The most delicious and easy Vegan Gluten-free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies that are just 7 ingredients, oil-free, made in 1 bowl and dairy-free. Ready in about 20 minutes!
VEGAN PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
I am a vegan cookie making machine, haha. I enjoy creating vegan cookie recipes more than anything else! When I’m not making these really popular, Easy Peanut Butter Cookies, I’m usually making these Vegan Gluten-free Chocolate Cookies or these Best Vegan Thin Mints!
My original vegan peanut butter cookies use almond flour, which many people ask to substitute, so therefore, I needed a go-to gluten-free peanut butter cookie recipe that used different gluten-free flours.
I love that these cookies are super fudgy and moist with a slightly crispy edge. In other words, the perfect cookie texture.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED
You don’t need all-purpose flour here. All you need are 7 easy ingredients for these gluten-free peanut butter chocolate chip cookies (+salt if your peanut butter doesn’t have it):
- White rice flour: This gives a wonderful chew to the cookies and keeps them gluten-free. I use Bob’s Red Mill. It also binds much better than brown rice flour and they aren’t as dry as brown rice flour would make them.
- Tapioca starch: This replaces eggs and gives browning, structure and a wonderful texture to the cookies. Using all white rice flour would result in them being too gritty. The tapioca balances out the overall texture.
- Peanut butter: Use an all-natural peanut butter here, without added oil or sugar. Salt is fine. I like the Simple Truth Brand that I buy from Kroger.
- Maple syrup
- Baking powder
- Vanilla extract
- Dairy-free vegan chocolate chips: I use either the Heb brand, Enjoy Life brand or Sprouts or Trader Joe’s. Always check the ingredient list to make sure milk/dairy is not added.
HOW TO MAKE VEGAN PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Step 1: Add the dry ingredients to a large bowl and whisk them well.
Step 2: Add the peanut butter, syrup, vanilla and chocolate chips. Stir until a thick batter forms.
Step 3: Form balls using 2 tablespoons worth of the batter and place about 2 inches apart on the pan, 9 on each pan.
Step 4: Flatten each cookie with your hands to 1/4 inch thick which should yield them to about 2 inches wide.
Step 5: Bake for just 10-12 minutes or until the edges are golden. Enjoy!
WHY YOU’LL LOVE THESE PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
- Easy to make with Only 7 ingredients!
- Gluten-free: Including, not having any oats, which many people cannot eat that avoid gluten. So, they are really allergy-friendly!
- Fudgy
- Perfectly sweetened
- 1 bowl
- 20 minutes from start to finish!
- Impress your non-vegan friends and family
TIPS AND SUBSTITUTIONS
- If you are allergic to peanut butter, you could try cashew butter, since it’s a very similar thickness and texture as peanut butter. You do not want to do almond butter here, it is much more oily and runny. I have plenty of almond butter cookie recipes already on the blog, linked below.
- If you are not gluten-free you can try subbing the white rice flour with regular all-purpose flour if you are not gluten-free. See the NOTES below for tips.
- You can sub the tapioca starch with cornstarch and it will give similar results.
- Agave can be subbed for the maple syrup.
MORE VEGAN COOKIE RECIPES
- Cashew Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Gluten-free Sugar Cookies
- Best Vegan Gluten-free Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Almond Butter Blossoms
- Vegan Snickerdoodles
- Vegan Old-Fashioned Iced Oatmeal Cookies
- Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Best Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Coconut Cookies (reader favorite!)
Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (Gluten-free)
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (80g) white rice flour (brown will make them crumble, see NOTES below for sub) This is regular white rice flour, not the "sticky white rice" flour
- 1/4 cup (32g) tapioca starch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt (if your peanut butter has added salt, then omit)
- 1/2 cup (160g) pure maple syrup
- 1 cup (256g) natural creamy peanut butter (with no added oils or sugar) I buy the Simple Truth brand from Kroger
- 1 teaspoon (5g) vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup (180g) dairy-free semi-sweet chocolate chips
NOTE
- Always use a scale for accuracy when baking following MY gram weights listed. You never need cups, nor to compare cups with weights, just use the scale and bowl. All my recipes are tested strictly using my weights listed and this will produce exact results.
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Add the rice flour, tapioca starch, baking powder and salt to a large bowl and whisk well.
- To the same bowl, pour the syrup over the dry ingredients. Add the peanut butter, vanilla and chocolate chip and stir to combine everything. The batter will seem loose and wet at first but you will need to stir for around 2 minutes until it comes together into a thick, cohesive batter. It should no longer be wet. That is the nature of peanut butter.
- Form balls using 2 tablespoons worth of the batter and place about 2 inches apart on the pan, 9 on each pan. Flatten each cookie with your hands to 1/4 inch thick which should yield them to about 2 inches wide. Flatten them with a patting motion going around the cookie to keep the round shape. Refer to photos in the post for visual help.
- Bake only 1 pan at a time for 10-12 minutes. I did mine at 12 minutes, this will yield a crispier cookie and a nice golden brown color. Repeat with the 2nd pan.
- Cool 10 minutes on the pan, no exception, or they will fall apart. They firm up as they cool. Then transfer to cool completely on a rack.
Notes
Nutrition
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Super simple and yummy! I used coconut flower, since I didn’t have the rice one, but it was still great.
These cookies couldn’t disappoint if they tried! Another perfect recipe from you! PB+chocolate forever 💙
So happy you loved these Jessica, yay!
I whipped together these delicious cookies for Mother’s Day because I LOVE chocolate & peanut butter combos!. They were super simple to make and the perfect combination of sweet and salty. I used 100% chocolate chips & they were still plenty sweet.
That is so wonderful to hear Jennifer, thank you so much for leaving feedback!
Hello Brandi,
I love your recipes ! So clean and healthy :))
I can’t seem to find your recipe on cinnamon hazelnut chocolate chip cookies ! The one with ground almonds. I’ve made them once and my little ones loved them 🙂 Could you please help me find the recipe.
Thank you so much !
I have almond flour, will that work?
No, that would make them too moist. Check out my other peanut butter cookies linked in the post that uses almond flour. You could always add chocolate chips.
You don’t know how desperate I was to find a recipe that would reproduce peanut butter cookies like the ones I tried in bakeries. I love the combination of PB and chocolate and these cookies are just the best! I substituted some maple syrup with brown sugar and plant milk, and it worked perfectly. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe!
Yay, really thrilled to hear this!!
can I use Spelt flour/
In sub of the rice flour? I’ve not tried that, but it should work. It may give it a more earthy grain taste, but should still be yummy. Don’t exclude the tapioca starch though!
Can I sub corn flour for the tapioca starch as there is nine available where ai live?
Yes, I think that should work!
What a great pb cookie recipe! After I threw all of the ingredients in and was ready to mix, I realized I didn’t omit the salt since my peanut butter is salted. Too late so I went with it. I tasted after about 10 minutes of cooling and really love the flavor, although not 100% cooled. The sodium on the pb jar reads 55mg per serving. Do you think the taste of my batch would differ much had I omitted the salt?
I find using salted peanut butter ends up with the perfect flavor balance, but it’ll just taste slightly more salty with the extra salt, so not a huge difference I’m sure.
Oh my gosh, these are delicious! I baked them for 10 minutes, which was perfect for my taste- the cookies came out thick and soft. Honestly, this is the best peanut butter cookie I’ve ever had!
I so missed baking my favorite Chocolate Chip cookie when I started eating vegan, but these are my new standby that even my non-vegan friends love. Thank you for taking the time and effort to come up with these great recipes.
You are so welcome Patty, thank you for the lovely review!