Perfect Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure here.
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 chips!
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 have tried countless recipes over the years, and some have been pretty good but I had yet to find the PERFECT recipe I was looking for. Until now.
What makes these cookies so perfect?
- They are SO soft, chewy and full of chocolate chips. They aren’t too flat, and they aren’t too puffy and cake-like. No one would guess they’re vegan, unlike some cookie recipes I’ve tried.
- They’re made in 1 bowl.
- No chilling time is required for the dough. So you can have cookies to eat FAST!
How to make vegan chocolate chip cookies
- In a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the softened vegan butter and brown sugar.
- Mix in the flax egg and vanilla.
- Add the flour, and then sprinkle the cornstarch, baking soda and salt on top of the flour. Mix on low to combine.
- Mix in the chocolate chips.
- Look at that cookie dough! Perfection.
- Roll the dough into 1-2 tablespoons sized balls. 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!
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 the 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.
That said, I never have to add extra flour or milk when I make them exactly as written.
How to freeze the dough
Roll the cookie dough 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) vegan butter, slightly softened to room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups non-dairy chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or lightly spray with oil.
- 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 and brown sugar for 1-2 minutes until creamy.
- Add the vanilla and the flax egg and mix to combine.
- Next, stop the mixer and add the flour. Sprinkle the cornstarch, baking soda and salt on top of the flour. Turn the mixer on low speed, and mix until just combined.
- Add in the chocolate chips to incorporate, either by hand or using the mixer.
- Roll the dough into balls, about 1-2 tablespoons each. Place on the prepared pans and bake for 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.
Video
Notes
- Cookies will stay fresh for 3-4 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 inspired by Sally's Baking Addiction.
Nutrition
*Post last updated August 15th, 2019.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Read my full disclosure here
578 Comments on “Perfect Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies”
This is the best vegan Choc chip cookie recipe I have ever made!! Def pinning this.
Hi Liz. Thank you!
These are truly the best chocolate chip cookies ever – vegan or not! My non-vegan boyfriend also says they are one of the best desserts he has had in his life. Thank you for such a delicious recipe! I’m already making my second batch in one week.
Hi Justine. I’m so glad you guys are loving the cookies! Thank you for sharing your comments!
I’m Vegan and these are so so so good!! Awesome job! Thank you so much for the recipe!!!💜
I am so glad you enjoyed the cookies! Thank you for using my recipe!
Umm I made a double batch of these and my family & I ate our weight in cookies lol These were amazing! This will be my go to chocolate chip cookie recipe!
Hi Wilma. I’m so glad you and your family love the cookies! Thank you!
Today I woke up thinking on my local shop called Ben’s cookies, they are literally the best cookies in london !
I was thinking on their taste haha
This recipe works like magic!
Seriously when I tried them they are just like Ben’s cookies , even better so good!
Thank you! xo
Hi Dafne. What a fun story! I’m glad you love the cookies! Thank you for sharing!
These are seriously THE BEST chocolate chip cookies I’ve made, and even had. Now, I’ve gone through a series of different recipes through the years non-vegan and vegan – and nothing tops this. Thank you Nora for your talents!
Thank you, Shane, for your wonderful comments! I am glad you love the recipe! Thank you for sharing.
I’m not vegan but my two year has allergies and I finally found a recipe I thought would be great and it is. He loves them. I had one myself and I like it. My picky 15 year old liked it as well (I didn’t mention vegan to him lol). I did roll it into a ball but next time I’m going to try just scooping it like I do normally and see if they come out a little more cooked.
Hi Jennifer. My children really like these cookies as well! I’m glad your family enjoyed them! Thank you for sharing!
I am not a vegan, but I absolutely loved these cookies! I made them for some vegan friends and they concur that they were “heavenly!”
Thanks, Heidi! I’m glad you and your friends enjoyed the cookies!
These are SO good! A perfect cookie, and it happens to be vegan!!!
Thank you Abby!
I have a question regarding this recipe. Does a vegan use granulated sugar? My daughter is a vegan & I would like to try this recipe but thought a vegan avoided granulated sugar.
Hi Cheryl, happy to help! Yes, vegans can eat granulated sugar. Some non-organic sugar is processed with animal bones, so make sure to choose organic if you want to be 100% sure it’s vegan friendly. Of course, some vegans, like non-vegans, choose to eat sugar free, but that is not a vegan decision. Hope that makes sense!
I followed the recipe exactly and they came out delicious!!! My kids (not vegan) said they were better than any other chocolate chip cookies they have had. Thank you for the recipe!
I’m so glad your family is enjoying the cookie recipe! Thank you!
How many eggs would I need to use in place of the flaxseed? I am not vegan, but df due to my nursing son’s dairy allergy.
Just one, it should work but I haven’t tried it since I don’t eat eggs. But I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. Enjoy!
Tried these for Christmas and they were AMAZING!!!!
Thank you Elizabeth! Glad you liked the recipe!
One of the best cookies I have EVER had. Made these to leave out for Santa aka me and simply amazing! Not vegan but I just like trying different recipes and will use moving forward!
Hi Michael. I’m glad you and ‘Santa’ enjoyed the cookies! Thank you!
Made these with my daughter and we love them. Added 1 and 1/2 cup of sugar because we like them a little sweeter but the taste was great. Sprayed the cookie pan with canola oil for that extra butter flavor but these were perfect.
Hi Max! How fun! Glad the cookies turned out good for you and your daughter. Thank you!
Really great! Thank you! Love the simplicity.
Everytime i make these, they are just a crumbley mess…. I follow the recipe exactly and I end up adding non dairy milk to make them rollable. What is wrong? They are delicious by the way, after I add
the milk
A few things – make sure your vegan butter isn’t too cold OR melted, just softened. And measure everything correctly, I use the spoon and level method for measuring flour. Adding even a bit too much will make the dough crumbly.
Wow, these are incredible and nearly identical to non vegan chocolate chip cookies. I added some toasted walnuts in the dough as well. Great recipe and will be my new go to.
My daughter and her boyfriend are vegan so anytime I want to try something new for them, I always look for your recipes. Love your recipes; they have never failed to please us!
That’s so great to hear!
These came out perfect!! I went with 1 cup of chocolate chips and 4 crushed candy canes to add a little fun for Christmas!! My new go to cookie recipe.
These are great!
I live in central FL, so I had to add a little water to my dough because it was a bit dry when I mixed it, and I used Neat Egg instead of flaxseed.
I also used Great Value Organic Dark Chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet. They’re really soft, just the way I like them! I just ate 3. lol
I have made this recipe twice in the last week, and I’m about to make a triple batch for Christmas! Turns out really wonderful. I added cardamom and orange zest…so good.
Note to self don’t put too many on a cookie sheet since they spread lol. They are delicious and made them for Christmas since my son is vegan.
My son raved. He is the pickiest person I know.
That’s great to hear!
Absolutely delicious cookies that were also super easy and quick to make!! Adding it to my list of go-to cookie recipes. Thanks Nora! This is my first time trying one of your recipes and I will definitely be back for more.