These are the BEST EVER soft, chewy and crinkly gluten free and vegan chocolate chip cookies. They're loaded with two kinds of chocolate and chilled before baking for the under-baked, delicious cookie perfection.
Why we love this vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe
- You won't believe they're vegan! Seriously, they taste just like grandma's classic chocolate chip cookie you know and love.
- They're gluten free. Perfect for all dietary requirements, but we've also included instructions for using regular flour if you're not gluten free.
- The dough is freezer-friendly: you can make the dough, freeze and bake whenever you want to. The perfect make-ahead treat!
- If you love a chewy, soft, slightly under-baked and super chocolatey cookie, this is DEFINITELY for you.
I can't wait for you to try these perfect vegan chocolate chip cookies!
Ingredients
Here are the key ingredients you'll need to make these vegan chocolate chip cookies:
Ingredient Notes
- Melted vegan butter: our two favorite easy-to-find brands are Earth Balance (the soy free variety) and Country Crock (we typically use the avocado or olive oil variety).
- Brown sugar: light or dark brown sugar both work.
- Cane sugar: we love using this organic cane sugar, which has a larger grain and gives these cookies a delicious, slightly crunchy crust!
- Flax "eggs": ground flax meal + water create a gelatinous substance that functions as a binder to replace regular eggs. Read more here.
- Gluten free all purpose flour: we use this blend from Bob's Red Mill! If you prefer a slightly drier cookie, feel free to add an additional 2 tablespoon to this recipe.
- Chocolate chips and dark chocolate chunks: we use equal amounts of each for a variety of texture and extra chocolatey cookies. You can use just one or the other if preferred. Lots of chocolate = super decadent vegan chocolate chip cookies!
Instructions
Make the flax "egg": Stir together flax meal and water and let sit to thicken for 15 minutes.
Cream butter and sugars: Melt the vegan butter. To prevent a mess in the microwave, we suggest doing so in a small saucepan over low heat on the stove. Once melted, add to a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add both types of sugar and beat on medium speed for 2-3 minutes, until it forms a thick paste.
Mix dry ingredients: In a separate bowl, whisk together gluten free flour, oat flour, baking soda and salt.
Add flax "egg" and vanilla to butter mixture and mix until combined.
Incorporate dry ingredients: Add dry mixture to wet ingredients in a few batches until fully incorporated. Fold in both types of chocolate.
Portion and freeze dough: Using a large cookie dough scoop (2-3tbsp), scoop out dough and arrange on a parchment-paper lined baking sheet. Freeze for 30 minutes.
Bake: Bake 5-6 cookies at a time (they spread quite a bit) for 12 minutes. (If baking smaller cookies, bake for 9-10 minutes). Let cool for 10 minutes before enjoying!
Expert Tips
- Not gluten free? No problem! Substitute the gluten free all purpose flour and the oat flour with 1 ½ cups regular all purpose flour.
- Don't skip the chilling. If you do, these cookies will spread a TON and they will be super thin.
- The dough is going to be softer and more runny than you're probably used to. Don't panic! It should look like this (see photos above).
- For a less doughy, slightly drier cookie, add an extra 2 tablespoon of gluten free flour to the recipe.
- Pro tip: want those beautiful crinkly edges? Right after the cookies come out of the oven, place a large circular cookie cutter around the cookie and swirl it in a circular motion. This creates perfect crinkly edges (and makes the cookie into a perfect circle! I use this trick for photography). Learned this tip from Cloudy Kitchen on Instagram!
FAQ's
Store leftover cookies in a sealed container at room temperature for up to a week (although you'll probably eat them all before then!).
You can also store these cookies in the freezer for up to 6 months. They honestly taste amazing straight from the freezer (kind of like cookie dough!) or you can reheat each cookie for about 30 seconds in the microwave.
Yes! Freeze the dough into pre-portioned balls on a sheet pan. Once frozen, transfer to a container or bag and freeze for up to 6 months.
You can bake the frozen dough straight from the freezer – they may just need an extra minute or two in the oven.
More vegan cookie recipes:
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Best Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Total Time: 57 minutes
- Yield: 1 dozen 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These are the BEST EVER soft and chewy vegan and gluten free chocolate chip cookies. They're loaded with two kinds of chocolate and chilled before baking for the under-baked, delicious cookie perfection. (Adaptation for non-gluten free regular cookies in the notes section!)
Ingredients
- ½ cup (1 stick) vegan butter, melted
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup cane sugar
- 1 ½ tbsp ground flax meal + 3 tbsp water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup gluten free all purpose flour*
- ½ cup oat flour*
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- ¾ cup chocolate chunks
- Optional: flaky salt for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375˚F.
- Stir together flax meal and water and let sit to thicken for 15 minutes.
- Melt vegan butter. (To prevent a mess in the microwave, we suggest doing so in a small saucepan over low heat on the stove.) Once melted, add to a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add both types of sugar and beat on medium speed for 2-3 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together gluten free flour, oat flour, baking soda and salt.
- Add flax "egg" and vanilla to butter mixture and mix until combined.
- Add dry mixture to wet ingredients in a few batches until fully incorporated. Fold in both types of chocolate.
- Using a large cookie dough scoop (2-3tbsp), scoop out dough and arrange on a parchment-paper lined baking sheet.
- Freeze for 15-20 minutes. Don't skip this step, otherwise the dough will spread a lot in the oven.
- Bake 5-6 cookies at a time (they spread quite a bit) for 12 minutes. (If baking smaller cookies, bake for 9-10 minutes).
- Optional: Immediately after removing from the oven, use the inside curved part of fork to press the edges of the cookie in to create crinkly, crispy edges. Sprinkle with flaky salt (optional).
- Let cookies cool for 10 minutes, then enjoy!
Notes
*For regular gluten-containing version, substitute gluten free all purpose flour AND oat flour with 1 ½ cups regular all purpose flour. You do not need oat flour if making with regular flour.
For a less doughy, slightly drier cookie, add an extra 2 tablespoon of gluten free flour to the recipe.
Don't skip the chilling. If you do, these cookies will spread a TON and they will be super thin.
Storage: Store leftover cookies in a sealed container at room temperature for up to a week. You can also store these cookies in the freezer for up to 6 months. They honestly taste amazing straight from the freezer (kind of like cookie dough!) or you can reheat each cookie for about 30 seconds in the microwave.
You can also freeze the dough and bake at a later date. Freeze the dough into pre-portioned balls on a sheet pan. Once frozen, transfer to a container or bag and freeze for up to 6 months.You can bake the frozen dough straight from the freezer – they may just need an extra minute or two in the oven.
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Large Cookie
- Calories: 308
- Sugar: 29.7 g
- Sodium: 262.8 mg
- Fat: 14.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 42.7 g
- Fiber: 2.6 g
- Protein: 3.3 g
Jewel says
These cookies are amazing and just as good as regular cookies if not better! I used coconut oil instead of vegan butter, and I also made my own oat flour by blending oats and it worked great.
Casmir says
I'm out of flax seed. Can I use powdered egg replacer, like Bobs Red Mill egg replacer?
Brent Harrison says
That should work!
Jackie says
Can you use oil like avocado or coconut in place of the melted butter?
Lexi says
I haven't tried it, so unfortunately I'm not sure! Let me know if you give it a try.
A says
These cookies are OUT OF THIS WORLD DELICIOUS! Like, better than most non-gf chocolate chip cookies I’ve had. I didn’t have oat flour so I substituted Mochiko rice four. The cookies were absolutely perfect. Thank you for such a great recipe!
Lexi says
So glad you enjoyed, thank you so much for sharing!
Anso says
This is the best recipe for gluten-free choc chip cookies I have come across. I had to do some tweaking cuz I am allergic to oats and can't have any gluten-free flour blend due to allergies, so I only used rice flour, which meant I had to play around a bit with the amount needed, but the end results have been delicious.
Brent Harrison says
Awesome! Thanks for the review.
Bekky says
Hello,
These look delicious!! Sorry to be a pain in the buttooski with sugar questions but.... do you think it would be possible to swap the brown sugar with coconut sugar? And swap the cane sugar for either honey or dates or banana puree? I am not a baker sorry so I have no idea how these substitutes perform. I am trying to stay clear of cane sugars.
Thank you very much
Lexi says
Hi Bekky, no problem! I haven't tried any other way so I'm not completely sure, but I think the best bet would probably be to use coconut sugar in place of both the brown sugar and the cane sugar. I don't think any of those other alternatives would work because they would change the moisture content of the batter. Would love to hear how they come out if you give them a try!
Bekky says
Hi Lexi,
Thanks for the sugar suggestions. I made them today with 1 cup of coconut sugar to replace the brown and cane sugars. They taste really good! I think with your sugar suggestions they may be even tastier (just a feeling), but I also didn't include the chocolate chunks, which I will next time. The colour is browner than your cookies, I suspect this is also due to the coconut sugar. Next time I will try them with coconut sugar and maple sugar. I'll let you know how they turn out. Thanks so much for sharing this with us. XOX
Lexi says
Glad to hear they worked well for you with coconut sugar! Thank you so much for your review 🙂
Meagan says
These are the best gluten free chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had. You’d never even know they were gluten free! My co-workers devoured them.
Lexi says
Thank you so much, Meagan! I'm so glad you enjoyed!
dmac says
The flavor is great. Very delicious. I will need to reduce the amount of melted butter next time. (It was too much - even though I froze the dough.) A few tweaks and they will turn out better next time. The best thing about this recipe is your specificity with the extra techniques, like freezing the dough and baking in batches. (Mine were still a bit of a mess, but it would have been disastrous otherwise.) A couple of suggestions. 1. Pre-heating the oven is not necessary until the cookies go in the freezer for 30 min. It seems really wasteful to start by pre-heating given this 30 min. interlude. 2. Would be great to have more detail about the best GF AP flour type(s) to use. Some pre-packaged ones are mostly rice flour, others have bean flours, some have xantham gum, baking powder etc... Different GF flours behave differently. Also, some GF folks avoid all oats, I simply used an additional half cup of the AP flour I made. Not sure if that was an issue. I would be curious if quinoa flakes would be a good substitute for the oat flour. (Might try that next time.)
Folly says
I haven’t actually tried it yet? I just bought all of the ingredients and I’m making it for friends. I already know it’s gonna be good, but I’m tweaking it just a bit to be like the 48-hour cookies Alvin Zhou makes (which this recipe is already pretty similar to.) I just have a question regarding whether chilling the cookie dough in the refrigerator instead of the freezer for 2 days would be sufficient. Or if I should put them in the freezer for the 2 days. Or if I should take them out of the fridge and pop them in the freezer for 30 minutes. I don’t often work with gluten free flours and I don’t want to mess up the texture/consistency or flavor. Please help me out😅.
Lexi says
Should work better in the fridge if you are chilling for two days. Hope you enjoy!
Sarah O'Brien-Hart says
This is a really awesome gluten free egg free chocolate chip recipie that WORKS if you follow the directions. So yummy, definitely the best. Do what is written and don't make substitutions, read it thoroughly and you'll have great cookies. It's not a ton of weird ingredients, and the directions are clear; this is the best one we've found so far!
Lexi says
Thank you so much for your review! This recipe took us several months to finalize, so I'm so glad it worked well for you 🙂 Have a great night!
C. J says
This is a great vegan and gluten free chocolate chip cookie recipe.
Cookies were delicious! Thank you!!
Crystal says
SO good!! By far the best vegan and gluten free cookie recipe I've tried! Super moist and rich, absolutely perfect!
Lexi says
Love to hear that! So glad you enjoyed!
M Magrina says
Outstanding!
Lexi says
Thank you so much, so glad you enjoyed!
Casmir says
This is by far the best Chocolate Chip recipe ever! I have searched so long for great gluten-free and vegan cc cookies. These are FANTASTIC! I've made them twice in one week, cause they just disappear! I have to hide some in the freezer just to make sure I get some!
Lexi says
Thank you so much!! So glad you love this recipe!
Bianca says
Always hard to find a great gluten-free/vegan cookie recipe that tastes like the real deal, but these are delicious! The tip on portioning and freezing the dough was key - thank you!!