Looking for graham crackers with a clean snap and that deep molasses-and-cinnamon flavor you want in a snack, a batch of s’mores, or a pie crust? Store-bought versions are rarely both gluten-free and vegan.
Here, you stay in control of the ingredients and end up with a cracker that’s just as good for snacking as it is for turning into crumbs. Chef Rommel Reyes even likes them dipped in oat milk. You can keep going with the site’s other gluten-free cookies and sweet treats.
What are gluten-free vegan graham crackers?
These are crisp American-style crackers, adapted here for gluten-free and vegan baking. The dough is built on a blend of gluten-free flours with no gums and no tapioca starch, using psyllium as the binder instead of xanthan gum. You still get the classic Graham cracker profile of brown sugar, cinnamon, and dark molasses, with a texture crisp enough to eat as is or turn into a cookie crust.
The appeal of this homemade version is simple: it avoids the store-bought options that are often bland, or decent enough but made with ingredients that may contain gluten, dairy, or less obvious additives. Here, the flour-and-starch blend keeps things simpler by avoiding heavily processed thickeners and stabilizers.
The main ingredients
The starting point is a gum-free, tapioca-free gluten-free flour blend. It contains sorghum flour, finely milled white rice flour, chickpea flour, potato starch, and psyllium powder. The psyllium acts as a binder in place of xanthan gum, giving the dough enough structure to roll out and cut cleanly.
For the fat, you have two options: olive oil or vegan butter. Both work well, but they give slightly different results.
Olive oil makes a lighter cracker with a more neutral flavor, and it’s a good choice if you avoid plant-based butter. Vegan butter gives a richer, creamier flavor that’s closer to a classic Graham cracker, along with a crisper texture, which is especially useful if you plan to turn it into a pie crust.
For the sugar, this recipe uses muscovado. It’s less refined than many other sugars and contains more molasses, which adds moisture and a lightly smoky sweetness. Brown sugar also works well: it’s a common alternative for this type of cracker, with a more balanced sweetness and a crisper texture.
For the syrup, molasses is the preferred choice. It gives the crackers their expected dark color and robust flavor, with a deep, almost smoky sweetness, and it stays close to the ingredient’s natural character, with no additives. Dark sugar syrup can be used instead: it’s still dark and full-bodied enough for the recipe, but milder than molasses. If you want a sweeter, more subtle flavor, that’s the one to choose.
Technical notes and pitfalls to avoid
Measure this dough by weight, using metric units. With this kind of gluten-free cracker, precision matters even more than it does with a standard dough.
Mix gently
Whisk together all the dry ingredients: gluten-free flour, psyllium, muscovado, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Add the molasses, oat milk, and olive oil. Mix with a spatula or by hand just until the dough comes together into a ball. If you’re using a mixer, use the paddle attachment and stop as soon as the dough forms clumps.
Chill before rolling
Divide the dough into two discs before chilling; they’ll be easier to handle later. Wrap them in plastic wrap, then refrigerate for at least 45 minutes, or longer if needed. This chilling time mainly helps you roll out a gluten-free dough neatly.
Rolling and cutting
Roll each well-chilled disc between two sheets of parchment paper. Aim for a thickness of about 4 mm, then cut into 5 × 5 cm squares. That size gives you evenly shaped crackers that bake uniformly.
Bubbles, cold dough, and baking surface
Normally, you would prick each square with a fork to keep it from puffing up in the oven. But that step isn’t necessary if you bake the dough while it’s still cold. It’s also not needed if you bake on a perforated silicone mat, which already helps the dough stay flatter.
Baking
While the cut crackers chill in the refrigerator, preheat the oven to 175°C. Keep the cut dough cold during that time. Then arrange the crackers on the baking sheet, leaving space between them, and bake for 13 to 15 minutes. The right visual cue is an even golden color.
After baking
Let the crackers cool completely before using them. While they’re still warm, they haven’t quite reached their final texture, especially if you want to eat them as they are or crush them into crumbs for a crust.
You’ll also find this recipe in my vegan recipe collection.
Recipe developed by Chef Rommel Reyes. Find his work on Instagram, his Substack newsletter, and his YouTube channel.
Ingredients
- 450 g gum-free gluten-free flour blend
- 10 g psyllium powder
- 80 g muscovado sugar
- 3 g ground cinnamon
- 10 g baking powder
- 4 g salt
- 60 g molasses organic
- 150 g oat milk
- 80 g olive oil
Instructions
Prepare the cracker dough
- In a bowl, whisk together the gluten-free flour blend, psyllium powder, muscovado sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt.
- Add the molasses, oat milk, and olive oil. Mix with a spatula or by hand until the dough forms a ball. If using a stand mixer, mix with the paddle attachment until the dough comes together.
- Divide the dough into two discs, wrap them in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes, or longer.
Cut and bake
- Roll out each chilled disc between two sheets of parchment paper to a thickness of about 4 mm. Cut the dough into 5×5 cm squares, then prick each square with a fork to keep them from puffing up. This step is not necessary if you bake the dough straight from the refrigerator.
- Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F) while the cut cracker dough chills in the refrigerator.
- Arrange the cut crackers on the baking sheet, leaving a little space between them. Bake for 13-15 minutes, until golden.
- Let the crackers cool completely before using.
