Ultimate Vegan Chocolate Cookies – Fudgy, brownie-like, chewy with soft centers and best of all made in 1 bowl. They are sure to satisfy all your chocolate cravings!
You can never have too much chocolate, right? Which explains why I have a growing list of chocolate recipes on my website, such as chocolate cake, chocolate cupcakes, chocolate mug cake, brownies and chocolate pie.
I have forever been a girl craving chocolate. I’d take chocolate candy over any fruit flavored candy as a kid, and it’s almost always my favorite kind of cake. The only time I couldn’t stand the taste of chocolate was when I was pregnant with my 3rd child. That was weird. But once the pregnancy was over, I returned to my love of chocolate with full force.
Chocolate lovers like me will go crazy for these vegan chocolate cookies! They are kind of like a brownie, but in cookie form. Best of all, when a craving hits and you need something chocolatey and delicious fast, you can whip these up in about 20 minutes, and in just 1 bowl.
How to make Vegan Chocolate Cookies
(SEE RECIPE CARD AT THE BOTTOM FOR FULL AMOUNTS AND TO PRINT)
Get out a large mixing bowl, and melt 1/2 cup of vegan butter. You could use coconut oil or another oil, but vegan butter gives these cookies the best flavor and texture. Mix together the melted vegan butter and sugar, then stir in the vanilla, ground flaxseeds and non-dairy milk.
Sift in the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Stir, then fold in the chocolate chips. The dough will be quite thick, but moist, so use your hands if needed, especially to incorporate all the chocolate chips.
Scoop about 2 tablespoons at a time, flatten slightly and place on a parchment lined pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes. The cookies will appear soft, but firm up as they cool.
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Let them cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
What kind of cocoa powder should I use?
I used and recommend dutch-processed cocoa powder for these cookies, as it makes them very brownie like and dark in color. There is a slight difference in the flavor and texture of the cookie that I prefer. That being said, it won’t ruin them to use natural cocoa powder.
ARE ALL CHOCOLATE CHIPS VEGAN?
No, a lot of brands have milk fat or butter oil in them. Check the ingredients to ensure vegan friendliness. Trader Joe’s brand of semi-sweet chocolate chips happen to be vegan, as are Guittard. Costco sometimes carries the Kirkland brand of semi-sweet chocolate chips, which are also vegan and a great price if you can find them! There is also Enjoy Life, which you can find on Amazon or Whole Foods.
Tips for the best vegan chocolate cookies:
- Only bake 1 pan of cookies at a time, in the middle of your oven. I’ve started doing this whenever I make cookies, as the ones on the bottom rack always burn. Baking in the middle rack only ensures great cookies every time.
- Use dutch processed cocoa powder, as we talked about above.
- Add plenty of chocolate chips! I use 1 cup, and you can place some on top of each cookie before baking if you want them to be prettier.
- Don’t over mix the cookie dough, but only mix until combined.
Want more vegan cookie recipes?
- Perfect Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
- The Best Vegan Sugar Cookies
- Vegan Snickerdoodles
- Vegan Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ultimate Vegan Chocolate Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup vegan butter, melted
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds
- 1/4 cup soy milk
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup vegan chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Melt the vegan butter, then add to a large bowl with the sugar and mix well with a large spoon. Now stir in the vanilla, flaxseeds and soy milk until well combined.
- Over the bowl with the wet ingredients, sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Stir to combine. The dough will be quite thick, so you can use your hands if needed. Now fold in the chocolate chips, leaving some to place on top of the cookies for decoration if you want. Again, you may need to use your hands to really get the chocolate chips incorporated.
- Scoop about 2 tablespoons of the dough at a time, roll into a ball, then flatten a bit on the baking sheet. They will spread out more as they bake. Decorate with a few more chocolate chips on top, if desired.
- Bake for about 10 minutes. They will seem too soft, but will firm up as they cool. Let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
- I like these cookies best with vegan butter such as Earth Balance, but you could substitute coconut oil or another oil you prefer.
- May substitute another non-dairy milk if desired.
- Dutch-processed cocoa powder gives these the best flavor and consistency, but you could use natural cocoa powder as well if it's all you can get.
- For salted chocolate cookies, sprinkle a little coarse salt on top of the cookies after baking.
- Store leftover cookies in a covered container at room temperature for 3-4 days or the refrigerator for 1 week. They freeze well.
Would the cookies be better if I made them 2 days in advance and froze them after baking or if I freeze the dough and bake the day of?
They will be better the day you bake them, rather than two days in the freezer, but either is really fine.
So good! I took a batch to work and my colleagues devoured them! Super easy to make – will definitely make again!
I love these cookies! I want to make them again without the cocoa powder. Do you think it will still taste good? I like the simplicity of this recipe and hope to create a chocolate chip cookie without the extra chocolate.
I’m glad you enjoyed them! I’m not quite sure how they will turn out without the cocoa, but you could try it. I would probably replace it with an equal amount of flour.
I eat dairy, but not eggs.
Can I use regular butter instead of vegan butter?
Can I use regular 2% milk instead of soy milk?
Thanks!
I don’t think either of those will make a difference in the outcome. Enjoy!
These were amazing – I used butter and 2% milk.
They were delicious and easy to make. Thank you!
Thank you for the recipe. They taste amazing.
I would like them to run out a little less so that I could keep them thicker. Do you have any idea how to achieve that?
Add a few more tablespoons of flour or cocoa, OR put the dough in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes before baking. Hope that helps!
These are amazing, not too chewy or cake like. They taste like a fluffy chocolate brownie and lasted about 5 minutes before being devoreded. I would definitely reccommend.
That’s so great to hear!! Thanks for the comment!
These are without a doubt the BEST vegan cookies I have ever made! We have made this recipe three times now and each time they have turned out perfect. Such a quick and simple recipe with amazing results.
That’s so great!! Thanks for the comment!
these were incredible!!
i’ve made lots of your recipes and they’re helping me show my skeptical vegetarian family that vegan sweets can be even better than desserts with dairy. thank you 🙂
You’re so welcome!! I love comments like these!!
Could flaxseed be substituted for something else ?
You can leave them out, it will still work. You could probably sub ground chia seeds if you have them.
Can you substitute flaxmeal for the flax seeds?? Is it a one for one substitution?
Thanks! I love you blog, I have tried your chocolate chip cookie recipe and it’s my go to recipe now. I hope this one turns out great too.
Flaxmeal is the same thing as ground flaxseeds, so yes. 🙂 Thank you so much! I hope you love these cookies, too!
These taste EXACTLY like the whole foods vegan double chocolate cookies!
That’s great!!
We just made these today and they are amazing! Thanks so much for sharing your delicious recipes, we’ve tried several and you’ve never let us down!
Thank you so much!!
What’s the best way to add a coffee component to these cookies? I have instant coffee and espresso at home to work with in addition to regular brewed coffee!!
The best thing to do would probably be adding some instant coffee granules to the batter for flavor. Sounds good!
Hi! What could i use in place of the butter? I only have 1/4 cup of butter left… 🙁
Nevermind I just seen that I can use coconut oil/oil. Sorry!
Could add some peanut butter or sunflower seed butter.
Hi Nora, would regular cocoa powder work in these?
Sorry – just saw the recipe notes, can’t wait to try them 🙂
These were incredible! Perfect consistency!! I only had sugar in the raw but it gave them extra crunch! Great recipe!
Thanks so much! Glad they were incredible!
Nora!
These cookies sound delish. One problem: I don’t have any flax seeds available. Are there substitutes you can recommend? I can already taste these treats!
I would just leave them out, it will work fine. Thanks!
Hi! Do you think it’s possible to use apple sauce instead of butter? Thank you!
I bet these would be good with goji berries : D
Sorry, I don’t think that will work here!
Hi, my dough is realy soft, can not be rolled by hand, I used your metric measurment. Why it’s going like this. Something wrong with the quantities?
In the instructions, I say: #5″ Add the other 1/2 cup of flour and mix until combined, then use your hands to form a large ball of dough. The dough should be easy to handle, not too wet or dry. If the dough is too wet to handle, add a few tablespoons more flour at a time. If the dough is too wet, your cookies will be totally flat. If the dough is too dry, add a tablespoon or two of almond milk.” You just need to add more flour until it is rollable and you can handle it. Also, though I list metric measurements, it is a automatic calculation, I always bake using cups. Hope that helps!
Yuuuuummmmmy! Do you want cookies or brownies? Why choose? These are a chocolate lovers dream. I made these for family movie night tonight. The kids better get home from school soon or these are going to be gone.
Haha. I can totally relate! So glad you like them.
I have now made three batches of these cookies and they are my absolute favorites! They’ve come out the same each time (followed the recipe exactly) with the exception of me overcooking the last batch. It really is a mistake (as indicated in the recipe) to over bake these — they were still delicious, but a little crunchier than I’d like this last batch.
So glad you love them! Thanks for the comment. 🙂
Thank you so much for this recipe! So easy and foolproof. The texture turned out fudgey and amazing and the dough was easy to work with. I cut the fat and sugar to make this healthier – instead of 1/2 cup butter, I used 1/4 cup avocado oil and added an additional 1/4 cup milk to make the liquid amount sufficient. For the sugar, I used 1/3 cup brown sugar instead of 1 cup sugar. It turned out to be just a hint of sweetness so next time I will try 1/2 cup sugar or 2/3 cup. I also skipped the flax, vanilla extract, and salt since I didn’t have any.
Me and my lady love your recipes. I bake stuff and let non vegans try it out without telling them until after they eat it & they don’t believe it’s vegan lol. So thank you.
You’re welcome? I love this comment! Thanks for sharing.
Delish! These turned out just as promised. I didn’t fess up they were vegan until everyone gobbled them up. Thank you!
You’re welcome! I’m glad everyone gobbled them up! 🙂
Could you make these with GF flour?
I think it would work but I haven’t personally tried it. Use a quality gluten free flour mix for best results.
Can I substitute monkfruit and stevia sugar or brown sugar instead of normal sugar?
If you know you like the taste of them, you can try it. I have never used monkfruit and don’t like the taste of stevia so I don’t personally use it, but I’m sure they would work. They will of course change the flavor.
Hi dear Nora,
this is seriously the best chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever had! I am so in love with this one. 🙂
I will definitely make it again, but I would like to try a healthier option. Do you think almond flour could work? And what else can I use instead of sugar?
Thank you so much for this amazing recipe!
I wish you the best,
Suzie
I’m so glad you liked the cookies! I think they are simply the best chocolate cookie fix ever! I don’t think almond flour would work too well, as it doesn’t absorb liquid as well so they would end up really greasy. You could probably use coconut sugar, but I wouldn’t suggest any liquid sweetener. However, I had several fails with this recipe so I can really only vouch for the recipe as written! Perhaps whole wheat pastry flour would be a good substitute for the white flour. Thank you!
I made these yesterday and they are a hit. My younger son said they taste like brownies. The next best thing about these is that they are made in one bowl. I love one bowl recipes.