These vegan chocolate chip cookies are the best ever! They are soft, chewy, slightly-crunchy, perfectly sweet and totally satisfying. They’re also super easy to make.
These vegan chocolate chip cookies are soft and chewy with just enough ‘crunch’ to be satisfying as you bite into them.
And these cookies were polished off at speed in our house! They’re always very popular.
And when you look at the cookie dough that these cookies make, then you really understand why people eat cookie dough as is. I just about managed to resist eating the cookie dough so that this batch of cookies could get made!
If you love cookies as much as we do (and oh we really do love them!) then check out our vegan peanut butter cookies and our super popular vegan chocolate cookies too.
How To Make Vegan Chocolate Chip 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.
- These cookies are soo easy to make.
- Add vegan butter and brown sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer and cream them together.
- Then add soy milk and vanilla and mix that in.
- Add all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, cornstarch and salt to a mixing bowl and mix it together and then add the dry ingredients in with the wet and mix in by hand (not by actual hand, just using a spoon for this part instead of the electric mixer) into a thick cookie dough.
- Add in the chocolate chips and mix them into the batter.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Roll the cookie dough into balls and place them evenly onto the parchment lined baking tray. Aim for 20 cookies.
- Place into the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges are set and the tops are very slightly browned.
- When they come out of the oven, take a few chocolate chips and press them down into the tops of the still warm cookies.
- They’re still very soft when they come out of the oven, but they firm up significantly as they cool.
Vegan Chocolate Chips or Chunks
You can use vegan chocolate chips or chocolate chunks which is just a chopped up bar of vegan chocolate. We have made these cookies both ways or using a mix of chocolate chips and chunks. It works perfectly no matter how you do them.
In some countries it can be a struggle to find vegan chocolate chips so in that case just chop up a bar of dark chocolate or vegan chocolate.
Of course you don’t quite have the symmetry of perfect little chocolate chips but that’s okay!
Recipe Tips
Measure your flour correctly. I recommend weighing your flour on a food scale for the best accuracy or, if you don’t want to weigh it, then make sure to use the spoon and level method. Spoon the flour into a measuring cup and level off the top with a knife. Don’t scoop the flour and don’t pack it into the cup.
If the cookie dough is too dry to roll into balls then simply add in a tablespoon of non-dairy milk and try again. Depending on the brand of vegan butter that you use, your cookie dough could be the perfect consistency (as mine was) or a little dry.
If the brand of vegan butter you use has a lower water content (a firm brick or stick style of vegan butter vs a soft spread for example) then your resulting cookie dough may be too dry to easily roll into balls. If this happens, just add in a little more non-dairy milk, a tablespoon at a time until you have the right consistency.
If the cookies didn’t spread then simply flatten them with a fork immediately as they come out of the oven.
When you cream the vegan butter and sugar together it is supposed to warm it up enough so that when you add the other ingredients you end up with a cookie dough that is fairly warm and pliable.
If your butter/sugar mix didn’t cream together for long enough and your vegan butter was very cold, or even if the weather is just very cold, it can end up that your cookie dough is too chilled and your cookies don’t spread.
Baking Time. Ovens do differ, so keep an eye on them. Soft and chewy is around 10-12 minutes. If you want them nice and crunchy you can leave them baking for up to 15 minutes.
Recipe Q&A
Some have done it and reported good results in the comments! You can also make your own homemade vegan butter which has coconut oil as the base ingredient.
Yes you definitely can. It’s great either way or you can use a mix of both.
Any non-dairy milk should do fine here. I used soy milk but almond milk should work great too as should pretty much any non-dairy milk.
Yes! We have done it, check out our recipe for vegan gluten-free chocolate chip cookies.
Keep them stored in an airtight container at room temperature and they’ll stay fresh for up to a week.
Yes, they are freezer friendly for up to 3 months!
Yes you can, keep it in the fridge for up to 4 days and then let it come to room temperature before rolling into balls and baking them as usual.
More Vegan Cookies
- Vegan Coconut Cookies
- Vegan Lemon Cookies
- Vegan Sugar Cookies
- Vegan Oatmeal Cookies
- Vegan Pumpkin Cookies
- Vegan Gingerbread Cookies
Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Vegan Butter (112g)
- 1 cup Light Brown Sugar (200g)
- 1/4 cup Soy Milk (60ml) or other non-dairy milk
- 1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour (250g)
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 2 tsp Cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 cup Vegan Chocolate Chips (175g) + more to press into the tops when they come out the oven*
Instructions
- In an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together.
- Then add the soy milk and vanilla and mix in.
- Add your flour, baking soda, baking powder, cornstarch and salt to a mixing bowl and mix together.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix in by hand (don't use your electric mixer for this part) until properly mixed into a thick cookie dough.
- Add the chocolate chips and mix in to distribute as evenly as possible.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Roll into balls and place evenly on a baking tray covered with parchment paper. Aim for 20 cookies.
- Place into the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges are set and they are very slightly browned on top.
- When they come out of the oven, press a few more chocolate chips into the tops of the warm cookies.
- Allow to cool and firm up directly on the tray.
- Once properly cooled store in an airtight container.
Video
Notes
- Measure your flour correctly using the spoon and level method (spoon the flour into a measuring cup and then level off the top with a knife. Don't scoop it and don't pack it into the cup). Alternatively weigh it on a food scale.
- Cornstarch has a softening effect on baked goods and this contributes to these cookies being very soft and chewy.
- If you can't get vegan chocolate chips then just chop up a bar of vegan chocolate and use chocolate chunks instead.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes for a soft cookie. If you prefer them more on the crunchy side then you can bake them for up to 15 minutes. Ovens do vary though so keep a close eye on them.
- If your cookies didn't flatten in the oven then just flatten them with a fork as soon as they come out of the oven when they're still hot.
- This recipe was first published in 2016. It has been updated with new photos and clearer instructions but the recipe itself is unchanged.
Hi! I ran out of brown sugar and was thinking of substituting it with coconut sugar. Would that work for this recipe?
It should work! Coconut sugar can be a bit drier in baked goods but I think it would still work.
oh wow these are truly amazing! I spent an hour reading through recipes for vegan chocolate chip cookie recipes before I found one that read like it would make a good cookie.
it did not. it made an Amazing cookie the likes of which I can see selling in a bakery for 5 euros a piece.
I added one more tablespoon of vegan butter since the batter felt slightly dry as I was mixing it (it incorporated well) and used a cut up chocolate bar that came out perfectly because of the bits of almost shaved chocolate that mixed right into the batter~
they were so good that we couldn’t stop commenting on how perfect they were, and I’m not even that big on sweets. the dark chocolate and slight amount of sugar were perfection
(I also bet these would be good with a bit of flax added and/or some chopped almonds for a vegan trail food)
amazing! thank you for sharing this! I will be sharing your link with all my friends & family! thank you for letting me share my love of baking with my vegan friends in a recipe that I can eat too since it doesn’t need coconut oil and I swapped the soy milk for almond milk since I can’t have soy. this is perfect for everyone!
Thanks so much for the amazing review! So happy they were a success! 🙂
Just made these today and they were amazing! Best vegan cookies I’ve ever had! The only problem was that they didn’t spread out in the oven, would you know why? I’ve measured everything perfectly (except I don’t have a kitchen scale so I measured in cups) and didn’t substitute any ingredient, but I only used half the amount of sugar because I don’t like things too sweet. I put the dough in the fridge too but only for about 10 minutes, maybe I shouldn’t have done that? (I had forgotten to turn the oven on and din’t want to leave the dough out for too long…) I baked one batch for 15 minutes and the other for 12 minutes, both turned out soft and chewy, and since they didn’t spread they kinda looked like big cookie clouds! They taste amazing but yeah, just wondering if you have any idea why this happened. I’m not good at baking…
Also for anyone else wondering if you can cream the butter and sugar without an electric mixer, it’s possible, just requires a bit of elbow grease and a strong whisk! The dough was a bit too clumpy after adding the dry ingredients so I just mixed it with my hands.
Great recipe though, thanks for sharing!
Hi Charlotte! So happy you loved the cookies! The fridge time can definitely reduce the spread, usually when you don’t want your cookies to spread, that’s when you chill them in the fridge first. But it’s also fine if they don’t spread, just flatten them gently with a fork as soon as they come out the oven still warm. This works great! Thanks for sharing and the awesome review!
These look delicious! I want to attempt these tomorrow, I wanted to ask if I need to refrigerate the dough or can I make them straight away?
Thanks
You can make them straight away!
Super tasty! fluffy and buttery <3
Thanks Maren!
Reduced the sugar by 20g due to personal taste, added some cranberries and raisins, only made 12 as we love big cookies. Amazing, absolutely the best vegan cookies I have ever made, hubby and kids told me so. I have been told that this has got to be my go to recipe for cookies from now on. Thanks for making me a food hero.
Awesome! Thanks so much for the fab review Susan!