These Chewy Dairy Free Chocolate Chip Cookies are about to be one of your new favorite things. The batter is made with just 9 basic ingredients, then baked into the perfect, delicious cookies. Bake them all year round for the ultimate sweet treat!
Baking dairy free treats is easier than you think! Learn the simple swaps you'll need to make to make dairy free, vegan desserts that taste just like the real thing.
And after baking these cookies, I highly recommend trying my ultra popular Famous Vegan Slutty Brownies and Chewy Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. You won't miss the dairy one bit!
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- No chilling required. Many cookie recipes require chilling the dough for up to 1 hour to prevent overspreading. These cookies spread perfectly without any chilling. Have these cookies baked start to finish in just 20 minutes.
- Easy to double. If you need enough cookies to feed a crowd, this classic chocolate chip cookies recipe can be easily doubled, tripled, even quadrupled as needed.
- Freezer friendly. If you find yourself with a cookie craving and wish you could bake up just 1 at a time, now you can! This dough can be frozen into individual unbaked cookie dough balls that can be baked directly from frozen. Which means you can satisfy a sweet tooth at the drop of a hat!
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Dairy free butter - In order to make these cookies dairy free, you'll need to swap the traditional butter for dairy free butter. Some of my favorite vegan butter brands are Miyoko's Creamery or Earth Balance buttery sticks, but feel free to use your personal favorite. I have not tested these cookies using an alternative such as vegetable shortening or unrefined coconut oil and cannot confirm if it will work well.
- Sugar - For the optimal moisture content, these cookies are made with both brown sugar and granulated white sugar. I do not recommend substituting the brown sugar with coconut sugar or different types of sugar. Coconut sugar is much drier than brown sugar and will make your cookies more crispy instead of soft and chewy.
- Flax egg - A flax egg is made with a simple combination of ground flaxseed meal and water until thickened. It's my favorite egg substitute that's not only healthy, but much cheaper, too!
- Flour - These cookies can be made with either all-purpose flour or a gluten-free flour blend such as Bob's Red Mill 1-1 gluten free flour blend. I have not tested these dairy free cookies with flours like whole wheat flour, almond flour, or coconut flour and cannot recommend it.
- Chocolate chips - I like to make these with classic dairy free dark chocolate chips or chocolate chunks, but if you prefer a more evenly dispersed chocolate, use mini chocolate chips. The brand Enjoy Life makes allergen friendly, vegan chocolate chips that you should be able to find at your local grocery store.
Step by Step Instructions
- Cream the butter and sugar. In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer or bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar together until well combined.
- Add in the flax egg and vanilla. Mix the wet ingredients again until well incorporated.
- Add in the dry ingredients. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the batter until a soft dough forms, about 1-2 minutes.
- Pour in chocolate chips. Add in about ¾ cup dairy free chocolate chips and mix again until well combined, about 30-45 seconds.
- Scoop the cookie dough. Using a cookie scoop, scoop about 3 tablespoons of batter into the palm of your hands, roll the cookie dough into round balls of dough, then place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Leave about 3 inches between each cookie to allow for spreading. Repeat until all dough is used - you should be able to make 12-14 cookies.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes. When the cookies are ready, they will look slightly raw and underdone in the center, but will continue to cook on the baking sheet outside of the oven and turn perfectly chewy.
- Serve. Enjoy these dairy free chocolate chip cookies while warm or allow to cool completely on a cooling rack before storing.
Storing and Reheating Instructions
These vegan chocolate chip cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. These cookies can also be refrigerated, but this will make them much less soft and chewy.
These cookies can also be frozen before or after baking. To freeze baked cookies, allow the cookies to cool completely, then place the cookies back on the baking sheet. Stick the baking sheet in the freezer for 1 hour, or until the cookies are frozen solid. Once frozen, transfer the cookies to a freezer bag or airtight container and freeze for up to 1 month.
To freeze raw cookie dough, follow the recipe steps through step 6. Once you've scooped all of the cookie dough batter and placed it on the baking sheet, stick the baking sheet in the freezer and freeze until solid, about 1 hour. Then, transfer the cookie dough balls into a freezer bag or container.
To bake frozen cookie dough, place the desired number of cookies on a greased baking sheet and bake directly from frozen for 1-3 minutes longer than normal. Or, allow the frozen cookie dough to thaw on the baking sheet, then bake as normal.
Time Saving Hacks
If you are in a rush, you can make this cookie dough up to 24 hours in advance. Simply follow the recipe as usual through step 5. Once the batter is mixed well, tightly cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap or reusable wrap and refrigerate.
When ready to bake, allow the cookie dough to come to room temperature before picking up with recipe step 6 and baking.
Recipe FAQs
This is attributed to a number of things, but using a mixture of brown sugar and granulated sugar helps increase the moisture content in the cookie dough, helping to make the cookies chewy, not crispy. Another cause of chewier cookies is slightly underbaking them. This allows for crisp edges, but gooey, chewy centers.
Margarine is oil-based, but it typically contains milk based ingredients, meaning it contains dairy. In order to ensure your butter or margarine is dairy free, look for a vegan label on the packaging or check the ingredients. If it contains milk, it will indicate so in the allergen statement.
Vegan cookies do not contain animal products, such as dairy, eggs, or animal fats, such as lard. These cookies are naturally vegan because they are made with a flax egg instead of a chicken egg.
Yes, but it can change the final result. Read the pros and cons of baking cookies on unlined vs. lined baking sheets. In short, baking cookies directly on the baking sheet yields chewier cookies with a golden brown bottom. Cookies baked on parchment paper is softer and less chewy.
Tips for Success
- Don't over mix the dough. As with most baking recipes, it is important not to over mix the cookie dough. Doing so can cause your cookies to become tough and lose their chewy texture. Instead, mix the dough until just combined, allowing it to remain light and fluffy.
- Use the spoon and level method for measuring your flour. This will help prevent the cookie dough from containing too much flour and being dry. If you're new to baking, watch this quick tutorial: How to Spoon and Level Flour and never make dry, cakey cookies again.
Related Recipes
If you make this recipe, I would absolutely love for you to leave a rating and review. I absolutely love connecting with you!
Chewy Dairy Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup vegan butter softened
- ½ cup brown sugar packed
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp water)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour use bobs red mill 1-1 for GF
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¾ cup chocolate chips dairy free
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and grease a baking tray.
- In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until they are combined.
- Add in the flax egg and vanilla then mix again.
- Add in all other ingredients, other than the chocolate chips, and mix the batter until it a soft dough forms, approx. 45-120 seconds. Be careful not to overmix or the texture of the cookies will not be as fluffy.
- Add in the chocolate chips and mix again, for approx 30-45 seconds, until they are combined.
- Scoop 3 tbsp of the dough onto the greased baking sheet. Continue to do so until all the batter is used, leaving approximately 3 inches in between the cookies.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes then remove from the oven and let cool. The cookies will still look a tiny bit raw when you remove them from the oven, but they will firm up.
- Eat immediately or store in an air tight container in room temperature for up to 5 days.
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