Deliciously crisp low carb, grain-free crackers made with sunflower and chia seeds. This nut-free snack will delight adults and kids alike. This post is sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill.
Can you believe the summer is almost over? As I write this, I am sitting here at a cottage in Canada and it already feels like fall. It’s been unseasonably chilly and very rainy – not the best cottaging weather. Muskoka cottages aren’t really made for this kind of weather. Five kids and six adults cooped up inside when all the best activities are meant for out of doors. The cousins are all getting along better than expected, but everyone is starting to get a little stir crazy. One could almost wish for the start of school to send them on their way. Whoa, did I just say that? Did I just actually wish away the rest of the summer???
Well, okay, since we are on the subject of back to school, let’s talk about it. Why not, right? After all, it’s just around the corner and many school systems are back in session already. So whether or not you are eking out the last of the summer warmth or suffering through a rainy vacation as I am, back to school is likely on your mind. It’s amazing how quickly the summer goes.
School lunches are tough for me. I don’t expect my kids to be completely low carb or gluten-free as I am, but I do try to be mindful of keeping carbs, gluten and sugar to the minimum. Our schools are also completely nut-free and coming up with healthy snacks to add to their lunch boxes can test the limits of my creativity. I can’t reach for my go-to almond flour without risking the wrath of the school board.
A quick peek in the freezer the other day brought to light a bag of Bob’s Red Mill sunflower seeds and some Bob’s chia seed. I thought that with some grinding, I might turn them into a serviceable replacement for the almond flour. Well, let me cut to the chase and tell you that they made a far-more-than-serviceable replacement, at least as far as these crackers are concerned. I might even go so far as to say that they are the best low carb crackers I’ve ever made. They crisped up better than almond flour crackers typically do and had such a great toasted, salty flavour with hints of parmesan and rosemary. My kids actually didn’t get to eat many of them, as my husband and I liked them so much we kept nibbling every time we passed through the kitchen. A healthy snack both adults and kids love? Winning!
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill. As always, all thoughts, opinions, recipes, photography, random tangents and incoherent rambling is my own.
Rosemary Parmesan Chia Seed Crackers – Nut-Free
Deliciously crisp nut-free, grain-free crackers made with sunflower and chia seeds. A healthy low carb snack.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill raw sunflower seeds
- 1/2 cup Bob's Red Mill chia seeds
- 3/4 cup finely grated Parmesan
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 large egg
- 2 tbsp melted butter
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300F.
- In a high-powered blender or food processor, grind the sunflower seeds and chia seeds until finely ground (I actually grind mine in batches in my coffee grinder, it works quite well). Then measure out 1 1/2 cups of the ground sunflower seeds and 1/2 cup of the ground chia seeds into a large bowl.
- Stir in Parmesan, fresh rosemary, garlic powder and baking powder.
- Stir in egg and butter until dough comes together.
- Turn dough out onto a large piece of parchment paper and pat into a rough triangle. Top with another large piece of parchment paper. Roll out to about a 1/8-inch thickness, as evenly as you can. Remove top parchment
- Use a sharp knife or pizza cutter to score into 2 inch squares. Sprinkle with kosher salt. Transfer whole bottom parchment paper to a large baking sheet.
- Bake 40 to 45 minutes, or until edges are golden brown and the crackers are firm to the touch. Remove and let cool completely before breaking apart. They will continue to crisp up as they cool (but I don't blame you for breaking off the uneven edges and nibbling on those!)
Recipe Notes
Serves 10. Each serving has 8.98 g of carbs and 6.61 g of fiber. Total NET CARBS = 2.37 g.
Food energy: 223kcal Saturated fatty acids: 4.21g Total fat: 18.39g Calories from fat: 165 Cholesterol: 10mg Carbohydrate: 8.98g Total dietary fiber: 6.61g Protein: 8.71g Sodium: 255mg
These look and sound divine! Perfect for packed lunches. Yum!
I’m allergic to all nuts and seeds including sunflower seeds but not chia seeds is there a replacement for the sunflower seeds?
Wow, this sounds like a keeper for sure. I’m looking forward to trying these. I’ve never tried baking crackers before but this looks so simple and easy. Thanks so much for the recipe.
Oh, and you made me a bit jealous talking about your early fall weather. Down here in the deep south (I’m in Mississippi on the Gulf Coast) you can practically drown when you take a breath because of the high humidity levels and the heat is stifling. I can’t wait for summer to be gone!
Thanks again for everything you do. You’re amazing!
I am sure you can barely wait for fall!
Forgot to ask, are the sunflower seed the roasted and salted ones or the dry roasted unsalted kind? Or does it even matter? I just bought a big bag (not Bob’s Red Mill) and ordinarily it would take me quite a while to go through a bag of this size because I usually just use it for my salad or grab a handful for a snack. Thanks.
I use raw sunflower seeds.
These look fantastic! Never thought of grinding the sunflower seeds up – great idea, can’t wait to try it!!!
Thanks, Mellissa!
These look amazing. A long time ago I made rosemary crackers from a Martha Stewart recipe. These sound even better (and easier!)
I love your addition of rosemary!
When you are using so many unusual ingredients like Chia seeds for instance, what do you store in the freezer and what do you store on the shelf?
Thanks
Conni
I keep almost all of it in the freezer, except for things I know I use really often and will use up the bag quickly.
Chia seeds can be kept at room temperature for a long period. No fats to go rancid.
Love!!!
I just made these this afternoon and they were quite easy and delicious! I hope I can stretch them out to make the ten servings!!!! I put mine on a silicone baking sheet, covered with parchment and then rolled them out and cut them before baking. That way I didn’t have to move them off of the sheet, just put the silicone sheet in the oven. I think you could do that with your parchment as well. I once made crackers similar to this and it had a bit of tomato paste which was wonderful.
I don’t move mine off the parchment. Maybe I didn’t convey that well enough in the recipe, I will take a look and amend.
OMG! These are delish! I just made them, but I only had a flax and chia seed mix and the sunflower seeds. Didn’t matter they taste awesome!!
rather than sunflower seeds, do you think ground up pumpkin seeds would work?
These crackers sound lovely—and I love your recipes and your writing. As I have written before, it was your almond tea cake recipe that made it possible for me to stay with low carb—opened up the world of low carb goodies and fun and joy! and greatly improved health and well-being. THANK YOU once again (and the biscotti recipes, too!)
Maria
I think any ground seed would probably work just fine. Thanks for the lovely words!
Carolyn,
A profound thank you for another fantastic recipe. I’ve never made crackers before & miss them terribly (also GF & very very low carb). I made these today, as well as your cheddar biscuits for biscuits & gravy for supper, and your crock pot chocolate cake. It’s been a busy cooking day.
The crackers are delicious, especially with herbed goat cheese. I was out of rosemary and used herbs de provence instead. The whole house smelled heavenly while they were baking, then to be swapped out with the sweet smell of chocolate cake.
Thank you for never failing to share your amazing gift of making those of us who are on a limited diet feel like we can still eat good tasting and healthy food.
What an inventive recipe! I love the flavors! (And love the comment ^^^) You rock!
I love how healthy and easy these are to make!
These are gorgeous crackers!! I love the addition of the chia seeds with sunflower seeds. Sounds incredible!
I am so obsessed with cheeseboards and these crackers look like the perfect pairing to my cheese addiction!
Wow! These crackers look fabulous!
Oh, my gosh, these look amazing! I can never find a store bought cracker that appeals to me…going to have to make a batch of these beauties!!!
Looks soo good, Carolyn! Now I’m craving these crackers!!
Thanks!! looks great
What would a good substitute for Chia be?
(Chia reacts very badly on me…nausea and vomiting or stomach pains.)
You could do flax seed meal or you could just do another 1/2 cup of ground sunflower seed
Thank you, I will try the flax.
🙂
Hmmm. I might try rolling them out on the parchment already in the baking sheet, saving any awkward transfer.
What an eazy peazy recipe! I had to substitute with pumpkin seeds and some flax meal and they turned out fine. (I didn’t increase the ground chia seeds as they absorb liquid like crazy and I worried that the dough wouldn’t bind together. )
Thanks – Now I’ve got something to put the butter on!
Wow, these look amazing! and I happen to have everything to make them. I also just happened to spot Spring Pea pesto crostinis with Proscuitto and burrata on What’s Habby cooking and I am seeing a lovely marriage of these two recipes. Also, I just discovered your blog and I can’t get over the name. It can so relate. I love it and I can’t wait to browse through completely.
I have made these three times now and they might be my favorite. My husband told me to hide them from him. Even taking that measure they don’t last very long. I used pumpkin seeds instead of sunflower, I think it gave it an earthier flavor. I just wanted to give you props. These are absolutely delicious.
Thanks, Erin! They are one of my favourites!
Excellent! I just made these and they are cooling, I can’t keep my hands off of them. It’s awesome to have real crackers to crunch on without all the gluten.
These are some of my favourite crackers!
Just a follow up but I made these in Dec 2015. I forgot and froze a bag and just found them in my freezer. I’m eating them now and they are as good as when I made them almost a year ago. They have a great flavor and still really crunchy. I’m making a new batch now.
Oh wow, that’s so good to know!
I just made another batch and froze most of them so they last longer. These taste really good with a red beet smoothie I make after my workout.
These turned out incredible! How do you recommend storing them?
Depends on how long it will be before you eat them all. On the counter for 2 days is fine, after that the fridge.
So I thought this was a comment on a different recipe…sorry. These are fine on the counter for up to 5 days or so.
These are great! They are the first crackers 8’ve eaten in over a year, and I really like them.
We love them too and since my sister is dairy free, I discovered at Christmas that they are just as good without the parmesan.
were they as crunchy? i made a similar recipe yesterday with no cheese and they aren’t crunchy enough
Carolyn,
Thank you for this exquisite cracker recipe!
I just discovered your wonderful blog through a search for grain-free crackers. I found out recently that I am insulin resistent, Prediabetic. To reverse this, I have completely changed my eating lifestyle–very low carb diet which means not having the foods that I used to find comforting and satisfying. So, for the past several months I have been pining for a crispy, delicious, “appropriate” cracker to incorporate into my new eating style– then I found YOUR recipe!
When I brought together the dough, it came out a little dry and crumbly–I was still able to roll it out with the parchment paper, but the dough came a part in places. Did I do something wrong? Otherwise, the taste is phenomenal! Thank you again.
I am going to guess you didn’t grind your sunflowers enough. Hard to say for sure.
Yes! That is it! I ground the sunflowers a bit finer and voila, the PERFECT cracker. Thank you, Carolyn
I am dairy free. When you made them without parmesan, did you make other adjustments? I do a bit better with sheep or goat dairy but try to reserve that for special occasions like Christmas lasagna made with strips of roasted zucchini or deli turkey slices.
These are GREAT! I am addicted and really missed them when I was away from home on vacation and couldn’t make them.
I made a radish top pesto to go with these….and goat cheese and pickled radishes. Boy are they good!
AWESOME – these are the best crackers “since sliced bread”!!! Everyone that tries them wants the recipe!
Well done, increcdible with all cheeses and it’s easy to substitute different seeds (sesame, etc.). Love you and your website!!!! Keep up the great effort and work – you make a difference!
These are some of my favourites too. So glad I can make a difference!
I used a mix of ground sunflower, pumpkin, flax and chi seeds and some while sesame seeds with the rest of the ingredients but substituted fennel for rosemary. Absolutely delicious! Such a useful (forgiving) recipe. Thanks so much. I’ve really been missing crunchy on keto.
Glad you like them. You’re right, it is very forgiving!
I want to try these crackers but would like to clarify the ingredients. Aa you are measuring out the sunflower seeds ( & chia seeds) AFTER grinding, how much do I need to be starting with for these ingedients? I want to make sure that I have enough on hand before I start. Also, are you using freshly grated Parmesan from a block of cheese or are you using “dry” grated Parmesan (I buy this from an Italian store but it has the texture of the kind of parm found in shakers.)
Thanks for your help.
After grinding, yes. You need a bit more than it calls for but it can fluff them up a bit so you may find you have a bit of leftovers. I used freshly grated parm.
Thank you. I’ll try making them this afternoon.
Ótimas receitas obrigado por compartilhar