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The perfect Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies with crisp golden edges, chewy middles, and chocolate in every bite. Bake a batch in just 20 minutes or freeze them for later. Everyone is guaranteed to love them! Vegan, Gluten-Free Option.
I may be biased, but this truly the Best Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe. Think gourmet, bakery-style cookies with a perfect crisp-chewy texture and packed to the brim with dairy-free chocolate chips. Best of all, they’re easy to make in one bowl in 20 minutes or less! If there’s one vegan cookie recipe to keep in your back pocket, make it this one.
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A Vegan Cookie to Make Again and Again!
Everybody loves a chocolate chip cookie. Crisp and golden on the outside, perfectly chewy on the inside, and loaded with pools of melted chocolate—it’s cookie perfection. In this Easy Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, I swapped the typical eggs, butter, and milk for vegan baking staples to give you cookies that taste just as good, if not better, than the not-so-vegan-friendly classic.
There are so many vegan cookie recipes out there, but this is the one you’ll come back to again and again!
Ingredients for Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
This simple vegan cookie recipe is easy to make with 11 baking staples and plenty of chocolate chips:
- Flax “egg”: Mixing ground flaxseed and water together creates an egg-like mixture to help bind the cookies together.
- Salted vegan butter: I’ve had the most success baking cookies with salted butter from the brands Country Crock, Earth Balance, and Violife plant-based butter sticks (not spread). Different vegan butter brands will melt differently during baking, which may yield cookies that spread too thin in the oven.
- Sugar: Please use a 1:1 mix of cane sugar and brown sugar—you need both for cookie success! Brown sugar lends a signature molasses flavor and yields softer, chewier cookies, while cane sugar adds sweetness and helps them spread in the oven.
- Cornstarch: Just a pinch of starch is the secret to light and chewy cookies. This article has a lot of great information about the power cornstarch has in cookie dough.
- Vegan chocolate chips: Use your favorite brand of dairy-free semi-sweet chocolate chips, vegan chocolate chunks, or a chopped dark chocolate bar. Want more dynamic flavors? Use two kinds of chocolate in these cookies!
How to Make the Best Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Mix the flaxseed and water together in a small bowl, then set aside to thicken.
- Cream the softened butter, cane sugar, and brown sugar together in a large bowl until smooth and fluffy.
- Pour in the flax “egg” and vanilla, then beat again.
- Stir in the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until combined.
- Fold the chocolate chips into the batter with a spatula.
- Shape the dough into 12 smooth, evenly-sized balls. Space them out on a prepared baking sheet.
- Bake the cookies until they’re puffy and pale on top and golden on the bottom.
- Sprinkle the freshly baked cookies with flaky salt.
- Let the cookies cool, then enjoy!
Caitlin’s Cooking Tips
- Soften your butter: Remember to take your butter out of the fridge at least 1 to 2 hours before baking. You’ll know it’s perfect when it’s at room temperature and feels soft to the touch (still solid, but not melted). Did you forget to take it out? Use this trick from Sally’s Baking Addiction to soften the butter in less than 15 minutes.
- Measure your flour accurately: A kitchen scale is the best and most accurate tool for measuring ingredients. However, if you don’t have a scale, spoon the flour into the measuring cup and scrape the excess off the top with a knife.
- Use different types of chocolate: Mix your semi-sweet chocolate chips or chocolate chunks with a chopped dark chocolate bar for a more varied chocolate flavor in each cookie.
- Don’t skip the flaky sea salt! The rich chocolate is perfectly balanced with just a touch of salt sprinkled on the freshly baked cookies. You won’t want to miss out on this gourmet flavor combo!
- Fully preheat the oven: Your cookies will bake more evenly and in the 10 to 12-minute window when you give your oven all the time it needs to preheat. I’d even recommend waiting to put the cookies in 5 minutes after the preheating alarm goes off, just in case!
Serving Suggestions
Personally, I think these cookies are best when they’re still fresh and warm from the oven. The chocolate is melty and the cookies are still gooey… You can also pair them with a glass of cold, non-dairy milk for dunking or with a scoop of dairy-free ice cream for a truly indulgent and delicious treat.
If you’re looking for more classic cookies made vegan, you’ll love these Ginger Molasses Cookies, these Hot Cocoa Cookies, these Ultimate Vegan Chocolate Cookies, and these Vegan Snickerdoodles.
How to Store Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
After cooling, transfer the cookies to an airtight container. They’ll stay fresh on the kitchen counter for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Freezing cookie dough balls: Preparing the vegan cookie dough ahead of time is a breeze. After rolling out the cookie dough balls, space them out on the baking sheet and pop the sheet in the freezer for 1 to 2 hours. Transfer the frozen cookie balls to a freezer-safe bag or container and freeze for up to 1 month.
You can bake the cookie balls from frozen but it’s recommended to add 1 to 3 minutes to the baking time.
Substitutions and Variations
- Gluten-Free Option: I’ve only tested these chocolate chip cookies with all-purpose flour but I imagine a gluten-free all-purpose blend would also work well!
- Less or More Chocolate Chips: I like my cookies loaded with chocolate chips, but if you like slightly less, use only 1 cup of chocolate instead of 1 ½ cups.
- Brown Sugar Substitute: The brown sugar can be swapped for coconut sugar, but the cookies will be darker in color and more dry.
- Cornstarch Substitute: Use arrowroot powder instead.
Recipe FAQs
Your everyday chocolate chip cookie is made with butter, eggs, and milk, so they are not vegan-friendly. Thankfully, vegans can eat as many of these dairy-free chocolate chip cookies as they want since they’re made with plant-based substitutions!
I believe that if your cookies have crisp and golden edges, thick, gooey, and chewy centers, and melted chocolate chips whose sweetness is balanced with a touch of salt, then you’ve baked the perfect chocolate chip cookie.
It isn’t necessary to chill the cookie dough for this recipe but doing so can prevent the cookies from spreading too much in the oven. If it happens to be a hot day or your kitchen is very warm when you’re baking these, then it would be a good idea to pop the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes before rolling and baking.
Why not? The more chocolate, the better! My Double Chocolate Chip Cookies are a perfect fit for chocoholics or you can try adding ¼ cup of sifted natural cocoa powder to this recipe.
Enjoy! If you make this recipe and decide to share it on Facebook or Instagram, don’t forget to tag me @FromMyBowl + #FromMyBowl! I would also love it if you could leave a comment below with a recipe rating! Thank you for the support 😊
Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
- 2 1/2 tablespoons water
- 1/2 cup salted vegan butter softened to room temperature (1 stick)
- 1/2 cup cane sugar
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch or sub arrowroot powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt use 1/2 tsp if using unsalted butter
- 1-1 1/2 cup dairy-free chocolate chips or chunks
- Flaky salt for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray or line a large baking tray with parchment paper or a silicone mat and set aside. Prepare the flax “egg” by mixing the flaxseed and water well; set aside for at least 5 minutes to let thicken.
- Cream the Butter: Add the softened butter, cane sugar, and brown sugar to a large bowl or stand-mixer. Use a stand mixer or electric mixer to cream the butter and sugar together on low speed for 3 to 5 minutes, until the butter is smooth, light, and fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula as necessary.
- Wet Ingredients: Add the flax “egg” and vanilla to the bowl and beat again, until the mixture is smooth and combined.
- Dry Ingredients: Add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix well until a thick, non-sticky dough forms. Add the chocolate chips to the batter and fold into the dough using a spatula.
- Form the Cookies: Use a cookie scoop or spoon to form 12 cookies with ~3 tablespoons of dough per cookie. Roll each cookie into a smooth ball and space evenly across the prepared baking sheet. Do not flatten the cookie dough; it will spread as it bakes in the oven.
- Bake: Bake in the middle rack of the oven for 10 to 12 minutes; the cookies will look puffy and pale, but the bottom edges should be golden.
- Cool: Take the cookies out of the oven and sprinkle with flaky salt, if desired. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for another 10 minutes, where they will deflate further. Transfer to a wire cooling rack and let cool completely.
- Serve & Store: Enjoy the cookies immediately, or store in an airtight container for up to 5 days. You can also store the baked cookies in the freezer for up to 2 months, but I would recommend storing the cookie dough balls instead and baking when desired 🙂
Recipe Notes
- Vegan Butter: Different vegan butters will spread differently during baking. I have had success using Country Crock, Earth Balance, and Violife plant-based butter sticks (not spread). Vegan butter can be replaced with softened coconut oil, but they will be slightly more dry. I recommend using refined coconut oil so there is no coconut flavor.
- Chocolate Chips: I prefer my cookies to be loaded with chocolate chips, but if you like slightly less, use only 1 cup of chocolate instead of 1 1/2 cups. I also recommend using a mixture of chocolate chips and a chopped chocolate bar for a more varied chocolate flavor in each cookie.
- Other Substitutions: The sugar can be swapped for coconut sugar, but the cookies will be darker and color and more dry. I have not tested this cookie with any flour substitutions, but I imagine a gluten-free all-purpose blend would work well!
I made these for Valentine’s Day. 10/10
That’s awesome, Megan!
New fav chocolate chip cookie! The whole family couldn’t wait to try them and so the timer was set as soon at they were out of the oven for suggested 10 minutes. Very delicious, but we all agreed that we loved them even more when they cooled down. We will definitely be making these again!
So glad the whole family enjoyed them Nic!
Fantastic cookies! I made them for my craft club and everyone loved them! Very easy and quick recipe!
Thank you Nicole!
Really yummy cookies! I would reduce the chocolate chips next time, as suggested in the notes, but otherwise these turned out yummy! 🙂
Chewy and delish!! I somehow managed to make these without an electric mixer and still turned out beautiful. It’s really the perfect recipe for that warm cookie, glass of milk combo.
That’s great to hear! Thanks Luz!
So easy! Perfect indeed. I let mine bake a little longer for a crispier cookie and they were so good. Another winner!
Love that! Thanks for the review 🙂
So good! We used gf flour and turned out great. Thank you
Thanks Jenn – that’s great to hear!
I just 6 of these and they are so tasty! Perfect consistency- soft and chewy son the inside. I will definitely make more to share with friends and family!!
Thank you so much Shan!
Made these on a whim after seeing them on Instagram and they were delicious!
Thanks, Victoria!
By far my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe!! I tried so many recipes but this one tops all! 🙂 friends and family also loved them, they were gone so fast, haha
Thanks so much Ally!
My husband says “delicious”! Mine didn’t spread as much as yours so didn’t have the crispy edge but delicious just the same.
Thank you Suzanne!
Overall I’m satisfied with the result even though my cookies are not as gooey and flowy as Caitlin’s. I am more than sure that it’s the ingredients that I used. I only had wholewheat flour and my chips are crumbly. So, I am commited to bake them again with exact same ingredients to have same aesthetical match cookies. As for flavor they are delectable anyways! Mmm, had the best tea with cookies today! 😋🤤🍪 Yam!
Thanks Alena! Whole Wheat flour absorbs more liquid than all purpose flour, so that’s probably why they weren’t as gooey!
Love these! Made a half batch and they turned out great! A classic, delicious chocolate chip cookie recipe. Will definitely be making again!!
Glad you loved them, Maria!
The most amazing melt in your mouth chocolate chip cookies! Today is a rainy day and it was the perfect way to feel cozy!
Thanks Alora!
Delicious! I followed the metric measurements and it worked quite well but I think the gram measurement for butter is incorrect here.
Thank you for pointing that out – I have updated the recipe to the correct weight!
Thank you! Making them again this weekend 🙂
Wow! So happy you love it, Pam!
Gooey and addictive! We’ve already made a second batch to keep in the freezer for when a choc chip cookie craving hits.
Yum! Thank you Emily!
Our family makes a dessert on Friday nights to celebrate the end of the week. We made these yesterday and they are so delicious and easy to make! If you make them into 12, as the recipe states, you will get 12 jumbo cookies that satisfy your cookie craving. 😋
Thank you Jamie!
Amazing cookies!
Thank you Nina!
This was by far the best vegan cookie recipe I’ve found online! Soft, yet crispy and chewy. And easy too. I’m so glad I ran into one of your YouTube shorts today.
Thank you so much!
You’re so welcome!
My girls are here drooling over the recipe. 🥹🍪
I wonder if I can skip the cornstarch if I use a egg and just the flower?
Hi Juliana – that would probably work but I have not tested it with eggs. I would also omit the flax egg
I used regular eggs and butter, but I still added cornstarch, they turned out amazing!!!
Is there a way to make these glutenfree?
Hi Jenny! This recipe has not been tested with any flour substitutions, but a gluten-free all-purpose blend should work well.
Just made these cookies! The taste is spot on to what I remember eating as a kid. I used the Miyoko’s Salted European-Style vegan butter, and the cookies did not spread. I’ll definitely try this recipe again using Caitlin’s recommended vegan butter brands.
Thanks Sarah! If the cookies did not spread I would think it had more to do with the flour – make sure you are spooning and leveling it, or for best results use a food scale and the metric measurements 🙂