Best Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

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The Best Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies have soft chewy centers and slightly crispy edges. These vegan chocolate chip cookies call for zero funny ingredients and instead rely on nut butter and coconut oil to give them their wonderful, delicious texture.

overhead shot of cookies on a cooling rack

I have made A LOT of chocolate chip cookies over the years. I get a lot of requests for veganized recipes of some of my baked goods. But I’m going to be honest: I’m sort of intimidated by vegan baking. That’s why I’m SO excited to share these perfect Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies. They truly are amazing.

As much as I would love to take credit for them, I cannot. They come from my good friend, Michelle Lopez’s new book, WEEKNIGHT BAKING!! WOHOO! It comes out today. And the premise is brilliant.

weeknight baking cookbook

close up of chilled cookie dough

Ingredients You’ll Need for Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

  1. All-purpose flour. These require the standard flour!
  2. Baking powder and baking soda. Baking powder gives them some lift and baking soda allows them to spread a bit and have nice color.
  3. Kosher salt. This gives the cookie a balanced taste.
  4. Coconut oil. Most cookies have some form of fat (usually this is butter). This coconut oil gives this cookie its moisture, texture and richness.
  5. Creamy almond butter. This also contributes a bit of fat and flavor to the cookies. Surprisingly they don’t “taste” like almond butter.
  6. Water. The water thins the almond butter out and adds a bit of mixture.
  7. Vanilla extract. Vanilla always gives cookies a lovely hint of flavor.
  8. Dark brown sugar. As a result, the brown sugar will provide the cookies moisture, sweetness and flavor.

raw cookie dough balls on a baking sheet

How to Make Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

  1. Mix the dry ingredients together: all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  2. In another bowl, add the melted coconut oil, creamy almond butter, water and vanilla extract.
  3. And then, mix in the brown sugar.
  4. Add the dry ingredients. And then, mix it all in until you no longer see any speckles of flour.
  5. Pour in the chocolate chips and mix.
  6. Chill the dough. If the dough is super soft, you can refrigerate the dough for 1 hour. As a result, they won’t spread too much.
  7. Bake the cookies! 

baked vegan chocolate chip cookies on a baking sheet

Where Can I Buy Vegan Chocolate Chips

Chocolate is inherently vegan. But most chocolate chips we use for baking and eating has a bit of milk in it. Hence the reason why it’s called “milk chocolate” or “semi-sweet.” So you’ll need to seek out vegan chocolate chunks/chips OR, as Michelle advises, use a vegan chocolate bar. I went for vegan chocolate chunks I had in my pantry already.

Of course, if you’re serving non-vegan friends, then use whatever you like.

angle of chocolate chip cookies on a cooling rack

How to Freeze Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough For Later

I’m convinced that you haven’t experienced true joy in life if you don’t know the feeling of having frozen cookie dough your freezer. It’s an amazing feeling because it truly means freshly baked cookies are mere minutes away. Here’s how to save them for later:

  1. Scoop the dough out and place on a baking sheet, making sure they’re about 1-inch a part.
  2. Place them in the freezer for about 30 minutes. As a result, their outside will be solid and won’t freeze adhered to each other.
  3. Then transfer the super cold cookie dough balls to a freezer-safe bag or container.
  4. Label the container with the date and the type of cookies they are (so you don’t forget)
  5. Stick ‘em in the freezer and that’s it!

I also have a whole post dedicated to the subject matter if you need to read something a bit more lengthy.

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Looking for more dessert recipes? Here are some of my other favorites: 

 

5 from 24 votes

Best Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 12 minutes
Chilling Time: 1 hour
Total: 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings: 16 cookies
Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies are gooey, chocolate-y with the perfect texture. These vegan cookies are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

Equipment

  • 1 (half sheet) baking sheet
  • 1 sheet of parchment paper
  • 1 cookie scoop

Ingredients 

  • 10 ounces vegan chocolate chips or from a bar, (at least 70% cocoa), if from a bar, chopped
  • 2 cups (9 ounces/250g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup (4 ounces) coconut oil, melted
  • 1/3 cup (3.15 ounces) unsweetened creamy natural almond butter
  • 6 tablespoons (3 ounces) water
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 1/4 cups (9.35 ounces) tightly packed dark brown sugar

Instructions 

  • Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two half sheet pans with parchment paper.
  • In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, almond butter, water, and vanilla until smooth. Add the sugar and whisk until combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix with a rubber spatula until just combined. add the chopped chocolate and mix until evenly distributed throughout.
  • Use a 3-tablespoon cookie dough scoops to portion the cookie dough into balls and place them at least 3 inches apart on the prepared sheet pans. If the cookie dough seems too soft to scoop, refrigerate for about 45 minutes to an hour. Bake one pan at time for 12 minutes, until the edges have set but the centers are still gooey.
  • The cookies will look puffed when you pull them out of the oven, but will fall and crack into the perfect cookies as they cool. Cool the cookies on the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes, or until the edges and bottoms of the cookies feel firm to the touch. Repeat with remaining cookie dough balls (or freeze it to bake later). Serve warm or at room temperature. Top with flaky salt, if you like. The cookies can be stored, in an airtight container at room temperature, for up to 3 days.

Notes

Coconut Oil:
These cookies need to be made with coconut oil. You can use traditional coconut oil, which gives these cookies a tropical flavor, or refined coconut oil, which lets the almond and chocolate flavors shine.
Different Nut and Seed Butters: 
This recipe will work with different nut butters. Try it with tahini or peanut butter! 
Equipment:
Baking Sheets | Medium Cookie Scoop | Stainless Steel Bowls | Stand-up Mixer 

Nutrition

Serving: 16g | Calories: 89kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 3g | Sodium: 120mg | Potassium: 38mg | Sugar: 16g | Calcium: 16mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Like this Recipe? Please Rate & comment below!

Cozy Latin-Inspired Comfort Food Recipes

Hi! I'm Adrianna and this is my cozy space on the internet that is super-charged by butter, flour and copious amounts of pasta. Stay awhile, will you!

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41 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    These have such a rich flavor and the texture is amazing! I’m an avid baker and vegan cookies aren’t the easiest in my experience so thank you for such a wonderful recipe!

  2. 5 stars
    This is my first time trying to make vegan cookies, and everybody in my family loved them (besides my oldest daughter who is at that phase where she is vehemently against everything that anyone likes just because she can, lol). They were a hit and I’ll definitely be making them more often. Thank you.

  3. 5 stars
    These are amazing!! So so good. I didn’t make any changes or substitutions. I did scoop 2 tbsp instead of 3 to get more cookies. I’ve been making vegan chocolate chip cookie recipes for a couple months just having fun. These are hands down #1! Soft and chewy and hold their shape! They don’t spread out to be super thin. I love that they use coconut oil and peanut butter which I always have in the house.