Chewy Vegan Ginger Cookies are everyone’s favorite holiday cookie! They’re filled with molasses and warm winter spices and decorated with a crisp sugar coating. Easy to make in 1 bowl!
Fill your cookie boxes with even more classic vegan Christmas cookies, like my Vegan Snowball Cookies, my Vegan Sugar Cookies, and these Vegan Chocolate Crinkle Cookies!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“Just made these and they came out perfectly! I’m seriously in love with these and can’t believe they are vegan!” – Courtney
These Vegan Ginger Cookies are always some of the first cookies I bake around the holidays. They’re full of molasses, brown sugar, and cozy winter spices like ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Usually, I have to bake a few batches because of how incredibly chewy and irresistible they are!
Believe me when I say I tested these vegan ginger molasses cookies until they were absolutely perfect. After a days-long cookie-baking marathon, I finally nailed the recipe! With gorgeous cracks on the outside and an irresistible soft chew on the inside, they were well worth the effort.
Why you’ll love these chewy ginger cookies
- Seriously chewy – The cookies I first tested were too puffy and cake-like. I’m happy to say that this now-perfect recipe gives you some seriously soft and chewy ginger cookies every time.
- Coated in sugar – I mean, just look at the glistening sugar granules surrounding the cookies. It’s gorgeous to look at, sweet in flavor, and makes them that much more eye-catching.
- Easy 1-bowl recipe – Just like my Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies, these ginger cookies are oh-so easy to make in only one bowl!
These easy ginger cookies are perfect for sharing with friends, neighbors, and co-workers. If you want to treat them to even more ginger cookies, try my Vegan Gingerbread Cookies or these Gingerbread Latte Cookies next!
How to make vegan ginger cookies
Find the complete recipe with measurements in the recipe card below.
Start by beating the vegan butter and brown sugar together until creamy. Next, beat in the molasses and vanilla.
Add 2 cups of flour and the rest of the dry ingredients to the bowl. Mix on low speed to combine, then add the remaining flour. Mix again until incorporated.
Roll 2 tablespoons of cookie dough at a time into balls (or 1 tablespoon for smaller cookies), then roll each one in a bowl of sugar until coated. Place the balls on a prepared baking sheet.
Recipe Tip
You can always skip the sugar coating or roll the cookie dough balls in powdered sugar instead, just like with my Ginger Crinkle Cookies.
Bake the ginger molasses cookies until they begin to crack on top. They’ll look a little soft coming out of the oven, but will firm up as they cool.
Set them aside to cool for a few minutes, then enjoy!
Chewy vs. crisp ginger cookies
As-is, these cookies are all about the chew. If you want crispier cookies, like vegan gingersnaps, bake them for 14 to 15 minutes instead.
Frequently asked questions
I usually use unsulphured blackstrap molasses, but these cookies are flexible in terms of what molasses you use.
Yes, that should be fine. A few of my readers have made these with a 1:1 gluten-free baking flour (like King Arthur Gluten-Free Flour) and had great results!
I haven’t tested it, but softened coconut oil (not melted) should work. Your cookies may spread a little more in the oven, but they will still be very delicious.
Absolutely. Roll the cookie dough balls, place them on the baking sheet, and freeze until they’re solid. Transfer the balls to a sealed container and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw the balls at room temperature for 30 minutes to 1 hour before coating in sugar and baking.
They’ll stay soft and chewy for about 3 days when stored in an airtight container at room temperature. You can also store them in the fridge for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Vegan Ginger Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup vegan butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 cup sugar, for rolling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the softened vegan butter and brown sugar together until creamy. Add the molasses and vanilla, and beat in until smooth. Scrape the sides as needed with a spatula.
- Add 2 cups of flour to the bowl, then sprinkle the baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg on top of the flour. Mix on low speed to combine. Now add the remaining 1 1/4 cups flour and mix until incorporated. The dough will be quite thick, but not dry.
- Fill a small bowl with the cup of sugar for rolling.
- Scoop out about 2 tablespoons of dough for large cookies (1 tablespoon for small cookies), roll into a ball, then roll each ball in the sugar until completely coated.
- Place on the prepared baking sheets, and bake for 11-12 minutes, until they begin to crack on top. They will look very soft, but they firm up a lot as they cool. If you over bake, they will be crispy.
- Let cool for 10-15 minutes, then enjoy!
Video
Notes
- For better cracks in the cookies: After a few minutes in the oven, sprinkle a little bit of cold water (I just flick it in the pan with my hands, about a teaspoon) on the pan. Cracks will form! (I learned this from my grandma)
- This recipe makes 36 large cookies, or about 48 small cookies. You can always cut the recipe in half if you don’t want that many. They are perfect for sharing with friends, neighbors or co-workers!
- Make sure to correctly measure your flour, or the cookies may not turn out right. To do this, use a spoon to scoop the flour into a measuring cup. Don’t pat the flour down or tap the cup. Use a knife to level off the top of the cup.
- If you want crispier cookies, like gingersnaps, simply bake these a bit longer, 14-15 minutes, and they will be quite crisp!
Nutrition
12/22/18- I found after further recipe testing that it was unnecessary to chill the cookie dough before baking the cookies, so I removed that step, making this recipe even easier!
I’ve made this recipe on multiple occasions and ever raves about them! They’re so tasty and the texture is amazing.
Hi Kate. I’m thrilled that the cookies are a hit! Thank you for sharing your fantastic review! Happy cooking always!
Nora, like every recipe of yours I have ever made, these are fantastic! The time you take with recipe testing really shows. The texture is a wonderful balance of crispy/chewy. I’ll be making these again and again!
Hi Sahm. Thank you for your words of validation about the work I put in into my recipes. I appreciate you sharing your stellar review, and for loving my recipes! I’m thrilled that you loved the cookies! Wishing you lots of happy cooking!
I have not made these yet and I’m giving you 5 star because based on the rest of the reviews, I’m assuming they’re delicious. Molasses ginger cookies are my favorite.
I have a question about the brown sugar. Is there any type of other natural sugar that you can recommend, like date sugar or possibly coconut sugar.
I started chemo recently and was diagnosed with cancer a few months ago so I’m trying to stay away from sugars that might possibly feed the cancer, but molasses, Maple syrup, date, sugar, etc don’t feed cancer, so I’m trying to use those in most of my recipes.
Thank you!
You can certainly try using date sugar perhaps, I’m not sure about the other ones you listed here. They will turn out different as brown sugar has more moisture and a different taste, but I bet it would work. I hope you love these with the substitute you need. Take care!
I made these cookies for my Coptic (Egyptian) Orthodox bible study group – we fast a LOT during the year! They were a huge hit!! Perfectly crisp on outside and yummy chewy on the inside! I chopped up some candied ginger pieces to toss in and that gave the cookies an extra zing! Thank you for your delicious recipes, Nora! 😋
You are welcome, Patti! I appreciate you loving and using my recipes! Your cookies sound amazing! Thank you for taking time to share your terrific review and recipe ideas! Wishing you lots of happy cooking!
These are perfect. Nora never fails for simple, delicious vegan versions of classic desserts. I really appreciated the recipe note that they will seem soft out of the oven because that was true, but they do end up the perfect texture once cooled and would be crunchy if you over-baked. Most molasses cookie recipes I’ve seen need you to chill the dough in the fridge first and I thought it might be too good to be true that you don’t have to here, but they’re perfect. My dough was not dry and almost a fluffy texture so I had to be careful rolling them in the sugar, but they turned out spot on.
Hi CJ. I’m so glad that you loved the ginger cookies! Thank you for your terrific review and recipe comments! Wishing you happy cooking!
I can’t begin to express how absolutely incredible these cookies are!!!
I double the spices & omit rolling in sugar, then once baked I dip half of each cookie into melted dark chocolate (72% or higher) and let set. SO good!!
I’ve made them countless times now, for any event with any demographic, and the feedback every time is that they are the best thing I’ve EVER baked (and my brownies have won awards!). The fact that they’re vegan is just the cherry on top.
I could seriously gush about these cookies forever!!! They’re so quick & easy & unbelievably delicious with the most addictive texture. Love it!
Hi Hannah. Your cookies sound absolutely beautiful and delicious! Thank you for sharing your recipe experience and ideas! These are one of my favorite cookies and always have been! Wishing you lots of happy baking!
Do these freeze well?
Hi Susan. You can freeze either the dough (I like to freeze in balls of dough for easy baking straight from the freezer) or after baking. Enjoy!
Amazing recipe, these ginger-molasses cookies are the best I’ve had. Holiday baking tonight with my 2 young adult men/boys and they had so much fun baking these (super easy 1 bowl!) and are saying they are the BEST!
Just took these out of the oven. Pro tip: spray your measuring cup with PAM before measuring out your molasses. It will slide right out! Super recipe!
I made these last evening for my vegan friends’ Christmas Eve shindig, tonight. They look splendid and taste so yummy! Thank you for sharing this great and easy to make recipe!
Once again…Nora puts together the perfect cookie recipe. Love these! Especially for the holiday season. Super easy to bake and very tasty. Thank you, Nora!
Delicious and perfect chewy texture. Trust the process and cooking time. Cookies stayed round balls until the very end and then turned out perfectly shaped with great cracks.
Another awesome recipe… Thanks Nora!
Hi. Can’t get molasses easily in UK. Is black treacle ok to substitute? Thanks
That should work quite well I think. Enjoy!