Best Chewy Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies 🍪 Here's your perfect soft & chewy chocolate chip cookie with a crispy, buttery, caramelized edge and melt-in-your-mouth chocolatey goodness. How sweet is that?
There's something about biting into a warm, freshly baked cookie that can evoke feelings of comfort and nostalgia. For me, I am transported back to my childhood, and memories of baking cookies with my mom in our family kitchen.
I've always enjoyed baking cookies - oatmeal, sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, tea cookies, shortbread, snowball cookies, and lemon drop cookies, but my all-time favorites are good old-fashioned chocolate chip or "Toll House" cookies. There's just nothing quite like a perfectly baked chocolate chip cookie. You know the ones - moist and chewy, not too soft, not too hard, a little bit crispy along the edges, with gooey rich chocolate chips. Simply scrumptious.
Table of Contents
Over the years, my daughter and I have played around with many variations of the original Toll House cookie recipe, adjusting the ingredients until we finally created the best chewy vegan chocolate chip cookies!
🍪 Why you will love this recipe!
- Easy to follow.
- You can freeze the cookies and enjoy them for weeks!
- Made with all basic ingredients.
- Everyone loves them!
How to make the best chewy vegan chocolate chip cookies
Having the right ingredients is one of the secrets to success in baking. For this recipe, get the best vegan chocolate chips you can find. My favorite are Guittard semisweet chocolate baking chips from San Francisco. They're dairy-free and delicious. If you can't find them, use your favorite vegan chocolate chips.
🍪 Ingredients
🥕 See the printable recipe card below for quantities & details.
Here's what you'll need:
Flour (all-purpose)
Baking soda
Salt
Sugar (granulated and brown sugar)
Vegan butter
Vegan egg replacer - I prefer Bob's Red Mill (See FAQ's below for more info)
Vanilla extract
Semisweet chocolate chips (vegan)
🍪 Instructions
Preheat oven to 375℉
6. Spoon dough onto parchment lined cookie sheets.
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly golden brown.
8. Cookies may be a bit puffy at first when you remove them from the oven. Cool on wire rack for a few minutes and enjoy!
Variations
How do you like your chocolate chip cookies?
Some of us prefer our chocolate chip cookies simple & sweet. Just a perfectly baked golden-brown cookie full of rich semi-sweet chocolate chips. Then there are those who like their cookies a bit more complex. With this recipe, you can add additional ingredients to your liking, such as:
- Chopped walnuts, pecans, or macadamia nuts
- Flaked or shredded coconut
- White chocolate chips (vegan)
- Oatmeal - rough cut or quick cook
- A pinch of cinnamon
- A sprinkle of fresh orange zest
🥕Tip: Add those extra ingredients sparingly, too much may change the texture & consistency of the cookie dough.
🍪 Storing tips
Allow the cookies to cool and then store in an airtight container up to 3 days at room temperature or frozen up to 3 months. Personally, I love nibbling on them straight from the freezer. Sometimes I'll sandwich a scoop of vegan ice cream between two frozen chewy vegan chocolate chip cookies. Yum!
🍪 FAQ's
What can I use instead of eggs in chocolate chip cookies?
It's easy to replace eggs in most baked goods by substituting them with vegan egg replacer. There are several packaged egg replacers available which work well. Be sure to follow the package directions before using. You can also make your own by combining one tablespoon ground flax meal with three tablespoons of water (per egg). Allow it to sit 5 – 15 minutes to thicken before using.
Why use parchment paper for baking cookies?
- Here's the scoop: Parchment paper may not be necessary, but there are some very useful reasons for using it:
- It can help keep cookie dough from spreading too much while baking. The surface texture or "tooth" of the paper helps hold the dough in place.
- A layer of parchment helps provide even baking by creating air space between the baking sheet & paper which can regulate the overall temperature of the baking surface. Ever notice how some pans get hot spots?
- Parchment also keeps cookies from sticking to the pan, which can be an issue particularly with chocolate chip cookies (if the chips burn onto the pan).
- I always use a layer of parchment whenever I use aluminum foil or an aluminum baking pan. I don't like aluminum to come into contact with my food.
- Finally, using parchment keeps your pans looking new and makes clean-up a whole lot easier.
Who invented chocolate chip cookies?
It's no surprise that chocolate chip cookies are considered the #1 cookie in America, but did you know this beloved dessert treat originated just prior to World War II? Here's the story.
The chocolate chip cookie was invented by American chef Ruth Graves Wakefield in 1938.[1] She invented the recipe when she owned the Toll House Inn, in Whitman, Massachusetts. In this era, the Toll House Inn was a popular restaurant that featured home cooking. It is often incorrectly reported that she accidentally developed the cookie, and that she expected the chocolate chunks would melt, making chocolate cookies. In fact, she stated that she deliberately invented the cookie. She said, "We had been serving a thin butterscotch nut cookie with ice cream. Everybody seemed to love it, but I was trying to give them something different. So I came up with Toll House cookie."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate_chip_cookie
Is it safe to eat raw vegan cookie dough?
I have to admit, I love cookie dough. In fact, when I was a kid, I enjoyed eating raw cookie dough as much as I liked baked cookies. I knew that it wasn't a good idea and the raw eggs in the dough could make me sick, but that didn't stop my friends and I from nibbling dough whenever cookies were baking at my house.
When I became vegan I thought "Cool! Now I can have worry-free cookie dough" since I always assumed the concern with consuming cookie dough was the possible exposure to Salmonella poisoning from raw eggs. So if we don't use eggs, it shouldn't be an issue, right? Wrong. As it turns out, raw eggs aren't the only problem with eating uncooked cookie dough. Raw flour is also a potential health hazard.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, raw dough can contain bacteria that cause disease. Flour doesn’t look like a raw food, but typically it is. This means it hasn’t been treated to kill germs such as Escherichia coli (E. coli), which causes food poisoning (foodborne illness). Harmful germs can contaminate grain while it’s still in the field or at other steps during flour production. Processing steps like grinding grain and bleaching flour do not kill germs like E. coli.
Bacteria are killed only when food made with flour is cooked. This is why you should never taste or eat raw dough or batter—whether made from recalled flour or any other flour. Learn more about food safety and raw cookie dough.
Words to the wise
Just say "No". . . doh! It's better to be safe than sorry. Besides, you'll have just that much more dough for cookie baking! How sweet is that?
If you love this recipe ★★★★★ please be sure to rate it below! Sharing your experience lets me know that you enjoyed it and will help other readers decide if they should give the recipe a try too. Thanks a bunch!🥕
Recipe
Best Chewy Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- Electric hand or stand mixer, or a large spoon to hand-mix
- 2 mixing bowls
- One rubber or silicone spatula
- baking sheet
- Silicone baking mat or parchment paper
- Wire cooling rack
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°
- Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats
- In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In another bowl, cream together butter, granulated and brown sugar.
- Add egg replacer (prepared to package directions) and vanilla, beat until smooth.
- Gradually add flour mixture until combined.
- Stir in chocolate chips.
- Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of cookie dough onto baking sheet or lightly roll into balls with your hands.
- Bake at 375° for 10-12 minutes until cookies are golden-brown.
- Place baking sheet onto a wire rack. Allow cookies to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before removing.
Notes
- Chopped walnuts, pecans, or macadamia nuts
- White chocolate chips (vegan)
- Flaked or shredded coconut
- Oatmeal – rough cut or quick cook
- A hint of cinnamon
- A sprinkle of orange zest
Nutrition
These are estimated values generated from a nutritional database using unbranded products. Please do your own research with the products you're using if you have a serious health issue or are following a specific diet.
Food Safety
- Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Don’t leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
Kim Marie Evans says
Can I use gluten free flour? I have become sensitive to flour lately.
Connie Edwards McGaughy says
Hi Kim, I haven't tested this recipe using GF flour, however some of my readers have and liked the results. If you don't have a favorite, I would suggest trying an all-purpose 1:1 gluten-free flour by Bob's Red Mill or King Arthur. Love to hear if you give it a try!
Delilah Martinez says
I made these last night. They were delicious. Husband didn't even know they were vegan. This one is a keeper.
Connie Edwards McGaughy says
Delilah, I'm so happy to know that you & your hubby enjoyed them!🍪 Thanks a bunch for sharing!🥕
Erin says
I made these and they are the best vegan chocolate chip cookies I have baked. These beat all the other recipes I have tried. Thank you for sharing! 🍪❤️
Connie Edwards McGaughy says
Erin, I'm so happy you love the chocolate chip cookie recipe! Thanks for making my day even sweeter by sharing your wonderful comments! 💚🥕
Connie Edwards McGaughy says
These recipe is everything I want in a chocolate chip cookie. Crispy on the outside, chewy inside with just the right balance of non-dairy butter & vanilla. I love them warm from the oven or icy cold from the freezer with a scoop of ice cream sandwiched between two cookies. You're going to love this recipe.❤️