These “buttery” soft vegan sugar cookies easily come together with just 6 ingredients and use my key ingredient, powdered sugar, to create extra chewy, soft yet beautifully sweet and thick cut-out sugar cookies! Perfect for decorating with vegan royal icing or enjoying with a smear of buttercream frosting, this is a tried and true family favorite recipe- and absolutely no one will know you ditched the eggs and the butter 😉

vegan sugar cookies on cooling rack
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★★★★★

Oh my goodness, thank you! We have had a sugar cookie tradition for three generations! Our grandson has dietary restrictions that challenged this tradition. However, your recipe  has brought back our sugar cookie Christmas tradition. The ingredients came together and the dough was easy to roll out between lightly floured waxed paper! They turned out tender and delicious! We appreciate you! -Michelle

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decorated vegan sugar cookies

Unlike granulated sugar, powdered sugar is not only super fine, but it also contains an extra ingredient- cornstarch. Now, in my experience, this is what takes a good sugar cookie to bakery worthy, and it’s actually a trick I learned from my best friend’s mom growing up.

Using powdered sugar creams into the butter much more easily than granulated during the initial phase of making the dough. And we know that sugar affects not only sweetness, but moisture levels and texture in baking as well. So the more dissolved the sugar is into the wet ingredients, the more moisture and tenderness you will have to the overall bake.

Then we have the addition of cornstarch, which, like cake flour, acts as a binder that truly helps to soften the texture and create that “buttery” feel. The result is a thick and sturdy yet buttery soft and chewy sugar cookie that will absolutely become your favorite cookie of all time.

(No shade to the other 100+ vegan cookie recipes I have on the site!)

I actually loved this recipe so much, it inspired two more recipes: my quick drop-style sugar cookies and my deliciously tangy vegan cream cheese sugar cookies!

bitten vegan sugar cookie

Step-by-step on how to make perfect sugar cookies that just so happen to be vegan:

Here’s how to make this easy vegan sugar cookie dough:

  1. Cream together the vegan butter and sugar: this is very similar to buttercream. You’ll also add in the vanilla extract and almond extract here, as well as the dairy free yogurt.
  2. Sift in the flours and baking powder: then you’ll use a rubber spatula- a silicone spatula is key! – to fold together the dry ingredients. This will take about 3-4 minutes. The rubber spatula makes it much easier to incorporate the flours into the creamed vegan butter.
  3. Chill the dough: form the dough into a disk and chill for 30 minutes.
vegan sugar cookie dough

Then we’ll cut out the sugar cookies:

  1. Roll out the dough: lightly flour a clean surface and rolling pin and roll the dough to be 1/4″ thick.
  2. Cut out the sugar cookies: you can use any sugar cookie cutters here!
  3. Transfer the sugar cookies to a baking sheet: I recommend using a super thin spatula to do this.
  4. Chill the cookies while the oven preheats.
  5. Bake the cookies! You’re looking for a lightly golden color around the edges.

Once the cookies are completely cool, we’ll move onto decorating them.

rolled out dough
cookie cutters cutting dough
cookies before baking
cookies after baking

My tried and true tips for decorating sugar cookies:

This is my all time favorite part of the whole sugar cookie baking process: decorating the cookies.

I like to use my egg-free royal icing because it’s super simple. All you need is:

  • Aquafaba (or chickpea water)
  • Powdered sugar
  • Vegan food coloring
royal icing
decorated vegan sugar cookies

Tip #1: Use a hand mixer to mix the icing. I do a big batch of plain royal icing because I divide into my colors, but to ensure there are no clumps of powdered sugar, I use a hand mixer. In my personal experience, this helps create a silky smooth frosting.

Tip #2: Create a border icing and a flooding icing- and yes, for each color! This will help give you those super clean, crisp colors!

Tip #3: If you’re not using a bowl of royal icing right away, cover the bowl with a damp cloth to prevent it from hardening!

Tip #4: Allow the cookies to dry for a full 24 hours at room temperature uncovered before packing away in cookie boxes. I place the cookies on a high shelf in the pantry or on top of a clean cabinet (to keep away from any kitties that are curious to walk their feet over the cookies 😉 ).

decorated vegan sugar cookies in sunlight

Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!

If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!

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decorated vegan sugar cookies

6 Ingredient Soft & Chewy Cut-Out Vegan Sugar Cookies

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.9 from 14 reviews
  • Author: Britt Berlin
  • Prep Time: 10
  • Cook Time: 12
  • Total Time: 22 minutes
  • Yield: 32 1x
  • Category: Cookies
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: American
  • Diet: Vegan
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Description

These “buttery” soft vegan sugar cookies easily come together with just 6 ingredients and use my key ingredient, powdered sugar, to create extra chewy, soft yet beautifully sweet and thick cut-out sugar cookies! Perfect for decorating with vegan royal icing or enjoying with a smear of buttercream frosting, this is a tried and true family favorite recipe- and absolutely no one will know you ditched the eggs and the butter 😉

Ingredients

Scale
  • 3/4 cup (185 g) salted vegan butter, room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cup (250 g) organic powdered sugar or coconut sugar*
  • 1/3 cup (87 g) dairy free yogurt, room temperature
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract (optional, omit if nut-free)
  • 2 1/2 cups (315 g) all purpose flour or gluten free 1:1 baking flour*
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt 
  • 1 batch vegan royal icing

Instructions

  1. Mix: In a large bowl, cream together the vegan butter and powdered sugar with a hand mixer or stand mixer. Cream together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. It will seem very much like buttercream. Once the sugar is  mixed with the vegan butter, add in the dairy free yogurt, vanilla extract and almond extract if desired. Mix again until incorporated.
  2. Fold: Sift in the flour, and baking powder, and use a rubber spatula to gently fold the flours into the creamed butter. This will take about 3-4 minutes to fully incorporate.
  3. Chill: Once the dough is made, form the dough into a flat disk and wrap with plastic wrap or parchment paper, and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. While the dough is chilling, prepare a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
  4. Shape: Once chilled, lightly flour a clean surface as well as a rolling pin. Place the dough onto the floured surface. If the dough is not at all soft (i.e. it’s hard to touch), allow the dough to soften for 10 minutes. Then roll the dough out to be about 1/4″ thick. Use your desired cookie cutters and cut the cookie shapes into the dough. Remove any scraps and use a thin spatula to transfer the sugar cookies to the baking sheet. Repeat for the remaining dough, then chill the cookie sheet in the freezer for while the oven preheats.
  5. Bake: Preheat the oven to 350F. Once the oven is fully preheated, place the cookie sheet into the oven and bake the cookies for 12 minutes or until the edges are just beginning to turn lightly golden. Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to fully cool before making the vegan royal icing. There should be absolutely no warmth to the cookies.
  6. Make the royal icing according to the post instructions: Divide the royal icing into separate bowls if using vegan food coloring and add in the colors. Be sure to cover any bowl of icing that you’re not using with a damp paper towel. This prevents the royal icing from hardening. Mix the colors, and place the icing into a piping bag with tip. Decorate the cookies as desired.
  7. Set: Allow the cookies to set for 15 minutes, then enjoy!
  8. To fully set the cookies: Allow for 8 hours- this is standard for even royal icing made with egg whites. Store the cookies in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Notes

* coconut sugar will give these cookies a slightly tanner color. If you want traditional looking sugar cookies, use a vegan-friendly granulated sugar, such as Woodstock Organics

Flaxseed: You can swap in 2 tbsp ground flaxseed mixed with 1/3 cup water for a replacement for the applesauce/yogurt.