These are the best vegan gluten free chocolate chip cookies ever! With crispy edges and perfectly soft middles, no one will guess they’re gluten free. Egg, dairy and nut free as well with NO dough chilling required!
You’re going to love these vegan and gluten free cookies
You can stop looking. These are the best gluten free vegan cookies! They’re easy to make with a handful of staple ingredients and ditch the regular flour for gluten free flour. You’ll hardly be able to tell the difference between them and my Perfect Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Gluten free desserts don’t get much easier than these nut free and gluten free chocolate chip cookies. The dough is easy to mix together in one bowl before it’s rolled into cookie dough balls and baked in the oven. You won’t find any complicated ingredients here either! Just grab your favorite gluten free flour mix and vegan chocolate chips and you’re ready to start baking.
Ingredients needed (with substitutions)
- Vegan butter – Remember: softened room temperature butter is always easier to work with and incorporates better into cookie dough. Put it out on the counter 30 minutes before getting started or microwave it in 15-second increments until it’s soft to the touch (but not melted).
- Brown sugar – This is where all chocolate chip cookie recipes get their molasses-like flavors. If all you have is white sugar at home, try mixing it with molasses to make your own brown sugar.
- Vanilla extract
- Non-dairy milk – Any kind of plant milk is just fine. Make sure it’s room temperature before you get started.
- Gluten free flour – I recently discovered Better Batter Gluten Free Flour, and I feel like it’s one of the best. It’s less sandy tasting than others I’ve tried. Any quality gluten free flour mix should work quite well, so use your favorite.
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Vegan chocolate chips – Check the ingredients to make sure your chocolate chips don’t contain milk. You can find vegan chocolate chips at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Costco (look for Kirkland brand of semi-sweet chocolate chips), and on Amazon. When all else fails, look for Guittard or Enjoy Life as both brands make vegan-friendly chocolate chips.
How to make vegan gluten free chocolate chip cookies
Find the complete recipe with measurements in the recipe card below.
Beat the softened butter and brown sugar together until you have a creamy and fluffy mixture. Add the vanilla and milk, and continue to mix. Lastly, slowly mix in the flour, baking soda, and salt until just combined.
Fold the chocolate chips into the dough and you’re done!
Roll 1 to 2 tablespoons worth of dough in your hands at a time to form the cookie dough balls. Place them on the prepared baking pans, then bake until the cookie edges are just starting to brown. It’s ok if they feel too soft at first! They’ll firm up as they cool.
Sprinkle with coarse sea salt, if desired. Leave the cookies to cool completely on a wire rack, then dig in and enjoy!
Freezing cookie dough
Roll the cookie dough into balls, place them on a lined baking sheet, and freeze. Once they’re frozen solid, transfer them to a freezer-safe bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
Bake the dough balls right from frozen, adding a few more minutes to the bake time to make up for their cold temperature.
The baked cookies also freeze well. Just pop them in an airtight container and grab one out of the freezer whenever you have a craving.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I use almond flour? Using all almond flour won’t work well here, as the cookies will be very flat. You could try using 1 cup gluten free flour and 3/4 cup of almond flour.
- Do you have to chill the cookie dough? It isn’t necessary for this recipe. Chilling the cookie dough in the fridge before baking can solidify the butter and prevent the cookies from spreading too much in the oven. If you love thick, chewy cookies, go ahead and pop the dough in the fridge for 15 minutes.
- Can I make these without sugar? I wouldn’t recommend it. Granulated coconut sugar, however, can be used instead of brown sugar as a natural sweetener alternative.
Want more vegan and gluten free desserts?
- Gluten Free Banana Bread
- Easy Vanilla Vegan Gluten Free Cake
- Gluten Free Chocolate Cake
- Gluten Free Vegan Brownies
Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup vegan butter, softened to room temperature I prefer Miyoko's
- 1 1/4 cups brown sugar, lightly packed
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup non-dairy milk I used soy
- 1 3/4 cups gluten free flour mix* I used Better Batter
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup vegan chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or using a handheld mixer, beat the softened vegan butter and brown sugar together until creamy, about 2 minutes.
- Add the vanilla and non-dairy milk and mix to combine, scraping the sides as needed.
- Stop the mixer and add the flour, then sprinkle the baking soda and salt on top of the flour.
- Turn the mixer on low speed, and mix until just combined. Mix in the chocolate chips until incorporated.
- Scoop about 1-2 tablespoons of dough using a cookie scoop or spoon, roll into balls and place on the prepared pans about 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 9-12 minutes, until barely golden brown on the edges. They will appear soft, but will firm up as they cool. Sprinkle with a little coarse sea salt, if desired.
- Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes on the pan, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Enjoy!
Notes
- Vegan butter – I prefer Miyoko’s brand for taste and quality, but other brands work as well. Use the stick type butter instead of the container.
- Sugar – Brown sugar works best, but you can use coconut sugar if desired.
- Gluten free flour – Recently I discovered Better Batter, which I am enjoying more than any other brand I’ve tried. It has almost no sandy, gritty texture in baked goods. I recommend a quality mix that includes xantham gum.
I just had to go cold turkey on a bunch of allergen foods and ingredients, not for myself, but for my very very young daughter. I can’t have dairy, eggs, wheat, peanut, soy, or sesame. Eating has been miserable lately and chocolate chip cookies are one of my favorites that I thought I’d have to give up. I used extra creamy oatmilk, Pamela’s gluten free flour, and earth balance vegan soy free butter with plant based nestle chocolate chips. Amazing cookies! From a desperate mom with a sweet tooth, thank you! This will be my go to from now on!
I know how challenging it can be with food allergies! I’m so glad you were able to enjoy the cookies! Thank you for sharing your fabulous review and feedback!
Taste is super yummy! Don’t know if I did something wrong but the cookies spread out really flat though.
These turned out great!! We followed the recipe exactly. We used earth balance vegan butter, coconut milk, and Bob’s red mill 1:1 gluten free flour.
Hi Nora- I had some trouble with this recipe! The cookies spread into one giant mass, and were very thin and soft. The vegan butter was solid when I started, and I can’t figure out what I did wrong. Any ideas? Thanks so much!
Hi there, sorry you had trouble! What brand of flour did you use?
Can I make this as a giant cookie—like a cookie cake? My daughter’s birthday dinner celebration this week for a crowd and she has to watch so many food triggers for breastfeeding my granddaughter. This looks wonderful!
You probably can but I haven’t tried it. Maybe you could adjust it to this recipe, or simply use gluten free flour instead for the skillet cookie?
Amazing! The best treat I made for a long time. I was doing keto for 18 months and than turned out I have intolerance for gluten wheat barley egg banana and a few more things. This cinnamon rolls are the best. I have tried quite a few free from recepie, but this one is just purly amazing. Rest of my family does not follow my special diet but were still amazed. My husband said its even better than the traditional. It is fluffy and airy but do not have any after taste or weird texture. I did alter, I used regular milk and butter as I’m not vegan just egg free. Also I only had arrowroot flour, brown rice flour and buckwheat flour at home so I did swap as the recepie suggested.
Thank you for your hard work to create these recepies. I’ll try your others too.
Hi Veronika. I really appreciate your acknowledgment of the work that goes into my recipes, I appreciate you! Living with allergies can be challenging. I am glad you are finding yummy food to eat through my recipes! Thank you for taking time to share your terrific review and feedback! Happy cooking!
Really happy with how these turned out. They’re crunchy but chewy and very delicious. Maybe a tad sweet so next time I’ll try reduce the sugar and see if they work still. Tricky part will be stopping my son eating them all today.
Thanks for the recipe
The recipe worked fine for me, but they are insanely sweet :((
I tried to eat just one and by the end I started having a headache. I already cut it down a bit by taking out 3 heaped table spoons and was using coconut sugar. So sad, would’ve loved to like them. Luckily my boyfriend’s got a massive sweet tooth, so it’s not a waste.
Hey Eliza! I had the same experience. You can reduce the sugar down to 3/4 cup and maintain a good cookie 🙂 thats my go to. Any less and it doesn’t really spread right anymore
These turned out fantastic, just like the pic! Wanted to comment to let people know I used Violife unsalted butter and King Arthur measure for measure GF flour and they worked well. I measured the butter and (light) brown sugar by grams, for everything else I used measuring cups.
Thanks for the recipe 😀
Thank you so much for sharing your feedback and for your wonderful review, Katie!
Best GF chocolate chip cookie recipe. I can’t thank you enough!
I’m thrilled you loved them, Maddie! Thank YOU for your wonderful review and feedback!
I’m fairly new at vegan cooking. Could you explain to me why your non GF chocolate chip recipe has flax eggs in it but this doesn’t? I am tempted to make the your non gluten free recipe with gluten free flour.
And I really appreciate your recipes in general! Very helpful in promoting a vegan life style! Thanks a million!
Hi Therese! This is just a slightly different technique and I find it so simple. Dairy free milk is the egg replacer in this recipe, where flax eggs are in my other recipe. Sometimes I use the milk instead of flax eggs in the other recipe as well. They both work well! You can definitely substitute GF flour in the other recipe; it works very well. There are many ways to make a good vegan cookie, and you will see a variety of techniques on my website. Hope you find many recipes to love here! 🙂
I forgot to add the 5 stars to my previous review!
Thank you so much for this recipe! I’m the only vegan at work and a co-worker is recently celiac. Another co-worker made this as a birthday treat so everyone could enjoy and they were a huge hit with everyone! They’ve already been again for another birthday.
Might be the best gluten free chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve ever tried. It’s also my first time using vegan butter and I tried the recommended brand… I was shocked how buttery the cookies tasted. The texture of the cookies is perfect and it really is hard to believe it’s both gluten free and vegan. Will be saving this one!
I’m thrilled you love the cookies, and will be using the recipe again! I appreciate your terrific feedback and review. Happy cooking!
Hello! i really liked the recipe BUT they tourned out veryyy cakey so much flour i tasted flour all the time although i put the right amount and even a bit less 🥲 but i divided it between gluten free oat flour and normal gluten free flour 😅 what should i do to make them taste less like flour
Oat flour usually makes baked good cakey, so that’s the likely culprit. I recommend a quality gluten free flour, like Better Batter, or even Bob’s Red Mill 1:1.
Can I substitute coconut oil for vegan butter, I have a nut allergy? If so what would be the proper conversation measurement.
You probably can, but the cookies might be a bit greasy. You can find nut free vegan butter though, I believe Earth Balance is nut free, as well as Melt, Country Crock and others. The conversion is 1:1, but I suggest finding vegan butter that is nut free for the best outcome.
Two thumbs up from my family! Crispy on the edges, chewy in the middle. Just perfect. Used Earth Balance and Pamela’s flour.
Thanks for your great review, Deb! I’m glad your family loved the cookies!
If a gf flour mix doesn’t include xanthan gum, how much xg should one add? Thank you!
I’d say 1/4 teaspoon.
I have no clue where I went wrong but my batter turned out like cake batter. Tried adding more flour but they didn’t help. Maybe over creamed the batter? I used to brand gf Flour
That doesn’t sounds right at all. I don’t understand what brand of gf flour you used, but that might be the culprit. You need to use a quality all purpose gluten free flour blend. And make sure all your measurements are accurate and the vegan butter is softened, not melted.
These were so delicious!!! I used 1c almond flour and the rest oat flour. Then a little zantham gum. I should have chilled them for a bit before baking but we wanted them asap Lol. Second day out of the fridge and they were spectacular. Define will save this recipe! Thanks Nora ❤️
These were great! Really delicious and chewy, close to a Subway-style cookie. I imagine other people’s bad experiences were because the performance of gluten-free flour can vary greatly from brand to brand. I reduced the sugar a little when I made these and next time I might experiment with adding more flour, too, but this is still a great recipe and I don’t think it can be faulted! Will be making again!
I am thrilled you loved the cookies! Thanks for sharing your amazing review and comments! Happy cooking!
Delish! Perfect! Thanks Nora. It was my first time baking cookies with gf flour. No problem at all. 🙂
Hi Susie. I’m glad the cookie baking went smoothly! Thanks for your wonderful feedback and review!
Mine came out like a cookie cake !! Flat as a pancake 🥲
Oh no! Did you make any substitutes? Was your butter melted? What kind of butter did you use? Did you use a quality gluten free flour mix? If you try it again, it could help to chill the dough in the fridge for 1 hour before baking.
Can you freeze these cookies, Nora? I’m not super well-versed with gluten-free cookies. If you can freeze them, do you just defrost them on the counter?
Hi Amy. These cookies should freeze well. Yes, defrost them on the counter at room temperature. I hope this helps!
These are SO good!!! I love how simple they were to make too. Thank you for the delicious recipe!
You are welcome, Tessa! Thanks for your wonderful feedback and review! How awesome you loved the cookies!
These are absolutely delicious! Thank you Nora for yet another wonderful recipe.
Omg, these are decadent! I don’t understand the bad reviews, because these turned out PERFECT for me! Perfectly rounded, fluffy, and delicious! I used the recommended brand of butter, and a few TBSP less of flour, because I find that’s the key for good GF baking – use a smidge less flour than what’s called for. Only did 1c brown sugar and they were plenty sweet! These were awesome! A perfect GF vegan chocolate chip cookie. Thanks, Nora!
I’m so glad you loved them, Clare! Thanks so much for your wonderful feedback and review! 🙂