Bring the dough together. Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until combined into a shaggy dough. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently until a smooth dough forms — just a minute or two. Divide in half and cover one piece with a kitchen towel.

Roll thin. On a lightly floured piece of parchment paper, roll one half of the dough into a rectangle no thicker than ⅛ inch. It will look very thin — that is correct. The crackers puff slightly in the oven. Rolling directly on the parchment makes transferring to the pan effortless.

Cut into squares. Use a knife or bench scraper to cut the dough into 1-inch squares. You do not need to separate them — leave the sheet intact, and they will break apart naturally after baking. The rough-edge pieces are the chef’s snack.

Optional: poke a hole. Use a skewer to poke a small hole in the center of each cracker. This is the detail that makes them look exactly like the real thing — and it is a satisfying step.

Brush with cream, salt, and bake. Slide the parchment onto a baking sheet. Brush the tops lightly with the reserved tablespoon of heavy cream. Sprinkle as much or as little salt as you like. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through, until golden brown and completely dry across the tops. For a more toasty, caramelized flavor, bake them a little darker.

Repeat with the second half of the dough. Roll, cut, brush, and bake on the second prepared baking sheet.

Cool completely before breaking apart. Let the sheets cool fully on the pans, then break them into individual crackers by hand. They will crisp up significantly as they cool — do not judge the texture while they are still warm.

Tips for the Best Homemade Cheese Crackers

Grate your own cheese from a block. Pre-shredded cheese from a bag is coated in anti-caking starch that prevents it from melting properly into the dough. Block cheese finely grated on the small side of a grater or in a food processor gives you the cleanest flavor and the best texture in the finished cracker.

Roll as thin as you can. The ⅛ inch thickness is important. Crackers rolled thicker will be doughy in the center rather than crispy all the way through. If the dough springs back when you roll it, let it rest for a few minutes, then try again — the gluten just needs a moment to relax.

Do not pull them too early. The crackers need to be fully dry across the entire surface — edge to edge, not just around the outside. Pull them too soon and the center will be soft instead of crispy. When in doubt, give them another 3 to 5 minutes. They can handle more heat than you think.

Let them cool completely before eating. It is tempting to sample them warm, but the texture changes dramatically as they cool. Warm crackers can feel slightly soft in the center even when fully baked. Give them 15 to 20 minutes and they will be fully crispy.

Try them dark. If you like a toasty, deeply caramelized flavor, push the bake time toward the longer end and let them get fairly dark golden. The cheese caramelizes slightly and the flavor becomes richer and more complex. It is a small thing that makes a noticeable difference.

Storage — They Last (If You Let Them)

Store completely cooled crackers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one month. The key word is airtight — any moisture from the air will soften them over time. A zip-top bag with the air pressed out or a jar with a tight lid both work perfectly.

If your crackers have softened slightly (it happens in humid weather), spread them on a baking sheet and pop them in a 300°F oven for 5 to 8 minutes. They will crisp right back up.

Realistically, a full batch rarely makes it to the one-month mark. They tend to disappear well before then.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need an active sourdough starter, or can I use discard?

You need unfed discard, not an active starter. This recipe specifically calls for sourdough discard — the portion you remove before feeding your starter. It does not need to be bubbly or recently fed. Even a discard that has been sitting in the fridge for a week or two will work perfectly here. The discard contributes flavor and a little extra structure to the dough, not leavening.

What if I do not have a sourdough starter?

The sourdough discard is what makes these crackers special — that subtle tang is a big part of what sets them apart from other homemade cracker recipes. If you do not have a starter, this recipe is a genuinely great reason to start one. A basic sourdough starter only requires flour and water and takes about a week to establish. That said, if you want to try the recipe without discard, you can substitute an equal weight of plain yogurt thinned slightly with water as an approximation — the flavor will be different but still very good.

Can I use pre-shredded cheese from a bag?

It is strongly not recommended. Pre-shredded cheese is coated with anti-caking agents like potato starch or cellulose that prevent it from melting and integrating properly into the dough. The result is a cracker with an uneven texture and less clean cheese flavor. Block cheese grated yourself takes an extra two minutes and makes a significant difference in the final result.

My crackers came out soft instead of crispy — what happened?

A few possible causes: the dough was rolled too thick, the crackers were underbaked, or they were not cooled completely before being stored. Make sure the dough is no thicker than ⅛ inch, bake until the tops look completely dry from edge to edge (not just the perimeter), and cool fully at room temperature before transferring to storage. If they have softened in storage, a quick 5-minute re-crisp in a 300°F oven will bring them back.

Can I add seasonings or toppings?

Absolutely — this dough is a great canvas. A pinch of garlic powder or onion powder in the dry ingredients adds savory depth. Smoked paprika complements cheddar beautifully. Everything bagel seasoning sprinkled over the tops before baking is an excellent move. Dried rosemary or thyme pressed lightly into the surface before cutting works beautifully with gruyere or gouda. Keep additions moderate — you want them to enhance the cheese, not compete with it.

Can I make the dough ahead of time?

Yes. The dough can be made up to 2 days in advance, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, and stored in the refrigerator. Let it sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes before rolling — cold dough is stiffer and harder to roll thin. You can also freeze the unrolled dough for up to one month; thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using.

How many crackers does this recipe make?

About 200 crackers (equivalent to about one box of store-bought crackers), depending on how thin you roll the dough and how precisely you cut your 1-inch squares. It sounds like a lot — and it is —, but they store well and disappear faster than you expect. The recipe scales easily if you want to make a smaller batch; simply halve all ingredients and use one baking sheet.

The Snack You’ll Make Again and Again

There is something deeply satisfying about making your own version of a snack you have loved your whole life — especially when the homemade version is genuinely better. These sourdough cheese crackers have everything the original has: the crunch, the salt, the cheesy flavor, and that little square shape. What they do not have is the long ingredient list, the preservatives, or the mystery additives. Just flour, cheese, sourdough discard, cream, and a few pantry basics.

Start with Colby Jack if you want that true Cheez-It experience. Reach for sharp cheddar when you want something bolder. Then experiment — because the fun of this recipe is that it changes completely depending on the cheese you use, and every version is worth making at least once.

Make a batch on a Sunday. Store them in a jar on the counter. Try not to eat them all before Monday. This is a recipe that earns a permanent spot in your from-scratch snack rotation — and once you have made it, reaching for the orange box at the grocery store is going to feel like a very unnecessary step.