Best Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever!
These are the best Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies because they’re super soft and chewy, just like the traditional cookie. Soft, simple vegan cookies are made with lots of chocolate chips. It’s a well-tested recipe to guarantee the chewiest chocolate chip cookie texture. Lots of dark chocolate chips guarantees chocolate in every bite. The flavor and texture combined with lots of chocolate chips makes this the best cookie ever!
I love a good chocolate chip cookie. In fact, making cookies was my very first baking attempt. And serving cookies to friends was the very first time I got that thrill from hearing how much they loved them.
I’ve been hooked on baking ever since. Going vegan added another challenge to my baking skills, but I’ve mastered vegan desserts and even have a cooking school certification to prove it!
Here’s the deal, vegan chocolate chip cookie recipes are made without eggs or dairy. Does that seem impossible? If so, it’s only because that’s how you’ve always made them. I’m here to tell you that it’s entirely possible to make delicious cookies without eggs or dairy.
In fact, this cookie is tasty all the way from the vegan cookie dough to to the baked cookies. That’s another benefit of vegan baking, the cookie dough is edible too!
Also, if you need vegan gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, see my tips below.
New to Vegan Baking?
The idea of making cookies, cakes or muffins without eggs or dairy can seem like a hill too tall to climb! But with the simple tips in my Guide to Vegan Baking, you’ll be baking like a vegan pro in no time!
Best Vegan Cookie Recipes
Recently my neighbor kids helped me with some yard work. Is that so nice or what?
I made them some of my best chocolate chip cookies to say thanks. Homemade cookies are the best gift, especially when a child is involved! I used this easy vegan chocolate chip cookies recipe and they loved it! I’ve also made my vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies as gifts too. I also love sharing my vegan no-bake cookies, because they’re so easy to make and people love them.
Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
One of my favorite things about making these cookies is the vegan chocolate chip cookie dough recipe itself. In fact, you can roll this edible cookie dough into balls and freeze them and have a quick dessert of frozen cookie dough ball bites. It’s an amazing, yummy treat!
You should try that with my red velvet chocolate chip cookies. Or better yet, my vegan sprinkle chocolate chip cookies turn into amazing (and colorful) cookie dough bites.
Wait. Can you eat raw cookie dough?
Because there’s no eggs in vegan chocolate chip cookies, you can eat it raw without concern for the bacteria that might be present in raw eggs.
If you were making this recipe to eat only as frozen cookie dough balls, I would recommend making them on the small side so you don’t hurt your jaw biting into a solid chunk of frozen cookie dough.
Vegan Gluten-free Chocolate Chip Cookies
You can make these vegan chewy chocolate chip cookies gluten free too. It’s easy! Simply substitute gluten-free all purpose baking flour for the all-purpose flour called for in the recipe. There are a variety of gluten free flours at most grocery stores these days. I look for the 1:1 gluten free flours because they’re the easiest to substitute for.
I confess that I enjoy adding a little bit of almond flour to my gluten free cookies. A quarter cup of almond flour combined with gluten-free all purpose flour is perfect and keeps the cookies soft.
A batch of these vegan dairy free cookies in a Christmas goodies bag would be so special!
How to make Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies from scratch
If you’re wondering how to make chocolate chip cookies vegan, I’m here to tell you it’s easier than cracking an egg! (That’s my vegan humor shining through). In fact, it’s so easy to make homemade vegan chocolate chip cookies because you follow the same process as making any easy cookie recipe.
Let’s walk through these steps.
Step One: Cream Butter and Sugar
In this recipe for chocolate chip cookies we’re using a mixer to create a fluffier cookie dough. You can use either a hand-held mixer or a stand mixer.
Place the vegan butter in a mixing bowl and mix on medium speed until the butter is light and fluffy. Our goal is to break up the butter and to cream it which adds air. Next we’ll add the sugars and continue creaming to add even more aeration to the process. Be sure to mix for another minute or two until light and fluffy. The mixture of sugar, fat, and air is perfect for this cookie dough.
Step Two: Add Other Wet Ingredients
Next, you’ll add the chia seeds, vanilla, and water, and mix the batter again until combined.
Step Three: Mix Dry Ingredients
Now we’re on to the dry ingredients. Stir together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl.
Why cornstarch? I love adding cornstarch to cookies because it produces a soft texture and thickness to my cookies.
Step Four: Blend Batter + Add Vegan Chocolate Chips
Pour the flour mixture into the butter mixture and either stir by hand or beat until combined.
Next, you’ll add the chocolate chips at which point you’ll definitely want to stir by hand.
Note: I like to reserve a few chocolate chips to add to the cookie dough balls before baking. This ensures baker-shop quality cookies!
Step Five: Drop and Bake
There are two ways of moving forward at this point.
- Drop cookie (I use a cookie scoop to keep the cookies the same size) about 2 inches apart on a baking sheet.
- Roll the cookie dough into balls and place them about 2 inches apart on a baking sheet. I like to slightly elongate the cookie dough balls so they’re nice and tall in the center.
The dropped cookie dough will have more crispy edges and less uniform shape which can be a nice touch. However, the rolled cookie dough balls can take on a more uniform shape which I like when presenting them to party guests.
Either option works, so choose whichever process feels right for you.
Bake the cookies for 9 – 11 minutes, depending on how tender you want the cookies to be. For a more tender cookie, bake them for only 9 minutes. They may not look done when you remove them, but they will firm up as they cool down.
Allow the freshly baked cookies to cool for a minute on the cookie sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Is a store-bought cookie mix vegan?
Many store-bought cookie mixes are not vegan, so be sure and check the label. I look for eggs, dairy, and even things like lard. Those are clear indications that this is not a vegan friendly cookie mix!
What are vegan cookie brands?
If you want to skip homemade chocolate chip cookies altogether, consider these brands of pre-made vegan cookies: Back to Nature Chocolate Chunk Cookies, Enjoy Life Soft Baked Cookies, the Alternative Baking Company (found at most health food stores), and more!
Are chocolate chips vegan?
Not all chocolate chips are vegan. In fact, most these days are not. Be sure to read the labels and even when you’ve found a brand you like, check them periodically because they do sometimes change their ingredients.
For example, some of Ghirardelli chocolate chips used to be dairy-free, but not any more! They changed their formula and now all their chocolate chips have dairy in them. It was such a disappointing move!
Here are some go-to dairy-free chocolate chips: Trader Joe’s chocolate chips, Kirkland (available seasonally at Costco), Lilly’s, Sprouts bulk chocolate chips, and Enjoy Life. Here’s more on dairy-free chocolate chips.
Egg Substitutes for Cookies
There are a number of reasons you would want to make your cookies without eggs, including the fact that you might have someone in your family with an allergy to eggs. Or you may be baking for someone who is vegan or you are vegan yourself. Another highly important reason to make vegan cookies is because animal agriculture has a terrible impact on our environment and is the major source behind global health concerns.
All of that said, another great reason to bake without eggs is that you simply don’t need them! You can make absolutely stunning cookies without eggs. It’s as simple as that! Here are some of my favorite egg substitutes:
- Applesauce is a favorite egg substitute for muffins, cakes, and cookies
- The chia egg is a favorite (and is used in this recipe)
- I love using a flax egg, which is basically combining 1 tablespoon ground flax with 3 tablespoons of water
- There are egg replacer products you can buy too. I find these in the health food section or at health food stores like Sprouts and Natural Grocers.
Expert Tips
Use these expert tips to make this best chocolate chip cookie recipe perfect every time:
- Sit vegan butter out 30 minutes to make it nice and soft
- I used Earth Balance vegan butter, but I’ve also used Miyoko’s and it worked well too
- These are vegan chocolate chip cookies made without coconut oil. If you prefer coconut oil, you can use half coconut oil and half vegan butter
- You can make a butterless vegan cookie by using all coconut oil instead of the vegan butter. For help with that, check out my Vegan Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Substitute almond milk, soy milk, or even coconut milk for the water in this recipe
- Make cookies sugar free by using granulated and brown sugar Swerve in place of the sugars listed below. In addition, use Lily’s stevia sweetened dark chocolate chips that are dairy-free too
- For a healthy vegan chocolate chip cookies recipe, reduce the sugar and use whole wheat pastry flour (which is not the same as whole wheat flour).
- Sometimes I’ll do half peanut butter and half vegan butter to change things up
- Some cookie doughs needs to be refrigerated before baking, but I don’t do that with this recipe. I only refrigerate the dough if I’m making it ahead of time.
- Be sure to let the cookies sit on the pan after removing them from the oven before transferring to a wire rack to cool — otherwise they’re too soft and will fall apart
- If you love an oatmeal flavor to your cookies, replace about 1/2 cup of the flour with 1/2 cup of oat flour (oatmeal placed in a blender and pulsed until a flour consistency).
- See, these are mostly everyday ingredients you can find in your grocery store. No crazy ingredients!
More Vegan Cookies
Do you love only the best vegan cookies? Me too! Here are some of the very best easy vegan cookies, all with different takes on the vegan chocolate chip cookie!
- These Vegan Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies are more of a low fat, healthy cookie and include whole wheat pastry flour.
- This Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe is double chocolate cookies goodness!
- You’ll love these Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies made with coconut oil
- Get healthy with these Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies!
- And for a real change of pace, how about this Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake? It’s like a big chocolate chip cookie served in cake style, complete with frosting. It’s perfect for parties!
- Want another vegan cookie recipe? Here’s a bonus Chocolate No Bake Cookies that’s too good to be true!
Making Healthy Cookies
Wanting to make healthy cookies? Of course, healthy vegan cookies are made without eggs. That means no cholesterol. However, there’s more you can do to make your vegan chocolate cookies even healthier.
For example, you can always try using whole wheat pastry flour instead of all-purpose flour to add some fiber to your cookies without making them too dense. There is a difference between whole wheat and whole wheat pastry flour. Be sure to look for the latter in stores like Sprouts, Natural Grocers, and even health food sections of your grocery store.
So, did you know cookies did not become popular in this country until about 100 years ago? What a shame, eh? I think it’s important to make up for lost time, so we should make a double batch of these cookies today!
We hope you love this recipe for soft, chewy vegan chocolate chip cookies as much as we do! If you make a batch, be sure to use your phone to create an image and share it on Instagram using #namelymarly so we can see it too!
Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup vegan butter 2 sticks, softened
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ¾ cup granular sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
- 3 tablespoons water
- 2¾ cups all-purpose flour sifted
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch (optional)
- 1½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1½ cups dairy-free chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the butter in a mixing bowl. Use either a hand held or stand mixer on medium speed and beat until light and fluffy. Add the sugars and beat again until light and fluffy. Finally, add the flax, water and vanilla and beat again to combine.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch (see note), baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir to combine. Pour the flour mixture in with the butter mixture. Stir to combine.
- Add the chocolate chips and stir until combined. Be sure to cover the cookie dough when not in use to prevent it from drying out.
- Drop by rounded spoonful about 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet. (Or you can roll the cookie dough balls for more precise edges to the cookies). Bake for 9 minutes, (or up to 11 minutes depending on your desired final cookie texture). If you prefer chewier cookies, remove them at 9 minutes. If you prefer crispier, cook for a few minutes longer. See note.
- Once the cookies are done, allow them to cool for a minute or two on the cookie sheet, before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Store in a sealed container for up to a week either on the counter or in the fridge. Or you can freeze these cookies for up to two months.
Recommended Equipment
Notes
The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Using Ground Flax Seed as an Egg Replacer
I sometimes like to use ground flax seed as a replacement for eggs in a recipe. It adds a little bit of texture, moisture, and some omega-3’s to boot! I use 3 tablespoons of water and 1 tablespoon of ground flax seed for each egg in the recipe.
So, whatever egg replacer you use, they do a great job of making delicious cookies. Check out my Vegan Baking Guide for more information.
13 Responses to Best Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever!
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Hi, I’m Marly!
Marly is a certified as both a Plant-Based Pro and Vegan Dessert Expert. Come enjoy Marly’s amazing easy vegan recipes for yourself! At Namely Marly we love celebrating life, creativity, healthy living and energetic days! Meet Marly
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Don’t you just love ground flax seed? I just picked up a bag today at Whole Foods. I have been eating it with my oatmeal/cereal for quite awhile but just recently started adding it to my baked goods. So so yummy! These cookies look great, and I can’t wait to give them a try. As always, thank you for sharing Marly!
Yes – it is really versatile. Do you buy the dark or the golden flax seed? We’ve tried both. I like adding it to baked goods just to try to help myself believe it’s healthy. Sure they’re cookies…but they’ve got omega 3 rich flax seeds!!!
Hey Marly, these look great, and I love the way you solved your dilemma. Your’e right! Children should learn the value of helping others (especially neighbors) without expectation.
Hey, I was just thinking to post the recipe I developed for vegan chocolate chip, so I hope you don’t think I’m a copy cat (smile).
By the way, thanks for that sweet question on my last post…
What sweet question? Now I’m going to have to go back to your site and check it out!
I don’t think you’re a copy cat – I can’t wait to see your recipe!
I need to explore more vegan cuisine, and those cookies look mouthwatering I think the kids enjoyed the cookies maybe more so than money. I hate to bring everything down to money.
These cookies taste as good as they look. My favorite egg replacer is the apple sauce. I highly recommend it. I think I have used 1/4 cup. I would love to see any vegan entrees you decide to make!
What nice kids! And how sweet you are for baking them cookies. I bet they loved them!
I love these kids next door. They are so cute. They’re very polite too and that is something to be noted. I’m really lucky to have such nice neighbors. I’m also lucky to have met such nice people like you. It makes all the work of blogging worthwhile! My best to you! Marly
Your cookies look just like the old standby Tollhouse cookies. I’ve passed the recipe along to my daughter. She’ll love it!
Hello,
How much applesauce would I use to replace the chia egg? 🙂
Hi Taylor. You should be able to use 1/4 cup applesauce to replace the chia egg. Test the batter. If it’s too dry, add a little more applesauce or water. If it’s too wet, add a little more flour.
Just made these using chia egg instead of flax. So delicious. I did a half batch because I only had half the butter and it turned out so nice and fluffy but chewy on edges. Very happy.
Hey TF! So glad you liked these vegan chocolate chip cookies! It’s a favorite recipe of mine too!