Oyster Crackers from Scratch…So Simple!

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oystercrackers

I’ve realized that I learned to cook so that I could eat food that’s guaranteed organic, and one of the last remaining items I can’t find in the store is organic oyster crackers—those hard-as-nails ones that it takes grown-up hands to crack into your oyster stew or clam chowder. It’s really all about the oyster stew because that soup is nothing without a good cracker.

It took a snow day for me to learn to make them and oh…my…God. I will never buy another box! They’re so easy, so delicious, and so much better than the store-bought that it makes me wonder what the F we have all been thinking for the past 50 years.

Proof they are good: Lucia ate the last one about 30 minutes after they were out of the oven, and said with calm certainty: “I think we need to make more of these.” So you might want to double the recipe. This recipe made enough for three people to eat within 30 minutes.

Oyster Crackers

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3 Tablespoons butter (cut into bits)
  • 1/3 cup warm water

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
  2. Put the flour, salt, baking powder, butter, and warm water into a bowl and mix them together.
  3. Roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut into squares (no need to be perfect; you’re just going to roll them up into balls anyway). If you want nice little squares, that works, too; that would be like a “saltine” cracker.
  4. Roll the dough into little balls and place the balls on a baking tray.
  5. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until they are golden. Let them sit in the warm oven to make sure they get baked through. (They will get bigger as they cook).

AND GUESS WHAT!?!? They are so easy to crack into bits for your soup because THEY ARE NOT STALE!

Another victory for Maria’s Farm Country Kitchen! Life is good. Even though the snow is up to my hips…

DISCLAIMER: Feeding yourself and your children organic foods may cause extreme health, healing, and happiness.

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28 Responses to Oyster Crackers from Scratch…So Simple!

  1. Yen March 9, 2015 at 6:52 am #

    You must have really good ingredients! Mind sharing? :))

  2. maria (farm country kitchen) March 9, 2015 at 9:25 am #

    just everything organic!

  3. Gail Nickel-Kailing March 9, 2015 at 12:09 pm #

    The answer to good ingredients in our house is always organic!

    I’ve got to try these, I love making crackers!

  4. Alice Green March 9, 2015 at 12:20 pm #

    I love this just for the Disclaimer alone!!

  5. Gail Nickel-Kailing March 9, 2015 at 12:32 pm #

    Maria,

    If you like making crackers try my favorite sourdough cracker recipe. I generally make a batch every weekend and they just barely make it through the week. Yummy!

    http://www.goodfoodworld.com/2013/11/sourdough-crackers-easy-and-versatile/

    Let me know what you think…

    Gail NK

  6. Donna in Delaware March 9, 2015 at 1:26 pm #

    If it works for oyster stew, I’m sure that it works for my favorite, New England clam chowder. I prefer clams to oysters, and this recipe is easy-peasy! They look yummy and crisp! We always want things quick and easy, already made, but we are more than capable of making these for ourselves. Thanks for another good organic recipe Maria, always organic, butter and all!

  7. Karen Wendt March 10, 2015 at 2:31 pm #

    Never made crackers in my life! it’s time now- these are so simple, and we eat crackers almost every day, with soup, fish, egg salad, etc. Why have I been buying them all these years, knowing the ingredients are less-than healthful?
    Thanks, Maria, for so many great recipes!
    By the way, when I was a little kid, my best friend’s father subscribed to Rodale’s ” Organic Gardening” magazine. Little did I know that as an adult (not telling how old) I would discover the computer site for y’all. And I have the original “Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening” that is The Best One!

  8. Doreen August 14, 2016 at 10:44 pm #

    I love your clam chowder recipe!! It is quick and easy and sooo delicious! I have shared it with lots of folks too!

  9. Carrie September 16, 2019 at 10:42 am #

    I am looking for a recipe to make giant oyster crackers. Does anyone here know what I’m talking about? I’m referencing when there is just one huge oyster cracker served in a cup/bowl of chowder. This version does look quite large in the photos. Has anyone tried making the big version of this recipe, or can anyone confirm the approximate diameter of these crackers? Thank you so much! Can’t wait to try this recipe!

  10. Christopher Nyland November 4, 2019 at 5:11 pm #

    I used Eincorn flour its an old single row wheat from ancients absolutly delicious with a nutty flavor more expensive but worth it!!

  11. vicki February 22, 2020 at 2:34 pm #

    been looking for a recipe like this for a long time. Absolutely love them!

  12. Nancy March 31, 2020 at 4:07 pm #

    Maria,
    Thank you for the recipe. I am looking for a recipe to replicate the old OTC oyster crackers that were almost the size of a golf ball, dense and hard. Is this the same?
    Thanks

  13. Pete Russo April 20, 2020 at 1:46 am #

    OMG, Nancy!!!! If you find a recipe that is like OTC crackers, please let me know. I’ll keep experimenting.

  14. Chambers Cheryl May 10, 2020 at 10:39 am #

    My grandmother use to stew hers once they were cracked in a casserole dish with browned butter and milk. Would you know the proportion of milk and butter? I know they were just steamed. She didn’t bake them.

  15. Caroline May 29, 2020 at 12:24 pm #

    RE OTC crackers people are commenting on: ME TOO! I want a recipe that even comes close to those, so I’ll try this one. I’ve been looking for what ended up happening to them for the last two years. OTC sold them to Panorama Foods, and now all its websites are shut down and no word on what happened to the recipe, anywhere. I wanted to know if Vermont Common Crackers or Westminster crackers were anything like OTCs but nada. From talking with someone AT OTC in Trenton many years ago, I discovered that the flour and yeast matter and when salt is added matters, and that they take many dough risings, refoldings, and triple-baking and then specially cut and “sealed” to make them hard and delicious and flaky and smashable like the old “clackers” that were banned. So — VERY time-consuming. But SO delicious.

  16. Kim June 25, 2020 at 5:28 pm #

    I’m looking for the OTC Crackers too! I was hoping to find a good recipe here. I moved to Florida and they aren’t sold here. Getting ready to vacation north and was told by my dad that they aren’t anymore. I am sad about this. It is a tradition that him and I have, eating Oyster Stew with the OTC crackers. They are the best. Anything else are just saltine.

  17. Bev July 30, 2020 at 10:20 am #

    I hope this recipe with be a good substitute for OTC crackers in various recipes. Hoping for the best outcome. Thsnks!

  18. Diana September 11, 2020 at 4:48 pm #

    Have any of you familiar with OCT Crackers tried this recipe for comparison? My mother and grandmother, Camden, NJ natives, taught me how to properly crumble the crackers in my soups and oyster stew. No mean feat for a six year old. I’d love to make a version of cracker that comes as close as possible to the original. I don’t mind extra work if I get a good product.

  19. Patty November 18, 2020 at 1:54 pm #

    I came here looking for a replica of OTC Oyster Crackers too! I’m thinking there is no (or little) butter in them and they were mildly sweetened. I am going to try to fidget with this recipe to see what I can get. Thank you to Maria for posting this! These look the closest I have seen yet!

  20. robert hipple November 27, 2020 at 11:51 am #

    OTC are no longer in production. At least not the way they used to be. Tried the recipe as is. We reduced salt by half on our second attempt and increased the bake time. That’s most likely a function of the size of the balls we made and personal preference. Also added another TBSP of butter. Thx for sharing. Love to eat them with prepared horseradish!

  21. Nancy Croll November 30, 2020 at 7:55 pm #

    These oyster crackers are the closest tasting crackers to the OTC Oyster Cracker, which you can no longer buy.

  22. Jim Gish February 14, 2021 at 5:57 pm #

    Also very sad that OTC crackers are no longer available. According to a couple year old posting from Paramount Foods, the old bakers in NY stopped making them, and they bought the equipment, but because of new health and safety guidelines could no longer use it. They had the recipe, but apparently could never get it to work properly without the original equipment to use. Growing up, these were the absolute best with oyster stew. It was always a challenge cracking them because they were so hard. You had to put two together in your palm and try to smash them against each other to crack them. I look forward to trying this recipe. The flimsy things sold everywhere as oyster crackers are pretty terrible.

  23. Mark June 13, 2021 at 2:47 pm #

    Dad and I would watch Baseball games eat w/Horesradish.The best.last I had OTC 5 years ago.Will try recipe. Thank You.

  24. Harris September 14, 2021 at 4:09 pm #

    Beauty formula. Absolutely spot on.
    Thank you so much.

  25. Denise October 8, 2021 at 10:47 am #

    Hello!
    Would this recipe work with a gluten free flour like a paleo flour blend or a nut flour?
    Thank you!
    Denise

  26. linda January 20, 2022 at 12:43 pm #

    Delicious: I used to love eating the large oyster crackers but cannot find in the stores, problem solved; thanks!!!!

  27. Jean Conley November 26, 2022 at 11:47 pm #

    I, also, am looking for a recipe for OTC, Trenton, that used to be in bowls on tables in seafood restaurants, next to jars of horseradish.( I hear it’s an East Coast thing)
    Recently, a friend gave me a bag of Taralli, which has a similar texture/crunch. Wondering if the use of white wine in a taralli recipe would create the same layering/ flakiness in the OTC. I’m gonna try it.

  28. Bob Darcy January 17, 2023 at 12:49 am #

    I just made these, and they are delicious. They remind me of buttermilk biscuits, but I haven’t let them cool completely and harden.

    I was actually trying to replicate a cracker ball that I remember from when I was a kid as Bookbinder’s Restaurant in Philadelphia. Those little balls were like jaw-breakers, and so delicious with a bit of butter smeared on them. Any suggestions for altering the recipe to get those hard balls of cracker heaven?

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