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!
Can you sub dark brown sugar for the molasses?
Not really; you’d be taking away a liquid, throwing off the recipe. Pure maple syrup might work, but they won’t turn out the same without molasses.
Never mind. I just saw someone else asked about Crisco.
Thanks Mryl. I’m glad you found your answer!
I only slightly modified this recipe to make it gluten-free. I used King Arthur’s Gluten-free measure-for-measure mix in place of the regular flour and I reduced the amount to 3 cups (because measure-for-measure or not, it always seems better to use a little less gluten-free flour because it’s so “thirsty.”). 3 cups of GF flour weighed 13.8 oz. I used miyokos unsalted butter, dark brown sugar. The recipe made 37 cookies, which I cooked for 9 minutes at 325 deg F convection bake. They had cracked but the cracks looked very wet when I removed them. Wow, they are so yummy. I can’t think of any improvement. Thanks for providing a perfect molasses cookie that was easy to modify to be gluten-free *and* vegan.
Could you use some sourdough in this?
I’ve never tried it so I’m not sure. If you give it a go, let me know how they turn out with sourdough!
Finishing baking these now and after a taste test these are delish! My dough ended up super crumbly so I was worried at first. I did bring all my crumbles together and then refrigerated for about 15 min, then rolled them and baked. They turned out!
Hi Jen. I’m so glad that your ginger cookies turned out wonderful for you! Thank you for sharing your recipe experience and your terrific review!
Do you think I can sub sorghum (syrup) for molasses?
I haven’t tried it so I’m not sure. The cookies may be sweeter and won’t taste the same as with molasses.
Wow! Some of the best cookies I’ve made recently. Lovely chewy texture. I divided the recipe by 4 and got 15 medium sized cookies, and baked for only 9 minutes.
I reduced the sugar by 10% and they were perfectly sweet. I also omitted the nutmeg as I didn’t have any, and upped the cinnamon and ginger to a tsp each. Next time, I’ll add more because I like extra ginger flavour in my cookies.
Oh wow!! What a perfect ginger cookie recipe!! I followed it exactly and the cookies are perfection!! I love how crackled they are and the taste is amazing, so many recipes with spices are under spiced, these are just the right amount of spice (and I usually add more) the only thing I did different was to give them a little squish before baking!
These cookies are absolutely DELICOUS!!!!!
I also used GF flour and mine stayed as balls and didn’t flatten. So I flattened them with my palm half way through baking in the oven and they came out perfect and cracked 🤣 I used a little extra ginger because we like them nice and spicy. You can’t even tell these cookies are vegan they are so warm and DELICIOUS!!!
Hi Maria. Thank you for sharing your recipe experience on your spectacular review! These are one of my favorite cookies! Wishing you lots of happy cooking!
Amazing recipe! I did substitute coconut oil as I can’t find Myokos these days. However, I didn’t pay attention and I melted it. No problem. I also use half-and-half white and wheat flour. Thanks for the tip to flick some water in the pan. My (40-year-old) daughter has always been a huge fan of ginger cookies, as is my 6-year-old granddaughter. Can’t wait to surprise them with these tomorrow evening. Sharing some for our Mah Jongg brunch first. Love, love, love the cookbook, thank you!!
A while back, I was gifted with some freshly baked ginger cookies. Unfortunately they weren’t vegan so I couldn’t enjoy them so I gave them to a neighbor who said they were delicious. That set me on the hunt last year to find a vegan version and THIS particular recipe from Nora is absolutely outstanding! I was told (by the neighbor who received the non-vegan cookies) that these are even better than the non-vegan version. Sometimes I add mini chocolate chips for a little variety. I’M ADDICTED to this recipe and so are the recipients of these treasures whenever I bake them. I just noticed in the comments that the dough can be pre-made and frozen so it’s awesome to be able to have these available at practically any time. Thanks for your tastylicious recipes, Nora, you make baking fun!
Hi Chremari. It was so fun reading your feedback! How heartwarming to read that with my recipes you are having fun baking. I am thrilled that you are loving the cookie recipe! Thank you for taking time to share your glowing review and comments! Wishing you lots of happy cooking!
Could you include dry ingredients measured by mass (g or oz) as well as volume? I’m pretty capable of screwing up flour measurement by volume, but the recipe is more me-proof if I can use a kitchen scale!
Made them with King Arthur Gluten Free Flour and brought them to a potluck and they got snatched up quick everyone kept telling me how good they were.
Hi Morgan. How awesome the cookies were a hit! Thanks for your terrific review and feedback!
Do you have a favourite/preferred brand of vegan butter for baking? Thanks – these look delicious!
I usually use Earth Balance, but I have used Melt and Miyokos with good results as well. I hope you enjoy the cookies!
Which vegan butter did you use? I was planning on using the vegan “I can’t believe it’s not butter.”
Hi Sam. I usually use Earth Balance, but I have used Melt and Miyokos with good results as well. Happy cooking!
Just baked these as a quick recipe since I was craving some ginger molasses cookies! I baked one batch a little less than the other and made both soft cookies and gingersnaps! Found them absolutely delicious. Thanks for this recipe Nora!
That’s a fun idea, Laura to get a little mixture of soft and crispy! I’m so glad that you love the ginger cookies recipe! Thank you for taking time to share your terrific review and baking experience! Wishing you happy cooking!
Great cookie!! Superb taste and texture! I prefer less sweetness, so I used 1 cup sugar instead of 1 1/2. The sugar that I used was coconut sugar. When I’m searching for recipes, and Nora Cooks website comes up, I know that I can trust it to be great.
I made these last week and LOVE THEM! So did everyone who tried them. I used GF flour and a little more spice. Nora, have you every tried making these with some fresh or crystallized ginger bits to get even more ginger zing? I’m thinking of trying it next week.
I have done this before and I loved it. Thank you!
I used gluten free flour and the cookies were delicious.
Hi Iva. Thanks for sharing your terrific review and cooking experience with gluten-free flour! I’m so glad the cookies turned out wonderful for you!
Do you think Crisco could be subbed for the vegan butter?
I’ve never tried it so I’m not sure. They probably won’t taste quite the same though and they likely won’t spread as well either.
I make these every year and they’re always a hit, so this year I’m making extra dough to freeze and have on hand throughout the month!
If I want to freeze the dough in balls, should I roll them in sugar before freezing? Or just before baking?
Thanks!!
Thanks Sarah! Yes, I’d freeze the dough in balls but don’t roll in sugar yet. When ready to bake, let the balls sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour before coating in sugar and baking.
Oh My Goodness! My mother always loved a good ginger molasses cookie. But in reading this I saw other recipes on the page that also look so scrumptious! That makes it hard to stay focused on this one! Lol. Such a terrible thing, eh?
Did you use blackstrap molasses or regular like “Grandma’s unsulfured Molasses”?
I use blackstrap molasses here. Not such a terrible thing at all! 🙂 I hope you enjoy lots of recipes.
Just made these and they came out perfectly! I’m seriously in love with these and can’t believe they are vegan! Excited to bring these over to my vegan sister for the holiday tomorrow! Thank you so much, I’ll be making these again ! 😁
You are welcome, Courtney! These are some of my favorite cookies as well! I’m thrilled that you loved them, and hope you have a wonderful holiday dinner with your sister! Happy cooking!
My favourite cookie recipe! This recipe always make so many cookies like depending on the size sometimes up to 50! So I will say the coating in sugar process usually takes me an hour, but worth the time it takes 💖
I’d like to sub shortening for vegan butter. Has anyone tried this or can hazard a guess at whether it will work properly?
Hi Nora, I don’t have vegan butter available close to me right now. Will this recipe work with coconut oil? I wanted to check before trying it with oil instead. Thank you.
Hi Ashley. I have never tried it with coconut oil, however, it may cause the cookies to spread and be flat.