This is the best vegan blondies recipe you’ll ever bake, with perfectly chewy edges and gooey chocolate chips melting into each delicious bite!
My favorite vegan blondies
Don’t tell anyone, but I may actually love blondies even more than brownies.
And these are bake sale worthy blondies for sure.
With a soft, chewy texture and classic Toll House chocolate chip cookie flavor, how could anyone resist going back for more?
This recipe is not just for vegans. Guests of all ages go absolutely wild for these gooey blondie bars every time I serve them!
Want more chocolate? Make Vegan Brownies
Step by step recipe video
Why you’ll love these vegan chocolate chip blondies
- Super easy to prepare from scatch, using pantry staple ingredients.
- The taste and texture are exactly like traditional blondies. No, not just similar… EXACTLY the same. Spot on bakery style gooey blondie bars, without sacrificing.
- Soy free, gluten free, and nut free options are included, meaning this is a great recipe for school events, potlucks, or neighborhood block parties.
- Add chocolate chunks, or cranberries, or walnuts, or anything else your heart desires. The basic recipe can be easily customized to create unlimited fun new flavors.
Key ingredients
Flour – Options that work well include all purpose white flour, oat flour, or gluten free all purpose flour. I also like the nutty flavor when using whole grain spelt flour.
Sugar – After much experimenting with different sugars and sugar free alternatives, I’ve found that a combination of both white and brown sugar yields the optimal taste and light texture.
Plant based butter – You need half a cup of vegan butter or oil (vegetable or coconut oil).
The recipe does require all of the listed amount of fat to create a true blondie. Subbing some or all of the butter for applesauce, nondairy yogurt, or banana will give you a cake like result. Tasty, but not blondies.
Vanilla extract – Pure vanilla extract (not imitation vanilla) heightens the homemade chocolate chip cookie feel. Add a drop of almond or maple extract too, if you wish.
Other ingredients – Baking powder and baking soda bind the blondies and help them to rise without eggs. Salt adds flavor depth.
Chocolate chips – Include up to a half cup of dairy free semi sweet or dark chocolate chips for a vegan chocolate chip bar cookie. Traditional blondie recipes often include chocolate chips, but not always. The recipe is still yummy without them.
Vegan blondie flavor variations
Snickerdoodle Blondies: Omit the optional chocolate chips. Mix one part ground cinnamon into four parts white sugar in a bowl, and sprinkle over warm blondies.
Peanut Butter Blondies: Swap half of the vegan butter with an equal amount of softened peanut butter. Or go bold and use milk free Homemade Nutella.
Salted Caramel Blondies: Stir diced vegan caramels into the batter. When the bars come out of the oven, sprinkle the tops with flaky sea salt.
White Chocolate Blondies: Simply use dairy free white chocolate chips instead of dark. If you can find vegan butterscotch chips, even better!
Other flavor ideas: Try banana bread, blueberry, coffee, carrot cake, pumpkin, apple cinnamon, chocolate chip walnut, or maple pecan.
How to make the plant based bars
- Gather all ingredients, and preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit or 177° Celsius.
- Line the bottom of an eight inch square baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, sugars, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and optional chocolate chips. Stir well, until evenly incorporated.
- Melt the dairy free butter or oil, if not already liquid. Then stir it into the dry ingredients, along with the vanilla extract, just until evenly combined.
- The batter should resemble chocolate chip cookie dough. Only if your batter looks dry (which may happen in rare cases related to living in a dry climate), slowly stir in up to a tablespoon of nondairy milk.
- Spread the blondie batter into the prepared pan, pressing it all the way to the sides of the pan so the dough takes up the entire surface area.
- Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven. Remove after twenty minutes for gooey blondies or twenty three minutes for crispy edges and more cooked centers.
- Let the pan cool completely before slicing, because the bars will firm up considerably as they cool. Or if you wait a few hours, their texture will be even more firm.
- Store leftovers in a covered container on the counter for two days or in the refrigerator for up to five days. Or slice and freeze in an airtight container for up to three months.
Katie’s tips for the best vegan blondies
If you want the absolute best, softest, gooiest results, I cannot stress enough the importance of following the recipe to the letter, at least the first time you bake them.
I have already tried a million substitutions and iterations to arrive at this perfected version. Options I’ve experimented with include lowering the butter, using all brown sugar, substituting a sugar free sweetener or pure maple syrup, or swapping out the flour for almond meal.
All of the ideas above will yield subpar results. Follow the recipe exactly as written below, using gram measurements if possible, and you will not be disappointed!
Vegan Blondies
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour (120g) (For flourless, make Chickpea Blondies)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar (60g)
- 1/3 cup white sugar (64g)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt (increase to 1/2 tsp if using oil or unsalted vegan butter)
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup vegan butter or oil (100g)
- 1 tbsp nondairy milk or water (15g), only if needed
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup dairy free chocolate chips (80g) (optional)
Instructions
- 1. Preheat your oven to 350° Fahrenheit (177° Celsius).
- 2. Line the bottom of an 8 inch square baking pan with parchment paper, or grease well. Set aside.
- 3. Stir flour, sugars, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and optional chocolate chips in a large bowl until very well mixed.
- 4. Melt vegan butter or oil. Stir into the dry ingredients, along with the vanilla extract. Do not overmix.
- 5. Batter should resemble cookie dough. Only if too dry, slowly stir in up to a tablespoon of nondairy milk or water.
- 6. Spread evenly into the prepared pan. Sprinkle more chocolate chips on top if desired.
- 7. Bake 20 minutes for gooey blondies or 23 minutes for crispy edges. Let cool completely before slicing, as their texture will firm up considerably during the cooling process.
- 8. Once cooled, store any leftovers covered on the counter for up to two days or refrigerated in an airtight container for up to five days. For longer storage, slice and freeze for up to three months. Thaw or reheat before enjoying.
Video
Notes
More easy vegan desserts
I made these for my husband for Valentine’s Day using a non-plant based butter. I followed the directions as written, and baked in a glass baking pan for 20 minutes. The taste was as Katie described: a Toll House chocolate chip cookie. My husband loved them! My blondies became quite hard, though, even after 20 minutes, and I’m wondering if it was either baking in a glass pan as opposed to my normal metal, or different ovens. I’ll bake these again, but to have a softer product, I’ll reduce the bake time by a few minutes. Great recipe!
So glad he liked them! Ours are always super soft in a glass pan after 20 minutes, so it might be related to climate (humidity) or elevation where you live, or if your oven is/isn’t calibrated? Or the specific ingredients you used. The good news is you can absolutely bake for a shorter amount of time 🙂
Hi! I used coconut oil and followed the recipe exactly, baking them for 23 minutes “for crispy edges” and because my oven temp tends to run low. They came out very crispy! Like shortbread cookies which is what I’m calling them.😉 Delicious! But definitely not blondie-like. I’m guessing it’s the coconut oil? But it was listed as an approved ingredient
Hi! It could be an oven calibration issue (is your oven calibrated?) or climate or elevation, but in any case you can absolutely just bake for a shorter amount of time to get a softer bar 🙂