The Homemade Cheez-it

These are, quite frankly, a little TOO awesome.  This is basically just a little homemade cheese cracker that makes for an incredible substitute for the typical run-o-the-mill junk food cracker.  No white flour, no hydrogenated oils, no synthetic vitamins and minerals, no artificial colors, no MSG, no high-fructose corn syrup, no other weird flavorings… Just pure cheese. 

To make homemade cheese crackers or “frico,” simply add shredded cheese of any kind to a non-stick pan, cook on fairly high heat until brown on one side, flip, cook a little longer, and then cut into squares while they are still hot.  As you’ll see in the video, they are best when they are not totally darkened in the pan but just lightly browned and cut before they start to cool and crispen. 

This is a formidable weapon to be used against any snack attack. 

Published in: on September 14, 2010 at 7:44 am  Comments (16)  
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16 CommentsLeave a comment

  1. so i just tried to make this and as i suspected, b/c i’ve tried the frico before and it didn’t turn out either, this one just turned into an oily mess. are you using cheddar in this video? i didn’t have pre shredded cheese so i shredded some OV sharp cheddar. maybe i didn’t use enough? i’m going to get some cheaper shredded cheese today to try it again, but man that’s disappointing!

    • Yep,had the same experience. Oily mess all the way… is it a special kind of cheese? I’ve used self-grated hard cheese ( Greyerzer ). Please help, because it looks so delicious…

      • I think you might have to experiment with different cheeses. Real parmigiano reggiano seems to be the most reliable and is best when baked. We’ll figure out what went awry and hopefully get this figured out so you and Amanda can get down on this.

    • It’s a cheese blend. I’ve tried several including straight parmigiano. I imagine as long as you get it browned enough it will come out okay. Some cheeses are very oily though. I actually saved this grease, lol, and and refer to it as “cheese squeezins.” Baking it will make it come out a little drier as well. I may try that next week and do a video for comparison.

  2. My kids and I do just this when we want a quick snack. The kids like to leave the cheese gooey on the inside, then they can play with it like pizza cheese. 🙂 I like getting it good and crisp and don’t bother cutting into pieces – it doesn’t last long enough to go through the trouble. lol

  3. I went to the grocery sto today and bought some cheese. I made this for my sexy pregnant wife and she loved it. Thanks Stoner.

  4. Holy mother of pearl this is awesome!

  5. Doh! I should have read the comments before trying this myself with fresh grated med. cheddar. Oily mess, indeed. The cheese still tasted good, but not crispy or brown. There must be something special about pre-grated cheeses, like the corn starch that is added. Must get some!

  6. Hi Matt – Long time reader, first time poster.
    Love your recipes! Frico is amazing. I learned about it working at a fine dining Italian restaurant here in LA.

    p.s. why is there an ad for Spam on your website?

    • An ad for Spam on my site? That’s news to me! Hilarious though if it’s showing up on your computer though I will say.

  7. Matt, my family and I make the same basic thing, only we fry the shredded or sliced cheese in butter, using a cast iron skillet (no non-stick in my kitchen!). Best snack ever!

    • Even better! However, in the past I’ve always baked shredded cheese on a silpat nonstick baking sheet, which is pretty awesome too.

  8. I’ve been making frico for some time now. It is always delish! I use different kinds of cheese, sometimes cheddar, sometimes Monterey jack and Colby. I make it in a cast iron skillet. A traditional cheese to use is Montasio, but since I can’t find it, I just use what I have. Don’t do it with Swiss. It’s terrible! I do not add anything, no oil or butter. Enough oil comes out of the cheese for it to not stick to the skillet. If you are coming up with an oily mess, you are not cooking it long enough or are using the wrong cheese. Soft cheese won’t work.

  9. That. Is. Awesome. Not as tempting as fried chicken skins, but possibly the next best quick snack. I’m so going to try this with some fresh herbs.

    Only problem is, since I like cheese on crackers, what exactly do I have if I try to eat cheese on these?

  10. OK this looks totally awesome before the video I thought I don’t know about this but after the video. I thought, I think I want to try this right now I am not even hungry and it is 11:00 at night. But i think I love these already.

  11. […] meal, garnish the soup, or any soup for that matter while you’re at it, with the famous 180 Homemade Cheez-it. Published […]


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