Ever miss that crunchy texture that foods like chips and crackers used to provide? This easy cheese crisps recipe will hit the snacking spot! Best of all, unlike most storebought cheese crackers, the one ingredient is 100% real food!
The next time you need a healthy alternative to crackers or a break from carrots and celery for dipping into salsa or sauces, try these! And it only takes 15 minutes and a hunk of cheese.
Cheese Crisps? Isn’t That Unhealthy?
It’s true, 100% cheese crisps certainly aren’t an everyday food, but if you are craving chips, this is a much healthier alternative!
Cheese crisps are higher in calories and fat than some other snacking choices and not recommended for the lactose intolerant. In our house, we do keep moderate amounts of raw, aged cheeses and high-fat dairy like butter, cream, and yogurt in the meal rotation. (The keywords here are “moderate” and “rotation.”)
Getting “Real” About Dairy
There’s nothing better than snacking on fresh veggies and fruit. That’s undeniable. But dairy in its most natural form — raw, organic, pastured (meaning grass-fed), and full fat — does have nutritional value and can be handled digestively by most people. Even better if it’s fermented as it’s lower in sugar and lactose and contains probiotics!
Food rotation is a key element in getting good nutrition and avoiding food allergies. When I know we are carefully choosing what and when we consume, I can feel good about indulging in things like real dairy once in a while.
As always, a good meal planning system (check out my favorite, Real Plans!) helps guard against the overconsumption of any one kind of food.
For this reason, I have kept some dairy in my favorite 200+ recipes featured in The Wellness Mama Cookbook (although dairy is rarely essential to the recipe and easily skipped if needed).
For variety, the recipes frequently call for healthy milk substitutes like almond and coconut milk.
How to Make One-Ingredient Cheese Chips
There are a few important keys to making cheese chips. The first is choosing the right cheese. You need a nice, hard, low-moisture cheese such as Parmesan (a block or shreds of it, not the grated stuff in a canister), cheddar, or asiago.
The second is a close eye. Cheese crisps go from being not-quite-done to burnt in seconds! Take them out when they’re bubbly and just starting to brown around the edges.
If your cheese crisps are too lacy and crumbling, try mixing a couple of types of cheese together. I found that a mix of Parmesan and cheddar held together better than just cheddar.
Mix It Up!
If you’re feeling ambitious and would like to add some flavor complexity to your cheese chips, try sprinkling them with spices before baking. I like them with a dash of taco seasoning and a thin slice of jalapeno. Or try a pinch of Italian seasoning.
This creative recipe puts the cheese in a muffin tin to cool so to make crisps in bowl form.
Without further ado, here’s how to get your savory umami fix from 100% real cheese crisps. It takes little prep time or cooking know-how.
100% Real Cheese Crisps Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 oz low-moisture cheese (Parmesan, asiago, or aged cheddar, freshly grated)
- ½ tsp herbs or spices (try paprika, taco seasoning, or Italian seasoning, optional)
Instructions
- Very lightly oil a cookie sheet or use a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
- Use a 1 tablespoon measure to put small piles of cheese onto the cookie sheet leaving sufficient space between for spreading.
- Sprinkle with herbs or spices if using.
- Turn the oven on 'Broil' and put the cheese in.
- Watch carefully. It may take a little practice to learn timing. When bubbles slow down slightly and at first sign of browning, it's time to take them out.
- Allow the cheese to cool slightly, then gently remove them using a thin spatula to a paper towel covered plate to cool completely.
- When cooled, use just as you would chips for snacking or dipping into homemade sauces.
- To store, wait until fully cooled and pack between layers of waxed paper in a shallow dish.
Notes
Nutrition
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Ever made cheese crisps? Have a better version to share? Do so below!
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Which rack level are you using in the oven?
What is an appropriate portion? I could eat 8 ounces in “chips.” Hahaha. They are so good!
Just a quick note from a biologist. Lactose intolerance comes from a deficiency of the enzyme (tiny machine that breaks stuff) lactase. The enzyme lactase breaks lactose into the simple sugar building blocks its made of, glucose and galactose. Lactose does not make lactase. Bacteria break down lactose via lactase to get energy which is why older cheeses are OK for lactose intolerant people. 🙂
I add chives and green onions. Spread the cheese in one heap over a cookie sheet covered in tin foil and olive oil cooking spray.