The Best Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

You might also like these recipes for vegan sourdough chocolate chip cookies and vegan keto-friendly chocolate chip cookies. These vegan chocolate chip cookies are crispy around the edges but are mostly soft and chewy, and they are studded with enough vegan chocolate chips to make you go om nom nom nom.

Why you’ll love these cookies

They are really, really scrumptious. Soft, thick, yummy chocolate chip cookies studded with gooey chocolate chips. What’s not to love? They are super easy to make. You need just eight ingredients and one bowl for these tasty cookies. You don’t need any special ingredients. The ingredient list is simple and you don’t even need any egg replacer, like flaxmeal, chia seeds, cornstarch or EnerG to make this recipe. They can be healthy. Swap out whole wheat flour for half the all purpose flour. The kids won’t know and you get points for being super mom or dad! Everyone will love them, guaranteed. Serve these delicious cookies to non vegan friends or family members and watch them disappear! I make them all the time for my son’s school events and they are gone in minutes.

Expert tips

Don’t overmix the cookie dough after adding in the wet ingredients. This ensures that you do not accidentally develop gluten strands in the flour, which would make the cookie bready. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry with a spatula, not a whisk, and stop as soon as the dough comes together and there is no dry flour in the bowl. These are drop cookies, so you just need an ice cream scoop or a spoon to drop them on the baking sheet. Or, for a nicer shape, you can roll them up into cookie dough balls. They’ll spread nicely while baking into perfect rounds. Line the baking sheet with a silpat sheet or with parchment paper. This will ensure you can lift out the cookies easily after they bake. The cookies will be soft once they come out of the oven. Let them stand on the baking sheet over a rack for 10 minutes, then gently lift them off the baking sheet and to a rack where they will continue to firm up. The cookies are perfect with unbleached flour or with whole wheat pastry flour but for some added complexity and even more flavor you can sub out a half a cup of the flour with almond flour. I use avocado oil because it’s a healthy fat and flavorless. You can also use an equal quantity of melted vegan butter. Coconut oil is acceptable. The applesauce subs for some of the fat you might have added to this recipe, and it gives the cookies even more flavor and tenderness. These cookies are crispy and golden around the edges and soft and chewy at the center. We love them that way! But the texture of chocolate chip cookies is a matter of much debate and preference. This NPR article talks about the science behind baking your chocolate chip cookie to the exact texture you like: it’s an informative – and delicious – read.

Ingredients

21/2 cups all purpose flour. If you want healthier cookies, swap out half the flour for whole wheat flour, or replace all the white flour with whole wheat pastry flour. 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder ½ teaspoon baking soda ¼ teaspoon salt ¼ cup vegetable oil. I use avocado oil. You can also use melted butter. ¾ cup applesauce: Applesauce makes these melt-in-the-mouth tender. 1 tablespoon vanilla extract: Adds a lovely, wholesome flavor. 1 ⅓ cup sugar. I use vegan cane sugar or turbinado sugar or coconut sugar, but any sugar of your choice will work. You can also use maple syrup for more richness. 1 ¼ cups semi sweet vegan chocolate chips or chocolate chunks. Make sure you read the labels to ensure they are dairy free.

How to make vegan chocolate chip cookies

Scoop out mounds of cookie dough on a parchment-paper-lined or silpat-lined baking sheet. Bake each batch of cookies in the oven for 16 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. -Moreen T
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes. Then, gently, using a spatula, transfer them to a wire rack where they will continue to cool and firm up. Check to get new recipe updates by email.

Storage and freezing instructions

Room temperature: The cookies can be stored in a cookie jar at room temperature for up to a week. Refrigerate: Cookie dough can be refrigerated for up to four days. Baked cookies can be stored in the fridge for up to four weeks. Freeze: Cookie dough can be frozen for up to two months. Baked cookies can be frozen for up to six months in an airtight container or in a freezer bag.