Cheese crisps are a fantastic appetizer or snack! Low carb, gluten free cheese crisps with a Tex Mex, jalapeno flare. These healthier baked crisps are simple to make with minimal ingredients. Can be made mild or super spicy. You choose!
Certain things happen when you marry a foreigner. Like… you introduce them to Texmex and they become obsessed! Like…. you tell them about how cheez-its were you childhood favorite and they look at you funny. “Cheese crisps?” No no no no. I mean cheez-its! The crispy cheese cracker.
And finally, you totally forget about football. Yes, this Texas girl rarely watches it. In fact, if you came to our house on a Sunday, you’d probably see swimming, rugby, or cycling on TV.
That being said, we’re still into game day festivities! But we are also that couple who will attend or host football watching parties just to visit and eat good food. Tex Mex food, spicy food (ahem… like my Chipotle chili), and all things snacky/appetizers! Or what this chips and salsa loving husband of mine calls “nibbles.” Sorry, real Kiwi Cotter confessions here ya’ll.
But here’s my problem. I think too much about these situations. You see, I love making game day foods and appetizers, but I’m also a people pleaser. Ugh, the death of me. Should I bring a healthy appetizer? Oh but maybe someone eats low carb and grain free? Wait, I can’t eat anything with gluten (not to mention high in lactose), but I know someone will want cheesy comfort food. Or maybe paleoish and not as spicy, etc? Come on, you know you’ve been in that same situation! The trying to please everyone but totally failing situation.
So here’s what I do (nowadays). I tell my brain to chill out and just make something I knew most people would enjoy and is pretty healthy. But more importantly, AMAZINGLY delicious and gluten free. Because if they don’t eat it, we will take it home and devour the rest, ya know?
Hence these low carb baked jalapeno cheese crisps! Flipping amazing!
Simple to make. Grain free, easy to make spicy or not spicy, easy to adjust for those needing lower lactose options. Oh and only 5 ingredients, in other words cost effective! Can I get a high five?!!!
How to make extra crispy cheese crisps
The key to making these chips extra crispy is to bake your jalapenos slices first. Leave the seeds in if you want them SPICY or cut the seeds out if you want them less spicy. Coast with a little onion salt, oil, and pepper.
Once they are done baking, you simply wrap them around a natural cheese slice, place on baking tray with parchment paper, and bake again. Less than 10 minutes!
Now… the CHEESE is important here. I found the best cheeses to use are the ones that are more naturally aged. And if they are more aged they are also lower in lactose. This is because the aging process kills off that lactose sugar along with the whey. Only a little is left and it’s turned into lactic acid. Haha, I knew you wanted to know that, right? Nerd alert! For a complete list low lactose cheese –>FODMAP living.
I use sandwich sliced provolone, parmesan, and havarti in this cheese crisps recipe. All work great, and um… YUM!
How to make baked cheese crisps
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EASY Baked Jalapeno Cheese Crisps
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 20-25 crisps 1x
Description
Easy Baked Jalapeno Cheese Crisps! Low carb gluten free cheese crisps with a Tex-Mex flare! These healthier baked crisps are simple to make with minimal ingredients. Plus can be made mild or super spicy. You choose! One of our favorite appetizers and snacks.
Ingredients
- 5 medium jalapenos
- 2–3 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp onion salt or powder
- 6 –8 one ounce naturally aged cheese slices. (parmesan works best, but swiss, provolone, havarti all work too. See notes for the cooking times.
- pepper
- tabasco or ranch sauce for dipping
- parchment paper
Instructions
- preheat oven to 450F
- Slice your jalapeno into thin slices. About half an inch thick. Make sure to cut out seeds if you don’t want them spicy.
- Toss jalapeno slices with olive oil and onion powder or onion salt, pepper, and arrange flat on baking tray with parchment paper.
- Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until jalapeno slices are crispier. This is why it’s important to cut them think. If you cut thicker they will take long to bake.
- Next remove jalapenos and let cool. blot jalapenos with towel so you remove extra oil.
- Place your oven at 400F now. Then Re-line your baking tray with parchment paper.
- Take half of your cheese slice and cut in half or into 2-3 pieces. You can also just pull them apart into pieces. .
- Fold it around the jalapeno slice/ring. Make sure it’s still flat. Not a ball.
- Place on baking sheet with parchment paper. Repeat until you have used up all your slices.
- Bake at 400 degrees F. for about 6-7 minutes or until cheese is crispy. Provolone and Havarti take around 10 minutes or so to bake crispy. Just depends on oven. Be sure to check after 5 minutes so they don’t burn.
- Remove from oven, let cool, then season with more pepper/sea salt if desired.
- Serve with tabasco or ranch sauce. It’s great!
Notes
- Storage – once cooked and cooled, keep in an airtight container.
- Certain cheese will take longer in oven to get crispy. Parmesan bakes fastest. Check after 6 minutes or so.
- Nutrition is based on using Parmesan cheese. If you use a higher fat cheese, the calories will be higher.
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 20 min
- Category: appetizers
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3 cheese crisps
- Calories: 36
- Sodium: 62.2mg
- Fat: 3g
- Saturated Fat: 1.4
- Carbohydrates: 0.3g
- Fiber: 0.1
- Protein: 1.8g
- Cholesterol: 4.9 mg
Keywords: cheese crisps, easy appetizers, low carb snacks
So .. will you still invite me to your football parties even though we don’t watch football? I promise to bring food! Snacks an apps are on me!!
Did you grow up on Cheez-its? Or some other cheese crisps? Tell me I’m not alone here.
Happy Football Watching weekend (for you at least). Stay warm!
Cheers,
These were absolutely delicious. I tipped them off with some homemade keto friendly ranch. Made with Havarti. Quick/easy/delicious!
★★★★★
oh love the ranch idea. And love havarti with this. Nice touch!
Great recipes…easy to follow…and yummy!
★★★★★
Wonderful! So glad Thomas. Thanks for feedback.
Made this twice and LOVED them – big hit with our low carb, gluten free friends, too.
Ok, so this looks amazing, but it says dairy free yet it has cheese in it! Im just a little confused…
How can I mix Nutritional Yeast to make it like cheese to make this recipe?
Thanks <3
Hi Andrijana! I think I missed where it said Dairy fee. Was it a typo? The cheese I use is aged hard cheese which is low lactose. Hope that helps!
Can you share the recipe for that delish looking dipping sauce in the video?!
So I actually just mixed together thick ranch and cholula sauce. Haha! so good!
How can someone not love cheese chips? They are so versatile and super easy to make. I love to dip them in guacamole or use as a crust for my pizza bites
OMG pizza crust, genius! So trying.
Would jalapeño slices from a jar work?
I haven’t tried it, but you could! Just make sure they are very dry before you cook them. If they are not crispy when you cook them the first time, then they might not work in the chips. Does that make sense?
An inexpensive way to make cheese crisps. The store-bought ones are crazy expensive. Your photos look awesome and make food look so tasty
Hi
where do you find sliced parmesan cheese?
thanks
You can use shredded Parmesan or even sliced white cheddar. Baking times just vary. Does that make sense?
Hi
me again it seems 1/2 inch slicess seem like they would be too thick the pics look like they are about 1/4 inch thicks
I want to make this for this weekend
thanks
I think they are somewhere right between. If you slice too thin they burn fast. You can slice thin 1/4 in and just monitor the baking time. Does that make sense? Keep me posted if so!
These look delicious. I have a question about using Parmesan cheese. I have never seen it as a “slice”. When you use Parmesan, do you simply used a mound of grated cheese to cover the jalapeno slices as opposed to wrapping them in a slice of cheese? Thanks!
you can get a wedge of parmesan and thinly slice it, if that makes sense? Sorry I should have specified that. or, what i do, is grab a bunch of shredded parmesan, stick a spoon full on the on coated baking sheet, add jalapeno slice, then a little parmesan on top. More like a crispy. Let me know if that helps!
Thanks for this recipe!! I am diabetic, so I can’t really eat chips anymore but these just might fill the hole when craving them. Can you tell me how many chips are in a serving for the food counts. And thanks for including food counts too!
so glad it could help Jackie!
These look insane! I am definitely making these for my next football Sunday Appetizer!
Yes, so good! keep me posted Julie. And just FYI, parmesan and cheddar have the shortest baking time. The other cheeses may take a little longer and different texture. It’s fun to try all kinds though!
Did you make the dip that is in the picture? If so, what is it?
So I actually just combined a Greek yogurt ranch dressing with Tabasco! It was delish! Haha
so i made these but they were not crispy anymore the second day after stored in a rubbermaid container. 🙁 any ideas why?
Oh no. What cheese did you use? How thick of slices?
SO excited to make these! I have a couple of questions…the recipe calls for 6-8 slices which when cut in half make 12-14 pieces to wrap around the jalapenos. But the recipe makes 20-25 crisps? Am I reading it wrong? Also, in your photo with the jalapenos it looks like something chunky is on the jalapenos…like pieces of garlic or chunks of grated parm? Love your blog as a new gluten-free eater there are so many options! 🙂
12-16*
Oh so sorry! Must have mistyped that! Or it changed when I moved recipe. So you want to tear cheese into half or 3 pieces depending on the size of the slices. If you tear into 3 you will get 20-25. I’ll update that. Thanks! And yes I added garlic on top. My personal touch hehe. Glad to connect! Keep me posted on always here to help!
Oh and yes I added a bit of Parmesan on sliced jalapeños before baking separate but it’s not needed. Made my extra cheesy! Lol
Can I come to your party, I’ll hang out with you in the kitchen! Haha!
Had to laugh and the cheese-its. We often have those moments with my father in law who didn’t come to the US until he was in college. Although at this point I tell him he has been here longer than he lived there, has raised 6 kids, he just can’t use that excuse anymore.
This looks delicious. I wonder how many I would “test” before the dish made it to the table?
as many as you want! hehe
I was wondering how many are in a serving based on your fact panel?
Just updated! The nutrition is based on using parmesan cheese for 3 chips. If you use richer/higher fat cheese, this is basically 1 to maybe 2 chips nutrition. Does that make sense?
These might just be the best snacks I have ever seen!! What an amazing idea! Football seems to always be on here, I swear it seems like it’s on year round sometimes! I’m ok with it as long as I get to eat delicious snacks like this while I watch it 🙂
haha i so agree! but at least there’s a party for it! right?
Can you tell me the exact cheese you used, ppppppllllleeeeaaaassssseee
I used sandwich slices of provolone and a spicy havarti. Just pulled pieces apart. You can use cheddar or parmesan too!
let me know if that helps! or just message me on IG
I’m SO happy I found your blog! I’m gluten free and low-lactose as well. My family thinks I’m making up the dairy issue when they see me eating a hard, aged cheese. I feel less alone now! 🙂 And I’m definitely making these for the big game. They look awesome!
I’m so glad too! Let me know how i can help in anyway!
Um I don’t care about football either but I would love it if you brought these. It’s nice to see a little cheesy goodness (pun intended) making it’s way back into your life.
Did you know buttermilk is low lactose too? It’s great for people with dairy issues.
It’s a funny thing, some cheese doesn’t affect me. AND PRAISE GOD for that! Love you.
These look outrageously good and I’m totally making them
call me when they are ready. 🙂
This is absolutely brilliant. I am with you about wanting to socialize during the game. Our serious football friends won’t hang out with us on game day as a result. Ha ha.
haha well we can party together any time then!
Lady, you are flippin brilliant. I am a cheese lover through and through, and the idea of having a browned, crispy piece of cheese with a little kick from the jalapeno to dip into sounds like heaven.
totally… heaven in chip and cheese form! LOL!
Love this idea! Its like the little bit that melts out of a grilled cheese that gets all crispy (i.e.. the best bit), except its all the BEST BIT! YUMMY!
We call them nibbles in the UK too! 🙂
I’m trying to remember what we grew up on, didn’t have cheese its… And you only got special things like ritz crackers at Christmas! Oh actually I do remember, we had these crackers called tuc biscuits… You could have them plain or sandwiched between this cheesy thick filling… They were really buttery and salty… Awesome!
You are a genius!!!! 🙂
I grew up a crackerholic!!! Cheez-its, wheat thins, triscuits, ritz & all of them! I was fat! No crackers in the house here even after all these years! 🙂
oooooweee! These look so yummy!
★★★★★
It works for me now – yay! And I’m making these for the Super Bowl. I love crispy cheese and HEAT.
I used to stuff a ton of cheese-itz in my mouth during the school day haha. These look like so much more fun, without all the crap that’s in those little square crackers, hehe! Great recipe, my friend.
YUMMMM! These sound amazing and SPICY!! Love that you didn’t use any breading, the cheese is the best part anyway!!
I know, right? Even better! I think you’d love friend!
My fiance would absolutely LOVE these!!
So ..seeing y’all are that couple “who will …host football watching parties just to (share) good food” I’m hopping a plan and coming over as I am THAT GAL THAT attends football watching parties just to EAT ALL the good food”! 🙂
I did not grow up on cheese-its or cheesy anything – it just wasn’t that prevalent in Sri Lankan cuisine – but gawwwsh – do I wish I grew up on these!
Hop a flight!!!
Crispy baked cheese is the best cheese. I was never a fan of Cheez-Its, but I would definitely eat these!
These are so darn simple! And since I’m all about the spice and jalapeños, they are calling my name. Delish!
I’m pretty hit or miss when it comes to jalapeños. I can’t handle super spicy very well, and jalapeños are kinda like a box of chocolates…you never know what you’re gonna get. Lol! These definitely sound and look amazing!
I love when you bring back childhood food memories…Cheez-its were amazing as were the cheesy goldfish…LOL!
Yes! childhood memories are the best, right?
Perfect football food, but my family may make these with Serrano Peppers! Ha ha ha!
★★★★
OMG my husband would love that
These are so creative, Lindsay! Look so tasty!
thanks friend! can you beer soup go with it? that’s what you make, right?
Ohhhhh man. If these were at a party, I would probably just ninja the whole plate and claim it as my own. SO tasty. I don’t remember growing up on Cheez Its, but I did eat a tonne of cheese puff things that weren’t Cheetos but similar. Gotta love that fake cheesy flavour 😆
I’d make them with no seeds for you! not spicy. xxoo
i literally can’t get over this crispy, cheesy, spicy goodness. I wish I came over your house for the Super Bowl!
COME!!!
This looks simply awesome…simply loved it…
★★★★★
thanks Puja!
My gaaaaw I want these to be my snack/dinner every single day! Loving the idea of sharing these with friends at a Super Bowl party. I’ll need to resist the temptation to hoard them to myself 😉
it was quite hard to share. LOL!
Seriously who would not love this?! Crispy cheesy spicy goodness!
i don’t know… crazy people; LOL!
I’m not a big cheese person but I am a huge baked crusty cheese person (best part of a lasagna) and you know I love me some jalapenos so these would be a yes. I have a limited attention span, so it depends on the game. But normally? Not that involved.
ohhh we should make lasagna cheese crisps next!
I don’t care what is on the TV if things like this are on the table! These looks so good! I love something with a good kick and of course so do most people at these sport parties! The sports aren’t good without the food 😉
haha, you know my brain and my thinking. —> SAME
I’m always over cooking when people come over. I want there to be something for everyone. It’s just the inner mom in me I guess!
i get it! but I bet I they appreciate you so much! <3