These delicious vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies are soft and chewy and they melt in your mouth. They are whole wheat and even healthy, and can be made either with or without coconut oil. A soy-free recipe, can be nut-free.
Your eyeballs won’t pop all the way out of their sockets and you certainly won’t sprout blue fuzz all over your body, but you’ll know just what goes through the Cookie Monster’s brain when you sample one of these vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies.
They are barely crispy around the edges but mostly soft and chewy, and they are studded with enough chocolate chips to make you go om nom nom nom.
I have made and shared with you recipes for vegan chocolate cookies before, including one for a chocolate chip and oats cookie, but this time I wanted to give you a classic chocolate chip cookie with absolutely nothing in between you and all that deliciousness. This is quite a traditional cookie and it tastes exactly like the chocolate chip cookie you’ve always loved.
Best of all, they are perfectly easy to make. You probably already have most of these ingredients in your pantry.
10 ingredients for vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies:
- Flour, all purpose or whole wheat pastry flour
- Almond flour (you can simply replace with unbleached all purpose flour or whole wheat flour if you don’t want to use this)
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Coconut or olive oil or any vegetable oil
- Applesauce
- Vanilla extract
- Cane or turbinado sugar
- Molasses (optional, but nice)
- Chocolate chips.
Is chocolate vegan (and where can you find vegan chocolate chips):
Lucky for us vegans, the answer to that question is a resounding yes.
The chocolate chips you’ll find on store shelves is usually not vegan because many contain milkfat. But there are many varieties of vegan chocolate chips that are now available (white chocolate chips are harder to find though).
Usually you have a better chance of finding dark chocolate chips that are vegan, although semisweet chips are quite easily found too.
I usually buy my vegan chocolate chips from Whole Foods or Amazon, which has a wide variety. Costco, for a while, offered big bags of Kirkland semisweet chocolate chips that were not labeled as vegan but were so accidentally, although I haven’t been able to find them at the store for a couple of years now.
Here are some other brands that offer vegan chocolate chips: Enjoy Life, King David, California Gourmet, Nestle’s Simply Delicious and Chatfield’s. These can change — Ghirardelli, for instance, offered semisweet chocolate chips in the past that were vegan, but then went and added milk to them — so be sure to read labels when you buy.
How to make the best Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies:
- It’s really easy. For starters, you don’t need any egg replacer to make these cookies, or aquafaba, or even flaxmeal.
- The molasses adds a great richness and punch of flavor. You can leave it out if you don’t have it, though. You’ll still have a delicious cookie.
- The almond flour, likewise, adds more rich flavor without adding too many calories, but if you don’t have it, or would rather not use it, just use more all purpose flour instead. Sub an equal amount.
- I have tried these both with and without coconut oil. Olive oil works great too. Both make excellent cookies, but the coconut oil has a way of adding a strong coconut flavor to baked goods that I don’t exactly love. The fruity flavor or olive oil, on the other hand, goes well with baked goods and doesn’t overpower them. If I had to choose one of the cookies, I’d pick the one with olive oil. You can also just use an equal quantity of vegan butter.
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Looking for more tasty vegan cookies?
Vegan Shortbread Cookies
Vegan Almond Flour Shortbread Cookies, naturally sweetened
Vegan Gingersnap Cookies
Vegan Coconut Almond Macaroons
Vegan and Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies
Vegan Double Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies
Vegan Pecan Pie Bars, Gluten-Free
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Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe
VEGAN | SOY-FREE
Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or unbleached all purpose flour)
- 1/2 cup almond flour (nice for the nutty taste, but if you don't want to use this, replace with an equal quantity of whole wheat pastry flour or all purpose flour)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup olive oil (or coconut oil)
- 3/4 cup applesauce
- 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/3 cup turbinado sugar or vegan cane sugar
- 1 tbsp molasses (optional)
- 1 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a bowl, mix the two flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a larger bowl, whisk together the oil, applesauce, vanilla, sugar and molasses.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix with a spatula until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Refrigerate the cookie dough for 30 minutes to an hour. Prepare three cookie sheets by lining them with parchment paper.
- Scoop balls of the cookie dough onto the baking sheet using an ice cream scoop. You should get about 20 cookies.
- Bake each batch of cookies in the oven for 16 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.
- Let the cookies cool on the sheet or on a wire rack. Remove with a spatula to serve.
Nutrition
I’m with you on the oil. I think you definitely have to consider your source. I believe coconut oil is a healthier choice than any animal fat. That said, its still a fat, so I just practice moderation. Although, these cookies look awfully tempting, lol! The look lovely! I have a question though. In your blog post you mention there is only 1/4 cup of oil in the cookies, but in the recipe, it calls for 1/2 cup. Which is the correct amount? Thank you. 🙂
Hey Aimee, that was a typo– sorry! It is 1/4th of a cup. Corrected now!
Thanks so much! 🙂
Cookie recipe with just 1/4 cup of oil 😮 ? Whoa that’s amazing! Normally cookie recipes call for more oil so I seldom bake them. This one I should try! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Hey Namrata, yes, the applesauce really helps keep these cookies from drying up and subs nicely for the oil. Hope you try!
I also have a question. Is the calorie count 120 calories or 120,000 (kcal) as stated in the beginning of the recipe.
120,000 sounds too high, so i’m betting on a typo?
Hey Wolp, thanks for the question! I’ve left my science days far behind, so this question really messed with my head (in a good way) and I spent a good part of this morning researching it. Here’s what I found: a kilocalorie, or a kcal, in Britain, is the same as a calorie listed on American nutrition food labels. So whenever you see a calorie on our food labels here, it is actually a British kilocalorie, and yes, we are supposed to be consuming 2000 kcal per day, according to the USDA. Here’s one little snippet of info that might make it somewhat clearer: http://www.uta.edu/faculty/sawasthi/Lecture%20Notes%20Chem1451/Calorie.htm
OMG Vaishali! These really are the best chocolate chip cookies. I made these for my son, who is lactose-intolerant, and this recipe is going to replace my regular one. Thank you, thank you.
Ruth, that’s lovely to hear. Thanks for letting me know!
Hi vaishali
Can I substitute almond flour with app flour?
Hi Priya, yes, that’s fine.
Hi! What would be your suggested substitute for the almond flour? I have an allergy..thanks!
Shauna, try coconut flour.
Hi vaishali, made the cookies last weekend. Best cookies I have ever baked. Thanks a lot.
That’s awesome, Priya, so glad you tried ’em!
What can I substitute the wheat flour for?
Allergic.
You can try a gluten-free flour mix. If you do, I’d love to hear how they turn out.
Hi, Would you know how long do they stay fresh in a sealed container. I am hosting a vegan baby shower, would love to make them in advance? Thank you!
Cathy, about a week. You can refrigerate for longer.
Hi Vaishali,
I stumbled upon your site and I have gone crazy ever since. Can’t wait to try each one of your recipes.
In this recipe, why do you use molassis? Can I choose not to add it? Or is there a substitute for this?
Big fan,
Vasudha
Hi Vasudha, thanks for the kind words! The molasses adds deep, rich flavor, but yes, you can totally leave it out. Hope you try the cookies! 🙂
Hi Vaishali,
Is it ok to use 2.5cups of oat flour instead of the wheat & almond flour?
Thanks!
Hi Mya, you might find it difficult for the cookies to bind, with only oat flour. If you want to go gluten-free, an all purpose gluten-free flour could work better.
Hi! Can you substitute the applesauce for mashed banana or will the flavor be overpowering?
You will have some banana flavor but it should taste great.
This is an awesome recipe! I have been making these cookies for my family for the past couple months. My entire family loves it, including my two finicky young sons. Thank you for the recipe. God Bless you always.