Follow this well-tested recipe to make your very own gluten-free graham crackers from scratch at home! Light, crisp and buttery, these baked graham crackers are the tasty result of using a perfected blend of three gluten-free flours, including oat flour, teff flour and sweet rice flour.
Make a double batch and bake half of them into an extra-special gluten-free graham cracker crust!
As is the case with most homemade gluten-free cookie recipes, homemade graham crackers are worlds away from their store-bought counterparts. These buttery gluten-free grahams boast a crisp, almost shortbread-like vibe, and they burst with flavor from nutty teff and oat flours kissed with cinnamon, honey, and brown sugar.
Here's what I love about these gluten-free graham crackers:
- crispy, crunchy, and buttery
- sturdy yet tender
- easy to make in a food processor
- kissed with honey and cinnamon
- equally good straight up or used in recipes
- minimally processed ingredients
These GF graham crackers are perfectly satisfying eaten plain, next to a cup of tea or oat milk. They can also play a supporting role in the form of a graham cracker crust or s'mores, or sprinkled on these blueberry cheesecake popsicles.
Bake up a batch of these and you'll never go back to store-bought.
Ingredients & Substitution Suggestions
Flours
Inspired by a wheat and teff flour graham cracker recipe in Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce, this blend makes the best gluten-free graham crackers (IMHO):
- Teff flour is rich in protein (as well as fiber, vitamins, and minerals) and that protein helps baked goods hold together, just like gluten does.
- Sub millet or buckwheat flour.
- Soft, starchy oat flour helps these gf grahams bake up light and tender, adding a creamy, mellow taste similar to whole wheat.
- Sub sorghum flour or almond flour.
- Sweet rice flour (aka mochi flour or sticky rice flour) is stickier than regular white rice flour and creates structure.
- Sub a gluten-free all-purpose flour blend such as Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1.
- Cornstarch keeps them crisp and delicate.
- Sub tapioca or arrowroot starch.
Other Ingredients
A handful of pantry ingredients forms the rest of the dough.
- Butter moistens the dough along with a little water.
- Use vegan butter for dairy-free graham crackers, or try coconut oil.
- Brown sugar and honey add sweetness and classic graham cracker vibes.
- Use coconut sugar instead of brown, or maple syrup instead of honey.
- Cinnamon and vanilla add cozy flavor.
- Baking soda and baking powder lift, spread, and brown.
How to Make Gluten-Free Graham Crackers
This recipe takes about 1 1/2 hours to make, though much of the time is inactive. The dough comes together in a food processor, chills for a bit, then gets rolled out, cut and baked.
This recipe makes about 20 graham crackers; feel free to double the recipe if you like!
How to use your perfect gluten free graham crackers
These homemade gluten-free graham crackers are flavorful enough to enjoy on their own with a cup of tea or a glass of oat milk. But you can use them anywhere you'd use regular grahams, including:
- Use them to make really epic gluten-free s'mores
- Grind them into a graham cracker crust for a gluten-free chocolate pie or small-batch gluten-free cheesecake
- Use them in favorite recipes such as Nanaimo Bars or 7-Layer Bars
- Sprinkle them into Blueberry Cheesecake Popsicles
Can I make dairy free or vegan graham crackers?
Heck yeah!
- For dairy free graham crackers, just use a good vegan butter in place of the dairy butter (I prefer Miyoko's cultured vegan butter), and decrease the salt in the recipe by about half if the vegan butter is salted.
- For vegan graham crackers, use a different liquid sweetener in place of the honey such as maple syrup, corn syrup, date syrup, or coconut nectar.
Who invented graham crackers anyway?
Sylvester Graham was a presbyterian minister who believed that eating a vegetarian diet rich in whole grains and living a lifestyle abstinent of pleasure brought one closer to god. I picture Sylvester Graham as a lean, mean man with thin lips and permanent RBF, perpetually scowling at those around him enjoying their lives. An extra-hearty form of whole wheat flour – graham flour – was named for Mr. Graham and was used to make breads and crackers that he and his followers devoured.
Sylvester Graham was onto something when it came to the health benefits of whole grains, but he got the whole self-deprivation thing wrong in one glaring respect. Whole grain flours taste BETTER than their bland, white counterparts. Delicious, in fact. Once you taste baked goods made (properly) with flavorful gluten-free flours you'll become spoiled and snobby like I did when I wrote Alternative Baker. You'll find conventional, refined baked goods lacking.
Here's hoping Sylvester Graham knew exactly what he was up to, and secretly savored his tasty carbs. Otherwise, he's definitely rolling over in his grave at these rich, buttery, delicious gluten-free graham crackers.
*Bojon appétit! For more Bojon Gourmet in your life, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest, purchase my gluten-free cookbook Alternative Baker, or subscribe to receive new posts via email. And if you make these gluten free graham crackers, I’d love to see. Tag your Instagram snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet and #bojongourmet.*
Gluten Free Graham Crackers with Oat Flour & Teff Flour
Print Recipe Pin RecipeIngredients
Dry ingredients
- ⅓ cup (50 g) sweet rice flour*
- ⅓ cup (45 g) teff or millet flour*
- ⅓ cup (35 g) oat flour (plus more for rolling out the dough)*
- 2 tablespoons (11 g) cornstarch*
- ¼ cup (55 g) packed light brown sugar*
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
Wet ingredients
- 4 tablespoons (55 g) salted or unsalted butter, diced* (or vegan butter such as Miyoko's to make them dairy-free)
- 1 ½ tablespoons cool water (add a few drops more if needed until dough just starts to come together)
- 1 ½ tablespoons honey* (or maple syrup to make them vegan)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- coarse sugar such as demerara, for sprinkling
Instructions
Make the dough
- In the bowl of a food processor (or in a large bowl), combine the sweet rice flour, teff flour, oat flour, cornstarch, light brown sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Scatter the butter pieces over the top and pulse in (or rub with your fingertips) until the butter is incorporated and the mixture resembles the texture of polenta.
- Drizzle the water, honey, and vanilla over the flour mixture and pulse (or toss with a flexible spatula or your hands) until the dough just comes together, adding more water a few drops at a time if needed.
- Knead the dough lightly in the bowl and gather it into ball. Flatten the dough ball into a disk and wrap in beeswax wrap or plastic wrap. Chill until firm, 20-30 minutes.
Shape
- On piece of parchment paper dusted with oat flour, roll the dough into a rectangle to about ⅛-inch thick; it will be roughly 14 by 11 inches. As you work, when the dough begins sticking to the parchment, dust the top with more oat flour, sweep the excess away with a dry pastry brush, place a second piece of parchment on top, flip the whole thing over, and peel away the parchment. Dust the top with more flour and continue rolling.
- Slide the dough, parchment and all, onto a rimless cookie sheet. Use a sharp chef’s knife or pastry cutter to cut the dough into squares or rectangles. Leave the graham crackers where they are and prick them all over with a fork.
- Chill until firm, 20 minutes.
Bake
- Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 325º F.
- Sprinkle the cookies with the coarse sugar and bake until deep golden brown and fairly firm to the touch, 15-22 minutes.
- Cut the graham crackers again with a knife and let them cool. If they aren’t fully crisp when cool, put them back in a low oven to further dry them out.
- Store airtight at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
- Teff flour: sub brown rice, buckwheat, sorghum, millet, or more oat flour.
- Sweet rice flour: sub a GF all-purpose blend (I suggest Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 which contains sweet rice flour)
- Oat flour: sub sorghum, brown rice, buckwheat, or millet flour, or an all-purpose GF flour blend.
- Brown sugar: sub coconut sugar
- Butter: sub vegan butter and decrease the salt if the butter is salty.
- Honey: sub maple syrup.
- The dough can be wrapped tightly and chilled for up to several days, or frozen for up to a month or two. Defrost in the fridge overnight if frozen, and let soften at room temperature until rollable if chilled, then proceed with the recipe.
- The baked cookies keep well, airtight, for up to a week or two. If they get soft, just crisp them back up in a 325º oven for 5 minutes or so.
Nutrition
Pauline says
I had never heard of Teff flour or Graham crackers but love the story and think they would be much more interesting than bought biscuits (crackers). Must give these a try. Thanks, Pauline
Alanna says
No problem Pauline, I hope you get to make them someday as they are delicious!
Martin says
This is a great recipe. Is there a way to make the crackers crisp without having to wait for a week.
Elizabeth says
These are sooooo gorgeous. I love the simplicity of a good graham cracker, especially one brimming with flavor and nuttiness. My girls adore graham crackers too, and I can’t wait to try this recipe with them. A perfect activity for our suddenly chilly East Coast evenings.
Alanna says
Not too complicated a recipe so perfect family activity! Let me know if you give it a try :)
Sara @ Cake Over Steak says
These look amazing! I've been eyeing up your book more lately as I've been experimenting with a GF diet. Now I just need to get my hands on some of these fancy flours and really go to town. :-)
Alanna says
They taste just as good as they look! I really hope you enjoy them :)
bella says
Its been way too long since I have had a graham cracker and these look and sound amazing! Gorgeous styling per usual Alanna <3
The Bojon Gourmet says
Aw, thanks SO much! :)
Sarah @ Snixy Kitchen says
These sound so good! I need a batch of these. And some marshmallows stat. Are you bringing me a homemade box of graham crackers on Thursday pretty please??? <3
Joanne says
Can I substitute potato or tapioca starch for the corn starch?
Alanna says
I think either would work! Potato starch tends to stale quickly, so I'd go with tapioca. Please let me know if it works!
Lisa says
I made these last night and they are awesome. I didn't have teff flour, so I substituted amaranth flour, which worked really well. The recipe seems endlessly adaptable and they're perfect for school snacks. Thanks for the recipe!
The Bojon Gourmet says
Aw, thanks so much! So happy to hear that this substitute worked well.
Giorgia says
Hi Alanna! I'd like to bake these graham crackers, but I hardly find sweet rice flour. Could you please suggest me with what I could replace it? Regular rice flour with a hint of rice starch for example? Thank you so much! Giorgia
Alanna says
Hi Giorgia, sorry you're having trouble finding sweet rice flour - it's my GF baking secret weapon! I would try a blend of regular white rice flour and tapioca starch (maybe roughly 1 part tapioca to 4 parts flour). You could also use a GF all-purpose blend which should have some starchy, sticky ingredients in it. Please let me know what you try!
Giorgia says
Thank you so much Alanna! The problem with sweet rice flour here in Italy is that it is almost impossible to find. I will try with rice flour and tapioca starch. But I prefer not to use GF blends, I don't like them very much. I will let you know!
Giorgia says
Thank you for your reply Alanna! I will try to mix rice flour with tapioca starch, because I prefer not to use GF blends. The problem with sweet rice flour here in Italy is that it is almost impossible to find... I will let you know! Thank u!
Anita Sabados says
These worked out great! I made s'mores in my oven using these and it was a hit!
Alanna says
Oven s'mores - genius!! So glad you like the grahams!
Bebe says
These GF Graham Crackers were reminiscent of my childhood, however, so much healthier without the Gluten. I love the profile the Teff Flour gives to this updated classic and the honey comes through beautifully! The texture was absolutely perfect as well! I used these in a S’mores Parfait and it made the dessert so much more flavorful and special! I’ll definitely make these again!
Alanna says
Aw thank you for making these Bebe! I'm so glad you like the recipe!
SJ says
Do NOT make a single batch of these. You'll need at least double but more likely triple. I couldn't quite make 24 crackers that were 2 by 2 inch and 1/8 inch thick.
I made these two ways: one with teff flour and one with chestnut flour. They both came out great. If I wanted to make these with mesquite flour, should I increase the weight by 30% (I'm using the chocolate chip cookies 4 ways as reference)? And for changes to the temperature, should I decrease the temp to 300? Or should I roll it out to 1/4 inch thick and leave the temp at 325 (using the mesquite gingersnap cookies in AB as reference)?
Alanna says
Awwww, I read the first line of your comment and thought you meant "don't make these" hahaha. I'm so glad you love them! I find them super addictive myself. :) Chestnut flour sounds delicious here! And mesquite - yesssss. I think increasing the weight of the mesquite by 30% and lowering the oven temp to 300º sounds like a good place to start experimenting. Please come back and let me know how it goes! I want to try all of those variations now too. :D
Stephanie says
I followed the recipe and these turned out to be perfect. THANK YOU!
Alanna says
I'm so glad to hear that! Thanks for the note. If you feel inspired to give it a star rating, that helps other people find the recipe too. :)
Callie says
I can’t wait to try these for s’mores this summer!
Alanna says
Yes, do it!!
Patrick says
I feel like these would be amazing with the banana pudding I made the other day! they look great!
Alanna says
I love that idea! Thanks for the great suggestion.
Susan Dubose says
I don’t eat gluten free but I like to cook for people who are gluten free. These are amazing! I would even eat then. Bless you for this recipe! My friends were big fans too!!!
Alanna says
I'm so glad you liked it! Thanks a bunch for the sweet note.
Amanda Gries says
This recipe turned out so well! The texture is so reminiscent of a glutinous graham cracker unlike the store bought GF crackers. I’ve been unable to locate Sweet White Rice flour since Covid, so I substituted Arrowhead Mills GF APF for the white rice and I used coconut sugar. The other thing I did, is I left the crackers in the oven after turning it off at 22 minutes to let them crisp up as the oven cooled. Thank you for the amazing recipe! This is going to be a go-to in our house!
Alanna says
Those modifications sound spot on! I bet coconut sugar adds a lovely flavor, I'll have to try that next time. Thanks a bunch for the note!
sarah says
These are incredible as written! They’re deliciously grainy, nutty and buttery. I’m so thankful to have found your blog! Makes eating gluten free a treat :)
Alanna says
Aw this makes my day! Thanks so much for trying my recipe and for the sweet words. :)
Krystal says
Hi,
Is there an alternative for the butter if trying to make the recipe vegan? Thank you!
Alanna says
Yes! This is from the post:
For dairy free graham crackers, just use a good vegan butter in place of the dairy butter (I prefer Miyoko’s cultured vegan butter), decrease the salt in the recipe by about half if the vegan butter is salted. For vegan graham crackers, use a different liquid sweetener in place of the honey such as maple syrup, corn syrup, date syrup, or coconut nectar.
Let me know how it goes!
Lori says
These were fantastic. Taste just like the real thing, if not better. A great snack for my toddler and very easy to prepare. Thanks for sharing this great recipe!
Cindy says
Finally.....I found a gluten-free graham cracker recipe that won't fall apart the minute you try to take it out of the pan! And the recipe still worked when I substituted the butter for non-dairy which a lot of times tends to affect how the final product turns out. I am so happy! And they are so good! We will be making these again and doubling the recipe for sure. I will probably cut back slightly on the sugar since we tend to like less sugary in our recipes. The most exciting part about it besides that they don't crumble is....We can make smore's out of them because they don't fall apart!!
Alanna says
This makes me so happy!! I'm really glad you found this recipe and that you love them!
Sachiko says
I just made these tonight. I loved earthy flavors and crispness! I would definitely make these again❤️ Thank you for the amazing recipe.
Alanna says
I'm so glad you like them! Thanks a bunch for the sweet note. Feel free to add a star rating if you're inclined! It helps other folks find my recipes. :)
Val says
Best graham crackers ever. May try a chocolate variation to make a crust for peanut butter pie.
Alene says
I'm going to drive you nuts with this, but now I can't eat gf Graham crackers sold commercially because of the rice flour. Can't eat Bob's 1 to 1 either. What do you think I could replace the rice flour with in this one? It's only 1/3 of a cup! Thank you in advance!
Alanna says
Not at all, please keep asking! I bet cassava flour would work here too if you have some. Almond flour could also work, but you'd likely need to add a tablespoon or two more flour since it's less absorbent than sweet rice flour. Chestnut flour could be another idea! It's soft and starchy like wheat flour. Please let me know what you experiment with!
Stephanie says
I have made this recipe at least a handful of times with Wellness Mama's homemade marshmallows and store bought semisweet chocolate. I always have trouble with the kneading part as the dough doesn't go far. It remains thick in the center and thins out on the borders. Definitely not a 14 by 11 spread for me. It's more like 8 by 5 in a random shape. Anyway, I highly recommend doubling and making extra to freeze because there are so many ingredients to bother with and its irresistible, so might as well. Thanks.
Alanna says
Hi Stephanie,
I'm so glad you love these graham crackers (and s'mores made with them - YUM!) But I'm sorry you're having a tough time rolling them out. I'd love to help troubleshoot!
Is the dough soft and sticking in the middle when you roll it? If so, pop it in the fridge for a few and make sure to flour the underside of the dough as you roll. Start by placing the rolling pin in the center of the dough and pushing outwards as you roll, to encourage rolling out the center rather than just the edges. Flip the dough over and dust with flour as you work.
Let me know if this helps at all! And yes, I definitely recommend making a double batch!
Claire says
Ok, I am a little late to this party, but I made these today. I too may have to lock them in a cabinet. But like Frog and Toad, I have no willpower, and I will unlock the cabinet and eat them all. And unlike Frog and Toad, I will not give them to the birds so I can have willpower.
These are delicious. I had to substitute arrowroot for cornstarch, and nutmeg for cinnamon and I think I may have rolled them to thin, but they are still DELICIOUS.
Thank you for this recipe which will now mean that I can have a crispy cookie at my disposal at any time. Who could want anything more?
Another home run Alanna.
Alanna says
Aw thanks for trying my recipe Claire! I'm so glad you love them and that those subs worked. I can imagine how addicting these would be with nutmeg in them - yum!! Hope we can have a tea and cookie date someday soon. <333
Kellie says
These are the best graham crackers ever! I love the teff mixed with the oat flour. simply fantastic. They do not crumble nor do they have a grainy texture. I used date sugar instead of coconut and it was the perfect amount of sweetness.
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
I'm so glad you love the grahams! I love how those two flours work together here too. Date sugar sounds like a delicious sub – thank you for sharing that you tried it and that it worked!
Kellie says
In order to make chocolate grahams, how much cocoa powder would you add?
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
Oh I love the idea of chocolate grahams! I feel like 3-4 tablespoons of cocoa added would be a good level of chocolateyness. I would trade out some of the oat flour in place of the cocoa. Are you going to use dutch process or regular cocoa? It looks like some recipes online use dutch process and some use regular, so not sure which will give the best result here. I tend to like the mellow flavor of dutch personally.
Please let me know what you try and I'll add it into the recipe notes!
Gigi says
I have beautiful nostalgia attached to graham crackers, that being that as a child I enjoyed them alongside tea with my wonderful grandmother before bedtime…so there I sat bedside last night with these lovelies on a silver antique tray and hot tea, now in my 40s, with just as much joy for them. These were exquisite and came out perfect, even when I chose to use half of the amount of coconut sugar and subbed half of the butter with coconut oil (no coconut taste, just a great fat). I didn’t have any turbinado sugar and have been cutting sugars generally so did not mind at all- These still turned out delectably. I’m wondering if I could do a cinnamon sugar rub on them like some of the traditional boxed graham cracker varieties…? Also, any ideas for no bake mini cheesecakes using these to create the crusts? Can’t wait to make a chocolate version soon!
xoxo Gigi
Gigi says
**I wanted to add as a side note that oddly enough, coconut oil has a fragrance & taste that truly compliments and blooms the ‘Graham’ flavor and depth here, similar to British Carr sweet wheat rounds. I would highly recommend using half if at all curious. Delicious!
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
Hi Gigi!
Awwww I also have fond memories of tea and cookie dates with my grandma. I'm so glad these gf grahams brought back those sweet times!
Mmm love the idea of coconut oil here, and also cinnamon sugar on top - yum!!
I've been meaning to try a no-bake cheesecake using my paleo cream cheese frosting as the cheesecake filling. It's creamy, smooth, and tangy, and I bet it would be delightful with this graham cracker crust. Not sure if the filling would need a touch more coconut oil to make it sliceable or not. It would definitely work to make it in jars though. I'm envisioning a blueberry chia compote on top, or else some fresh raspberries.
Please let me know if you experiment!
xoxo,
A
Erin says
You are a genius! At last I can have a satisfying graham cracker with the perfect crunch and flavor! Those storebought GF grahams just don't do it. Wondering if I sub molasses for the honey, will that wreck the perfection that this recipe already is? If I dare, how much molasses would I use?
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
Aw yay, I'm so glad you love these graham crackers! They're a favorite of mine as well.
Love the idea of using molasses in place of honey here. I think that should work fine texturally, it will just depend on how deep you want the molasses flavor to be and how dark the molasses is that you use. A light molasses should be fine as a 1 to 1 sub; with a darker molasses, you might want to start with half the amount and increase from there. If the molasses is runnier than honey, you might not need to add the water.
Please come back and let us all know what you try!
Erin says
Just discovered there is no reason to use molasses instead of/in conjunction with honey. I used mild flavour molasses as 100%, 50% and 25% sub for honey. At any ratio the molasses wrecks that fabulous balance of chocolate maltiness that teff brings to the table. I think you'd only use it with boring old white wheat flour. Who needs that? No one here!
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
Aw ok, that's great to know. Thank you for experimenting!
Karen Dana says
OMG - mine aren’t as lovely looking as yours but they are so yummy!
My dough was a little wet (probably didn’t measure the water as carefully as I should have) but I persevered by putting dough back in the refrigerator and rolling out between two pieces of parchment.
Thanks for sharing this fabulous recipe! I’ll be making these again!
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
That's exactly what I would have recommended - brilliant! I'm so glad you loved them!!
dipti says
Good evening from London Alanna! I enjoyed making these crackers, and having not eaten such crackers before, found them to be delicious, satisfying in texture and very good-looking. Can you recommend an adjustment to this recipe to omit sugar and honey so as to make these a cracker for a cheese board? I already make your wonderful cassava flour paleo crackers (with a tiny pinch of tumeric for a hint of gold), and almond flour ones (155g almond flour, 10g tapioca, 1 large egg, 1/2 TSP salt, 180°c X 15min, kind of okay). Thank you for this splendid recipe.
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
Hi Dipti,
Aw I'm so glad you like these graham crackers, and the cassava crackers too. Turmeric sounds beautiful in those!
Such a good question about how to make these savory. I think I would omit the brown sugar and reduce the honey to 2 teaspoons, adding extra water to bring the dough together. Please let me know if you give this a try, I'll be v curious to know how it works!
-A