Chewy Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
by Olivia Biermann
on Apr 4, 2019 (updated Aug 13, 2025)
These ultra chewy vegan chocolate chip cookies are one of my most popular recipes for a reason! They’re slightly underbaked in the center, browned to perfection and so easy to make. You’d never guess they were egg-free, dairy-free, and made with basic pantry staples.
Why You’ll Love These Cookies
- No chilling the dough. Nothing is worse than when a cookie recipe calls for chilling the dough for 30 minutes to 1 hour before baking. If you want quick, chewy cookies with no unnecessary steps, this recipe is for you!
- No egg replacer needed. If you grew up making regular chocolate chip cookies, the recipe likely contained eggs. Eggs are typically used in cookie dough to help keep the dough moist and add flavour. This vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe requires no vegan egg replacer at all. They’re very moist and delicious without one!
- Freezer friendly. If you love baking cookies, but only want 1 or 2 at a time, freeze this cookie dough before baking and bake just a few cookies at a time when a craving strikes! Full instructions for freezing down below.
Vegan margarine vs. vegan butter
I prefer to bake these vegan chocolate chip cookies with vegan margarine by the brand Becel. It’s a soft tub margarine and is lighter and fluffier than classic vegan buttery sticks. If you use vegan butter from brands like Earth Balance or softened coconut oil, I recommend adding 1-2 extra tablespoons of plant-based milk because these butters have less moisture than soft margarine.
The baking sheet you use will affect the bake time!
When testing this recipe, I baked this cookie recipe on several different baking sheets. If you are using a lighter coloured baking sheet like I did in my Youtube video, I’d recommend baking the cookies for 10-11 minutes. If you are baking your cookies on a dark metal baking sheet, bake them for closer to 9 minutes. Darker baking sheets absorb heat, meaning they brown the cookies faster. Lighter baking sheets reflect heat and take longer to heat up.
Cookies coming out more cakey than chewy?
If your cookies turned out more cakey in texture as opposed to soft and chewy, it is most like a result of too much flour in the batter. When measuring flour, it is important to avoid packing the flour into the measuring cup. Instead, it is best to spoon the flour in and scrape off any excess flour using the back of a knife.
Storing and Freezing Instructions
Store chocolate chip cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. You can also refrigerate the cookies if you prefer them more dense and chewy for up to 1 week.
How to freeze before baking – If you’d like to freeze this cookie dough, follow the recipe completely and scoop the dough balls onto a baking sheet as if you were going to bake them. Once all the cookie dough is formed into balls, place the baking sheet in the freezer and freeze for 1-2 hours, or until the cookie dough balls are frozen solid. Transfer them into a freezer bag or container and freeze for up to 2 month. Then when ready to bake, bake for 1-2 minutes longer directly from frozen until baked to your desired crispiness!
How to freeze after baking – Follow the recipe as written, then allow the cookies to cool completely to room temperature on your cooling rack. Once cooled, transfer the cookies back to the baking sheet and stick the sheet in the freezer and freeze until solid. Then transfer the vegan chocolate chip cookies to a freezer bag or container. To thaw, allow the cookies to set at room temperature until softened again and enjoy!
If you want your chocolate chip cookies to look like they came straight out of a bakery first thing in the morning, add a slice of semi-sweet dark chocolate to the top before baking, and then sprinkle some flaky salt on top for serving!
More vegan cookies recipes to try
- Easy Vegan Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chewy Coconut Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies
- Chocolate-Dipped Almond Butter Cookies
- Cinnamon White-Chocolate Butter Pecan Cookies
- Soft Batch Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: approx. 15 cookies
Description
Classic chocolate chip cookies made without the dairy butter, milk or eggs! Everyone loves these cookies and can never guess that they’re vegan!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup vegan margarine, softened vegan butter or solid coconut oil (SEE NOTE*)
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup non-dairy milk (like almond or soy)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- pinch of salt (about 1/4 tsp)
- 1/3 to 1/2 cup dairy-free chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F for lighter golden, softer cookies with less crisp edges or 375F for crispier edges and deeper golden cookies. (SEE NOTE**)
- In a mixing bowl, cream together vegan margarine and brown sugar. Add almond milk and vanilla and stir to combine.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- Add dry mixture to wet in two parts, stirring to form a dough. Add chocolate chips and stir to combine.
- Use scoop 1-2 tbsp of dough and roll into balls and place on a cookie sheet. Bake 9-11 minutes or until golden. Let cool a few minutes before devouring!
Notes
* I use soft tub margarine for my cookies (Becel brand- the vegan one). If you are using vegan butter or coconut oil I suggest adding an extra tbsp or two of the plant-based milk because they will have less moisture than a soft tub margarine. I notice that my cookies always flatten out nicely, but some of you have had trouble with the cookies not spreading and I think it is just due to your fat having less moisture! I hope this helps. 🙂
** I started baking them at 375 F and this helps them get more golden brown and slightly crispy on the outside. Baking at 350 F results in chewier cookies that are lighter in colour and take a little longer to cook).
Hello,
They look amazing, but as usual I’m struggling with the US system. Could you add the usual metric measurements for people who don’t live in the US (quite many if us out there 😉 )? I feel like the recipes don’t turn up good when I convert everything myself.
Thanks ✌🏽
Hi dear
My cookie is so spread
Why?
might need to add more flour 🙂
The best cookies ever!
thank you!!!
Chewy Choco chip cookies!
Hi Liv! Love your site and channel. I made your choc chip cookies on the weekend, they were tasty in flavour, except I am GF, and used 1.5 cups of GF flour and they came out very powdery, not chewy like your beautiful picture captured. I’m wondering if anyone has written in about a GF alternative for this recipe?
Thanks a bunch 🙂 Hope you have an awesome Monday
HELP I’ve made these a few times and they spread WAY too much making them super thin and not really even cookies. I let the dough sit in the fridge for a few hours, and froze them for 10 mins (on the baking pan) before baking. Also when I didn’t use parchment paper they were literally cemented to the pan. I added more flour in the next batch and had a little bit better of a result, but still definitely not what I wanted. Could it be the brand of vegan butter I used? (it was the country crock plant butter sticks with avocado oil).
It could be the brand! Try adding more flour up to 1/2 cup more and use parchment paper :). I use becel butter or coconut oil and never has any issues with sticking!
These were the best vegan chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made! I would never have guessed these were vegan if I hadn’t made it myself. They are perfectly sweet, and I made them using the 375F baking tip that she had so they came out thinner and had a more crisp bottom but still had a soft top so they weren’t completely a crunchie chocolate chip cookie. They were perfect! This was a super easy recipe to make and it was fast too since you didn’t have to chill the dough in advance. I just chilled the dough in between baking batches since I could only bake so many at a time. I also used a mix of coconut oil and stick version of vegan butter since that’s what I had available and they still turned out delicious. I usually try not to use coconut oil for vegan cookie recipes cause I’ve tried other recipes with using only coconut oil for the cookies and the cookies just turned into a greasy mess after baking and it was not ideal. But I didn’t have that issue with this recipe when using mixed coconut oil and vegan butter. This was super yummy and I would never had guessed these cookies were vegan if I hadn’t made them. I will definitely be making this again and I highly recommend this recipe. Thank you for sharing it!
Hi, the cookies turned out delicious. Texture wise, they were a bit soft and floppy, if that makes sense. The mixture before baking was quite wet. would you recommend more flour?
I’m after a firmer, crispier cookie.
Thanks!
This is for chewy chocolate chip cookies so they likely aren’t the type of crisp cookie you’re looking for!
I love chocolate chip cookies and am always looking for a better recipe than the last. I’m definitely going to try these out!
I’ve always been an amateur baker and have tried many chocolate chip cookie recipes over the decades of my life but these are by far the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made. Quick, easy and now I see how Liv freezes the dough you can bet I’m doing the same!
freezing the dough is the best!!
Hi! I made them and they tasted great but did flatten out too much. I live a 7,000 ft. Any adjustments for high altitude? Thanks!
you can add more flour 🙂 start with 1/4 to 1/3 cup extra and see if that helps!
I love these cookies! My parents who aren’t vegan ask me to bake these all the time! I just wanted to know, can I freeze the cookies once they have been cooked?
yes :)!
I used AP GF flour, half the sugar, and added 1/2c gf oats, and they are the most delicious cookies ever!
The first 3 times I made them, they didn’t set. I think it was just too much sugar. Once I used less sugar, they worked out 100% perfect. Thanks for the recipe Liv B!
These are the BEST cookies! I make them every single year and everyone always loves them!
WOW! My best friend is vegan and she always wanted to try vegan homemade chocolate chips cookies and all I can say is that we loved them! They are amazing!
So happy you both enjoyed :)!
They came out all soft & broke apart, even though I kept putting them back in the oven to cook a bit more. I’d read all of the reviews so was excited to try the recipe. What did I do wrong?
they might have needed longer to cook, or maybe just needed to let them cool completely on the baking tray before trying to remove 🙂
BEST COOKIES EVER!!!! Everyone says these are my ‘special cookies’ but all credit to Liv! Literally everyone (vegan or not) loves these.
Thank you so much for this great recipe Liv. Trust is earned and you have mine. It turned out so great as a birthday cookie for my plant-based son. He loved it. I am just making another batch.
Wow such an amazing chewy chocolate chip cookies recipe. I definitely make it for my son.
This recipe is so easy! They came out great on my first try. My dad who is NOT vegan loves them and has no idea. I made the cookies a little smaller and bake at 375 and just take them out a little sooner and let them sit on baking sheet a bit before removing and they are wonderfully chewy. These will be my go to recipe from now on.
Really nice flavor but they came out really soft and cakey
Tried this recipe today and the cookies came out absolutely amazing! I found that mine cooked in about 7 minutes since my stove is smaller and I used a darker pan. Will keep making these!!
These spread well with MELT vegan butter, and I used soy milk. I felt like mine were not like hers, not sure why, but they are yummy!
I finally tried this recipe and the cookies came out soft and delicious but didn’t spread much. My batter was so wet and sticky it didn’t even resemble dough after I mixed in the dry ingredients. I had to add up to almost one whole additional cup of flour to make it like dough consistency! What could I have done wrong? I used a tub margarine and a hand mixer just like Liv.
I think it was likely the extra flour you added that made them not spread! Sometimes my batter is more wet and I just use a spoon to drop spoonfuls of dough onto the baking sheet to avoid messy hands. They’ll spread nicely without the extra flour! 🙂 hope that helps
This recipe has never failed me. I have recomended it to a lot of non vegan friends, and they make it all the time. so so goooood. 🙂
yay!! Love it 🙂
Hi Liv,
I came across your recipe from a friend who had made these cookies and I found them really nice.
I hosted a party recently where one of the guests was a vegan so I used your vegan choc chip cookie recipe (I doubled the ingredients too) as I wanted to make something that everyone could eat – and they really enjoyed it! All the cookies were gone in the same day.
Just some feedback in regards to the recipe written on this webpage:
1. I found the “1–1/2 cups all-purpose flour” line misleading, as I interpreted it as “half a cup of flour to one cup of flour”.
Removing the dash so the line reads “1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour” (I think) reads as well as “one and a half cups all-purpose flour”.
2. I couldn’t find the pinch of salt being mentioned within the “Instructions” (it is mentioned in the video though). I assumed it belonged to Step 3 where all the dry ingredients are whisked together.
Feel free to implement the above changes to your webpage.
I can’t rate this recipe atm but I would rate it 5 stars if I could.
Thank you so much for a great recipe and for your time in reading this comment in advance 🙂
Just made these cookies and they are so good!
Being a novice baker I had a couple of fails …not the recipes fault 🙂
I found using the same Vegan butter made a difference …also I substituted Monk Fruit sugar for brown since that’s what I had on hand and it worked beautifully .
Thanks for the recipe!
Delicious!!I make these all of the time! 🙂
Here’s the deal, I’m pregnant and I’ve been craving a nice, chewy chocolate chip cookie for WEEKS. No recipe has satisfied my craving, except for this one. These are the most amazing cookies I’ve had as a vegan (that’s 5 years). I’m definitely writing this recipe down and keeping it as my go-to choc chip.
Thank you for suce perfection!
These cookies were amazing! I used 3/4 cup of sugar instead of the full 1 cup. These remind me of Insomnia cookies! Absolutely delicious 😍
Hi,
I’m a little bit confused with the amount of flour written on the ingredients above. Is it 1/2 cup (for 1 scale), or 1 ½?
1 and 1/2 cups 🙂
Hey! I only have bicarbonate of soda at the moment (due to covid) should I do 2 tsp of bicarb instead of the baking powder or just stick to 1?
Hmmm I would just try the 1. Too much baking soda can make it have a funny flavour! Maybe add a touch more flour so they aren’t too flat 🙂