These vegan peanut butter cookies are the best cookies ever! Wonderfully crunchy and packed with peanut butter flavor. Quick and easy to make using everyday ingredients.
Oh YUM! Crunchy vegan peanut butter cookies!
If you love peanut butter as much as I do, then you want to put it in as many things as possible, and baking it into cookies is nothing but a very fine idea.
And these peanut butter cookies are simply divine.
And if you love peanut butter cookies then also check out our peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and our vegan peanut butter oatmeal cookies. You’ll also love our vegan almond butter cookies.
How To Make Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Add sugar and vegan butter to a mixer and beat them together until creamy. Add peanut butter and vanilla extract and mix in.
- In a separate bowl, add all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and mix. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix in until crumbly. Mix by hand, don’t use your electric mixer for this part.
- Add soy milk and mix into a cookie dough.
- Roll the dough into balls, and then roll the balls in sugar and place them evenly onto a parchment lined baking tray.
- Flatten slightly with a fork.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden on top. They will be soft when they come out of the oven but will firm up as they cool.
Recipe Tips
Vegan butter can vary a lot by brand. Depending on the brand of vegan butter (and peanut butter) you use, you may need a little more non-dairy milk than the 1 Tbsp stated in the recipe OR you may not need to add any non-dairy milk at all. Firm stick versions of vegan butter have a lower water content than softer tub styles of vegan butter. And some peanut butter brands are oilier than others.
If you try to roll some of the cookie dough into a ball and it doesn’t want to stick together and just crumbles, then add 1 Tbsp non-dairy milk and try again to roll into a ball. If needed, add another 1 Tbsp non-dairy milk and so on. If you’re in any doubt, see our photo of the cookie dough (above) or watch the video to see the consistency that the cookie dough should be.
Bake for 10 minutes for a softer cookie. If you want a softer cookie then bake for 10 minutes. If you want it a little crunchier then bake for 12 minutes. For a really crunchy cookie, you can bake for 14-15 minutes. But keep a close eye on them so that they don’t burn.
Make them gluten-free. If you’d like these cookies to be gluten-free then simply use a gluten-free all purpose flour blend to replace the regular flour in these cookies. We’ve had great success doing this simple switch with our cookies to make them gluten-free.
Storing and Freezing
These cookies keep perfectly at room temperature for up to a week in an airtight container. You can also store them in an airtight container in the fridge.
They are also freezer friendly and baked cookies can be frozen for up to 3 months.
More Vegan Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Cookies
- Vegan Oatmeal Cookies
- Vegan Snickerdoodles
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Sugar Cookies
- Vegan Lemon Cookies
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup White Granulated Sugar (200g)
- ½ cup Vegan Butter (112g)
- 1 cup Smooth Salted Peanut Butter (250g)
- 1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 ½ cups All Purpose Flour (190g)
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- ½ tsp Salt
- 1 Tbsp Soy Milk or other non-dairy milk
For Rolling:
- ¼ cup White Granulated Sugar (50g)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
- Add the sugar and vegan butter to a mixer and beat them together until creamy. Add the peanut butter and vanilla extract and mix in.
- In a separate bowl, add the all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and mix together. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix in until crumbly. Mix by hand, don’t use your electric mixer for this part.
- Add the soy milk and mix into a cookie dough. (See notes)*
- Roll the dough into balls, and then roll the balls in sugar and place them evenly onto a parchment lined baking tray.
- Flatten slightly with a fork.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes* until golden on top. They will be soft when they come out of the oven but will firm up as they cool.
Video
Notes
- Depending on the brand of vegan butter and peanut butter you use, you may need a little more soy milk than the 1 Tbsp stated OR you might not need any added milk at all. If you try to roll some of the cookie dough into a ball and it doesn’t want to stick together and just crumbles, then add 1 Tbsp soy milk and try again to roll into a ball. If it’s still too crumbly then add another 1 Tbsp and try again. With certain brands of vegan butter I’ve tested (very hard stick variety), I’ve sometimes needed as much as 3 Tbsp of soy milk. And I’ve also made these cookies and not needed to add in any soy milk at all. Usually 1 Tbsp is sufficient. If you’re in any doubt, then see our process photos and/or watch the video to see the consistency that the cookie dough should be.
- If you want a softer cookie then bake for 10 minutes. If you want it a little crunchier then bake for 12 minutes. For a really crunchy cookie, you can bake for 14-15 minutes. But keep a close eye on them so that they don’t burn.
- Make them gluten-free. If you’d like these cookies to be gluten-free then simply use a gluten-free all purpose flour blend to replace the regular flour in these cookies. We’ve had great success doing this simple switch with our cookies to make them gluten-free.
- Storing: Keep your cookies stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 7 days. They can also be stored in an airtight container in the fridge.
- This recipe was first published in June 2016.
Ive tried a lot of vegan pb cookies recipes and this one is the winner!! Simple and makes a lot of cookies, thank you!
Thanks Kali!
Amazing cookies! I have been making your Chocolate Chip cookies for a while and wanted to try something new.. these things – mindblowing – they melt in my mouth!
These are definitely a new favourite. Thank you!
Yay! Thanks so much Claudia!
These cookie are yummy ! I followed the recipe exactly but I did add more soy milk as noted because my vegan butter was stiff and the cookies were crumbly in first “batch” without the extra soy milk 🙂
Made these and used 1/4cup oil + 1/4cup oat milk instead of 1/2cup butter/oil. Came out great! Add some chocolate chips I had leftover just because. Made around 20 cookies. Would make again!
So delicious!
Thanks Alycia!
The very first time EVER making peanut butter cookies, and this recipe is so simple, even I could do it! AND IT’S ALL VEGAN! I used almond milk and threw in some ground walnuts, and I must say that these taste better than the ones you would buy at at Whole Foods! Wow!
So glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
Killer!!! Full of flavor and so easy to make. Absolutely love them! Perfect to make on a cold rainy day!
Awesome! Thanks so much Sara!
Love these cookies!!! Have been looking for a peanut butter with this texture, reminiscent of my childhood. However, there is one change that I will make to the recipe when I make them again: Because I am on a low salt diet, I only used 1/4 t. of salt, and still found them to be plenty salty everything tastes slaty when you aren’t use to cooking with it) Next time I think I will eliminate the salt entirely. Thanks for a great recipe!
Wonderful! Thanks for sharing Elizabeth!
These turned out amazing! Thanks so much!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Leigh!
These cookies are absolutely amazing! My husbands words were “they are the best cookies I’ve ever had!” We went vegan October last year after being veggie for a long time, and I only started trying out vegan baking this year (I’ve always loved cooking, but never been a successful baker, vegan or veggie) and every single recipe I have used of yours has been amazing, so thought I should leave a comment to say thank you!
So glad to hear that Jennifer! Thanks so much!
Hello! Can you use vegan margarine for this recipe instead of the butter? Thank you!
Yes definitely!
Another great recipe!
I baked this for my family friends, everyone loved it!
Please post more cookie recipes!
Thanks!
Hi Jae! So happy to hear! We’ve done a ton of cookie recipes, just type ‘cookies’ into the search bar to see all of them. Let us know if there are any in particular that we’re missing. We love baking cookies! 🙂
Is honey sunflower butter usable? Response quick please! 🙂 thank you
Probably, but I haven’t tried that. If it’s very similar to peanut butter then most likely.
Hi I’m a 11 year old baker and through out my search for good vegan recipes i fell upon this recipe for peanut butter cookies. Ive made so many vegan peanut butter cookies in my life time that were ok but i decided to try this one and this was the best vegan peanut butter cookies ever! They were so light and fluffy and amazingly tasty now i have this page book marked so i can make it a lot, i make it every time we buy a thing of peanut butter (around once every 2 weeks.) I also happened to try your vegan snickerdoodle recipe which was also one of the best recipes ever! thanks for sharing all of your amazing recipe!
That is so awesome Esma, thanks so much for your lovely comment. I’m so pleased they were a success (and the snickerdoodles too!). 🙂
I just made them and they turned out real nice!
I LUV peanut butter cookies and really wanted to try this recipe. Unfortunately I didn’t have all the necessary ingredients (getting stuff from the grocery store is challenging right now) so I experimented with what I had on hand. I had turbinado sugar, but not quite enough so I did half turbinado and half date sugar. I also didn’t have enough flour, so used a cup of all purpose and 1/2 cup of almond flour. The result was tasty, but very crumbly. Next time I bake these, I’ll try to follow the recipe! Is there a good substitute for the white sugar?
Hi Melody, the white sugar really works great in these cookies, but turbinado sugar should also work okay. The crumbliness is most likely from the almond flour which isn’t a good swap for all purpose. 🙂
Is it natural peanut butter you use?
No, we used a commercial style peanut butter, but natural does also work fine.
I used natural peanut butter and rolled them in turbinado sugar. This is my new favourite cookie recipe. They’re really good. Hello from Canada.
Thanks Cathie!