Chewy & Soft Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies (Better Than Tollhouse!)
These are the best vegan chocolate chip cookies you’ll ever make thanks to using dairy free yogurt as the vegan egg replacement!! Chewy edges and soft, warm molten middles studded with melty chocolate chips. Easy to make with ingredients you probably already have, absolutely no one will know these cookies are vegan, no dairy and no eggs!
Reader Review:
Why you need to try my vegan chocolate chip cookies:
These vegan chocolate chip cookies should just be labelled as the best chocolate chip cookies. Because they’re not amazing for being vegan. They’re amazing. Period. Not flat, like other vegan cookies, not too puffy, just right chewy edges with soft, warm molten centers.
It’s the top vegan cookie recipe on my blog (along with these amazing vegan double chocolate chip cookies, which made it into my first cookbook!) and is the base cookie dough I use for all of my cookies.
Every time I make these, no one believes me that these cookies are dairy free and eggless because of our secret ingredient: dairy free yogurt. The absolute best vegan egg replacement to exist for cookies. The result is identical to eggs, it’s uncanny.
I swear this is what makes them taste like Tollhouse cookies: crispy, chewy edges with a molten, SOFT center. Ugh, YUM. In fact, the dough is so good, I even used it to create my edible vegan cookie dough recipe!
And did I mention, it’s easier than traditional cookies?? 😉 Just a bowl and a whisk is needed- no fancy equipment nor methods!
My latest video:
Key ingredients I chose when making this recipe:
- Vegan butter: Some vegan cookie recipes on the internet suggest coconut oil, but I’m not a fan of this. This is because coconut oil is 100% fat, whereas traditional dairy butter is about 80-82%. That means the rest is water, which adds moisture. KEY. The more fat you have, the “shorter” the cookie (think shortbread: crumbly), but we want soft and chewy, so coconut oil just doesn’t work here. That’s why I recommend Miyoko’s. But if you’re nut free, I believe the second best option is Plant Crock.
- Dairy-free yogurt: the secret ingredient to making these vegan cookies irresistibly gooey and perfect! It might sound weird to make vegan chocolate chip cookies with yogurt, but trust me this is the key (check out my vegan egg replacements guide here for more on that).
- Vegan Chocolate chips: The chocolate you use in your CHOCOLATE chip cookie matters! My go-to combination is (because yes, I use more than one chip, that’s how you get the good flavor!!): Enjoy Life dairy free “milk” chocolate chip with Valrhona Oriado chocolate feves OR Endangered Species 70% sea salt chocolate (the sea salt is GOOD my friends). Other brands that work are Guittard, Hu Kitchen, and Pascha (though sometimes, I think some of the flavors of Pascah are a bit “earthy” tasting). Lily’s won’t really melt that well so I don’t really opt for these.
Figuring out baking time for this cookie recipe:
A trick I learned years ago is to use the baking time of cookies more as guidelines for the literal recipe you’re baking in the moment. Why? Because honestly, every oven is a bit different. In my oven, I’m baking this cookie recipe for 14 minutes. This same recipe bakes for 16 minutes in my mom’s oven because it’s 30 years old, isn’t QUITE 350F when set, and it’s just different.
I always look for the doneness in the edges of the cookie. Look for the crisp slightly golden brown edges, and allow your cookies to rest after removing them from the oven.
You are just going to LOVE these vegan chocolate chip cookies. They’re seriously just so easy to make, and an absolute crowd pleaser for both kids and adults.
Enjoy, and happy baking!
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Chewy & Soft Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies (Better Than Tollhouse!)
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 10
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 18 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These are the best vegan chocolate chip cookies you’ll ever make!! Chewy edges and soft, molten middles studded with melty chocolate chips. Easy to make with ingredients you probably already have, absolutely no one will know these cookies are vegan, no dairy and no eggs thanks to our secret and simple ingredient!
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups (280 g) all purpose flour or gluten free 1:1 baking flour , sifted and spoon & leveled*
- 1 tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot starch
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 2/3 cup (150 g) salted vegan butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
- 2/3 cup (135 g) light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100 g) organic granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup (85 g) dairy free yogurt or unsweetened applesauce, room temperature
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (170 g) vegan chocolate chips* (semi-sweet or your choice!)
Instructions
- Prep: Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, and measure out all ingredients.
- Whisk: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch baking soda, and sea salt. Set aside.
- Make the dough: In a large bowl, whisk together the vegan butter, sugar, brown sugar, dairy free yogurt, and vanilla. Then add in the flour, baking soda, and sea salt. Use a rubber spatula to fold together. Stop just before all of the flour is mixed in.
- Add in the chocolate chips: Fold in chocolate chips until evenly distributed.
- Chill: Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes, but preferably 2 hours. The longer, the better, as the flavor will develop even more. When the dough is nearly done chilling, preheat the oven to 350F.
- Bake: Using a cookie scoop, and roll about 1.5 tablespoons of dough per cookie for regular sized cookies, or 3 tablespoons of dough for large cookies onto the sheet. Place into oven and bake for 10-12 minutes (my oven, I bake them exactly 11 minutes each time for large cookies) or until the edges are lightly golden and are “set.” The middles shouldn’t be dough-y looking, but if they’re still soft, that’s perfectly fine.
- Cool: Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. This allows the cookies to firm up to hold together.
- Enjoy: Sprinkle with extra sea salt and enjoy! Store these cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 4 days, a week in the fridge, or a month in the freezer.
Notes
Gluten free: I really only recommend using King Arthur Measure-for-Measure Gluten Free Flour or a similar blend with xanthan gum that also weighs 125 g per cup. Please note that Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 GF Flour will NOT work here.
Baking times: baking times will vary based on your kitchen and oven temperatures. Be sure to watch your cookies and bake according to your own oven. Read my tips in the post for how to ensure your cookies are done.
Vegan Chocolate Chips: I recommend Enjoy Life and some of the Valrhona feves are naturally dairy free and vegan (like the Oriado blend- my favorite!).
- Room temperature: Store the cookies at room temperature on a plate and wrapped in plastic wrap or in an airtight container. They’ll last for about 5 days at room temperature.
- Fridge: Store the cookies in an airtight container (this will keep them from drying out). They’ll last for about 7-8 days, depending on how cold your fridge is.
- Freezer: Store them in a plastic airtight bag or container for up to 3 months.
Soooo delicious! Was told by everyone who tried them that they were the best chocolate chip cookies they ever had! Thank you for the amazing recipe!
Is it right that it says a TABLEspoon of vanilla extract in the ingredient list? that sounds like a ton
Trust me, it’s worth it!!
soooo, I always use this recipe it’s my fav. needed to make some GF ones though and the only flour I had was the bobs redmill 1 to 1. the notes said not to use it but I risked it and they were perfect. I’m not sure what issues you had with that flour but it worked great for me.
Omgsh they’re PERFECT!! Wow!! Ugh I’m not sure why I’ve struggled with Bob’s, I can’t seem to get a texture like this, but literally don’t change anything in the recipe! Did you happen to weigh or measure the flour by cup?
I bake A LOT so I always weigh everything to be exact. I do use coconut oil instead of butter but other than that everything else is basically the same. (I do add some miso paste bc I really like it in my CCC). I have even altered your recipe to use my sourdough starter bc I like using it up and I love your recipe SO MUCH. seriously, my absolute perfect cookie. so thank you 💗
Omgsh this is WONDERFUL! I’m so so happy to hear it!! Also would love any tips for using sourdough starter, I’ve always wanted to use that in a cookie recipe! Will now definitely need to try it here 🙂 Enjoy and thank you again or the review!
Just wow! These cookies are simply amazing and I love how simple it is to make them. We just cannot stop eating them! The salt sprinkles make them even more fabulous! Thank you sooo much 🙂
Omgsh this is amazing!! So so happy to hear! Thank you so much for the review 🙂 Enjoy!!
Could I substitute ghee for the vegan butter?
-I know it’s not vegan. My son is on a special elimination diet for 90 days – no dairy, eggs, or gluten (but he can have ghee). He’s absolutely DYING to have some dessert. Just wasn’t sure if ghee would bake the same way.
Thanks – we can’t wait to make these today during our snow day.
Hi Stephani! So unfortunately, I actually don’t know how these would turn out with ghee because I’m truly vegan. So any non-vegan ingredient swaps I can’t speak to! You’re more than welcome to try, but I just can’t guarantee they’ll turn out!
Thanks for your quick reply. We used the ghee and they turned out great!
They are crispy on the outside and chewy inside. Absolutely perfect!
One of my best friends is vegan, so I’m going to make the recipe as written for her, too.
Oh that is wonderful!! I’m so happy to hear it! Thanks so much for the review 🙂 And such a good tip for anyone else who wants to try, so thank you for asking it!!
Hi! In one part of the instructions it says chilling the dough isn’t necessary, while later on it says to chill the dough. Does it all depend on if the butter is melted or room temperature? Can you clear that up for me please?
Hi Rachel! You can chill the dough if it seems a bit wet for scooping, but it’s not necessary. 🙂 This sometimes happens if we haven’t used truly room-temperature vegan butter (you should aim for 65F in your butter) or if you’re making the cookies with melted vegan butter. I hope this helps and your cookies turn out amazing!
I didn’t chill the dough after all because my dough stuck together well. But after baking, they didn’t flatten on their own in the oven like in your picture; instead stayed in balls which is disappointing. How can this be avoided?
It sounds like there might have been too much flour- are you using a kitchen scale to measure or scooping the flour with cups?
I don’t have a kitchen scale but I used a spoon to scoop the flour into the measuring cups to ensure I wasn’t going overboard with the flour
The video provided for this recipe page is a different recipe it seems unless there was an error. The video mentions adding baking powder, and the ingredients list there is no baking powder. That stood out to me as odd, so now I’m wondering if I should add some.
The video is being updated!! The new video will be released shortly 🙂 The recipe written in the recipe card is always the most up to date!
I should’ve read the whole article before making these as I used oat flour instead and the cookies turned out like little cakes! Still delicious but not chewy with crisp outer edges!
hi there I love all your recipes thank you! Maybe I’m just having a moment lol but I don’t see in the instructions when it says to add the broken up chocolate bar.
Oh you can add that in with the chocolate chips! So sorry for the confusion!
This woman is a genius! Loved this recipe. Only advice I would give is to bake it for longer, my oven isn’t hot enough I guess I had to bake them for 14 minutes. Make sure they are lightly golden in the sides before taking them out.
You are just so kind 🙂 Seriously thank you!! So so appreciate you! Enjoy, and thanks for being here!
hi there!! so i was wondering if this recipe would be good to make one of those giant cookie cakes in a round pan, and if so, do i need to double the batch or not, and also how to bake it pretty please!!!
Hi Sasha! I’ve done this in an 8×8 pan, I recommend about 23-26 minutes at 350! Not sure what size pan you planned on using? You may have to double the recipe!
hello!! i was wondering if it’s possibly use less than the tablespoon of vanilla extract?? it’s just a lot of vanilla and those bottles aren’t cheap😂😂
Hi Sasha! I personally don’t know if it would taste quite as good but you’re welcome to give it a shot, and I totally understand! 🙂
Hello, I am in the middle of making them and noticed that in the ingredients it only listed flour, baking soda, and sea salt, but in the directions it mentions adding cornstarch as well! I came back to the page and started watching the video and now I am even more confused! In the recipe it says 280g of flour. But in the video you say it’s 180g of sour. You also say you are adding baking soda and baking powder, but baking powder is not mentioned anywhere in the recipe! I did not go through the rest of it because I am stuck in the middle of it and don’t know what I am supposed to be adding or not adding! I already mixed 280 g of flour with the salt and baking soda 🙁
Hi Rachel! SO Sorry about this! We just updated this and removed the cornstarch altogether. We’re also working on a new video but for the most updated version, always follow the recipe card at the bottom of the page! Thank you for your help!
Hello,
Just to confirm, do we need to add cornstarch or not? It’s not listed in the ingredients, but it says to add it to the flour in the instructions. Thank you!
Hi Rachel! Just updated this, thank you! No cornstarch needed here. 🙂
I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong but these cookies spread and the edges become very crunchy (not like your photos). I follow everything exactly, including cooling time. The flavour is still delicious but they are not doing what I expect them to? I’m not sure if I should reduce my oven to 325 or reduce bake time but was seeing if you had any insight!
Hi Clare! So sorry about this! Did you use a piece of parchment paper on the baking sheet? This helps the cookies not spread SO much on a light colored baking sheet! You can also use a silpat! A darker colored baking sheet prevents them from spreading as much too! I hope this helps!
Just incredible!!! Stayed soft (very soft) even the next day. I used Trader Joe’s dairy free cashew plain yogurt. The dough really does taste like toll house. Love the non-complicated ingredients, overall very easy to make. I let my dough sit in the fridge for approx 4 hours before baking. Thanks for another win banana diaries!
Hi Aliese! Amazing! So happy you found it to be not only delicious, but easy too! Thanks so much for being here!
Delicious cookies!!! Do you think this recipe could make one huge chocolate chip cookie baked in a cast iron skillet?
Yes you can!! I’ve done it a few times 🙂 Enjoy!!
OMG!!! AMAZING AND BEST COOIES EVER!! Hubby and I had a chocolate chip cookie bake off and these won hands down! Thank you! This is the first recipe from your website I’ve made but will not be my last. Followed the recipe exact using the apple sauce instead of yogurt as it’s to hard to find a good tasting vegan yogurt in our area – Will make again for sure!
This is so wonderful!! Thank you so much for such a wonderful review!! So glad to have you here 🙂 Enjoy!! Can’t wait to hear what you try next!
I just attempted this recipe, however was slightly disappointed to find that the cookies ended up being more cake-like than cookie. For reference, the only alteration I made was that the yogurt was still chilled instead of room temp, and I added one scoop of protein powder to the mix. Was I suppose to flatten the balls when I put them on the tray? I’m not sure where I went wrong.
Hi Samone! Sorry to hear this! My first thought would be that maybe you used too much flour. Make sure you’re spooning and leveling the flour- not scooping. 🙂 If you used a dark baking sheet, this also prevents them from spreading as much and could make them appear more cake-like. Hope this helps!
Just baked these but they don’t flatten in the oven. Any recommendations?
Hi Nosheen! So sorry about that! My first thought would be that maybe you used too much flour? That can cause the cookies to not spread! Make sure you’re spooning and leveling the flour- not scooping! If you used a dark baking sheet, this also prevents them from spreading as much. I hope this helps! 🙂
can I replace the yogurt with an egg?
Hi Natalie! Yes, you can – 1 egg = 1/4 cup (62 g) yogurt. Hope this helps!
Hello! I am confused about if we need to chill the dough or not? I saw at the top, it says not to chill but then the instructions near the bottom said the longer you chill the dough, the better. Just checking which is accurate or the most updated. Can’t wait to try and thank you!
Hi Andrea! So sorry about that! Updating the post now, but for the most updated recipes you can always follow the recipe card at the bottom of the page. So in this case, you’ll chill the dough for at least 30 minutes. 🙂 Can’t wait to hear how they turn out!
Hello! In your newest YouTube video, you mention adding cornstarch.
I do not see it listed in the recipe? How much would I add? Thank you and I look forward to baking these cookies!
Yes!! 1 tbsp 🙂
What is your trick for applesauce in the recipe? I’ve used applesauce in the past and have found it to be too cakey. I’ve used store-bought Trader Joe’s applesauce before. Will homemade applesauce by grinding apples work better?
I actually recommend dairy free yogurt! Applesauce will yield a flatter cookie I’ve found (and sometimes has a weird tang, I think because applesauce is a bit more acidic! Which also explains why it’s flatter, the acid reacts with the baking soda, but because it’s a different dry to wet ratio than say a cake, you’re not going to get a sturdy enough rise, so it collapses after!).