Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
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The BEST vegan chocolate chip cookies ever! They are crispy on the outside yet soft, chewy, and ooey gooey in the center. Each bite is loaded with pockets of melted chocolate and full of rich flavor. This vegan cookie recipe is made with pantry staples and easy-to-follow instructions. It’s a guaranteed crowd-pleaser for vegans and non-vegans, alike!
Are you in need of a foolproof recipe for classic vegan chocolate chip cookies? Look no further; this will be your new go-to recipe. In fact, these cookies are my absolute favorite dessert. I’m a firm believer that you can never pass up a good old fashioned chocolate chip cookie. I’d choose these over the most extravagant dessert on any menu. They’ve got that childhood classic, incredibly delicious, tollhouse-cookie flavor paired with a 2020 “I’m a vegan” type of attitude, ya know? In translation: these contain no eggs, no dairy, and a whole lot of love!
I consistently bake these cookies for my non-vegan family members and they always adore them. I promise, nobody will be able to tell these cookies are made without eggs and dairy. They’re just as good – dare I say, better? – than the traditional thing.
These classic chocolate chip cookies are:
- Vegan, vegetarian, dairy-free, and egg-free
- Crispy on the outside yet gooey and soft on the inside
- Loaded with melty chocolate chips in every bite
- Super easy to make / minimal steps required
- Made with pantry staples and no funky ingredients
- Kid-approved and non-vegan approved
- Best enjoyed fresh out of the oven or paired with ice cream (thank me later!)
What are vegan chocolate chip cookies made of?
- Vegan butter: These chocolate chip cookies are made with vegan butter. I highly recommend using vegan butter from a tub instead of buttery sticks. I use the Earth Balance brand.
- Brown sugar: Brown sugar gives the cookies a chewy texture, more moisture, and a slightly caramelized flavor. In particular, we’ll use light brown sugar. Be sure to pack it when measuring.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar or cane sugar is paired with the brown sugar to create a perfectly sweet flavor.
- All-purpose flour: All-purpose flour, otherwise known as plain flour, is used for this cookie recipe. I have yet to try using gluten-free all-purpose flour, but I’ll keep you posted.
- Vegan chocolate chips: A dessert recipe isn’t complete without chocolate, and this one’s no exception to that rule. Use traditional vegan chocolate chips or a combination of mini chocolate chips + vegan chocolate chunks.
- Non-dairy milk: Any type of plant-based milk can be used – such as almond milk, soy milk, cashew milk, or coconut milk.
- Vanilla extract: Don’t skip out on the vanilla extract. It’s essential for that warm, rich, classic cookie flavor we all love and adore. You can either use pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste.
- Baking soda: Baking soda helps the cookies rise while baking.
- Salt: Just a dash is needed to balance the sweet flavors from the sugar and chocolate.
How to make the best vegan chocolate chip cookies
For the full ingredients list and step-by-step instructions, scroll down to view the recipe card at the bottom of the page.
First, we’ll add the butter and sugars to a bowl. Using a handheld mixer or stand mixer, cream the ingredients together until light and fluffy (about 1-2 minutes).
Next, mix in the milk and vanilla extract. Then, add flour, baking soda, and salt. Fold the ingredients together to combine.
Mix in the chocolate chips, then cover the cookie dough with cling wrap and store in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. After, scoop the cookie dough into 1-inch rounds. Use clean hands to roll the dough into balls. Place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or lightly greased with oil.
Bake the vegan chocolate chip cookies for about 12 minutes on the middle rack in your oven. You should remove them from the oven while the center appears underbaked! They will de-puff and firm up while cooling (see tips below for making your cookies perfectly soft and chewy). Let cookies cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before devouring. Enjoy!
What is the secret to soft cookies?
For perfectly soft and ooey gooey cookies, do not over-bake them. The cookies should be removed from the oven when they appear slightly under-baked. Seriously, they should look as if they still need a couple more minutes in the oven. (In reality, they don’t!) If you want to achieve a soft and chewy center, remove the cookies at this point and allow them to cool for 5-10 minutes on the hot baking sheet. Your cookies will firm up a bit and de-puff while cooling. After 5-10 minutes, they will have a perfectly crispy exterior with a soft, gooey, and warm interior.
I highly recommend baking these vegan chocolate chip cookies on the middle rack in your oven. From my experience, the cookies are crispier and crunchier when baked on a lower rack. If this is your ideal type of cookie, then go for it! But, to achieve a truly soft and chewy texture, use the middle rack only.
Why should you chill cookie dough in the refrigerator?
I know, it’s an annoying step. You read a recipe and think, “Ok, I can do that!” until you stumble upon the dreaded instruction to chill your dough. But, refrain from that heavy sigh and eye roll. We chill our dough for good reason here 😉 You don’t want to skip out on this step.
Why should you chill cookie dough in the refrigerator, you ask? What’s the point? Is it worth it?
- Better flavor. When you chill cookie dough in the refrigerator, the ingredients have extra time to come together before baking. This leads to a more concentrated, sweeter, and richer flavor.
- Less spread. Chilled cookie dough allows the butter to solidify and gives the flour time to hydrate. In turn, this leads to less spread when baking. The longer you chill the dough, the less the cookies should spread.
- Better texture. Chilled cookie dough leads to a chewier texture rather than a cakey texture.
How long should you chill cookie dough?
Are you short on time or just totally impatient? (No judgment, I hate waiting around for the dough to chill, too!) Well, even just 30 minutes in the refrigerator is better than nothing. I recommend allowing the cookie dough to chill for one hour or longer, but 30 minutes is enough to produce positive results. Alternatively, cookie dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three days – just make sure it’s well wrapped/covered tightly with cling wrap.
Is vegan cookie dough safe to eat?
Okay, so the pre-baked cookie dough is really damn good. Like, ‘let’s eat the whole entire bowl before it makes it into the oven’ type of good. Buuuut, let’s err on the side of caution and try not to eat the raw cookie dough, alright?
We’ve all heard that it isn’t wise to consume raw cookie dough. Many people believe this is due to raw eggs. If that’s the case, vegan cookie dough should be totally safe to consume, right? Unfortunately, no. It is still not safe to consume vegan cookie dough. Yes, raw eggs pose a risk, but so does raw flour. Raw flour can contain harmful bacteria that leads to food poisoning – and nobody wants a fun night of baking turning into a tummy ache or worse.
If you’re in the mood for some safe and edible cookie dough, check out these recipes:
- Edible Vegan Cookie Dough
- Edible Funfetti Cookie Dough (Vegan)
- No Bake Cookie Dough Bars
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cups
- Oatmeal Cookie Dough Balls
Can you freeze raw chocolate chip cookie dough?
Yes, you can definitely freeze the cookie dough for later. I recommend rolling the dough into balls, then placing the balls in your freezer for 30 minutes. After, transfer them to a ziplock bag and squeeze out as much air as possible before sealing. Store the bag in the freezer for up to one month. Keep in mind frozen cookie dough will require a few additional minutes in the oven while baking.
How to bake cookies at high altitude?
Did you know baking cookies at high altitude can cause them to overspread and brown too much? If you are baking at 3,500 feet or more above sea level, you may need to make adjustments. To prevent your cookies from overspreading, try adding 2 tbsp flour and removing 2 tbsp sugar from the recipe. Read Baking and Cooking at High Altitudes to learn more.
More vegan cookie recipes
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PrintVegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 15 cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
The BEST vegan chocolate chip cookies ever! They are crispy on the edges yet soft, chewy, and gooey on the inside. These cookies are loaded with pockets of melted chocolate in every bite.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup vegan butter, slightly softened (from a tub, not sticks)
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup plant-based milk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (240g, see notes*)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup vegan chocolate chips
Instructions
- Add vegan butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar to a large bowl. Using a handheld mixer or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together just until combined (about 1-2 minutes). Add the plant-based milk and vanilla extract. Cream together once more to combine.
- Add the all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt to the bowl. Fold the ingredients together until evenly combined. Then, stir in the chocolate chips.
- Cover the cookie dough with cling wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Scoop the cookie dough into balls and transfer to the baking sheet. I recommend creating 15 cookies.
- Bake cookies for 12 minutes on the middle rack in your oven. You should remove them from the oven while the center still appears underbaked. Once you remove them from the oven, let the cookies rest for 5 minutes on the baking sheet. They will de-puff and firm up while cooling. Enjoy!
Notes
- *Measure the flour correctly. Flour should never be scooped or packed into a measuring cup. Instead, gently spoon the flour into the measuring cup and scrape off any excess using a flat object (such as the edge of a knife). For accurate measurements, I highly recommend weighing the flour. The original recipe calls for roughly 240 grams all-purpose flour.
- For soft and chewy cookies, do not over-bake them. Remove the cookies from the oven while they still appear slightly underbaked. Let the cookies cool on the warm baking sheet for 5 minutes before enjoying. During this time, they will firm up and de-puff. The end result will have a soft and chewy center with crispy golden edges.
- To prevent spread: Whipping too much air into the cookie dough will cause cookies to collapse and spread. The butter and sugar should be creamed until combined, only about 1-2 minutes. Also, chilling the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes will prevent spread.
- If you are baking at high altitude: Did you know baking at high altitude can cause your cookies to overspread and brown too much? If you are baking at 3,500 ft above sea level or more, you may need to make adjustments. Try adding 2 tbsp flour and removing 2 tbsp sugar.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 245
- Fat: 11g
- Saturated Fat: 5g
- Carbohydrates: 37g
- Fiber: 1.5g
- Protein: 3g
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I’ve made this recipe dozens of times, and it’s been exceptional up until the last few batches. I have no idea why it’s been failing recently. The ingredients, brands, steps, amount of mixing, and bake time have stayed constant.
I know it’s not because of your recipe (because that’s fantastic), so I’m leaning towards the idea that the brand of vegan tub butter/margarine I use may have recently changed their recipe/ingredients. So out of curiosity, which brand(s) do you use?
I’d really love to go back to enjoying these amazing cookies once a week because otherwise I may cry lol.
Thank you so much, Thea! I am so glad you love these vegan chocolate chip cookies 🙂 So sorry to hear you are suddenly having issues. I would love to help you identify the problem so you can get back to enjoying this recipe ASAP. If you have been using the same brands as usual, I would agree that one of the brands changed their formula and that’s causing the problem. I typically use Earth Balance butter (from a tub), Bob’s Red Mill organic all-purpose flour, and Wholesome Sweet sugars. I’m curious – what exactly is the issue? Are they suddenly spreading too much? Not spreading enough? Too cakey? Too crumbly? Also, there are a few things you might want to consider. Did you recently move to a new home or get a new oven? Is your oven temperature actually accurate? (You can get a cheap oven thermometer to make sure your oven is pre-heating to the correct temperature. Oftentimes, ovens run too low or too high.) Have you been mistaking baking soda for baking powder? Or powdered sugar for flour? (Believe it or not, it happens!) Lastly, when did you first begin noticing a change? A year ago, the recipe called for 4 tbsp granulated sugar but that has since changed to 3 tbsp as many readers were finding the extra tbsp to be unnecessary. That might be it, but I would be very surprised because the difference is virtually unnoticeable IMO.
Such a great recipe! I was craving cookies for a while now , so I decided to make them tonight. Let’s say I have a pretty bad history of cooking desserts and sweets haha. Not my strong suit but these turned out amazingly good and were easy to make. Thank you for that good recipe :)))!
Aw thank you so much, Sarah!! Enjoy 🙂
Hands down, the best vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe I have found and made! Thanks for your tips and for responding above. I followed your recipe to the T, refrigerated for 1 hour and baked. I found 11 minutes to be perfect timing for my oven! Perfecto! I made two batches separately, so I would mess up the recipe! Winner!
Thank you so much, Kathryn!! It is so great to read your glowing review. So glad you loved this cookie recipe! Enjoy 🙂
Amazing and doubles well! Perfect crisp Inessa and you bite into it with a soft inside – they do not last long in my house!
Thank you for sharing, Lindsey! I am so happy you loved these vegan chocolate chip cookies 🙂 Enjoy!
It was supposed to say “perfect crispiness as you bite into it” – my phone is dumb!
Hi, This recipe sounds amazing! I plane on making them today. If I refrigerate for more than an hour, even overnight, how long does the dough have to sit out before baking? Second, I have made many recipes that don’t flatten out like yours. Did you flatten the dough, or is this because you don’t over mix? Maybe I have done that in the past. Thanks, Kathy
Hey, Kathy! I’m so glad you want to try out these vegan chocolate chip cookies 🙂 Refrigerating the dough overnight will prevent the cookies from spreading as much as the photos. I only refrigerated the dough for one hour when I captured the photos for this post. If you go longer than that, you will end up with slightly thicker cookies – not by much, but enough to notice a difference since the dough will be colder. If flat cookies are your main goal, then I recommend only chilling the dough for one hour. If you want to chill it overnight, just let it sit out for about 30 minutes before baking. Also, no, I did not flatten the rounds of cookie dough before baking them. The recipe uses baking soda and no eggs, which allows the cookies to spread instead of puff up. Hope that helps! Let me know how it goes 🙂
These are the easiest to make, delicious vegan cookies I have made! The ingredients are simple and the cookies are perfectly soft on the inside and firm on the outside, where other vegan cookies often turn out huge and cakey. Thank you!
Thank you so much, Rachael! Happy baking! 🙂
I am vegan and I’m allergic to many things! So when I saw this recipe I had to try it ! I didn’t use vanilla because I’m allergic. But I followed the recipe exactly! The BEST AND YUMMIEST VEGAN cookies I have ever had ! Thank you 🙂
Yay! What a positive review! Thank you so much, Ashley. I am so glad you loved these cookies 🙂 Enjoy!!
Is it unsalted butter or salted butter you have used?
Hey, Priya! You can use salted or unsalted. The kind I used is called Earth Balance and it is indeed salted. If your butter is unsalted, I recommend increasing the added salt to 3/4 tsp.
Oh boy, are these amazing! Chewy and gooey. I doubled the recipe, used chocolate chunks instead of chips, chilled the dough for over an hour, baked for 12 minutes on the middle rack (great tip!). Out of this world. I’m in cookie heaven right now.
Thank you so much, Mel! I’m so happy to read such a positive review. Glad you loved these cookies! 🙂
I made these and they were amazing. I did use stick butter instead of tub butter and I took the cookies out of the oven half way through, to deflate them and make them more chewy. I definitely recommend this if you perder thin chewy cookies over cakey ones. Great recipe 🙂
Thanks so much, Stephany! Enjoy 🙂
So love this recipe❣️ Newly adapting the vegan friendly lifestyle and this recipe was right on the money to help my sweet craving without worrying about dairy! Thank you Kaylie for making the recipe accessible. Even though my entire family is not vegan we were all able to enjoy the tasty treat chocolate chip treats. So glad I didn’t go with the recipes that call for coconut oil! The vegan butter alternative is the way to go!
Thank you so much, Nicasha! I am so happy to hear that you and your entire family enjoyed these vegan chocolate chip cookies. Thanks for sharing your positive review! 🙂
I am so anxious to try these, but I am curious, what makes eggs not necessary? My daughter just went vegan and I don’t have much experience with vegan baking. Would a vegan egg help or hurt the final product? Thanks!!
Hi, Gail! Eggs are not necessary for all baked goods. You can achieve great results with vegan recipes that do not contain any eggs. This cookie recipe is specifically made without eggs or egg replacers. Be sure to follow the recipe exactly as it is written and read the blog post for all of my tips and tricks. Happy baking! 🙂
This is the 9th vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve made, and by FAR, the best. None of the others even compare. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Thank you so much, Heather! I am so glad you found your new favorite cookie recipe 🙂 Happy baking! xo
I’ve made over 6 batches of these cookies now, and seriously, I am out of my mind with how good they are. I am going to make double batches moving forward and just baking some each night. No other dessert needed. Done. Better than the non-vegan versions. Now …. If I can find vegan versions this good (and easy!) for all my daughter’s favorite meals, she’d be vegan too.
Wow! Thank you so much, Heather! What a great review 🙂 I am thrilled to hear that you are loving these vegan chocolate chip cookies. Happy baking! xoxo
Best CC cookie recipe hands down. My anti-cooking teenage son made them against his will and OMG if he can make this come out the oven a winner then this recipe is a keeper. Came out as described crunch on the outside and gooey goodness on the inside, was really hard to not eat the lot so addictive. PS mixture was left in fridge for a couple of hours.
Thanks Kaylie for a winning vegan recipe, I try to be a health conscious vegan with my food choices but we need a naughty treat every now and again right.
Wow, what a great review! Thank you so much, Jill! I am super happy to hear that you enjoyed these chocolate chip cookies and your son was able to nail the recipe 🙂 I totally agree about needing a naughty treat every now and again. Glad these cookies were able to satisfy. Happy baking! xo
Oh my Goodness! These cookies are amazing! I made a double batch for a picnic. Much tastier than any other chocolate chip cookie recipe I have ever made. Thank you Thank you!
Thank you so much, Nancy! I’m so glad you loved these cookies. Happy baking! 🙂
Hello, how long can i save the cookie dough?
Hey, Jasmine! This cookie dough can be stored in the refrigerator for 2-4 days. If you want to save it longterm, keep it in the freezer instead! It will keep for up to 2 months in the freezer. However, remember this cookie dough is not meant to be consumed raw. You must bake this cookie dough to ensure safety. If you want to enjoy raw cookie dough, follow my Edible Vegan Cookie Dough or Edible Funfetti Cookie Dough (Vegan) recipes. Enjoy! xo
I did x2 recipes and used a cup of Navitas cocoa nibs and a cup of rolled oats in place of 2 cups of chocolate chips. Cooked for 14 minutes with convection oven on 325 and finished with sea salt. Fantastic cookies!
Thank you, Richie! I’m happy to hear that you enjoyed the cookies with those substitutes. 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Hello!
I’m excited to try this recipe! I use an ice cream scooper for forming dough balls, what inch scoop should I use? Don’t want to make them too big or too small. Thanks in advance.
Hi, Lillith! I use a medium-sized cookie scoop. I recommend making about 15 cookies. Happy baking! 🙂
They taste good but there too pretty in the eye, I Follow the recipe to a T did I do something wrong
Hi, Jeriann! Can you clarify what you mean by “they are too pretty in the eye” for me? Thank you!
Hi thank you kaylie i just made the recipe last night for my family and they loved it this recipe is definitly 5 stars
You are very welcome, Isaiah! Thanks for your positive feedback! 🙂
What else can you use except for parcement paper
Hey, Alya! Parchment paper helps prevent the cookies from sticking to the pan. You can bake them directly on the pan if you use a non-stick pan 🙂 Otherwise if you have a silpat, that works too!