Collagen Thins: THM All-Fuels GF/DF/EG/NF

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Collagen Thins are the new Wheat Thins or Nut Thins! And are keto, high-protein, gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, corn-free, nut-free, seed-free and THM All-Fuels!

Finally a truly GUILT-FREE and HEALTHY crispy cracker (or chip!) that you can have in Keto or ANY THM fuel settings! Instead of being made of gluten, nuts, seeds or cheese, Collagen Thins are mostly made of – you guessed it – COLLAGEN!

In case you haven’t heard, Collagen is an amazing SUPERFOOD! It’s high in protein and gut-healing properties! It’s also great for the joints and for healthy hair, skin and nails! But it’s also zero carb and low calorie and great in baked goods, like these Collagen Thins!

Collagen Thins are also high-fiber and essentially zero net carb!

These crispy snacks are full of protein and fiber but without the fat and carbohydrates! Like collagen, oat fiber and psyllium are also essentially zero net carb because they are basically pure fiber – which is great for digestion/healthy weight and keeps you full longer between meals. And they’re also extremely low calorie! One serving (equal to about 16 crackers) is only 62 calories, 0.6g fat, 0.2g net carbs (7.8g fiber) but has 12g protein! It doesn’t get much better than that!

Are Collagen Thins *exactly* like “regular” crackers?

The short answer – no. These are not *exactly* like empty calorie “regular” crackers. After all, they use far from “regular” ingredients and are actually nutrient-dense and allergen-friendly. But they are crispy and satisfying with a hearty savory flavor. I personally LOVE them! And I’m really not just saying that; I make these ALL.THE.TIME! My favorite way to make them is saltine-style and have them with natural peanut butter. SOOO.GOOD!!! And I love that they basically have no carbs/fat/calories of their own – though are a good source of protein – so they really are guilt-free snacking at its best!

And, while they are really easy to make, they may take a couple tries to perfect. But don’t give up on them – they really are worth it! The key is to get the dough as thin as possible. Different ingredient brands will require slightly different amounts of water. So, while I now always make double batches, start with a single batch first until you get a feel for what works best with your specific ingredient brands.

How to make Collagen Thins:

These are super easy to make and are mostly made in the blender! Measure the water and oil/fat into your blender and, with the blender on low, slowly add in your mixed dry ingredients. Once all the dry ingredients are added, put on the blender lid and turn on high. After a few seconds, turn your blender off and scrape down the sides and then turn the blender back on. The batter should blend for about a total of 30 seconds. After blending, add (by hand) any herbs or seasonings that you’d like such as garlic powder, nutritional yeast, etc.

I find that these crackers work with either baking soda or baking powder (or both). I prefer using baking soda for crackers and baking powder for chips. Or you could use mixture of both for something in between.

Now, if you’ve made other cracker recipes before, you will notice this batter is not thick enough to roll and cut. But, don’t worry, the batter should be thin/pourable like pancake batter (and will have the texture of applesauce). We will cut them into squares later. In my opinion, these are actually easier to make than other crackers!

Ready to bake!

So you’ll notice on the recipe card that I recommend using either a silicone mat along with parchment paper or two pieces of parchment paper. Let me explain.

As noted, this cracker batter is very “wet” and cannot be rolled/cut like other crackers doughs. What I find works best for me (and you might find something that works better for you) is to place a silicone mat in my sheet pan and then lay a piece of parchment paper on top of it. This is so, half way through baking, I can flip the parchment paper over onto my silicone mat/other parchment paper and peel the parchment paper (the one the cracker batter is stuck to) off of the cracker dough (to allow the underside to dry/crisp better).

Now we are ready to bake! I pour my cracker batter onto the parchment paper and spread it as thin as possible into a rectangular shape.

I spread the batter the best that I can with my rubber spatula and then go back with wet fingers (to keep batter from sticking) to fill in any gaps or bare spots. If topping with seeds, you can add them at this time.

It’s then ready to put into the 350* oven. Overall, the crackers will bake for 30-40 minutes total (longer for double batch). But, of course this will vary, depending on thickness of dough, pan, oven, etc. You’ll want to be around in the kitchen as these bake, as we will need to do a couple steps during their bake time. I usually have my timer counting up instead of down for this recipe.

At the 5-7 minute mark of baking:

Around the 5-7 minute mark of their baking time, when the batter starts to puff up a little and starts resembling more of a dough than a batter, briefly take the pan out of the oven.

It’s now time to prick the dough with a fork, making small holes to allow the crackers to dry/crisp better. I work near the sink for this so that I can wet the tips of the fork in between each row of pricks to keep dough from sticking to the fork. I also like to sprinkle a little sea salt on top at this time (like saltines) and then return the pan to the oven.

At the 20-23 minute mark of baking:

Then, around the 20-23 minute mark of baking, when the dough starts to brown a little around the edges and the surface of the dough is mostly dry, we briefly take them out of the oven again.

Using hot mitts to protect my hands, I take the parchment paper (the one on top with the crackers stuck to it) and flip it upside down onto my silicone mat/other parchment paper. Then I gently attempt to peel the parchment paper off of the underside of the cracker dough. If the dough still seems too wet and is clinging too much, put the pan back into the oven for a couple more minutes and try again (you can keep dough upside down).

After the parchment paper is removed and the bottom of the crackers are now facing up, we can now attempt to cut our crackers. Again, make sure to wear oven mitts to protect your hands (though the pan will cool down after few minutes). I use kitchen shears (keep blades wet to prevent dough from sticking) to cut mine. If dough still seems too wet/delicate, put back in oven for a couple more minutes and try again.

For crackers, I cut my dough into 32 squares/rectangles (can make smaller, too). For crispbread, I cut into 8 rectangles. You could also cut into triangles to make tortilla chips.

I then make sure my crackers are well-spaced (ie not overlapping) and return them to the oven.

I let them bake upside down for about 5-10 minutes and then flip them right side up again and return to the oven to finish baking.

If you have a food dehydrator:

If you have a food dehydrator, feel free to transfer them to it to finish drying/crisping once they have browned to your preference. But I personally don’t let mine get too brown or they will taste burned/bitter. Therefore, I wouldn’t recommend baking them at 350* for more than 40 minutes total (or 60 minutes for a double batch). I remove mine from the oven when they no longer look “wet” and are firm/becoming crisp.

I have an Excalibur 9-tray dehydrator but you don’t need a dehydrator to make these crackers. If they are still not dry/crisp to your liking after 40 total minutes (I let my timer keep counting, even when cutting crackers, etc), turn your oven down as low as it will go (mine goes to 170*) and continue baking until fully dry/crisp. They also crisp up more as they cool on the pan after baking.

Storing Collagen Thins

When baked to your liking, take out of oven/dehydrator to cool. Then store in air-tight containers or baggies. These can be stored at room temperature and should keep as long as any other homemade crackers. They’re so yummy, though, that they probably won’t be around long enough to get stale. At least mine aren’t anyway! 😋

Way to enjoy Collagen Thins

These are so versatile, y’all! Especially since they can be enjoyed in ANY THM fuel setting and are allergen-friendly! Add any herbs/seasonings/seeds/etc that you want!

Use them as you would use any crackers/chips: in dips (like this hummus!), with cheese or nut/seed butters (my personal fave is with natural peanut butter 😋), as crispbread, in soups or on salads, with nachos (like with DF cheese sauce in THF) or salsa, etc! Crackers/chips are BACK, y’all!!!

Helpful tools for making Collagen Thins:

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