These are the best vegan gluten free chocolate chip cookies ever! With crispy edges and perfectly soft middles, no one will guess they’re gluten free. Egg, dairy and nut free as well with NO dough chilling required!
You’re going to love these vegan and gluten free cookies
You can stop looking. These are the best gluten free vegan cookies! They’re easy to make with a handful of staple ingredients and ditch the regular flour for gluten free flour. You’ll hardly be able to tell the difference between them and my Perfect Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Gluten free desserts don’t get much easier than these nut free and gluten free chocolate chip cookies. The dough is easy to mix together in one bowl before it’s rolled into cookie dough balls and baked in the oven. You won’t find any complicated ingredients here either! Just grab your favorite gluten free flour mix and vegan chocolate chips and you’re ready to start baking.
Ingredients needed (with substitutions)
- Vegan butter – Remember: softened room temperature butter is always easier to work with and incorporates better into cookie dough. Put it out on the counter 30 minutes before getting started or microwave it in 15-second increments until it’s soft to the touch (but not melted).
- Brown sugar – This is where all chocolate chip cookie recipes get their molasses-like flavors. If all you have is white sugar at home, try mixing it with molasses to make your own brown sugar.
- Vanilla extract
- Non-dairy milk – Any kind of plant milk is just fine. Make sure it’s room temperature before you get started.
- Gluten free flour – I recently discovered Better Batter Gluten Free Flour, and I feel like it’s one of the best. It’s less sandy tasting than others I’ve tried. Any quality gluten free flour mix should work quite well, so use your favorite.
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Vegan chocolate chips – Check the ingredients to make sure your chocolate chips don’t contain milk. You can find vegan chocolate chips at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods or Costco (look for Kirkland brand of semi-sweet chocolate chips). When all else fails, look for Guittard or Enjoy Life as both brands make vegan-friendly chocolate chips.
How to make vegan gluten free chocolate chip cookies
Find the complete recipe with measurements in the recipe card below.
Beat the softened butter and brown sugar together until you have a creamy and fluffy mixture. Add the vanilla and milk, and continue to mix. Lastly, slowly mix in the flour, baking soda, and salt until just combined.
Fold the chocolate chips into the dough and you’re done!
Roll 1 to 2 tablespoons worth of dough in your hands at a time to form the cookie dough balls. Place them on the prepared baking pans, then bake until the cookie edges are just starting to brown. It’s ok if they feel too soft at first! They’ll firm up as they cool.
Sprinkle with coarse sea salt, if desired. Leave the cookies to cool completely on a wire rack, then dig in and enjoy!
Freezing cookie dough
Roll the cookie dough into balls, place them on a lined baking sheet, and freeze. Once they’re frozen solid, transfer them to a freezer-safe bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
Bake the dough balls right from frozen, adding a few more minutes to the bake time to make up for their cold temperature.
The baked cookies also freeze well. Just pop them in an airtight container and grab one out of the freezer whenever you have a craving.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I use almond flour? Using all almond flour won’t work well here, as the cookies will be very flat. You could try using 1 cup gluten free flour and 3/4 cup of almond flour.
- Do you have to chill the cookie dough? It isn’t necessary for this recipe. Chilling the cookie dough in the fridge before baking can solidify the butter and prevent the cookies from spreading too much in the oven. If you love thick, chewy cookies, go ahead and pop the dough in the fridge for 15 minutes.
- Can I make these without sugar? I wouldn’t recommend it. Granulated coconut sugar, however, can be used instead of brown sugar as a natural sweetener alternative.
Want more vegan and gluten free desserts?
- Gluten Free Banana Bread
- Easy Vanilla Vegan Gluten Free Cake
- Gluten Free Chocolate Cake
- Gluten Free Vegan Brownies
Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup vegan butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups brown sugar, lightly packed
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup non-dairy milk
- 1 3/4 cups gluten free flour mix*
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup vegan chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or using a handheld mixer, beat the softened vegan butter and brown sugar together until creamy, about 2 minutes.
- Add the vanilla and non-dairy milk and mix to combine, scraping the sides as needed.
- Stop the mixer and add the flour, then sprinkle the baking soda and salt on top of the flour.
- Turn the mixer on low speed, and mix until just combined. Mix in the chocolate chips until incorporated.
- Scoop about 1-2 tablespoons of dough using a cookie scoop or spoon, roll into balls and place on the prepared pans about 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 9-12 minutes, until barely golden brown on the edges. They will appear soft, but will firm up as they cool. Sprinkle with a little coarse sea salt, if desired.
- Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes on the pan, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Enjoy!
Notes
- Sugar – Brown sugar works best, but you can use coconut sugar if desired.
- Gluten free flour – Recently I discovered Better Batter, which I am enjoying more than any other brand I’ve tried. It has almost no sandy, gritty texture in baked goods. I recommend a quality mix that includes xantham gum, such as Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 or King Arthur Measure for Measure. Almond flour will NOT work.
I followed everything exactly as written and used Country Crock non-dairy butter sticks and Bob’s 1:1 GF flour.
They didn’t spread at all. When I took them out of the oven, the cookies were still basically in a ball shape with a slightly flatter top…
I usually have no trouble with GF baking using the Bob’s GF flour but this one was a miss. Which is unfortunate because GF flour is expensive so it is always heartbreaking when 2 cups are wasted.
I absolutely LOVE Nora and all her recipes! My son was just diagnosed with celiac disease so when I saw that she had a gluten free/vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe I had to try it. They taste amazing and you would never know they are gluten free. My son loves them so much. We will definitely keep making these! Thank you so much!
Hi Becky. It warms my heart to learn that your son is able to enjoy delicious cookies and foods using my recipes! Thank you for taking time to share your story, as well as your recipe love and support! I am thrilled that your son is loving the cookies! I appreciate your terrific review, and wish you lots of happy cooking!
These tasted soooo good!! I doubled the recipe in metric and cut some of the sugar. In total I used 400 grams of soft brown sugar and 100 grams of white sugar. I also added 1 heaped teaspoon of cornflour to the flour mixture and used around 70 ml of oat milk (not the full 118ml). I chilled the dough in the fridge for 2 hours. It is so hard to find a vegan and GF American style chocolate chip cookie recipe (or any dessert) that tastes good and is not gritty – this is a keeper!! I also used a GF flour called Freee (I am based in England).