The short answer
Most crackers are low in saturated fat: 14 of the 16 we compared had 2g or less per 30g. The ones to watch are made with palm oil or cheese. For high cholesterol, pick a wholegrain cracker or rye crispbread, and keep an eye on what goes on top: 30g of cheddar adds about 6.5g.
Lowest in saturated fat in our table:
- Ryvita Dark Rye and Wasa Original crispbreads (UK): 0.1g per 30g, wholegrain rye
- Triscuit Original and Wheat Thins Original (US): 0g on the label, wholegrain wheat
- Ryvita Multigrain (UK): 0.2g
- Mary's Gone Crackers Original (US): 0.5g, wholegrain rice and quinoa with seeds
Jacob's High Fibre Cream Crackers (2.7g) and Jacob's Mini Cheddars (3.4g) were the highest.
Label data only, not medical advice
This ranking compares what each pack's nutrition label says about saturated fat and sugar. It isn't a health rating of any brand, and no cracker here is a cholesterol-lowering food. Recipes change, so check the label on the pack you buy. If your doctor or dietitian has given you specific limits, follow those.
16 crackers ranked by saturated fat
Every cracker is compared on the same 30g serving, the US reference amount for crackers. That's about 3 Ryvita or Wasa crispbreads, 6 Triscuits, 9 Ritz or 4 Jacob's cream crackers. "Wholegrain" means wholegrain flour or grain comes first in the ingredients. Bands: Better 2g or less per serving, Occasional over 2g up to 4.5g, Treat over 4.5g. No cracker reached the Treat band.
| Triscuit Original | 0g | Yes | Better |
| Wheat Thins Original | 0g | Yes | Better |
| Club Original | 0g | No | Better |
| Premium Original Saltines | 0g | No | Better |
| Ryvita Dark Rye Crispbread | 0.1g | Yes | Better |
| Wasa Original Crispbread | 0.1g | Yes | Better |
| Ryvita Multigrain Crispbread | 0.2g | Yes | Better |
| Simple Mills Fine Ground Sea Salt Almond Flour Crackers | 0.5g | Grain-free | Better |
| Mary's Gone Crackers Original | 0.5g | Yes | Better |
| Goldfish Cheddar | 1.1g | No | Better |
| Nairn's Organic Oatcakes | 1.1g | Yes | Better |
| Cheez-It Original | 1.8g | No | Better |
| Ritz Original | 1.9g | No | Better |
| Jacob's Cream Crackers | 1.9g | No | Better |
| Jacob's High Fibre Cream Crackers | 2.7g | No | Occasional |
| Jacob's Mini Cheddars | 3.4g | No | Occasional |
Nutrition data from Open Food Facts, available under the Open Database License (ODbL). Product names link to each product's Open Food Facts page.
What the ranking shows
- The oil makes the difference. Crackers made with canola, sunflower or soybean oil, such as Triscuit, Wheat Thins and Goldfish, had little saturated fat. Jacob's Cream Crackers and Mini Cheddars are made with palm oil, which is about half saturated fat, and had 6.3 and 11.4g per 100g.
- "High fibre" isn't the same as wholegrain. Jacob's High Fibre Cream Crackers get their fibre from added inulin, pea fibre and wheat bran, with white wheat flour as the main ingredient, and had more saturated fat than the original (9g against 6.3g per 100g).
- Rye crispbreads are in a league of their own. Ryvita and Wasa are little more than wholegrain rye flour, water and salt, with almost no fat at all.
- Cheese crackers carry some of the cheese's fat. Cheez-It (1.8g), and above all Mini Cheddars (3.4g), had more than plain crackers. Goldfish, made with canola, sunflower or soybean oil, had 1.1g.
- US labels round. US Nutrition Facts round saturated fat under 0.5g per serving down to 0g, so the four US crackers showing 0g could have up to about 0.5g in 30g. UK labels give per 100g figures to one decimal place.
How to choose a cracker
- Look for wholegrain first in the ingredients. Wholegrain wheat, rye, oats or brown rice. Wholegrain foods are linked with a lower risk of heart disease, and they keep you fuller.
- Check the oil. Palm oil and "palm fruit oil" add saturated fat; rapeseed (canola), sunflower and olive oil add much less.
- Then check the saturates line. In the UK, 1.5g or less per 100g counts as low and more than 5g per 100g as high. In the US, look at saturated fat per serving and the serving size, which varies from 14 to 31g between brands.
- Mind the salt. Crackers can be salty. In the UK, the front-of-pack traffic light makes it easy to compare.
- Choose the topping as carefully as the cracker. Hummus, smoked mackerel, cottage cheese or light soft cheese add far less saturated fat than butter, pâté or a slab of cheddar.
Top them for less
Our low-cholesterol snacks guide includes white bean hummus with oatcakes and sardines on rye crispbread. Want cheese on top? Our lowest saturated fat cheese ranking shows which ones add the least.
Check any cracker before you buy it
Scan any product’s barcode in Heart Tracker to see its saturated fat per serving, then log your portion to see how it fits into your day alongside your cholesterol results.
Download Heart Tracker FreeHow we ranked them
We picked best-selling crackers and crispbreads in the US and UK, from Ritz and Triscuit to Jacob's, Ryvita and oatcakes, and took each one's nutrition data from Open Food Facts, an open database built from product labels. To catch mistakes, we compared each product's current record with an earlier copy and left out any where the saturated fat, fat or sugar didn't match. That excluded five records, including Carr's Table Water biscuits, Ryvita Crackerbread and Nairn's Rough Oatcakes. We also left out records whose per 100g figures were really per serving, a common error for US products.
All crackers are compared on 30g, calculated from the per 100g values. Percentages are of 13g, the American Heart Association's suggested daily limit for saturated fat on a 2,000 calorie diet. The NHS upper limit is 20g a day for women and 30g for men. The full dataset and the script that builds it are kept with this page and refreshed periodically.
Crackers and cholesterol: quick answers
What crackers are good for high cholesterol?
By saturated fat on the label, rye crispbreads such as Ryvita Dark Rye and Wasa Original (0.1g per 30g), and wholegrain crackers such as Triscuit and Wheat Thins (0g on the US label), were lowest in our comparison. Most crackers had under 2g per 30g, so choose wholegrain, avoid palm oil, and watch what you put on top.
Are Triscuits good for cholesterol?
Triscuit Original is made from whole grain wheat, canola oil and salt, and its US label shows 0g of saturated fat per 6-cracker serving (US labels round anything under 0.5g down to 0). It was one of the lowest crackers in our table.
Are Ritz crackers bad for cholesterol?
Ritz Original had 1.9g of saturated fat per 30g (about 9 crackers), which is under 15% of a 13g daily limit. That is higher than wholegrain crackers and crispbreads, and Ritz is made with refined flour, so it is better as an occasional choice than an everyday one.
Are oatcakes good for high cholesterol?
Oatcakes are wholegrain, and oats contain beta-glucan, a soluble fibre. Nairn’s Organic Oatcakes had 1.1g of saturated fat per 30g in our table. Some oatcakes have nearly twice as much, often from palm oil, so check the saturates line.
Is crispbread healthier than crackers?
Plain rye crispbread had the least saturated fat of anything we compared, at 0.1 to 0.2g per 30g, and is wholegrain and high in fibre. Seeded or flavoured crispbreads can have more, so check the label.
Sources
- Open Food Facts (product nutrition data, ODbL)
- American Heart Association: Saturated fat
- American Heart Association: Whole grains, refined grains and dietary fiber
- NHS: Fat, the facts
- UK Department of Health: Front of pack nutrition labelling guidance (high and low saturates thresholds)
- FDA: Reference amounts customarily consumed (21 CFR 101.12) (30g for crackers)