Tried and true, these are the most perfect vegan chocolate chip cookies ever! Made in 1 bowl and oh-so-soft, chewy and full of chocolate!
Everybody has their go-to, tried and true chocolate chip cookie recipe, right? Well, I used to before going vegan and since then it’s been hit or miss. I swear I have tried countless recipes over the years, and some have been pretty good (some VERY bad!) but I had yet to find the PERFECT vegan chocolate chip cookies recipe I was looking for. Until now.
What makes these cookies so perfect?
Perfect Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies are soft, chewy and very chocolatey. They aren’t too flat, and they aren’t too puffy and cake-like. They are, for real, the perfect cookie! No one would guess they’re vegan, unlike some cookie recipes I’ve tried. A little crispy on the outside, but soft and chewy on the inside. Plus, the cookies are made in 1 bowl!
How to make vegan chocolate chip cookies
(for full amounts and the complete recipe, see recipe card at the bottom of this post)
- Make a flax egg in a small bowl and set aside. In a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the softened vegan butter until creamy, then add the brown sugar. (photo 1) Next, mix in the flax egg and vanilla. (photo 2)
- Now stop the mixer for a minute. Add 1 cup of the flour, and sprinkle the cornstarch, baking soda and salt on top of the flour. Mix on low to combine. (photo 3) Then add the other 1/2 cup of flour and mix until combined. It might be a little crumbly, but once you use your hands it should come together. (photo 4)
- Using your hands, form a big ball of cookie dough. If it’s too wet, add a few tablespoons more of flour at a time, until you can easily handle it. If your dough is too wet, your cookies will be flat. If your dough is too dry, add a tablespoon or two of almond milk. Fold in the chocolate chips with your hands, then refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes. (photo 5)
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper, and roll the dough into 1-2 tablespoons sized balls. (photo 6) Bake for about 10 minutes for smaller cookies, or 12 for larger cookies, until puffy and just slightly golden on the sides. They will look underdone, but will firm up considerably as they cool. Do not over bake.
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Are all chocolate chips vegan?
No, a lot of brands have milk fat or butter oil in them. Check the ingredients to ensure vegan friendliness. Trader Joe’s brand of semi-sweet chocolate chips happen to be vegan, as are Guittard. Costco sometimes carries the Kirkland brand of semi-sweet chocolate chips, which are also vegan and a great price if you can find them! There is also Enjoy Life, which you can find on Amazon or Whole Foods.
If you are really having trouble finding vegan chocolate chips, you can always look for dairy free chocolate bars, and chop them into chunks.
What should chocolate chip cookie dough feel like?
The cookie dough should be soft and mushy, but not too wet or too dry. You should be able to easily roll it into balls. If it feels too wet, add a few tablespoons of flour at a time until it’s just right. If it’s too dry, add a tablespoon or two of almond milk. This is important because the kind of vegan butter (or coconut oil) you use will affect the dough, as well as how you measure your flour, and just the temperature and altitude of where you live. If your dough is too wet, the cookies will spread; if too dry the cookies won’t spread enough.
Can I use coconut oil instead of vegan butter?
So, the answer is yes, but…. the cookies will look and taste different. I made a batch with coconut oil when I made these and this is what they coconut oil ones looked like (photo below). They are still very tasty, but not as yummy as the batch with vegan butter. Not as pretty, either!
How to freeze the dough:
Once the cooke dough is chilled, roll into balls and freeze in a large ziplock type bag. When you want to bake cookies simply preheat the oven and bake, adding a few more minutes since the dough was frozen.
Baked cookies also freeze well and are wonderful straight from the freezer. I love having frozen cookies to throw in my kid’s lunch box on school days.
Want more vegan cookie recipes?
- Ultimate Vegan Chocolate Cookies
- Vegan Snickerdoodles
- Vegan Sugar Cookies
- Classic Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Vegan Ginger Cookies
Perfect Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
- 2.5 tablespoons water
- 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) earth balance vegan butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus more if needed
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch or tapioca starch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt, omit if your vegan butter is very salty. I always add it.
- 1 1/2 cups non-dairy chocolate chips
Instructions
- Mix the ground flaxseed and water in a small bowl and set aside to make your flax egg.
- In a large bowl using a handheld mixer or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the softened vegan butter for a minute until creamy. Now add in the brown sugar and mix for 1-2 minutes, until fluffy.
- Add the vanilla and the flax egg and mix in.
- Next, stop the mixer and add 1 cup of the flour and sprinkle the cornstarch, baking soda and salt on top of the flour. Turn the mixer on low speed, and mix until just combined.
- Add the other 1/2 cup of flour and mix until combined, then use your hands to form a large ball of dough. The dough should be easy to handle, not too wet or dry. If the dough is too wet to handle, add a few tablespoons more flour at a time. If the dough is too wet, your cookies will be totally flat. If the dough is too dry, add a tablespoon or two of almond milk.
- Add in the chocolate chips to incorporate, either by hand or with a spoon until they are evenly distributed.
- Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate/chill for at least 30 minutes, and up to 1 day. Sometimes I skip the chilling part, and the cookies turn out fine, just not as thick.
- Remove the cookie dough from the fridge and let sit on the counter for about 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
- Roll the dough into balls, about 1-2 tablespoons each. Bake for about 10 minutes (12 minutes for larger cookies), until they are barely golden around the edges. Do not over bake! They will be puffy and lightly colored. Let cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. The cookies will firm up as they cool, and become the most perfect chewy cookies ever! Enjoy.
Recipe Notes
- Cookies should stay fresh for 4-5 days, if they last that long.
- TIP: Freeze cookie dough balls to have on hand to make just a few cookies at a time! Simply cook for 1-2 minutes more, no need to thaw.
- May substitute coconut oil for the vegan butter if desired. Just make sure it's not melted, you want it to be semi-firm.
- If you don't like salt in your cookies or your vegan butter is very salty already, you may omit the salt.
- Recipe adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction.
NUTRITION INFORMATION
*Post last updated August 15th, 2019.
Charlotte
These are the perfect replica of Chewy chips ahoy- SO GOOD!
I had no cornstarch so subbed in Bird’s custard powder- perfect.
Emily
Truly amazing cookies! I’m always trying out new vegan chocolate chip cookie recipes and this one is just perfect! I never have brown sugar on hand so I use organic cane sugar and add 2 tbs molasses. These come out soft and chewy on the inside with a crispy edge, just the perfect cookie in my opinion!
Beth
I made this and they are amazing! I watch kids that are vegan and they are nice treat for them!! The second time I made them they started to get flat after the first 2 batches. Still amazing though!!
Nora
Thanks Beth! So glad the kids are enjoying them!
Tamara
Hello. Can I use chia seeds instead of flax seeds?
Nora
Yes you can. Ground chia would be best because you would taste the whole chia seeds in your cookies.
Kaitlyn
Made these cookies and they look beautiful and taste delicious! The only problem I had was I ended up adding an extra cup of flour to make the dough more firm. It was almost like cake batter before i added the extra flour. I dont know what happened since I followed the recipe exact!
Nora
Interesting! Is there any chance you only added 1 cup of flour and thought that was all that was called for (step 4)? Because in step 5 you add another 1/2 cup of flour and then a little more if needed. Sometimes I find 1 1/2 cups to be perfect, and sometimes I add a few more tablespoons until it’s just right. I think it depends on the temperature in my house, what kind of vegan butter I use (or coconut oil if I sub it, which I have) and probably how I measured the flour. I’m glad you enjoyed the cookies though!
Jessie
Nora,
There are no words to explain how perfect the crunch and chewy combo of these cookies are!! A brilliant recipe I will repeat probably my whole life. Unreal.
Nora
Thanks Jessie! I’m so glad you loved the chocolate chip cookies! Thank you.
Caroline
I’ve made these many times and they are always a hit. Perfect. I don’t think anyone can really taste a difference between these and conventional dairy/egg cookies.
One variation I’ve made is cranberry chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. I sub ~1/4 c of the flour for 1/2 c of oats and add ~1/2 c of cranberries. Also very delicious!
Ashley
I made these tonight and they came out perfectly! I did not refrigerate after making the dough, I just went straight to baking. They were amazing! My husband has no idea they were vegan 😜 My kids enjoyed them, too. Thank you so much for the awesome recipe. I will be making these again!
Nicki
This is probably the 5th vegan chocolate chip recipe I’ve tried and all the others spread flat. These came out PERFECT! I ended up adding about 4-5 TBS of extra flour. I chilled the dough overnight. It was pretty stiff after chilling, even after sitting out for 15 min. I went for it anyway and low and behold, perfect cookies! Thank you Nora! This was my first recipe I’ve tried off your blog and I will be back!!
Amy
Definitely five star! Exactly the type of chocolate chip cookie I was looking for 🙂 Thank you!!!
Angie
Hey! I want to make these tonight and want to use a gluten free flour.
What kind do you recommend? Will almond flour work? If so, would they be the same measurements?
Nora
I have never tried them with gluten free flour so I can’t say for sure, but I think you would have the best luck with a gluten free mix, like Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten Free Flour. I don’t think almond flour will work here, but I do have a Gluten Free Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe you may want to try instead that uses almond flour. Thank you!
sbc1023
These got rave reviews from vegans and non-vegans alike. Everyone was amazed to learn that they were vegan. I followed the recipe as written, used parchment paper, and adhered to the chilling/baking/cooling times. My only criticism is that the cookies, even when totally cooled, were very soft and delicate. I brought them to a potluck and needed to pack them on a flat box as if I put them in a ziplock bag as I usually do, they would have broken. However, they were delicious and quite the hit!
Pooja
I have been looking for vegan chocolate chip cookie recipes for years! I never comment on recipes, but I had to on this one. Best cookies I’ve ever made and eaten. Thank you so much.
Nora
Thank you so much for leaving a comment, I really appreciate it! So happy you found a good one.