Ritz Crackers From Scratch
Originally posted December 2015 and reposted May 2020.
Who doesn’t love these classic buttery, crunchy, salty crackers? Making your own homemade Ritz Crackers from scratch is a lot simpler than you might think and are super fun to make!
You know that iconic red box with the brown sleeves of buttery, crunchy crackers? Of course you do! So let me introduce you to one of our favorite crackers to make with our homemade Ritz cracker recipe! These Ritz Crackers From Scratch are surprisingly easy to make and have everything you love from the classic. They’re crunchy. They’re buttery. And they are the perfect vessel for any of your favorite Ritz cracker recipes – or to just snack on their own!
Recipe Video
[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”tTvbhcZt” upload-date=”2022-09-30T04:38:32.000Z” name=”Ritz Crackers From Scratch.mp4″ description=”Who doesn’t love these classic buttery, crunchy, salty crackers? Making your own homemade Ritz Crackers from scratch is a lot simpler than you might think and are super fun to make!” player-type=”default” override-embed=”default”]
Ingredients Needed
And the best part? I’m pretty sure you’ll have all of the ingredients you’ll need already in your pantry!
- Flour – All-purpose flour is best for this recipe.
- Sugar – White granulated is what works best.
- Butter – You can use either salted or unsalted butter for this recipe. We use salted butter, but see the recipe notes for using unsalted.
- Vegetable Oil -If you don’t have vegetable oil, another neutral-flavored oil like canola will work, too.
- Baking Powder – Just enough for a little leavening.
Equipment Needed
- Food Processor – This is what will ensure that everything is well combined but not over-mixed. By not over mixing, you keep the crackers nice and flaky. You could use a stand mixer, but you risk overmixing the dough. This is the one we love!
- Rolling Pin – Or anything else to roll the dough with. A rolling pin is easiest, but you can also grab a wine bottle too!
- Cutter – This is the one that we love because it has the scalloped-edged to give it that Ritz Cracker look! (It can also be used for ravioli!)
- Brush – To be able to brush with the egg wash. A good pastry brush is key in the kitchen – we love these!
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Pulse the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a food processor.
- Add butter a little at a time and then add oil and water.
- On a floured surface roll out the dough as thin as you can (would like!)
- Cut out crackers
- Poke holes in cutouts to give that classic Ritz appearance and also help them bake evenly.
- Brush with egg wash.
- Bake crackers on parchment paper and then brush with butter right out of the oven.
Let them cool and you have a delightful, buttery, flaky copycat Ritz Cracker From Scratch!
Our Other Cracker Recipes
Copycat Chicken in a Biskit Crackers
Sourdough Sesame Rye Crackers From Scratch
FAQs
You can also use a stand mixer, but the food processor helps it from not being over-mixed. If the dough’s over-mixed, then the crackers won’t be as flaky. I haven’t tried this without either.
You can, but you just need to be extra careful that you slice it super thin. It will save you some time, but I personally think rolling them out is really the best way to make sure they get nice and thin.
Be sure to spoon and level out the flour and then add the 2/3 cup of water a little at a time. You may not need all of it, just add it slowly until a ball begins to form.
Enjoy! As always, if you make this recipe or any of my others, I love to hear what you think! Leave a comment below, email me, or you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest!
If you want to see more, be sure to sign up for my 5 Easy Ways to Start Cooking From Scratch!
Ritz Crackers From Scratch
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour 255 g
- 3 tsp baking powder 14 g
- 1 tbsp sugar 14 g
- 1 tsp kosher salt divided
- 8 tbsp cold butter, divided
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil 1 oz
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 egg – beaten optional for egg wash
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Add flour, baking powder, sugar, and 1/2 tsp of salt to the food processor and give a quick pulse to combine.
- Add 6 tablespoons of cold butter a few small pats at a time, and pulse to combine then. Then slowly add vegetable oil slowly with the food processor running.
- While the food processor is pulsing, add water a little bit at a time until a dough starts to form into a ball. You may not need to full 1/3 of a cup, do not add it all at once.
- On a floured surface, roll dough out as thin as you can with a rolling pin. Add more flour if needed when it sticks.
- Use cutter to cut the dough out and add cut outs to baking sheets. Continue to roll out dough and cut out crackers until all the dough is used up and place them on parchment lined baking sheet.
- Poke holes in each of the crackers: 2, 3, and 2.
- Brush the cracker cut outs with the egg wash and sprinkle with a kosher salt
- Bake in oven for 10 minutes in the center rack.
- Melt remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and then brush with melted butter while still hot.
- Cool and enjoy!
This recipe makes no sense! 2 c flour + 2/3 c water = sludge. There is no way to make a workable dough (that can be rolled out and cut) with the recipe as written.
P.S. I tried. What a mess
Did you include the cold butter and vegetable oil that the recipe also calls for? That will ensure the dough doesn’t turn to sludge. 🙂
I also ended up with a total mess. My dough was sludge and I used cold butter straight from the fridge. I ended up having to add an exorbitant amount of flour to the dough and they turned out really bland and honestly, just not good. What do you think I did wrong? I followed the recipe to a T and am super bummed. My kids didn’t even want to eat them and they will eat anything. Please help! I’d really like to make this successfully! 2/3 c water seemed like way way too much. Could that be the problem?
Hi Kathryn, I’m so sorry to hear that. I’m a little confused about what went wrong though, you said you had sludge but then also that there was an exorbitant amount of flour? Also, did you add the water a little bit at a time while in the food processor until the dough formed? You’ve made me realize I need to update the flour to include weights instead of just the cups because how you measure flour will make a big difference. For this recipe as with all baking recipes, you should spoon and level when measuring.
“They taste like the ones from the store”! Was my 3 year olds conclusion.
I thought my 10 year old and I rolled thin enough, but they puffed up, so thinner next time for crispier end result.
Overall, super simple, we know whats in it and tasty!!
That’s so wonderful to hear!! Thanks so much for sharing Kyersten! I just love hearing about little ones in the kitchen and learning how simple it is to make some store-bought favorites!
Hello Tracy, Yes, Bachelor approved, did they look perfect, No, do they taste great, Yes, I had no parchment paper, I spray oiled cookie sheets for the first go-round, made half batch, didn’t poke the holes as I didn’t want to try my luck, I go more on taste than appearance anyway, thanks!! they are very good, once I was satisfied of rolling the dough very thin, achieved more crisp
Great to hear, Kevin! Thanks so much for sharing!
I DEFINITELY have to work on my technique with these!!! 😐 I tried to double the recipe and ended up with biscuit crackers!! 🤦🏻♀️ Only because I don’t think that I put enough butter in the dough. I’ll try them again!! They sure tased alright to me definitely a potential for a great cracker here!!!
Oh no! Butter is definitely KEY for this, and rolling them nice and thin. They do take some work, but they’re worth it in the end!
The dough is a bit sticky to roll out, but the flavor is right on. I forgot to stick holes in the first bunch, but they were fine. I forgot to add the egg wash to the second and they reminded me more of Captain’s wafers. Third bunch is cooking now and I didn’t forget anything. I did add a bit of water to the egg so it would spread more evenly.
The crackers turned out to be very crumbly. I suspect that 3 teaspoon of baking powder for 36 crackers is a bit too much. I would not recommend using this recipe.
3 tsp baking powder to 2 cups flour is standard for recipes.
Looks a great replacement for the commercial version. Couple of oddities in the recipe though. No mention of the cookie cutter in the list of equipment. As a European I always use weight not volume they make for more accurate and repeatable results. Would be good to have grams measures in addition to tsp, tbsp, cup.
Thanks you for these notes, Trevor! Yes, I’m working on adapting the recipes to use volume, as well as you’re right, it is more accurate. Also, thanks for the equipment note – it’s added!
I need to work a bit with my technique. The flavor was very good. I tried the suggested roll, refrigerate and slice. I could not cut the dough thin enough. I think next time I will try cutting them with a cutter. They were pretty tasty with a slice of cheese. My husband thought they were delicious.
I made this dough.. and instead of rolling it out.. I made it into a couple of logs about the size of a ritz cracker.. those sat in the fridge for a day and then I thin sliced the roll , layed them on parchment paper and baked as per the recipe. I found slicing the roll easier. With a very sharp knife is slices nicely and I think the 24 hour refridgeration pumps up the ” Ritz” flavor a bit.
Ooooh genius, Bonnie!! I’m going to try that and maybe update the recipe!!!
This is a winner!! We do dirty keto and so I used my Fiber Gourmet flour. I did need to add way more water since the flour is high in fiber. I am so so happy to have found a cracker recipe that actually works with the lower carb flour. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe.
Oh this is great to hear, thanks so much for sharing Daphne and I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!
These saved our holiday, I will do anything to avoid holiday crowds at the grocery store! Thanks!
This just made my day, Rachel!! SO good to hear, thank you for letting me know!!! 😀