Classic Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
A classic, made vegan! These vegan chocolate chip cookies taste just like your old favorite, all without dairy or eggs. With a slightly crispy outside and soft inside, this is my foolproof and crowd pleasing recipe.
There are already quite a few cookie recipes on the blog, but we certainly can’t be without classic vegan chocolate chip cookies, and that’s exactly what these are.
A classic melt in your mouth, ooey gooey, chewy with crispy edges, no fuss cookies. There’s no refrigeration needed, so you’re just 20 minute away from some of the best cookies out there.
I of course made these gluten free, but you certainly don’t need to, regular all purpose flour will do the trick! This is a foolproof recipe you’ll keep coming back to!
Since this recipe has no eggs and uses gluten free flour, you can definitely eat the dough. It’s delicious, but the cookies are too so be sure to save some for baking!
If you love this recipe, try my vegan double chocolate chip cookies, vegan pumpkin cookies or raspberry lemon cookies next!
Key ingredients
BUTTER. Since these are vegan chocolate chip cookies, we’ll use vegan butter! I like Earth Balance best. I don’t recommend coconut oil since the flavor won’t be as rich.
SUGAR. A mix of brown and white sugar will keep the cookies chewy on the center with perfectly crisp edges.
APPLE SAUCE. 1/4 cup of applesauce will replace one egg and help bind all ingredients together.
FLOUR. I made these into vegan gluten free chocolate chip cookies by using gluten free all purpose baking flour. If you are not GF, just sub for regular all purpose flour.
BAKING SODA. Baking soda will help the cookies spread in the oven.
CHOCOLATE CHIPS. I love using semi-sweet, but you can use whatever you like! Even a chopped chocolate bar will work.
How to make vegan chocolate chip cookies
Add the softened butter and both the brown and cane sugar to a large mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer and beat together for about 30 seconds.
If the butter was in the fridge, first microwave for about 20-25 seconds to softened, coconut oil will take about 10-15 seconds to softened. You don’t want them fully melted.
Beat in the remaining wet ingredients until well combined.
Add in the flour, baking soda and salt and beat on low speed until combined. Be sure you spoon and level the flour, don’t scoop from the bag! Fold in the chocolate chips.
Use a medium cookie scoop to roll into balls and add to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, leaving enough space in between each cookie to spread.
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I like to roll it into a ball, then add a small bit of cookie dough on the top of each ball (kind of like a snowman), which helps give the cookies a crinkly top/edges and thick centers.
Bake for 12-15 minutes. With my oven I like 13 minutes for crispy outsides and soft insides, but if you like them more well done or crunchy, bake for longer and vice versa. All ovens are different, so just keep an eye out for golden brown edges.
Let cool on the baking sheet for about 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Sprinkle with salt flakes if desired & enjoy!
Getting the perfect chewy texture
There are a few things that result in the perfect gooey chocolatey chewy texture. First is the butter/coconut oil!
You can use either for this recipe and the generous amount will add lots of moisture to the dough and ensure they stay soft.
The second is the bake time. I bake these cookies for about 12-13 minutes to get a really nice slightly crispy outside but really chewy inside. If you over bake you run the risk of drying out the middle so be careful! Same with my vegan oatmeal raisin cookies.
How to store and freeze
To keep these vegan chocolate chip cookies feeling fresh, store them in an air tight container for best results.
I like to microwave them for about 10 seconds if they’ve been sitting around for a few days so they’re good as new. Just be sure to let them cool completely before transferring to a container.
Once you prepare the dough, just roll the cookies into balls and place in a zip lock bag or freezer safe container.
When you’re ready to eat, follow the recipe as usual but bake at 325 Fahrenheit (instead of 350) add a few extra minutes of cook time to account for the frozen dough.
You can also freeze the cookies once they’ve been cooked. Just let cool, then pop in a ziplock bag. Heat in the oven until warm through the center.
How thick should the dough be?
Fairly thick, which is what will keep the cookies from spreading too much while baking because this recipe requires no refrigeration.
They’ll still spread plenty on their own because we use a full teaspoon of baking soda, but the thick dough will ensure they don’t complete flatten while baking. Follow the recipe as written and they should be perfect!
You’ll also love…
- Almond Flour Cookies
- Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Mug Cake
- Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
Lastly, if you want more recipes straight to your inbox, be sure to subscribe to my email list. As always, if you make this recipe, be sure to tag me on instagram and leave a comment below so I can see your creation!
Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
by: claire cary
Ingredients
Wet:
- ½ cup softened vegan butter I prefer Earth Balance butter sticks
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ½ white sugar
- ¼ cup apple sauce
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Dry:
- 2 cups gluten free all purpose flour can sub regular
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 – 1 ¼ cups semi sweet chocolate chips just depends on your preference!
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Add the softened butter and both the dark brown and cane sugar to a large mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer and beat together for about 30-60 seconds. If the butter was in the fridge, first microwave for about 20-25 seconds to softened.
- Beat in the remaining wet ingredients until well combined.
- Add in the flour, baking soda and salt and beat on low speed until combined. Be sure you spoon and level the flour, don’t scoop from the bag!
- Fold in the chocolate chips. I used 1 1/4 cups, but feel free to use less if you prefer less chocolate! The dough will be thick.
- Use a medium cookie scoop to roll into balls and add to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, leaving enough space in between each cookie to spread.
- I like to roll it into a ball, then add a small bit of cookie dough on the top of each ball (kind of like a snowman), which helps give the cookies a crinkly top/edges and thick centers.
- Bake for 12-16 minutes. With my oven I like 13-14 minutes for slightly crispy outsides and soft insides, but if you like them more well done or crunchy, bake for longer and vice versa. It will also depend on the size of your cookie scoop.
- All ovens are different, so just keep an eye out for golden brown edges. They’ll firm up as they cool, so take them out when the center still looks soft if you like a chewy gooey center.
- As soon as they come out of the oven, I use a large round cookie cutter to scoot around the edges so the cookies are perfectly round.
- Let cool on the baking sheet for about 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Sprinkle with salt flakes if desired & enjoy!
Notes
Comments
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Can you make this recipe with less sugar? Like by removing all the white sugar?
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I definitely wouldn’t remove the white sugar, but you can try reducing the brown sugar to 1/2 cup and the white sugar to 1/3 cup. This will of course alter the flavor though!
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Hi! Can I substitute the white and brown sugar for all coconut sugar?
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You can, but the texture will be a bit different and the cookies will be quite dark.
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Claire’s Vegan Tahini Chocolate Chip cookies are out of this world. They are easy to make, and they taste fantastic. I promised one of my sons I would make them for him and his family when I do to visit the next month.
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Thank you, JoAnn! So glad you love this recipe as much as I do!
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Just wondering, is it unsweetened apple sauce that the recipe is calling for? I cant wait to try this!
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Yes, unsweetened!
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WOW! Hands down THE best cookie recipe, ever, period! I have historically struggled with baking cookies, and these have turned out perfectly for me all three times I’ve made them. Definitely printed this recipe and added to my favorite recipes. I’ve used both Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 GF flour, and Namaste GF flour they both worked beautifully. I preferred Bob’s though. I used Earth Balance butter and also Miyokos butter, both turned out delicious…if you want an easy, delicious cookie recipe, look no further, you’ve found it!
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Amazing, thank you Jamie! So glad both flours worked well.
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OMG – these egg-free chocolate chip cookies are the best we’ve ever tasted! We especially appreciate the crispy and chewy textures in each cookie. Thank you for perfecting this easy-to-follow recipe.
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Thanks so much Rebecca, just made my day!
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Hi! I made your cookies. they turned out but… I didn’t like the taste of the Bob Mills GF all purpose flour. Too strong of an after taste and gritty. I’d like to make them again using the Bob Mills 1 to 1 ration GF flour – can I use that? and if so, is it the same measurements? Thank you!
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I actually never recommend the bob’s all purpose flour only the 1:1 in the blue bag! I don’t like the way they name them, the 1:1 is technically a “gluten free all purpose flour” but that is the only one I recommend.
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Can I just use almond flour instead of all purpose for this recipe? Thank you!
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I would recommend my almond flour cookies instead!
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I’ve been searching for the perfect vegan, gluten free chocolate chip cookie. I’ve tried other recipes and the cookies either turn out gummy, too cakey, or too doughy. Thanks to this recipe my search is over! These are light, fluffy, and delicious! I’m convinced a non-vegan/gluten free eater would love them too. They are SO good. This will be my new go-to recipe!
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Thank you Bella! So happy you enjoyed these!
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Hi what can be the alternative of apple sauce in this recipe..????
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I recommend sticking to the recipe as written for best results, but if you don’t have apple sauce you can use a flax egg. mix 1 tbsp of ground flax with 3 tbsp of water and let it sit for 10 minutes to thicken.
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A mashed small to medium sized banana worked GREAT for me! 🙂
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Hi there! This is my absolute favorite cookie recipe! I’m wanting to use it to make a 16” cookie cake. Do you have any suggestions for how this may need to be altered? I was thinking about tripling the recipe and using however much I need to fill the pan. Thoughts on baking time?
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So happy you’re enjoying them! I would definitely recommend tripping (though you may not need it all). As far as bake time goes, I would probably say around 20-25 minutes, though I can’t be sure because I have never tested it. I would start low (maybe 15 minutes) and keep an eye on it. Let me know how it goes!
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Hi! What brand of sugars did you use? Not familiar with vegan brands and wanted to try this out. Thank you!
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Hi Ann! I’m not vegan so I just use regular sugar (not sure if it’s vegan or not) but the brand Wholesome makes tons of great sugars and sweeteners and they are all vegan!
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These were delicious! I made a full recipe, which made 19 cookies (I guess I made them smaller than Claire did). I only used 1 cup of chocolate chips because that’s what I had, and I think any more than that would have been too much. These really are classic chocolate chip cookies.
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I made mine on the bigger side, which is probably why you ended up with more! So glad you enjoyed these!
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Can these be made with a sugar replacement like stevia or monkfruit?
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I haven’t tried that, but a 1:1 sugar replacement should probably be fine. They will likely look different and spread differently, but let me know if you try it!
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These are so good – taste very nostalgic for me! I will say they do not spread very wide, but we like more of a dense cookie anyways (that would be my only complaint).
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So glad you liked them! A couple of things you can do if you want them to spread more. First, try adding 1/4-1/2 tsp more baking soda. You can also use the “pan banging method” which basically involves slamming the cookie sheet down every 5 or so minutes during baking to encourage the cookies to spread. Let me know if that works 🙂
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I made these cookies a few months ago, and they were perfect! I’ve made them again two more times, but for some reason, they continue to come out more like puff balls or bread. Any suggestions?
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Interesting! The recipe hasn’t changed at all, did you make any modifications? Are you using the same oven/cookie sheet etc?
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