In my expert opinion, the best vegan chocolate chunk cookies are thick, chewy, loaded with chunks of chocolate, and honestly undetectably vegan. Bonus points if they’re actually easier to make than classic chocolate chip cookies.
I’ve been making these as my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe for months now, and love that they can be made when we’re low on eggs and butter, since this vegan-friendly cookie recipe requires neither!
They’re made in 1 bowl by hand with simple pantry ingredients that are always in the house, and require no chilling or fancy equipment whatsoever. We’re not even using any of the common vegan egg replacers (i.e. flax egg, applesauce, etc) here, as these cookies maintain that classic cookie structure perfectly fine without it.
So, what I’m saying is: these actually might be my favorite chocolate chunk cookies of all time, vegan or not. They’re quick, easy, and have that quintessential brown-sugar-melty-chocolate-ooey-gooey factor that I can’t resist in a good cookie.
Let’s make them!
what you need to make these cookies
Honestly, it’s just basic cookie ingredients here. To make them, you’ll need:
coconut oil. virgin or refined- either works. I always have virgin in the house and never notice any coconut flavor in these cookies whatsoever.
brown sugar (coconut sugar works, too!).
water. yes, water! it adds in the moisture lost from not using butter and eggs, but doesn’t add/detract from the flavor of the cookies in any way.
flour. I love using this local, freshly milled all-purpose wheat flour to bake with (it’s literally the only flour in my pantry these days), but these cookies work with either all-purpose or a white whole wheat/whole wheat pastry flour. I haven’t tried them with gluten-free alternatives, but think they’d work well with whatever your go-to GF baking blend is!
salt and vanilla. for that classic cookie flavor.
baking powder and baking soda. to help them spread and rise properly.
chocolate chunks. as in, a bar of chocolate that you chop into pieces. I personally think chunks are superior to chips in most cookie situations, as they get meltier and provide more chocolate per square inch. I’ve made these with chips just to be sure I wasn’t imagining the difference, and they’re obviously still *good* with chips, but if you have a bar of chocolate in the house, I highly recommend chopping it up to use here! I’m a dark chocolate fan and always look for bars that are 70% or higher.
That’s it! With the exception of butter and eggs, this is a pretty standard, nothing-freaky cookie ingredient list. And we love that about them.
how to make the best vegan chocolate chunk cookies
Ready?
Melt your oil. Stir together with sugar, water and vanilla. add in flour, salt, baking powder and soda. Chop up your chocolate and stir it in. That’s it.
No waiting for butter to come to room temperature. No electric mixer, creaming butter and sugar, or chilling the dough. Just stir, scoop, bake, eat.
For the thickest, chewiest cookies, I like to scoop them into large, 1/4-cup mounds of dough. This means the recipe will only yield 7 cookies, but I happen to think it’s worth it for that large, bakery-style cookie experience.
You can absolutely divide the dough into your standard 12 smaller sized cookies, in which case they’ll take even less time to bake!
Whether you’ve been looking for the best vegan chocolate chunk cookie recipe out there…or simply looking for another quick + easy way to add a batch of cookies into your life, I think you’re going to LOVE this recipe.
It’s our go-to for a batch of cookies any day of the week, whether we have the ingredients for standard chocolate chip cookies in the house or not.
If you make them, be sure to let me know how they turn out! Leave a comment below, or take a picture of your cookies and share it on Instagram so I can see!!
The Best Chewy Vegan Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup virgin coconut oil, melted
- 2/3 cup organic brown sugar or coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose, whole wheat pastry, or white whole wheat flour or sub spelt, einkorn, or your favorite GF AP blend
- 1/2 cup roughly chopped dark chocolate from a 3oz bar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper (optional- just for easier clean-up).
- Stir together melted oil, brown sugar, water, and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Mixture will be wet and sandy.
- Add all remaining ingredients, including chocolate, and stir well to fully combine.
- Scoop dough onto your baking sheet by the 1/4 cupful, to yield 7 large cookies, each spaced at least 2 inches apart (see note below for making smaller cookies).
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until cookies are set on the edges and still slightly underbaked in the middle. DO NOT OVERBAKE THESE COOKIES, as they will be dry and cakey. Cookies will continue to cook from the residual heat on the pan once you take them out of the oven.
- Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for at least 10 minutes before eating. Once cooled completely, they can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.