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.
Natalia
These are by far the BEST vegan chocolate chip cookies I have ever made. I used a chopped dark chocolate baking bar for the chips as that’s all I had (we are still on a 14 day quarantine). So so so delicious. Thank you for brightening my entire household’s day during this otherwise dark time. We are so grateful to have found your page!
Nora
Thanks for the great comment!
Sophia A.
I’ve tried a bunch of different vegan chocolate chip cookie recipes and they never work! This is the best recipe I’ve found so far and the cookies were delicious!
Sandra
Nora, your recipes are perfect every single time. This was another great one. I was skeptical when these cookies looked so puffy coming out of the oven, but you’re absolutely right – they firmed up a bit and taste DELICIOUS!
Nora
Thank you so much! I’m really glad you enjoyed the cookies!
Lamees
Hello,
I havent tried this yet, but cant wait to. May I know if coconut flour would work instead of all purpose flour?
Thank you!
Nora
Unfortunately, coconut flour will not work to replace the regular flour here, sorry! It doesn’t work the same way. You could however use a gluten free flour blend, or whole wheat pastry flour. Hope you enjoy them!
Sarah
I have made these so many times. I use applesauce instead of the flax and water. This really is the best recipe I’ve found. Thank you!
Nora
I’m so happy to hear that Sarah! I’m glad applesauce works, too.
Kathy
I’ve been working on perfecting this as results have been inconsistent. (1) I double the recipe & (2) I live at/over 5000 ft elevation. I have been able to get consistent results, on a double recipe, by reducing the sugar to 2 c brown sugar & increasing the flour to 3 1/4 c.
A general rule of thumb is decrease sugar & increase flour. I’ve used this (https://www.allrecipes.com/article/high-altitude-cake-baking/) as well as this tidbit (FOR HIGH ALTITUDE BAKING (5,200 feet): Increase flour to 2 1/2 cups. Add 2 teaspoons water with flour and reduce both granulated sugar and brown sugar to 2/3 cup each. Bake drop cookies for 8 to 10 minutes and pan cookie for 17 to 19 minutes.) from the Nestles tollhouse rcipe.
Meredith
I have had these and they are delicious! My daughter is dairy free (dietary restriction) but not vegan. Do you think I could make with the same results using an egg since I don’t normally have flax seed on hand?
Nora
I’m sure you could, yes. So glad you enjoyed the cookies!
Kathleen
Oh Nora!!! This recipe is a winner. I didn’t have vegan chocolate chips (I will next time) but they are sooo good. I love how they are crunchy on the sides and chewy in the middle. When I first mentioned baking vegan chocolate chip cookies, my husband scoffed….he and my son LOVE them! Posted a picture on my Facebook page, and someone immediately asked for the recipe. Thank you so much for sharing.
Nora
You’re welcome! So glad they came out great!
Jessica King
These cookies turned out really well. They were easy to make and look beautiful. I used only one cup of sugar and one cup of chocolate chips and they are still a little too sweet for my taste.
Diane
Nora-these cookies are ridiculously delicious. Just as you stated, chewy inside and crisp outside. Love them!
Quick question, have you ever used Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer? I bought a bag but haven’t tired it yet. Just curious. It is vegan and gluten free.
Thanks for all your great recipes.
Nora
Thanks Diane, I’m so happy you enjoyed the cookies! I haven’t used Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer, but I have heard good things about it. I would use just 1 egg replacement in place of the flax/water.
Veronika
OH MY GOODNESS. These are SO good!!!!! Best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had. Perfectly gooey and not overly sweet. I did not have a hand mixer/stand mixer so I used a silicone spatula and it still worked perfectly. Only thing I’d change in the future is flattening them out just a tad bit (but this was my own fault).
Nora
I’m so glad you liked them!
Rita
Can I use chia egg instead of a flax egg?
Nora
Sure! Just don’t use whole chia seeds, ground should be fine.
Veronica
Hi! Can I changed the all purpose flour for another kind like almond or oatmeal flour?
Nora
Almond flour won’t work here. Gluten free all purpose flour does work well, and I haven’t tested oat flour but it may work ok. Hope that helps!
Heather
Hey Nora!
Our family is really trying not to eat coconut oil, canola oil, or soy oil (which is 99% of vegan butters!) Do you have any recommendations for what I could use instead? I used miyoko’s butter last time and they were DELISH but I would really rather not be eating coconut oil. I was thinking applesauce but I’m not sure how they would turn out? Thank you!
Nora
I’m not sure, I believe earth balance has an olive oil blend, but it may still contain other oils. Using applesauce won’t really work, you will just have super soft cakey cookies. This recipe really needs vegan butter or coconut oil to work, but you might want to check out this recipe for Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies, which only calls for 2 tablespoons coconut oil, and you could likely omit it or sub applesauce there. Or my Oil Free Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Valerie
These cookies are SO good!!!! I love soft cookies and these are perfect! I’m wondering if I could use coconut oil instead of vegan butter and if so, how much.
Nora
You can swap the vegan butter for softened coconut oil, just use the same amount. As you can see in the post, it does change the texture of the cookies and I do prefer them with vegan butter, but it works and they are quite tasty.
Mona
Can I use arrowroot powder instead of the corn starch or tapioca starch?
Nora
Yes, either will work the same. Thanks!
Danielle
What if I want to Make these gluten free?
Nora
I have made them using Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Baking Flour, not changing anything else and they turned out great! They will have a slightly different taste and texture, as gluten free flour tends to be a bit grainy, but they were quite good.
Ashley
Before going plant based, I searched and search for a perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe for a loooong time. I found your blog when I made a chocolate cake for a vegan friend. Now my family went plant based and I’ve been referring to your blog a lot and every single recipe is so good. One night we all wanted classic chocolate chip cookies. Your cookies are PERFECT! They are the best cookies I have ever tasted. Slightly crispy on the outside and deliciously chewy on the inside. Thank you for the amazing recipes!
Nora
Wow, what a wonderful comment! Thank you so much.