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.
Julia S.
Thank you! I had success with my first attempt at a Vegan Cookie Recipe ! Wasn’t sure of the size, but using approx. one Tablespoon (used my tbsp measurin spoon as the cookie dough scoop, and each cookie ball yielded approx. a two inch diameter cookie – soft in the middle, crunchy on outside, and Kid approved for afterschool snacks and lunches. I used Earth balance Soy Free and used the salt- seems about right salt-wise unless you are very sensitive to salt.
walkwithmi
These were delicious! I accidentally overbaked them (which you strictly warned us not to do), so next time I’ll be more careful. However I did eat all the tops of all my cookies and I enjoyed every bite. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Brittany Carter
Hi! I’m about to bake the creation now and I’m quite excited as I’ve been on the mission to find the perfect vegan gf choc chip cookies for some time. Did I read it right, 1 and a half cups of choco chips? Haha that’s so many, I did just a cup as most recipes I’ve seen call for 1/4 to a 1/2 a cup. But the more the chocolate the better! Also, it would be helpful if you added in waiting time as part of cooking time as this recipe takes over an hour and not just 20 minutes.
I really appreciate your blog and your recipes. Thanks for shining Nora!
Nora
Hi Brittany! This cookie recipe isn’t gluten free, but I’m guessing you swapped gf flour for the all purpose? Let me know how that works out as I haven’t tried it! 🙂 I do use about 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips, yes, but use as many or little as you like. Thanks for your thoughts, hope you enjoy the cookies!
shel
works perfectly with bob’s red mill gluten free 1 for 1!
Nora
So good to know, thank you!
alice
im making these this weekend for valentines day for my grand. the mix is very watery dont know what i’m doing wrong..any help how to stiffen them? i can pour them out like a drink right now 🙁 thanks for any help.
Nora
Hmmm that’s very strange Alice. Something went wrong, and I’m not sure what it could be. Did you met the vegan butter? Make any substitutions? Forget to add enough flour? Maybe with a little more information I can help! This dough should be quite thick, and nothing close to watery.
Miss Jae
I followed your recipe to a tee, but the dough came out like dust. I had to add a tablespoon of almond milk to actually get the dough consistency, and they came out perfect! Nora,what do you think happened here?
Nora
Hi! I’m glad they ended up coming out perfect! I’m guessing the dough was too dry from adding too much flour. It’s quite easy to get a little too much flour, but you also don’t want too little or your cookies will end up flat. I always recommend not packing it down into your measuring cup, and leveling off with a knife. When you scoop flour straight from the container, you can easily get even an extra 1/2 cup of flour! I hope that helps. Enjoy the cookies!
Beverly
Yumm! These came out so good!! I love it when I can make a vegan recipe and those that aren’t vegan in the household love it too! This happens with all your recipes!! Thank you!
Sheila Crawford
Nora…Thank you so much for such a wonderful recipe. I’m not a vegan but our youth leader at church is. I was preparing a meal for the youth tonight and decided to make something he could eat. I made some vegan sloppy joes for the main dish but wanted an easy dessert. I happened on to your chocolate chip cookie recipe. All I needed was quick trip to Trader Joe’s for the chocolate chips and Earth Balance butter spread. My pantry had everything else.
The recipe was followed exactly (minus half a cup of brown sugar) and the cookies look exactly like your picture and taste so good. After this success…I might be able to convince my husband to try a vegan life style.😃
Nora
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cookies so much! What a success! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment, I really appreciate it!
Lauren
Hi! I can’t wait to try your recipe, I have tried many vegan chocolate chip cookie recipes and still none compare to the ones I had when I was a kid.
I would like to try and make GF have you tried a GF flour substitute for the all purpose?
Nora
I haven’t tried making these gluten free, but I’ve heard good things about Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free Flour. I do have a recipe for Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies you might enjoy, they are super good, too!
Nadia
During the holidays I made these multiple times a week. Chocolate chip cookies are my favorite comfort desert, and this is the best vegan recipe I’ve found. Everyone loved them and no one that tries them can tell they’re vegan. I added a tiny bit more butter to mine because my dough was just slightly more crumbly than I wanted (I think a touch too much flour got in there), and they were so good.
Hazel
These are delicious ..thank you for sharing! However, when I baked them they didn’t flatten like cookies., they came out ball shaped. What am I doing wrong?
Nora
Thank you! Perhaps they got quite cold in the refrigerator. Next time, try letting the dough sit at room temperature after chilling for 15 minutes. That should help!
Hazel
Thank you for the reply. I did chill it for 15 minutes and the second batch even longer.. they are still
rounded. :/
Nina
Ok so I like REALLY appreciate this recipe. Not only are the ingredients so simple, but these cookies taste like actual chocolate chip cookies with no weird taste or texture. Seriously SO GOOD! I finally found a solid cookie recipe that I can share with my friends and family that have allergies or are vegan! Thank you, Nora 🙂
I just had to make a few alterations, so I hope you don’t mind me sharing them!
-I scooped and leveled the flour, but the dough still ended up dry and crumbly. so I put 1 cup of butter in instead of just a 1/2 cup.
– Not sure if there are vegan butter brands that come unsalted, but if yours is not unsalted don’t add any salt! Otherwise it’ll be super salty
And if you’re in a pinch and don’t have time to refrigerate the dough, instead of rolling them into balls, roll them tall like logs so they won’t spread a crazy amount! But refrigerating is always best so the flavors can merinate a bit, and it won’t be as greasy 🙂
Nora
Thanks for the tips, Nina, and I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe! 🙂
Amy Loveridge
I live in the southwest at high altitude. The dough was very crumbly and would hardly hold together. Would you suggest something to adjust for high altitude. Or any idea why the dough was so dry?
Nora
Baking at high altitudes can make your baked goods need more liquid or moisture, so I would try adding 2-3 tablespoons of non-dairy milk at step 3 when you add the flax egg and vanilla. That should help a lot. Hopefully that’s all you need to adjust for these cookies to come out perfect for you! See this post on baking and cooking at high altitudes for more ideas, I found it helpful.
Cindy
These are the most AMAZING cookies! Perfect texture and flavor. There is only one problem….we can’t stop eating them! 😂😋😋
Jaedyn
Fantastic recipe! I subbed out the brown sugar for ground turbinado sugar (which I ground in the blender) and added 2 tbsp of agave for the moisture of molasses in brown sugar.
Dana Kuo
So these cookies are amazing and delicious, but mine came out extremely flat (I still had to taste them *wink*). I made two alterations and they shouldn’t have affected it, but maybe? I used an egg instead of a flax egg (1 egg for the flax egg above) and 1 cup of chocolate chunks instead of 1.5c of chocolate chips. Trying to figure out what I did wrong.
Nora
Hi Dana! Did you chill the cookie dough for at least 30 minutes? My guess would be you didn’t, because if you don’t chill the dough they can definitely end up flat! I’ve also never made them with a real egg, since I don’t eat eggs, so that also may have affected the outcome. Also, make sure you measure your flour correctly. It’s best to use a spoon to scoop it into the measuring cup, then level it off with the back of a knife. It’s the best way to get an accurate measurement. 🙂 Hope that helps, and I’m glad they still tasted delicious even if they were flat!
Dana
Yes I did 🙂 And then let it rest for 15 minutes as the recipe calls for. I’ll try the flour trick 🙂 They we’re very tasty, I just couldn’t get them off the parchment paper to even remotely salvage them. 😉
huda
hi, is it 1 and 1/4 cup or 1/4 cup brown sugar? made it and just realised i added 1 and 1/4 cup of brown sugar??
Nora
It’s 1 and 1/4 cups brown sugar, as listed in the ingredient list. Hope that helps!
Joanne
This is by far the best chocolate chip recipe I have ever made.
Thank you for sharing. I am looking forward to trying your other recipes.
Happy camper,
Joanne
Nora
Yay! So glad you enjoyed the cookies. Thank you so much for your comment, and I hope you find many other recipes here that you love. 🙂
Michelle
These cookies are sooooo good!! I don’t have the mixers or anything like that. I did it all by hand and they came out perfect. It’s even better after you let it sit in the freezer for a few days. I added nuts to mine. So good! I’m so proud that I was able to make this successfully. The last time I tried to make vegan cookies, it was not good. Thanks Nora!
Cheryl
Another perfect recipe from Nora. Mine didn’t spread as much as yours, but I love the way they came out. And tastes divine. Everything I have tried from your website has been excellent. I trust you so much that I am making your lasagna for Christmas dinner without even testing it first. Making your best vegan loaf for supper tonight. Thank you for this great website.
Nora
Thank you so much Cheryl! I’m so happy you are enjoying all the recipes! The lasagna should be a big hit; it has many rave reviews and you really can’t go wrong. 🙂
Sarah
Wow! I’m in cookie heaven. These are absolutely gorgeous. I used a little less chocolate as I only had a block so chopped it up. I weighed everything out as that’s how I usually work. My kids are going to love these when they get back from school and my husband will insist these are a regular in our house. Thank you!
Nora
Wonderful! So glad you enjoyed the cookies and I hope your kids do, too!
Ann
I bake everything using weights as well, could you share the amounts you used for the flour and sugar?
Nora
I don’t have the amounts in weights as I don’t usually bake that way, but there are charts available to help! Here is one from King Arthur Flour.
chickenclubsoda
These cookies were dry before adding in more margarine/a touch of almond milk. A bit floury, but overall pretty good!
Nora
Thanks! It is important to measure the flour correctly but spooning it into a measuring cup, and leveling off the excess with a knife. It’s SO easy to get a little too much flour. Hope that helps for next time!
SW
I absolutely LOVED these and I can’t wait to share them with my friends. These cookies actually turned out better than non-vegan cookies I’ve tried to make in the past. One issue I had though — using these exact measurements my cookie dough was so thick it was in crumbles. I had to add an extra tablespoon of butter and another half of a flax egg. I triple checked the recipe and I got all the measurements right — any thoughts?
Nora
Oh yay! I’m so glad you enjoyed the cookie recipe, we just love these! So with the dry cookie dough, even just a few extra tablespoons of flour could cause this to happen. I recommend using the “spoon and level” method, where you use a spoon to fill your measuring cup, and then level off the top evenly with a knife. That will assure you have an accurate amount of flour for the recipe. The cookie dough is quite thick, but should stick together. Hopefully that helps!
Katie
Wow! These cookies are nothing short of amazing! My daughter is allergic to milk and eggs, and it is so hard to find cookie recipes that do not yield flat, hard cookies. We used oat flour, and they still came out excellent. A slight crisp on the outside, soft and chewy goodness on the inside. Thank you for the perfect recipe.🍪🥛
Nora
Thanks so much for taking the time to write this review! I appreciate it so much. 🙂 I’m so glad you finally found a recipe you and your daughter can enjoy, free from her allergies! And I’m happy to know it worked out with the oat flour as well.
Stephanie
I made these cookies a few nights ago and they were awesome! The texture is spot-on for the type of cookies I love – soft and chewy. I made them at first mini-sized but then, a few days later, I made them larger with the extra dough. I can’t say how long the dough was in the fridge but it had to be 4-5 days and it was still fresh. I got to say that I liked the larger cookies better but that’s just my preference. This recipe is SO GOOD and everyone needs to make it!
Nora
Thank you SO much Stephanie! I’m so glad someone loves this cookie recipe as much as I do, lol. 🙂 I am so with you on the best kind of cookies being soft and chewy. I haven’t made these mini sized yet but I am going to have to do that soon, sounds fun!
Christina
Instead of regular flour I want to use coconut flour OR almond flour. Would I use the same amount as this recipe calls for with flour? Hope you see this; I’m replying form a very old pst of yours. Thanks so much.
Nora
I don’t think either of those would work in this particular recipe, but I created a recipe with almond flour that would probably be perfect for you: https://www.noracooks.com/almond-meal-chocolate-chip-cookies-vegan-gluten-free/ I don’t think coconut flour would work, but I’m not sure as I’ve never tried it. Thanks!
Alan
These truly are the best chocolate chip cookies.