If you need a tried and true recipe for amazing vegan gluten free chocolate chip cookies – look no further! These are simple to make and totally delicious – your family and friends will love them.
This is my favorite homemade dessert. I’ve loved fresh chocolate chip cookies since I was a kid, and thankfully, it’s easy to make them without wheat or dairy.
It can be daunting to learn to learn to bake with gluten free and vegan ingredients. But as far as this recipe goes, it’s practically foolproof. I’m a seasoned food allergy mom, and I’ve made these cookies for years.
The texture of these cookies is the perfect mixture of crispy and chewy. Everyone loves these – whenever I bake them they disappear. If you need more cookie options, take a peek at my collection of gluten free vegan cookie recipes.
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Ingredient Notes
- Gluten Free Flour Blend – Namaste Perfect Flour Blend works very well for baking cookies, and it’s widely available online or at stores like Costco or Kroger.
- Vegan Buttery Spread – I use Earth Balance Soy Free Vegan Buttery Spread for baking cookies. You can use a different brand if that works for you.
- Mashed Banana – Mashed banana acts as an egg replacer in this recipe, binding the batter together.
- Maple Syrup – Although it’s not a traditional cookie ingredient, maple syrup adds a richer flavor to these cookies.
- Dairy Free Chocolate Chips – Enjoy Life Foods and PASCHA Chocolate both make chocolate chips that are vegan and allergy friendly, and easily found in stores or online. Enjoy Life makes chocolate chunks that are very nice in these cookies, too.
Substitutions
- You can use oat flour in this recipe, but the texture of these cookies will be more delicate. See my recipe for oat flour chocolate chip cookies.
- You can use banana or applesauce – either will work well as an egg replacer. A flax seed egg would also work well.
- You can use coconut sugar in place of the white sugar and brown sugar, but the color of the cookies will be darker, and the flavor will be slightly different.
- If you aren’t gluten free, you can use regular all purpose flour or whole wheat flour.
Step by Step Instructions
- Cream the vegan buttery spread and sugars.
- Add the mashed banana, maple syrup, and vanilla extract and mix together.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed.
- Stir in the dairy free chocolate chips or chocolate chunks.
- Spoon the dough onto the cookie sheet, leaving an inch between cookies. You can freeze the cookies at this point, or go ahead and bake them.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the cookie sheet before moving them.
Tips for Success
- Be sure to line the cookie sheet with parchment paper – it makes gluten free baking so much easier.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the cookie sheets before moving.
- Gluten free flour blends can absorb moisture differently. This dough should look and feel like traditional cookie dough. If your dough is too wet or too dry, try adding a little more flour or liquid until the dough is the right consistency.
- Keep a few chocolate chips aside and press the into each cookie dough ball before baking so that there are lots of chips on top of each cookie.
FAQs
I don’t recommend using oil in this recipe. If you decide to try it, use about 25% less than the amount of butter, otherwise the cookies will be too oily. Read this article to find out more about using oil in baking.
I don’t recommend almond or coconut flour in this recipe. The texture of the cookies may become dense or flat if you use those flours.
Keeping Cookies Fresh
Store these gluten free vegan chocolate chip cookies in an airtight container. They should stay fresh for about 5 days. You can add a piece of gluten free bread to the container to help these cookies stay moist.
Freezing Cookie Dough
If you’d like to freeze this dough, simply drop rounded tablespoons of the dough onto a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper.
Place the sheet in the freezer for a couple of hours until the dough is frozen, then put the frozen cookie dough balls into a freezer bag for storage. The cookie dough can be frozen for up to 3 months.
More Gluten Free Vegan Cookie Recipes
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Watch the video below to see how easy it is to make these!
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Recipe
Foolproof Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup vegan buttery spread
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 ½ Tablespoons maple syrup
- ¼ cup mashed banana or unsweetened applesauce
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ⅛ cups gluten free flour blend I've used Namaste, Living Now Foods, and Enjoy Life successfully
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ½ cups dairy free chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Cream the buttery spread and sugars in a large bowl. Add the mashed banana, maple syrup, and vanilla extract and mix on medium speed until combined.
- Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix until combined.
- Stir in the dairy free chocolate chips.
- Drop rounded tablespoons of the dough on the cookie sheet, leaving about an inch between each cookie. Bake at 350 degrees F for 11-13 minutes. They will look a little bit underdone, but will cook a little bit more as they cool on the cookie sheet.
- Repeat step 5 with remaining dough.
- If you are going to freeze the dough, just drop rounded tablespoons of dough on the cookie sheet and stick it in the freezer for a couple of hours. Once firm, put the dough balls in a freezer bag and store in the freezer until it's time to bake them. When you want to bake them, bake at 350 degrees for 13-15 minutes.
Dolores M Begley
Great recipe, can this be made into a large cookie cake? How long should I bake for?
Haileigh
I made these for a family member who is gluten and dairy free and they really like them. I would definitely make these again. Thanks!
Kelly Roenicke
I’m so glad! Thanks for letting me know!
kathy
Hi Kelli……After reading all the comments back and forth, I’d like to know YOUR recommendation applesauce vs. banana? Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 flour vs. any of the other brands. I’ve never heard of a Trader Joe’s flour blend. Thanks, Kathy
Dee-Dee
I am vegan, so I am familiar with baking without eggs and dairy, but I have very little experience with gluten free baking. I was invited to a gathering which included someone who avoids nuts and gluten. I thought this recipe looked like a good one to try and I was right about that. The cookies were delicious!! I liked that there were no odd ingredients, only things I already had on hand, other than the GF flour. I used Bob’s Red Mill flour and applesauce in the cookies. I got about 46 or so cookies out of the batch using a 1 tablespoon measure. Thank you for this recipe!
Kelly Roenicke
I’m so glad that you enjoyed these! Thanks for letting me know! :)
Jodi
I’ve made these, with both regular and gluten-free (Bob’s Red Mill 1-1), several times, and they are always a hit! I just made them this morning/afternoon after a way-too-long hiatus and am still bowled over with not only how easy they are to make but how PERFECT the recipe is. I used two different kinds of non-dairy chips, add about 45 grams of walnuts (sometimes I use pecans), top them with some flake salt just after I take them out of the oven, and they are utterly divine.
Kelly Roenicke
That’s wonderful! Thank you for letting me know you love them!
Deborah
So good! With this recipe, I was able to make cookies GF, Dairy-free, egg free, low histamine!!!! I used applesauce , King Arthur GF Flour, “solid” coconut oil added some pecans, too. Followed directions but chilled the dough before baking. What a treat!!! Thanks so much!
Kelly Roenicke
So glad you enjoyed them!
Ally
Hi, can someone please tell me what happened to mine? They’re oily as anything (swimming in oil) and have no height at all. I used Woolworths GF flour, mashed banana and sweet William white chocolate chips. The only thing we changed was that we used 1.5tsp baking powder instead of baking and bicarb. That would contribute to the lack of rising, but not to the oiliness. we used nuttelex butter and creamed everything properly. Is anyone chilling them on the tray before baking? I don’t want to rate it because I seem to be the only one with a problem with these 5 star biccies, I’m keen to try again. Is it the cheap flour? Baking powder? White choc chips instead of brown? Thanks for any help.
Kelly Roenicke
I’m not familiar with any of those brands, but it looks like the butter is similar to Earth Balance Buttery Spread, so I’m not sure that’s it. I wonder if it could be the vegan white chocolate chips. I have found some brands of white chocolate to be very oily. You could also try reducing the amount of buttery spread to see if that helps.
Maeve
I really liked this recipe, thank you so much. I did switch out the applesauce/banana option for flax eggs and loved the result. Also, Miyoko’s vegan butter works well.
Kelly Roenicke
So glad you liked these! Good to know Miyoko’s works well.