The Best Vegan Gluten-free Chocolate Chip Cookies. Made with brown rice flour and almond butter, these are so soft, chewy and with a moist fudgy interior! You only need 8 ingredients and 20 minutes to make these! You would never guess they are oil-free!
BEST VEGAN GLUTEN-FREE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
I am not kidding when I say these are the best vegan gluten-free chocolate chip cookies! I have a lot of cookie recipes on this blog, a lot. And lots with chocolate chips, like these Crispy Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies made with almond flour are a huge reader favorite.
For these though, I wanted to share a classic and perfect vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe that really tastes like a traditional cookie made with butter, oil, white flour and white sugar, but so much healthier. These are amazing and so authentic!
Bonus is that these are gluten-free and oil-free and only 8 ingredients. You can learn all my tips on How to Bake Without Oil! You won’t miss the butter or white sugar, I can guarantee that. These are made with unrefined sweetener maple syrup. They are moist, fudgy and have an irresistible crispy edge. They are also ready in about 20 minutes!
INGREDIENTS NEEDED
(Only 8 main ingredients needed. Full details and measurements on the recipe card below.)
- brown rice flour: This keeps these vegan chocolate chip cookies gluten-free.
- roasted almond butter: This replaces the oil and makes these cookies so fudgy and moist. You can use store-bought or homemade. If using store-bought, make sure it is a smooth runny kind, not a stiff or thick one. I recommend the Trader Joe’s almond butter and the Target Good and Gather almond butter brands.
- maple syrup
- molasses: This adds a wonderful depth of flavor and texture to the cookies.
- coconut sugar
- baking powder
- vanilla
- chocolate chips
HOW TO MAKE VEGAN GLUTEN-FREE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Step 1: Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C) and line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.
Step 2: Add the brown rice flour, baking powder, salt and coconut sugar to a large bowl and whisk very well to ensure there are no lumps. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Step 3: In a separate medium bowl, combine the almond butter, syrup, vanilla, molasses and water. Stir until completely smooth.
Step 4: Pour over the dry ingredients and stir for a couple of minutes until all the dough comes together and no more flour is visible. It should be very sticky and thick, yet SOFT, not stiff.
Step 5: Drop 2 tablespoons worth of batter (or use a cookie scoop) onto the pan about 2 inches apart to allow room for them to spread.
Step 6: Take a small piece of parchment paper and press each cookie down to between 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Place extra chocolate chips on top.
Step 7: Bake 1 pan at a time for 10-11 minutes until the edges are turning golden brown.
HOW TO STORE THESE COOKIES
These vegan gluten-free chocolate chip cookies are so buttery and moist and will stay moist and delicious for 3 days, as long as they are sealed in an airtight container. They will soften more as they are stored, but are still amazing.
ARE CHOCOLATE CHIPS VEGAN?
These days, many chocolate chip brands sell dairy-free options. Many, however, contain milk, so make sure to read the label first. I love the Whole Foods 365 brand but there are brands at Trader Joes, Sprouts and many grocery stores that simply use cocoa, cocoa butter, vanilla and sugar, just read the label!
SUBSTITUTIONS
- Can sub the maple syrup with agave if desired.
- Can sub sunbutter for nut-free, just make sure it is really smooth and keep in mind that it will yield a sunbutter taste.
MORE VEGAN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPES
- Cashew Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Crispy Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 5 Ingredient Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Grain-free Chocolate Coconut Cookies
- Dark Chocolate Molasses Cookies
- Vegan Gluten-free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
THE BEST Vegan Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (120g) brown rice flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3 tablespoons (30g) coconut sugar
- 3/4 cup (180g) semi-sweet dairy-free chocolate chips (plus extra to put on top if desired)
- 3/4 cup (192g) super creamy roasted almond butter**
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (120g) pure maple syrup*
- 2 teaspoons (10g) vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon (20g) regular unsulphured molasses (not blackstrap, I used Grandma's molasses)
- 2 tablespoons (30g) water
NOTE
- Always use a scale for accuracy when baking, following MY gram weights listed. You never need cups, just the scale and bowl and make sure to zero out in between each ingredient.
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C)and line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Add the brown rice flour, baking powder, salt and coconut sugar to a large bowl and whisk very well to ensure there are no lumps. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- In a separate medium bowl, combine the almond butter, syrup, vanilla, molasses and water. Stir until completely smooth.
- Pour over the dry ingredients and stir for a couple of minutes until all the dough comes together and no more flour is visible. It should be very sticky and thick. (see photo)
- Drop 2 tablespoons worth of batter (or use a cookie scoop) onto the pan about 2 inches apart to allow room for them to spread. Place only 9 on a sheet so they don't get overcrowded. Now, depending on the thickness of your almond butter used (as some are really drippy) it will affect how stiff/soft your cookie scoops are. If your cookie scoops slowly spread out once dropped onto the pan, then you don't need to flatten them. If they hold their shape (as in the photo), take a small piece of parchment paper and press each cookie down to between 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Smooth and piece together the edges to a round shape. Place extra chocolate chips on top of each cookie, if desired.
- Bake 1 pan at a time for 10-11 minutes until the edges are turning golden brown. Mine were perfect at 11 minutes.
- Cool 10 minutes on the pan and then cool another 10 on a cooling rack. They will crisp and firm up as they cool. You must wait for them to cool at least 10 minutes or they can crumble because of the rice flour, but will be fine after cooled. Keep sealed so they don't dry out.
Notes
- Can sub the maple syrup with agave if desired.
- Can sub sunbutter for nut-free, just make sure it is really smooth and keep in mind that it will yield a sunbutter taste)
Nutrition
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So yummy and easy to make, I only have 1 Cookie sheet (pan) so I used a big glass baking dish for the second batch 😟 big mistake, I didn’t know if it needed longer time to bake and was affraid to over cook, so I took them out after 11 minutes 😭 even waiting 10 minutes for cooling down thinking they might dry up and stay together,,, so I re-heat the oven 350 and put them back until they turn a little golden color aroung the edge, they were a little cryspier and not as most but still good. I’m getting more baking sheets tomorrow! Back to the first batch YUMMY PERFFECT IN EVERY WAY 👍💗
I’m so glad you loved these Diane! Oh yes, anything taller than a cookie sheet will steam them moreso than actually bake them. So you can just eat them with a spoon like that, haha! Honestly, you can just bake 1 pan at a time and let the remaining cookie batter sit, which will totally be fine!
I can’t stop baking cookies lately thanks to your blog! These are so good, I love the hint of molasses flavor <3
Haha, good problem to have! I’m so glad you love these Penny!
I felt I needed to increase the salt a fair amount but otherwise followed the recipe exactly using my kitchen scale. Turned out great! Thanks!!
Glad you enjoyed them! Hmmm, that’s odd, there is enough salt for the cookies to yield an overall balanced flavor but not so much that you would actually taste salt, which we don’t want. Never heard that before, haha!
Hi there! Sometimes baking with sunbutter causes the end product to turn green. If I used sunbutter in this recipe, do you know if my cookies will end up being green? Thanks!
I haven’t tested these personally with sunbutter, but in my experience, recipes make with baking SODA causes them to turn more green than just baking powder. There will likely be some green in these since so much nut butter is used and it will react with the baking powder, but it usually doesn’t set in for several hours (the color change). They will have a strong sunbutter taste since 3/4 cup is used, so if you don’t mind that, then give them a shot!
Love, love these cookies! Made yesterday for an all omni event and they all got eaten quickly!!! My go to cho chip cookies!!
That is wonderful to hear Tracy!
These cookies are great, I can barely even taste the molasses. My husband is a chocolate chip cookie snob, he liked them!!
So glad you enjoyed them!!
These cookies were fantastic! I didnt have coconut sugar so used date sugar. And I didnt have brown rice flour so used white rice flour. My only goof was I bought unsweetened chocolate chips but the cookie dough was so good that they were still good! Next time will not make that mistake again. Thanks again!
SO very happy to hear you loved them Connie!
Hi Brandi, do you have any suggestions for using a different flour? I can’t have rice. Maybe oat flour? Would I still use 3/4 cup? Thanks so much!
Hi Jess! So sorry I’m just seeing this! You can try oat flour but since it’s more absorbent, you may need more, possibly up to a cup, which would be 128 grams of superfine oat flour. I would try that! Or, you can make any of these instead that are made without rice flour 🙂 I have SO many chocolate chip cookie recipes, haha.
https://thevegan8.com/vegan-gluten-free-oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookies/
https://thevegan8.com/grain-free-vegan-chocolate-chip-cookies/
https://thevegan8.com/cashew-butter-cookies-vegan-gluten-free/
https://thevegan8.com/crispy-vegan-chocolate-chip-cookies/
Does date syrup work as a sub for molasses? I try to avoid it so I don’t even have it. Just looking for a last minute cookie and these sound yummy.
I haven’t tried it and the flavor is different, but it’s a similar consistency so it might work. They just might be less crispy
I don’t care for almond butter. Can I substitute peanut butter?
Hi! I would make these instead then since they are created using peanut butter. Since peanut butter is quite thicker and not nearly as smooth/runny as almond butter, I don’t think an even swap would work as well here, so make these instead 🙂 https://thevegan8.com/vegan-peanut-butter-chocolate-chip-cookies/
wow wow just wow. you are amazing.
love that these cookies use brown rice flour as that’s all I’ve got on hand right now! Turned out really well. Crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside. Will definitely make again, thanks!
Can we sub the molasses with honey?
You are welcome to try it, but keep in mind that molasses is much more bitter and acidic, so it helps the cookies to spread by reacting with the baking powder. I don’t use honey, it is much sweeter, but hopefully will work fine here since it is a small amount.
I made these from the cookbook with cashew butter and used regular flour (both substitutes Brandi suggested). I literally cannot believe I’ve had the cookbook a year and JUST now made these! They are literally SO good! All the non vegans LOVED them! Every recipe Brandi creates is delicious. Make these NOW!!! Best chocolate chip cookie ever, vegan or not!
Yay DeShay!! So happy you loved those from my book and they are the best you’ve had! They are truly my all-time fave chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever tasted in my life, so I’m so happy you agree, haha! Thank you!
These are so delicious! I made them this morning and added finely chopped crystallized ginger along with tbe chocolate chips. Divine!!!
-Amy
Oh I love candied ginger so much in cookies! Sounds delicious!!
Here I go, making these again….with diced crystallized ginger of course!!! Double batch this time! – in the oven right now. Can’t wait!!! Thanks for all that you share with the world, Brandi!!!!
-Amy
Aww that’s amazing Amy! Ginger is so yummy!
Sounds delicious!! Just looking for a last minute cookie and these sound yummy.
These are soooooo yummy, so rich and chewy, I love the almond butter as a replacement to butter. I’m hooked! Thank you so much for creating such deliciousness from wholesome ingredients. I applaud your brilliance!!
Great recipe. Crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Kids ate a few even before it got cool. I used less almond butter than called for (not enough in my jar haha). Also didn’t have molasses, so I used coconut nectar instead
Hi Brandi,
I love your site! I want to try these but was thinking about using almond flour. Will that work?
I make your PB cookies all the time and LOVE them!!!
Hi, for these, no! Use my “almond butter chocolate chip cookies”, they contain almond flour, or my “crispy vegan chocolate chip cookies”.
Such a great recipe! It definitely filled my craving for regular chocolate chip cookies. I will definitely make again, thank you! 🙂
So happy to hear that Isabel!
We live in Cyprus and I recently started following you being vegans, but we have already made several of your dishes and we love them all – so easy to follow and without oil even better. Yesterday I made the cookies and my husband loved them so much that I had to hide a few that I just had for breakfast 😂
The absolute best. I use hazelnut butter and less sugar. I don’t weigh the ingredients and they always turn out amazing.
So happy to hear that! Hazelnut sounds delicious!