These homemade Ritz crackers are even better than the store-bought version! With no preservatives or additives, you can't go wrong with this recipe. This recipe is a new favorite for our family, and I know you will love them too. You'll never go back to the store-bought version again!
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This homemade Ritz cracker recipe is so simple you won't have to guess at any of the ingredients. While testing this recipe, I learned you can make anything you see in a prepackaged box or bag at the grocery store (hello, Starbucks Cake Pops)! The shapes and sizes might not be as perfect, but I can guarantee that what you make will taste better than store-bought Ritz crackers!
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Why you'll love this recipe
- These buttery Ritz crackers are perfect for a charcuterie board this holiday season. Pair them with some cheese, meat, and olives, and your guests will be impressed.
- These homemade crackers are the real deal, with all-natural ingredients and no additives.
- These crackers are such a cinch that you can have them ready in less than an hour! And you'll be left with the most completely addicting snack-try to stop at just one!
Simple recipe ingredients
The next time you are at the store, look at the ingredient list for these crackers. Unfortunately, these store-bought crackers are laden with additives and less-than-ideal ingredients like high fructose corn syrup and palm oils.
I set out to make a simpler and cleaner version of these cookies last weekend. You'll only need seven ingredients for these cookies.
Butter: Make sure you use cold butter in this recipe for the dough. This is similar to making pastry dough. For the topping, you can also use melted butter once they come out of the oven (if you don't want to use oil). Make sure to add extra salt if you are using unsalted butter.
Flour: I have tested this recipe with all-purpose and whole wheat flour. I recommend all-purpose flour to get the closest to the real Ritz cracker taste.
Sugar: I use granulated sugar in this recipe, but you can use brown sugar as a desired replacement.
Vegetable Oil: I originally posted this recipe using olive oil (and I think it's a great alternative). Some readers felt the taste was too strong, so I substituted canola oil instead. You can use any neutral oil, such as vegetable oil.
Baking Powder: This recipe uses a fair amount of baking soda, and you'll definitely want to make sure that it hasn't gone bad in your cupboard.
Heather's helpful hints
- Keep a close eye on your crackers to ensure they don't bake too long. Depending on your dough's thinness, you may need to take a couple of minutes off the baking time.
- Brush the cookies with olive oil or butter while they are warm.
- If you find that the dough is too warm to handle, you can place it in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes before rolling it out.
- The amount of water you need to add depends mainly on the humidity of your kitchen. Start with the amount of water indicated in the recipe. Add water one tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together. Remember, this is a wet dough.
- Once you add the butter, pulse the food processor for a little bit. If you overmix the dough, the gluten will overdevelop, and your cookies will not be flakey.
Equipment
You'll need a food processor, a rolling pin, a brush, and a cookie cutter for this recipe. I like to use a cookie cutter with a scalloped edge to make the crackers look like the real thing. This is totally optional and not required.
I also like to use a piece of parchment paper to cover my baking sheet. This makes cleanup much more manageable. Alternatively, you can also use a silicone mat-lined cookie sheet.
Step-by-step instructions
Follow the simple steps below for this recipe. The detailed description is listed in the recipe card, which you can print.
Step 1) Pulse dry ingredients and butter in the food processor. Add oil and pulse to combine.
Step 2) Add water a little bit at a time. Pulse to combine after each addition. The dough should start to form a ball.
Step 3) Roll the dough out as thin as you can. Use cookie cutters to cut the dough out.
Step 4) Bake the crackers on a parchment-lined baking sheet for ten minutes.
Frequently asked questions
Ritz crackers get their flavor from a combination of ingredients, including enriched wheat flour, vegetable oil, sugar, salt, and yeast. There are also added flavorings such as onion, garlic, and paprika.
You can use a pastry cutter or your hands to make this dough. Make sure you use a large bowl and mix the dough only until it comes together.
Storage and make ahead
Storage: Keep these cookies at room temperature, in an airtight container, for up to five days. I like to place them in a single layer, divided by waxed paper.
Make Ahead: You can make these crackers in advance and freeze them. I like to place the crackers back-to-back and wrap them in plastic wrap. Then I place them in a freezer bag. Store in the freezer for up to three months. When ready to serve, allow them to come to room temperature overnight.
Variations
If you're in the mood for a sweet treat, turn these crackers into Ritz Cracker Toffee. This mixture of sweet and salty is sure to be a treat!
Add ¼ cup of your favorite shredded cheese to turn this into a delicious cheese cracker recipe! I've done this with Parmesan cheese, and they turned out delicious!
Try more copycat recipes
I'm a big fan of making my favorite foods at home with fewer additives and preservatives. Check out some recipes you can try out!
- Jiffy Blueberry Muffin Copycat Recipe
- Jamba Juice Mango-A-Go-Go Smoothie Recipe
- Popeyes Sweet Heat Sauce Recipe
Recipe
Homemade Ritz Crackers
Equipment
- Rolling Pin
- food processor
- cookie cutters
Ingredients
Dough Ingredients
- 2 cups flour all-purpose
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons butter unsalted, cold
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- ½ cup water more as needed
Garnish Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 tablespoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 F.
- Put the flour, baking powder, sugar, and ½ teaspoon of salt in the food processor. Pulse to combine. Add cold butter a few small pats at a time, and pulse to combine. Add oil. Pulse to combine. Add water a little bit at a time. Pulse to combine after each addition. The dough should start to form a ball.
- Roll dough out as thin as you can. Use cookie cutters to cut the dough out. You can make them Ritz-shaped or any shape that you like. Poke holes in the dough in the Ritz pattern or any pattern you want.
- Bake the crackers on a parchment-lined baking sheet for ten minutes or until the crackers just begin to turn golden brown. As soon as you remove the crackers from the oven, brush them with the remaining oil and sprinkle them with salt.
Notes and Tips
- Working with the Dough: You can sprinkle your work surface with flour if you find the dough is too sticky. Make sure to use just a little at a time. You can also refrigerate the dough for 10-15 minutes before rolling it out.
- Humidity and Dough: The amount of water you need to add depends largely on the humidity of your kitchen. Start out with the amount of water indicated in the recipe. Add water one tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together. Remember, this is a wet dough.
- Reader Feedback: Some readers skipped the rolling pin and simply used their hands to pat down the dough. If you don't have a rolling pin on hand, this is a great suggestion! Make sure you pat the dough into an even layer.
Nutrition
This recipe was originally published in February 2014. I updated the post in May 2022 with additional instructions and new photos.
Did you make this recipe?! First, let me say THANK YOU for giving it a try!
Please leave us a rating and feedback in the comments section at the bottom of this post. I always love to hear your thoughts and ideas on what went well - and didn't - with a recipe!
Happy Baking!
Heather
Kristina C. says
my family loves these crackers and we vary the seasonings, even finding that a packet of ranch dressing mix sprinkled over the tops is yummy!
Heather says
Kristina, what a great idea with the Ranch dressing! My husband LOVES these, and I'm going to give that a try!
sarah says
how come these are so many calories???
Heather says
These crackers are somewhat thick and depending on the size of your cookie cutter, they might be on the larger size. I will say, if you use a smaller cookie cutter, this batch will make about 48 cookies (I updated my notes to reflect this). They still are definitely not a low-calorie cracker!
Kristina C. says
butter 😍
Heather says
The more the better when you drizzle it on top!!
Malorie Shannon says
Hi just tried these. They were easy to make and the dough handled beautifully.
However, when I tasted them, there was a bitterness that made them not very tasty, so much so I threw out the batch. I believe the bitterness is because the ratio of baking powder to flour is off. Instead of a tablespoon maybe just a teaspoon (at most teaspoon and a half). I also think upping the butter a bit might result in a more buttery cracker or even instead of oil, brush melted butter on top.
I will try to make them again because I believe with the tweeks they might be perfect.
Heather says
Hi Malorie, thanks for your feedback! I've definitely used butter on top, and it's delicious. I'm going to make a note of this in the recipe post for others. I'm sorry to hear that the taste wasn't quite right for you. With less baking powder you might not have the same rise to the crackers, but that's the only thing I can think of. I'd love to hear back how the next batch goes!
eleni kelley says
These are delicious but I feel like I want them to be more flakey. I’m no cook so maybe you can help… more butter? Ritz have those flakey airy layers which is why I like them for my young kids but I’m trying to be more conscious of the ingredients we consume and these are just too easy not make. Thoughts on achieving that light and airy cracker layering!?!?
Heather says
Hi Eleni, thanks for commenting! You're absolutely right that the butter is what gives you that flakey crust that is like the real Ritz. Although the food processor is quicker and easier, you might find success using your hand, a fork, or a pastry cutter to incorporate the butter into the flour. Sometimes the food processor over-processes the mixture. My other tips would be (1) making sure you use cold butter, (2) keeping the dough cold before baking, and (3) making sure your oven is hot before you put the crackers in. It's so hard to help troubleshoot, but I hope some of these tips might give you better success!
Rose Anne Long says
I just made the crackers and they’re delicious. My only problem was that my food processor wasn’t quite big enough and I made a big mess. Next time I will make half a recipe. My husband loved them. They probably won’t last long. Also, I didn’t put olive oil and salt on after baking and we don’t think it’s needed. They’re crisp, too. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Rose Anne Long says
I forgot to say that I didn’t use a rolling pin. I patted the dough out with my hands. Easy to do.
Heather says
A great tip! I'm going to add this to the recipe notes above!
Heather says
Rose, I'm so glad that you (and your husband) enjoyed this recipe! Great tip on skipping the olive oil and salt at the end. Thanks for commenting, and I hope you enjoy them!
M smith says
They're better than Ritz. I got tired of paying 2.50 to 3.00 for Ritz. I have repeatedly had to call their company to ask for replacement coupons because they are too burned, or too much salt on top... Sometimes there are 28 in a wrapped row, sometimes 32... Sometimes a few crackers are lying smashed and crumbled alongside the row. They seem to have quality control problems. I make my own bread, and it's nice to have delicate crackers so easy and cheap where I can control how golden or salty they are. Thank you!
Heather @ Sweet Precision says
I'm so glad you've enjoyed the recipe! It's been a long time since I've purchased a box of Ritz crackers and I don't think I will be anytime soon ;) I'd love to start making some of my own bread. The store bought kind is so tasteless and packed full of preservatives.
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Nicole says
I've made homemade cheezits before, and they came out great. You have NO idea how excited I am to try making homemade ritz crackers!!!!!! :) Thank you so much for sharing the recipe. I'm home sick today and was looking at the ingredients listed on my ritz crackers (the only thing I can currently eat), and I am not too happy with that ingredient list. At least if I made my own, I would know what was going into my cracker!!
Heather @ Sweet Precision says
Oh yummy, I never even thought of trying homemade cheezits, that sounds delicious! It so surprising and disheartening when you look at an ingredient list and don't know what over half of the items are. Even if it takes a little more time to make these, it's totally worth it knowing what you're putting into your body!
MOM says
What do you think....any way I could make these with less butter? I love crackers and these look and sound wonderful. I love having a slightly salty treat at hand and I, too, like to be able to pronounce all the ingredients.
Heather @ Sweet Precision says
Hmmm... I don't know about that one! I think you need the butter for the overall taste of the crackers. However, my recipe made a BUNCH of crackers so you could use them as a special treat and eat sparingly. Or perhaps even substitute in olive oil for the butter??
Allison (Spontaneous Tomato) says
Whoa, so impressive. Were they as sturdy as the storebought kind? Ritz crackers are definitely a guilty pleasure of mine (because they are processed, not because of the butter... I love butter!), so I might need to (ask Paula to) try this! :)
Heather @ Sweet Precision says
I looove Ritz crackers! Like to the point where I have to force myself to put the package down before I devour the entire thing!
When I made my first batch I rolled the dough thicker and didn't bake for quite long enough, the result was a more biscuit-like cracker. But once I got the dough rolled thin enough and added a few extra minutes onto the cooking time, they were just as sturdy as the store bought brand! Matt said the crackers made it into his top ten favorites!
Allison (Spontaneous Tomato) says
Nice! Okay I am definitely bookmarking this to try. :)
Tracy Lee Karner says
Just what I was looking for. I'm going to make these this weekend, with 1/2 white whole wheat flour. My husband will be so thrilled!
Heather @ Sweet Precision says
Yes! Matt was raving about how they tasted better than the kind you buy at the store (which he loooves to buy). I like the idea of subbing in whole wheat flour for half- it makes the crackers even more nutritious!
On Tue, Mar 11, 2014 at 12:34 PM, Sweet Precision wrote:
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Tracy Lee Karner says
Have you ever tried King Arthur White Whole Wheat? It doesn't have that bitter red wheaty taste, and is finely ground. I can put it into breads and baked goods at a ratio of 25%, and no one, not even the finickiest eaters in my family, knows. Then, little by little, I increased the ratio, until now, at 50%, they wonder why our home-baked goods have so much more flavor, than others. I've since confessed to my subterfuge, and they've forgiven me. But they don't want me to go back, to 100% refined white flour, either.
It was purely a matter of self-defense. I wanted more than a crumb of the stuff I was baking--I wanted to eat a whole slice without ending up in bed with a sick headache.
Heather @ Sweet Precision says
What a great trick for sneaking in some added nutrition to baked goods! I'll have to look for this brand at my grocery store. Exactly what you described is always the problem that I have with using regular whole wheat flour in most baking. It makes things taste just a little too healthy. This is an excellent idea to remedy that situation!
On Wed, Mar 12, 2014 at 10:03 AM, Sweet Precision wrote:
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Mary Frances says
These look great! I love that (unlike real Ritz) they have natural ingredients and no hydrogenated oil.
Heather @ Sweet Precision says
Yes!! That's the part I love :) The olive oil actually gives the cookies a great and natural taste, much better than store bought crackers with hydrogenated oils!
sprinklesandsauce says
these crackers look fabulous!
Heather @ Sweet Precision says
Thanks!!
Pamela @ Brooklyn Farm Girl says
I'm a big Ritz fan, I look at the serving size and glare at it, then eat about 4x the amount. I'm totally into making my own, I gotta try this!
Heather @ Sweet Precision says
I know what you mean!! Five crackers?! Nobody opens a package and only eats five crackers! At least this way we know exactly what we're eating when we have 15 or 20 crackers :)
Francesca says
Another amazing post, Heather. I'm not a Ritz fan because the store bought crackers are so dry and salty but yours look so soft and fluffy. I'm sure I could eat tons of these. :-)
Heather @ Sweet Precision says
Thanks Francesca! One of the things I like most about these crackers is that they aren't too salty. Just a little in the dough and then some sprinkled on top. I feel the same way about saltines from the store... way too salty for me!
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Amy Tong says
How awesome to make Ritz at home. :D My kids love these crackers and I can't wait to surprise them with a homemade version.
Heather @ Sweet Precision says
Thanks Amy! You could even try using a cookie cutter to make the crackers into fun shapes. Who wouldn't love a dinosaur cracker?! Hope you enjoy the recipe :)
Just Add Attitude says
Now I just cannot believe this! Ritz crackers were so much part of my childhood, there was so often a box of them in the house. I am astonished to hear that they are still made as I haven't seen or tasted one for years. And bang up to date too with a Twitter feed and Facebook page. Yours look lovely and totally authentic with the salt sprinkled on top. ;)
Sorry - this may be a duplicate comment as I am sure the original was posted.
Heather @ Sweet Precision says
No worries! I love the fact that Ritz crackers were a staple in your home growing up :) There is something that is incredibly addicting about them, once I open a sleeve I have to force myself to only eat a few. It's amazing all the new technology companies have utilize to keep up to date. You just might have to make yourself a batch for old times sake!
Gayle says
These look great! How do you store these and how long will they keep?
Thanks!
Heather says
Hi Gayle! Unlike the store-bought Ritz, these don't last for as long, unfortunately. Once they are cooled, I recommend storing them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week!
Just Add Attitude says
Now I just I cannot believe this! Ritz crackers were so much part of my childhood there so often a box of them at home. I haven't tasted one for years so I am astonished to hear they are still made and bang up to date with a Twitter feed and a Facebook page. Yours look lovely and authentic with the salt sprinkled on top. ;)
huntfortheverybest says
i'd love to make homemade ritz. these look great!
Heather @ Sweet Precision says
You should definitely give it a try! I'm regretting that I didn't make a double batch because they're gone already!
chef mimi says
You're amazing! These are beautiful!
Heather @ Sweet Precision says
Thank you! :)
tableofcolors says
You're Ritz crackers look better than the store- bought and industrially produced version! and I love how they have simple ingredients that can be found in any kitchen. I think that they would be a sure hit at our house and a special treat as well!
Heather @ Sweet Precision says
Thank you! I loved the simplicity of the recipe too, it all comes together so quickly. It even got me thinking that it would be easy to add other ingredients (like cheese) to make flavored crackers... so many options!
Heather @ Sweet Precision says
It's amazing how companies have to evolve to keep up with the ever changing technology. I'm sure in the 1930's no one could have even imagined what Facebook would be like!
If you can believe it we got 4 more inches of snow last night! I will be ever so ready when the first signs on spring begin to peek through the snow. Seeing early blossoms and buds is one of my favorite things :)
Sherri says
Well who would have thought it Heather? Wow, you really can make anything and these Ritz crackers look just like the real thing to me! Can't believe that people can follow them on FB and Twitter, who would have thought that once upon a time ago, ha!
Hope you get to see signs of spring soon through the snow. You will be more than ready for it when it arrives :-)
cheri says
These are so adorable. Love the fact that you can pronounce all the ingredients.
Heather @ Sweet Precision says
I know, that's the best part! No wondering what those ingredients with six syllables are :)
Jake Hix says
A majority of ingredients in a "natural" banana are difficult to pronounce.
Complicated names can be a sign of good things, too.