This is the best vegan chocolate chip cookies recipe ever! Easy to make in 1 bowl, no chilling required and they turn out perfect every time. Soft, chewy and full of chocolate chips!
If you are in need of a simple, straightforward yet incredibly delicious chocolate chip cookie recipe, look no further. Tried and true, these are the most perfect vegan chocolate chip cookies in the world and everyone who tries them agrees!
This recipe is one of the most popular on my site with 350+ 5 star reviews! I hope they become your go-to vegan cookie.
If you love chocolate chips as much as I do, make sure to check out these Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars, Chocolate Chip Muffins and Vegan Edible Cookie Dough!
What makes these vegan cookies so perfect?
- They are SO soft, chewy and full of chocolate chips. They aren’t too flat, and they aren’t too puffy and cake-like. No one would guess they’re vegan, unlike some cookie recipes I’ve tried.
- They’re made in 1 bowl.
- No chilling time is required for the dough. So you can have cookies to eat FAST!
Ingredients needed (with substitutions)
- Flax egg – This is your egg substitute and is perfect for creating chewy, delicious cookies without eggs. JUST Egg works in place of flax/water, as well as other egg substitutes. Non-dairy milk, applesauce and yogurt work as well in a pinch. Use 4 tablespoons instead of the flax egg.
- Vegan butter – I’ve made these cookies with countless brands, including my homemade vegan butter, and they all work great. You can try substituting coconut oil, but it does change the texture quite a bit and the flavor won’t be the same. If you want to use coconut oil, try these Coconut Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies instead.
- Brown sugar – For the best flavor and texture, use brown sugar. If you must substitute it, granulated sugar works okay (though I’d add a tablespoon of molasses) as well as coconut sugar.
- Vanilla – For flavor, of course.
- All purpose flour – Most of the time I just use plain flour, but if you need them to be gluten free, you can substitute a gluten free flour blend. I’ve had good luck with Bob’s Red Mill, King Arthur and Better Batter. Don’t sub almond flour, but go make these Almond Flour Cookies instead.
- Cornstarch – This helps the cookies be extra soft and chewy. May substitute tapioca starch or arrowroot, or leave it out if needed.
- Baking soda
- Salt – I use salted vegan butter most of the time, but if you are using unsalted butter, increase the salt from 1/4 teaspoon to 3/4 teaspoon.
- Non-dairy chocolate chips – Check the ingredients list on the package for things like milk fat, butter oil, etc. I like Trader Joe’s brand which happen to be vegan, as well as Enjoy Life. Sometimes the store brand will be accidentally vegan and inexpensive. Chopped chocolate also works (I often use a mix).
How to make vegan chocolate chip cookies
Find the complete printable recipe with measurements below in the recipe card.
Beat the softened vegan butter and brown sugar, then mix in the flax egg and vanilla. Add the flour, and then sprinkle the cornstarch, baking soda and salt on top of the flour.
Mix on low to combine, then mix in the chocolate chips/chunks. Mmmmm… cookie dough perfection!
Roll the dough into 1-2 tablespoon balls (I use this cookie scoop, then roll with my hands). Place on parchment lined or greased baking sheets.
Bake for about 10 minutes, until barely golden around the edges. The cookies will seems underdone, but they firm up as they cool and you want them to stay soft so be careful to not over bake.
For smaller cookies, bake for less time. For extra big cookies, add a few minutes of bake time.
Enjoy the cookies warm with a glass of almond milk or crumbled in vegan ice cream with a drizzle of caramel, perhaps. I usually sprinkle some coarse sea salt on top as well.
Frequently asked questions
The cookie dough should be soft and mushy, but not too wet or too dry. You should be able to easily roll it into balls. If it feels too wet, add a few tablespoons of flour at a time until it’s just right. If it’s too dry, add a tablespoon or two of non-dairy milk.
No, not all chocolate chips are vegan. They often contain dairy. Make sure to check the package list for things like butter oil, milk fat, and so on. Enjoy Life brand are always vegan, as are Trader Joe’s semi-sweet chips, Guittard, Kirkland Brand and some others. You can also use vegan chocolate bars and chop them up for chocolate chunk cookies.
No, I never chill this cookie dough. I’m much too impatient! It’s just not needed here, but if you want to chill it, I’m sure it will be fine. The cookies will come out much thicker.
They will keep for 3-4 days at room temperature, if you don’t eat them all before then! Store in a covered container. They also freeze well.
How to freeze cookie dough for later
Roll the cookie dough into balls and freeze in a freezer friendly container. When you want to bake cookies simply preheat the oven and bake, adding a few more minutes since the dough was frozen. No need to defrost the dough.
Baked cookies also freeze well and are wonderful straight from the freezer. I love having frozen cookies to throw in my kid’s lunch box on school days.
Other cookie mix in combinations
This is a great cookie base recipe for all kinds of combinations! Try:
- Adding chopped walnuts and/or coarse sea salt on top
- Vegan white chocolate chips and dried cranberries
- Add dried blueberries and a little lemon zest
- White chocolate and macadamia nut
- Monster cookies – add a few tablespoons of rolled oats, vegan M&M type candy, 2 tablespoons of peanut butter and a few tablespoons chocolate chips.
Want more incredible vegan cookie recipes?
Find all of my vegan cookie recipes here: Vegan Cookies. Here are just a few of my favorites:
- Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Ultimate Vegan Chocolate Cookies
- Vegan Snickerdoodles
- Vegan Sugar Cookies
- Classic Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
Perfect Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
- 2.5 tablespoons water
- 1/2 cup vegan butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups brown sugar, lightly packed
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cups non-dairy chocolate chips or chunks
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats (or spray with oil.)
- Mix the ground flaxseed and water in a small bowl and set aside to make your flax egg.
- In a large bowl using a handheld mixer or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the softened vegan butter and brown sugar for 1-2 minutes until creamy.
- Add the vanilla and the flax egg and mix to combine.
- Next, stop the mixer and add the flour. Sprinkle the cornstarch, baking soda and salt on top of the flour. Turn the mixer on low speed, and mix until just combined.
- Add in the chocolate chips to incorporate, either by hand or using the mixer.
- Roll the dough into balls, about 1-2 tablespoons each. Place on the prepared pans and bake for 10 minutes (12 minutes for larger cookies), until they are barely golden around the edges. Do not over bake! They will be puffy and lightly colored.
- Let cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. The cookies will firm up as they cool, and become the most perfect chewy cookies ever! Enjoy.
Video
Notes
- Cookies will stay fresh for 3-4 days, if they last that long. Store in a covered container. They also freeze well.
- Freezer cookie dough – Freeze cookie dough balls to have on hand to make just a few cookies at a time! Simply cook for 1-2 minutes more, no need to thaw.
- If using unsalted vegan butter, increase the salt to 3/4 teaspoon.
- Other mix ins – Feel free to add chopped walnuts, or use white chocolate chips instead, dried fruit, whatever you feel like. This is a great base recipe for all kinds of combinations.
- Recipe inspired by Sally’s Baking Addiction.
Nutrition
This post has been updated in 2024 with improved photos, better writing and more tips/variations.
These cookies are AMAZING! My new go to recipe for chocolate chip cookies.. they didn’t even taste vegan! Lol
Thanks for the great comment!
I hardly ever leaves reviews but these cookies were so AMAZING!! My kids loved them & i loved them. They didn’t even taste vegan.. lol. This is definitely my new go to chocolate chip vegan cookie recipe.
Wow, thanks so much for the great comment!
I would love to try these but I dont have flax. Do you think it will work without?
Sure! They won’t be quite as chewy, but you could sub about 3 tablespoons of non-dairy milk if you need to. Thanks!
Delicious! Do you know what would happen if I used regular white granulated sugar? I don’t always have brown sugar on hand and it tends to go really hard
They won’t be quite as moist and they will be lighter in color, but it should work fine.
I usually don’t have the enthusiasm to leave reviews but just based on looking at the results without even tasting them I can already tell I’ve finally found the perfect recipe! Thank you!
You’re welcome!!
This is my first time trying these vegan chocolate chip cookies. All I have to say is PERFECTION! The recipe was easy to follow but I’m more impressed with the taste/ This is definitely going to be a keeper. Thanks Nora, the cookies were soft and perfect, you couldn’t tell the difference between one baked with dairy products!
Thanks so much for the great comment!
I don’t comment or leave feedback on anything good or bad but these are THE BEST COOKIES I have EVER HAD!! I’m obsessed. I dream about them. I could eat the bowl of dough or the whole batch cooked. Either way I’m hooked!!
Thanks so much for the great comment! So glad you like them!
This recipe is perfect and so easy. I love that there are no crazy ingredients that you have to go in search of. The cookies are perfect. I ran out of brown sugar and used turbinado sugar instead, bad idea. The recipe as is is perfect. They bake perfectly at exactly 13 min for me. They look unbaked when I take them out but they firm up when they cool down. Thank you for sharing this recipe. My kids love these cookies!
You’re so welcome!
These are simply the BEST!!!! I made both vegan and non-vegan…..hands down these won the prize!! THANK-YOU!
You’re so welcome! I’m so happy to hear they turned out great!
I am planning to make these cookies tonight. They look so good!!! Could I use palm shortening instead of the vegan butter?
I believe it should work quite well, though they won’t have that “buttery” flavor.
Thank you for the fantastic recipe! I’ve made these half a dozen times already and we love them, but they seem to come out very differently each time, though I always use the same ingredients and steps. Twice they came out super soft & fluffy which is perfect, but the other times they’ve deflated in the last couple minutes of baking, so I end up with more of a thin and crunchy cookie. I can’t figure out what makes this difference, do you have any suggestions? I always freeze half the dough to bake later, sometimes the fresh dough comes out fluffy & the frozen dough from the same batch flattens, sometimes the opposite, so I suspect temperature is the key but can’t find a pattern!
I can think of two reasons why the cookies don’t come out exactly the same each time. One, make sure to measure your ingredients exactly, especially the vegan butter and the flour. For the flour, I recommend the scoop and level method where you scoop flour from the container into a measuring cup, then level it off with a knife. The second thing that is HUGE is temperature. This will cause fluctuations in how they bake. For thick, soft cookies every time, make the dough, then refrigerate it before baking. I’m honestly a bit lazy sometimes and want cookies fast, so I skip it, and the cookies turn out great just not quite as thick. If frozen dough is not thawed enough, the cookies might flatten and also burn on the bottom. Hope that helps!
I make these weekly. They go so fast in my house:) and my mom with a severe egg allergy knows what it’s like to have GOOD cookies now!
That’s so great to hear!
I can’t say anything bad about these cookies! They turned out amazing!
Awesome recipe. Thanks Nora!
You’re welcome!
Recently went full vegan and made these cookies last night. I would choose this cookie recipe over all of the non-vegan chocolate chip cookie recipes I’ve made. These are to die for.
Thanks so much!
can i use gluten free flour?
Yes, it works quite well. I have used Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Flour with success.
These were so simple to make and delicious!! I saved the recipe so I can make edible cookie dough..they were thatttt good. Thank you for the recipe!
You’re welcome!
I made these today and they were so easy and super yummy. I used arrowroot powder as a cornstarch substitute and they worked perfectly! Thank you for putting this recipe together!
You’re welcome!
Thank you Nora! This recipe was perfect!
I also have a question if you can answer…
Because this turned out so good, I’m trying to use this recipe as a guide to modify a recipe for Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies that uses 1 egg.
I plan to replace the egg with a flax egg. However, I was wondering if the cornstarch you used in this recipe is serving as a replacement for the egg a standard recipe would have and if I should add it when modifying this other recipe.
That sounds fun! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe. The cornstarch here is actually not an egg replacer, and would not be necessary in every cookie recipe. I think a flax egg replacement is probably just fine. Hope that helps!
Can these cookies still come out ok if I don’t use cornstarch ? Can’t get it at the moment :/
Yes, I have left it out before and it’s just fine. Enjoy!
Any ideas for this recipe for kids who are also severely allergic to Flaxseed? ?
You can use another egg replacer such as Bob’s Red Mill (1 egg replaced). Maybe a tablespoon or two of applesauce, but I haven’t tested it.
You can also you chia seeds!
Best recipe ever. I took half the batch before chocolate chips, and rolled them in cinnamon sugar for a snickerdoodle version. Both batches came out perfect!!! Rolled up the remaining dough and froze it for easy quick cookies when I have the craving. These are sooooo good!! If you’re making these, be sure to take them out at the exact time the recipe says. They will indeed look a little underdone but they firm up as they cool. Follow Noras instructions to a T and you won’t be disappointed!
So glad they came out great!
Do you think these would be able to work with coconut sugar?
Yes, I think it would work.
I made them with coconut sugar. They were yummy ? thanks for this recipe ?
Followed the recipe to a t and they don’t look done at all? I put in for a minute or 2 longer still don’t look cooked!
They will look soft and underdone, but they continue to cook after you take them out, and they will firm up a ton as they cool. If you over bake they will become very crunchy when they cool.
These cookies are ridiculous good!!! Such ooey gooey goodness. And oh my they are super yummy! Thanks Nora!
You’re welcome! So glad you like them!
Am I able to mix these by hand or with a spoon? I don’t have a stand or hand held mixer.
Yes, you can, as long as your vegan butter is soft enough to cream together with the sugar by hand. No problem!