These homemade soft and chewy vegan peanut butter cookies are the best peanut butter cookie recipe I’ve ever made!
Soft vegan peanut butter cookies
It’s been over six years since I first shared this peanut butter cookie recipe.
Yet this is still one of the most popular recipes I’ve ever published, with readers writing in pretty much at least once a week to say how much they love these cookies.
One reader even emailed to say she’d entered the vegan peanut butter cookies into a local contest, and this cookie recipe took home first prize!
You may also like these Black Bean Brownies
Above, watch the vegan peanut butter cookie recipe video
Discerning eyes might notice that although I roll seven peanut butter cookie dough balls in the video, only six cookies come out of the oven.
This may or may not be due to the fact that I ate one of the cookie dough balls instead of baking it with the others.
My favorite part of vegan baking is that, since there are no eggs, I can use it as an excuse to eat as much of the raw cookie dough as I wish.
Sometimes none of the cookies make it into the oven!
Readers also like these 3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Balls
The best vegan cookies
With a delicious soft and chewy texture, these perfect peanut butter cookies are honestly better than any other peanut butter cookie, vegan or not, that I’ve ever tried.
The first time I made the recipe, I remember being shocked it could possibly be vegan.
How could there be no eggs or butter?!?!
They tasted way too good!
I’ll never forget how excited I was after bringing the peanut butter cookies to a pool party and hearing so many guests rave about them.
I loved seeing their surprised faces upon hearing the secret that the cookies were vegan. Yes, vegan peanut butter cookies that didn’t taste vegan.
(Ten years ago, veganism was much less mainstream than it is today.)
Aside from being both dairy free and egg free, the recipe has another surprising secret: applesauce! It makes these cookies so amazingly melt-in-your-mouth soft.
Also try this recipe for Applesauce Muffins
Vegan peanut butter cookie ingredients
Gather the following: creamy or crunchy peanut butter, applesauce, pure vanilla extract, sweetener of choice, salt, flour, and baking soda.
Want to use almond butter, sunflower seed butter, or cashew butter instead? Any of these peanut free options are perfectly fine to substitute in an equal amount.
Flours that work include spelt flour, oat flour, white all purpose flour, whole wheat pastry flour, gluten free sorghum flour or rice flour.
There is a keto peanut butter cookie recipe included below that calls for almond flour. Or use peanut butter instead of the coconut oil in these Coconut Flour Cookies.
If you do not have applesauce on hand, it can be replaced with nondairy yogurt, mashed banana, or even canned pumpkin or sweet potato.
Being a chocolate lover, I often stir a handful of mini chocolate chips into the batter. Chopped peanuts are also wonderful and give the cookies a fun crunchy texture.
Healthy peanut butter cookies
If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, you may remember the original version of the recipe, posted all the way back in 2011.
The cookies became so popular that I went back a few years ago to see if I could make them even healthier without sacrificing any of the delightfully soft texture.
I was indeed able to decrease the sugar from the original version, and they are still just as delicious.
The entire recipe now calls for just a third cup of sugar. This can be regular sugar, unrefined coconut sugar or date sugar, or granulated erythritol or xylitol for sugar free vegan peanut butter cookies.
Some readers say that they successfully substituted pure maple syrup for the sugar by adding a few extra tablespoons of flour. We have not tried this substitution, so feel free to experiment. Be sure to report back if you do!
Still craving cookies? Make Vegan Sugar Cookies
How to make one bowl peanut butter cookies
Measure out the peanut butter. If it is not already easily stir-able, gently warm it for a few seconds in the microwave or let it sit in a warm room until soft and easy to stir.
Combine all dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Stir well to evenly incorporate the baking soda and salt.
Add all remaining ingredients to the bowl, and mix everything together to form a yummy eggless peanut butter cookie dough.
Freeze the dough for a few minutes, or you can cover and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. Once it’s firm enough to scoop out with a spoon or cookie scoop, roll into cookie dough balls with your hands.
(You can also freeze cookie dough balls to bake at a later time if you wish.)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the unbaked dough balls on a baking sheet, leaving room between each cookie.
Bake on the oven center rack for eight minutes. Let the puffy cookies cool for at least another ten minutes, during which time they will firm up considerably and no longer be too delicate to handle.
If you wish to flatten the cookies, use a fork or spoon to press down lightly.
No bake peanut butter cookies
Feel free to skip the baking step after rolling the dough into balls.
Enjoy the peanut butter cookie dough balls as-is, or press down with a fork to make that classic pb cookie crisscross pattern.
Store leftover no bake cookies in the refrigerator or freezer for freshness.
Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup peanut butter, or allergy friendly sub
- 2 tbsp applesauce (or make these Keto Peanut Butter Cookies)
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 3 tbsp flour (spelt, white, oat, sorghum, rice all work)
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup sugar, unrefined if desired
- 1/8 tsp salt
Instructions
- *If you're a visual person, be sure to watch the video above showing how to make the vegan peanut butter cookies!Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. If your peanut butter is not stir-able, gently warm to soften. Add all remaining ingredients to the mixing bowl and stir to form a dough. Roll into cookie balls. If you want soft cookies, refrigerate the dough at least an hour. (You can also freeze cookie dough balls to bake at another time if you wish.) Bake in a preheated oven (350F) for 8 minutes. The cookies will look quite underdone when you take them out. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before removing from tray, as they firm up while cooling.View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
More Vegan Cookies
Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Omgg those cookies look amazing! will be making them today for sure (:
Just a tip after decades of baking. In general, peanut butter, banana, and applesauce recipes tend to do ok without eggs, as these ingredients often act as sticky binders to hold ingredients together (the applesauce, not as much). Applesauce when added to cookies, tend to take away the crunch, and create a more cake-like cookie. For serious cookie lovers, this may be disappointing. If you try this recipe, you might want to “half” it – to see if you like the texture. I personally prefer PB cookies that have a texture more like a shortbread cookie, but that’s me, and cookies are my number one obsession in life. Very picky. Saying that, I am still going to make these out of sheer curiosity.
As to this website blog…..absolutely superb Katie! I am without words at your talent, creativity, and imagination. You are a very very talented lady. Thank you!
thanks for this.. Me and my bf are avoiding eggs due to mild-ish allergies and we sure miss them, especially when it comes to baked goods. I have yet to try applesauce as a replacement.
Ground flax seed and water replace eggs, no need to use too much.
Very vegan~♡~
Steak is better
I substitute Folabi for the applesauce
Do you know how to make crunchy vegan cookies without vegan bugger or tons of added sugar? I’m trying to make a crispy PB cookie (like shortbread) but they all turn out cake-like.
I made these with 1 more tablespoon of oat flour, flattened them with a cold fork, and baked it for about 10 minutes. These version was much crispier than the first time I made them according to the recipe.
That sounds great, thanks 🙂
It’s the applesauce that makes them cake like. Try the recipe with either no applesauce or with reduced amounts! Hope this helps 🙂
what can you substitute for the applesauce
I imagine you could sub pumpkin or zucchini puree, but would then have to add a bit more sugar And the pumpkin would definitely impart its own flavour, which could be yummy depending on your preferences.
I subbed mashed banana because I didn’t have any applesauce on hand. They have a very slight hint of banana, but they’re really good.
I subbed a flax egg for the applesauce. Worked like a charm.
Superb advice.
Sounds so good! Quick question: Do you think it would be possible to scale back on the applesauce and use a date paste to make these sugar free?
Either way, I am totally making these!!!!
No clue, but if you try it I’d love to know!
Ironically, I just posted a recipe for cookies sweetened with dates! We’re on the same wavelength!
I’ve looked up the conversion to use my favorite all natural sugar substitute. For my TRUest favorite, it’s 6 packets that equal 1/4 cup.
I have tried using date sugar in place of sugar and they just did not come out as yummy as the original recipe. They were OK but not amazing..
Thanks for reporting back Amy! Haha. This was SO long ago. I just got an e-mail notification from your comment and saw that is was in 2011. 🙂
I also just tried date sugar! never again! currently have another batch in the over with the original recipe, hoping they turn out better! 🙂
These cookies are GOLD! I skipped the applesauce and they came out beautifully crumbly and melt-in-the-mouth. Fantastic recipe!
Dates are pure sugar, so how would using them instead of Applesauce be sugar free?
idk either??♀️
My thoughts exactly! Maybe the op wanted to sub dates for applesauce, and because dates are sweeter (and contain more sugar) than applesauce, they could eliminate the 1/3 cup of granulated sugar.
Dates may be pure sugar but what they are NOT is highly processed. Whole dates with a little liquid of your choice in the blender to form a paste. 8-1-19
Yes! Vegan cookies and other desserts…inspired by you. 😀
I’ve been Vegan since New years…started out baking … theppk site made it so easy
..muffins first, cookies, brownies you name it. Best part you can safely eat the dough.. but I have to admit im Loving you almost daily recipes….what will Katie think of next 😉 love it
Oh this recipe came one day late for me (made some peanut butter cookies last night), but I can’t wait to try it! I made some last night using maple syrup instead of sugar and applesauce, but this sounds even better! Thanks for the recipe!
Does maple syrup work better than honey for recipes like this as a replacement to sugar? I’m glad you posted this, because it makes sense that you’d get rid of the applesauce with this substitution.
https://blog.kingarthurflour.com/2017/08/18/baking-with-liquid-sweeteners/
Check out this guideline from King Arthur Flour on substituting liquid sweeteners! I used maple syrup instead of sugar for these cookies. I added extra tablespoons of flour based on the King Arthur suggestion, and I also kept in the listed amount of applesauce. My cookies were super soft/cakey, but I liked it that way!
I feel dumb for asking, but is it really 3 T of flour? I can’t wait to try these!
Yes! I use less flour so they’ll be less doughy and the pb flavor/texture will show through more :).
Can the flour be almond flour or oat flour or coconut flour instead? If so, which of these substitutions do you recommend Katie? And can I replace the sugar with maple syrup?
SOoo… I’m in the process of making these and my “dough” (if i can even call it that)is super runny:(
Some peanut butters are runnier than others, especially if it’s warm in your kitchen. Just add a little more flour and you should be fine! You can also put the dough in the fridge for a little while.
Yum, Katie! These look delicious. I want to try them right away. I’m so looking forward to all the recipes you plan to post before Christmas… can you say baking party? 🙂
I have made so many vegan desserts since becoming a blogger and stumbling into the food blogging community. Mostly the vegan blogs. It’s funny how people think they will taste horrible but they are, in my opinion, WAY better than non-vegan desserts.
Congrats on 10 years of veganism! I’m slowly making the transition into veganism myself.
And I know what I’m baking today. Peanut butter cookies are the best.
I’ve been baking vegan for a few years now,but I avoid recipes using applesauce because I’m afraid it will tast apple-y. (I like apples,but not in cookies!) Do these taste like applesauce?
No not at all! I usually don’t like using applesauce in a recipe either, because it can sometimes make things taste gummy. But these aren’t gummy, and they only taste like peanut butter :).
Thanks! I gotta try these and throw in some chocolate chips 🙂
These look absolutely delicious! But I have a rather large problem…I live in Spain and I’ve looked everywhere and I can’t find applesauce!!! Is there something else I could use?
Thanks!
Hmmm… I’ve only ever tried them with applesauce. Maybe cook apple and then puree it to make your own? Or maybe pumpkin or oil, but I haven’t tried either of these.
I actually tried substituting soy yogurt and they turned out great!
I made raw applesauce in my vitamin by just pureeing a whole apple With the skins and made the cookies with that and it turned out beautifully.
Oops! I meant to say vitamix 🙂
I used a quarter of an apple in the food processor after grinding 3T oatmeal into flour. Worked like a charm!
Cookies were amazing.. Thanks again Katie!
Have you looked in the baby food section for apple sauce?