This is the best recipe for vegan chocolate chip cookies you will ever find. Soft, chewy, and melt in your mouth delicious, they are everything you could ever want in a chocolate chip cookie recipe!
The Best Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
No flaxmeal
No chia seeds or egg replacer
Just 9 ingredients
No chickpeas
This is my tried-and-true best vegan chocolate chip cookies recipe that both vegans AND meat eaters love. Try the recipe out on all your friends.
How is it possible that these secretly vegan cookies taste so much like regular traditional chocolate chip cookies? It’s because the cookies are made with ONLY traditional chocolate chip cookie ingredients!
You may also like these Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
Homemade chocolate chip cookies have been one of my favorite desserts for as long as I can remember.
Give me a choice, and I’ll choose chocolate chip cookies over cake or candy any day of the week. Even before I was tall enough to see above the kitchen table, I earned the nickname Cookie Monster.
Any time there were cookies around, I would be sure to find them.
So it makes sense that, upon going vegan, they were one of the very first recipes I veganized, along with these Vegan Pancakes and Vegan Cinnamon Rolls.
No one who tries the recipe can ever believe these soft and classic chocolate chip cookies are actually vegan!
Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Ingredients
The one bowl recipe is easy to make using basic ingredients, with no almond flour or applesauce, and no coconut oil required.
For the flour: Try the cookies with spelt flour, oat flour, or regular white all purpose flour. I have not tried using whole wheat flour so can’t vouch for that substitution. Be sure to leave a comment with results if you do try.
The fat source: Options that work include sunflower, coconut, or vegetable oil. Or sub a full fat vegan butter spread such as Melt Organic, Miyoko’s, or Earth Balance.
For the sweetener: Feel free to experiment with different types of sugar or sugar free alternatives such as xylitol or granulated erythritol.
You can also just use all of one type of sugar instead of two. The resulting cookies might be crunchy or spread more, or they might need more or less time in the oven, but edible baking experiments are the best kind of experiments!
*For keto chocolate chip cookies, try these Keto Cookies
Is Chocolate Vegan?
And are chocolate chips vegan? I’m asked these questions quite often, and thankfully the answer is that yes, chocolate itself is vegan.
While milk is sometimes added, there are many brands—even some generic grocery store brands—of vegan chocolate chips and chocolate bars that are becoming much easier to find.
If you want to seek out vegan chocolate chips at a regular grocery store, the best place to start is the natural food aisle. Most regular grocery stores should have a natural food section. Just ask an employee if you’re not sure where it’s located.
Look for one of the following brands: Enjoy Life, Simple Truth Organic, Target Simply Balanced, Lily’s Sweet Stevia Sweetened, Kirkland semi sweet (Costco brand), Guittard semi sweet or extra dark, Equal Exchange, Scharffen Berger dark chocolate baking chunks, Trader Joe’s semi sweet, Sprouts semi sweet, or Pascha.
(Note: Some of these packages say “may contain milk” on the label because the chocolate chips are made in a facility where non-vegan products are also produced.
Most vegans still consider such products to be vegan, but of course it’s a personal choice, especially if the reason to avoid milk is due to an allergy. At press time, Enjoy Life and Pascha brands are certified dairy free, gluten free, and soy free.)
Where Can I Buy Vegan Chocolate?
As mentioned above, you can find vegan chocolate chips at many regular grocery stores. Other good places to look include Whole Foods, local health food stores, Amazon, or iHerb.
Sometimes online stores will offer a lower price. If nothing else, you can always chop up a chocolate bar to make your own chocolate chips!
There are too many vegan chocolate bar options to list them all here, but some of my favorite fair-trade options include Theo, Pacari, Taza, Loving Earth, and Endangered Species brands. And there are so many more.
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How To Make Chocolate Chip Cookies
Gather all of the cookie ingredients as well as a medium mixing bowl.
Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips in the bowl. Stir well.
Add the nondairy milk, oil, and pure vanilla extract. Stir to form a cookie dough. It will be dry at first, so just keep stirring and it will suddenly turn into cookie dough.
Press the dough into one big ball. Refrigerate at least two hours or overnight, or freeze until the dough is cold.
Once chilled, preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Roll chocolate chip cookie dough balls, and place the balls on a greased cookie tray. Leave enough room between cookies for spreading when they bake.
Cook for eleven minutes on the oven’s center rack. The cookies will look underdone when you remove them from the oven. This is what you want, because they continue to firm up considerably as they cool.
Let the chocolate chip cookies cool for at least ten minutes. If for some reason the cookies don’t spread enough (climate sometimes interferes), simply press down with a spoon after baking.
Storage And Baking Tricks
- If you’d like to freeze the cookie dough to have on hand whenever a chocolate chip cookie craving hits, roll into balls and freeze in an airtight container for up to three months. When ready to bake, there’s no need to thaw the cookie dough first. Just add an additional 1-2 minutes to the cooking time.
- For soft chocolate chip cookies, store leftovers in an airtight plastic container, and add about 1/4 slice of bread if you have one, which helps keep the cookies soft. For crispier cookies, store in a glass container. Baked cookies will last for 2-3 days.
- I’ve made these cookies so many times, and climate can definitely affect the shape and texture of the results. But despite not always looking the same, each batch has always tasted ridiculously delicious. I’ve never made a bad batch yet.
- The vegan chocolate chip cookies are great for lunchboxes or parties where someone else is hosting and you need a portable vegan dessert that you can take from point A to B without a mess.
- Over one hundred more dairy free and plant based vegan cookie recipes can be found by visiting the following page: Healthy Cookies Recipes
Above, watch the vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe video
The recipe was adapted from these Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup white, oat, or spelt flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup sugar, unrefined if desired (For no sugar, try these Breakfast Cookies)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar or coconut sugar
- 1/3 cup chocolate chips
- 2 tbsp milk of choice, plus more if needed
- 2 tbsp oil or melted vegan butter
- 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl, then stir in wet to form a dough – it will be dry at first, so keep stirring until a cookie-dough texture is achieved. If needed, add 1-2 tbsp extra milk of choice. Form into one big ball, then either refrigerate at least 2 hours or freeze until the dough is cold. Once dough is chilled, preheat oven to 325 F. Form dough balls, and place on a greased baking tray, leaving enough room between cookies for them to spread. Bake 11 minutes on the center rack. They’ll look underdone when you take them out. Let them cool on the baking tray 10 minutes before touching, during which time they will firm up. If for whatever reason the cookies don't spread enough (climate can play a huge role), just press down with a spoon after baking. You can also choose to make extra cookie dough balls and freeze them to bake at a later date. I can only vouch for the flours listed, but feel free to experiment!View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
Vegan Dessert Recipes
The cookies turned out amazing. My husband is allergic to egg so your recipes really workout for me. Thanks for your vegan recipes ?
Love the photo!
I didn’t have vegan chocolate chips on hand when I made these, but it was super easy to make my own vegan chocolate. I used half a cup of cocoa powder And coconut butter and a quarter cup honey, plus half a teaspoon vanilla and a pinch of salt. They turned out great!
Honey is not vegan!
Golden syrup might work out to replace honey, thanks for the tip
Hi everyone!
I made this recipe with the below substitutions and they are DELICIOUS!! A huge hit!!!
-Almond flour
-Xreynaylitol instead of sugars
-Lily’s stevia choc chips
-Madagascar vanilla Ghee (dairy) instead of oil
Any adjustments made to temp , baking time, or amounts? And did they have the same texture. Thank you
This is my first time making vegan cookies and these came out perfectly! And they are absolutely delish! Even though I’m not vegan, I’m a chef and always try to prepare items that I think that my vegan eaters would enjoy. My son is vegan and he was floored by the flavor AND texture. Kudos to you. This is a keeper! And I’m keeping it! Lol. Thank you again for sharing. You rock!
Marty…those look great! What flour and sugar did you use?
All Purpose Flour And Cane Sugar
These cookies are just amazing for people who want to be fit in their lives. Thanks for sharing these cookies with us.
Can i use almond flour for these?
Unfortunately the only way to know for sure if a substitution will work is to try it out and see! Be sure to report back if you do, as edible experiments can be fun!
I think yes
Wow. I was looking fo a good chewy, soft vegan chocolate chip recipe and hadn’t faound a truly good one. Until now. It was delicious, soft and chewy, the perfect texture. I thought it may be better if it were a tad less sweeter but that’s just personal preference. Really great recipe. Thank you!
LOVE the picture!
These sound easy. Can the oil be omitted or replaced with Applesauce or avocado?
I just made these cookies and they are pretty good! I forgot to add the vanilla, and I’m not sure how much difference that makes but I’ll remember next time. I used blended oats instead of flour, oat milk, and brown sugar. My son has several allergies so I’m always looking for decent recipes that are vegan and avoid his allergens. I’ll definitely make these again! Thanks!
I made them because the black bean brownies were so amazing. However, are these cookies supposed to look like little balls? Mine barely spread at all in the oven or resting process.
Just saw the comment about the spoon. Oy!
I looked so hard for vegan cookie recipes that didn’t need any special ingredients…and I’m so glad I found this one!
I wanted to bake some cookies for some vegan friends, and I didn’t have time for a trip to the grocery store.
Of course, I had to make a couple substitutions! Nothing crazy!
I didn’t have vegan chocolate. I used chopped dates.
The milk I used was actually Coconut Milk, from a can. Great choice I think! It’s all I had but I’d use it again next time.
I added a dash of cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg. You know, to go with the dates. Raisins would’ve been good too, and/or nuts. I didn’t have any of those either.
I used Canola Oil. Again, that’s what I had on hand. It was that or Olive.
I used plain old All Purpose Unbleached Flour.
I used a medium brown sugar, and an unrefined organic cane sugar, which I skimped on as I then added in a tablespoon of Maple Syrup, just for fun…I figured the flavour would be nice and with 3 TBSP of Coconut Milk my dough was still looking like it’d be pretty dry after a quick stir. I ended up with dough that was slightly firm, but very much like I would expect a non-vegan cookie dough to look and feel like.
I refrigerated for a little while, maybe twenty minutes in the freezer. I couldn’t wait very long – the dough did seem quite cool.
I flattened them a bit with a fork before baking, but followed the 11 mins at 325 of course.
I ended up with 11 beautiful soft tasty cookies! It could’ve been 12 if I’d made them a touch smaller. I couldn’t believe they were vegan. This recipe made me look like a superstar. I feel silly leaving a review saying that I made all these substitutions etc…but really I have never made vegan cookies and the base recipe was super, super helpful. I’m sure these would be just as amazing as a plain old chocolate chip cookie! I’m excited to try making them that way soon. Thanks for the awesome recipe.
Aw thank YOU for making them!
Those are a lot of substitutions, it’s not at al the recipe listed. Not sure I would want raisins in a chocolate chip cookie? Dates…this is a completely different recipe. A couple of pantry-based substitutions are expected but I find it so strange when someone completely changes the recipe.
Good thing she made them for herself and not you
If you are Vegan and you are eating anything that says “may contain milk etc” you are eating animal products. I have yet to find a packaged food that warns of “may contain” without having a serious allergic reaction to it.
It may be trace amounts, but you are eating animal products.
If you live in this world, then honestly there is no way to not eat or use trace amounts of animal products, even if it’s just in the bugs in your organic broccoli and sitting in someone’s leather car seat, etc. We all just do the best we can.
No, it actually doesn’t, and you shouldn’t make idiotic comments if you don’t know what you’re talking about. This is what companies do to cover themselves if they produce other items made with milk, eggs, nuts, etc. in the same facility and don’t want to get sued in case someone has an allaergic reaction. These products do not contain those items.
This simply isn’t true. It doesn’t contain trade amounts, it was just manufacturered in a facility that also uses the product (in this case, milk). If it contained trace amounts then it would list that under the ingredients, in bold if it’s one of the top allergens.
No offense but if you’re having severe allergic reactions to things that say “may contain” it’s psychological.
Hello! Should wheat OR white spelt flour brushed? I can’t tell the difference! Please advise. Thank you 🙂
Both work!
The recipe says to cook these at 325 for 13 minutes, then let sit for another 11 minutes. My cookies were all under done. I turned it oven up to 425 and cooked then until they were lightly brown, and DONE! By the way raw cookies aren’t very good. Yuck!Johnny
Unfortunately yes substituting a different flour can have a huge impact on a recipe, especially for something like cookies, because different flours will absorb liquid at different amounts and 1 cup of a lighter flour will weigh less than a denser flour like whole wheat. Katie is not a fan of whole wheat flour (or white whole wheat flour) at all, which is why she almost never tests it in any of her recipes. She feels that baked goods with those flours tend to come out dense and gummy. I can personally vouch for the recipe as being amazing with spelt or oat flour so if you ever try it again, I’d recommend one of those. Or just sticking to the brownies works too, because that’s one of my personal favorites on the blog 🙂
Jason
Thank you Jason. I have to be gluten free and now rice free too. I was a little worried about using all oat flour since I can’t use gf blends anymore (the rice content), but you answered my question. Happy baking everyone!
Hi! Any way I can make them less sweet but with the same texture?
If you are in the Northeast, Wegmans brand semisweet chocolate chips are dairy free. 🙂