Dairy Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
These dairy free chocolate chip cookies have golden edges and a soft chewy center! They have the perfect texture and taste like a classic chocolate chip cookie. The edges are slightly chewy and golden. The middle is soft and gooey. These cookies are truly the best easy dairy free cookies ever!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- These dairy free chocolate chip cookies are incredibly soft and chewy.
- These one bowl cookies are easy and straightforward.
- The crispy edges are complemented by the warm soft center.
- These chocolate chip cookies without butter are completely dairy free!
- They are bursting with dairy free dark chocolate chips.
- These allergy friendly chocolate chip cookies work for many diets and lifestyles.
- In addition, these dairy free cookies are gluten free, soy free, and nut free!
- They are milk free and can also be made egg free.
- For a Paleo version, check out these Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Ingredients & Substitutions
These are the ingredients and substitutions for these dairy free chocolate chip cookies. Scroll down to the recipe card below for the full recipe.
Coconut oil is used to keep these cookies dairy free. Use room temperature (slightly softened) coconut oil for best results. For no coconut flavor, use refined coconut oil. This is a great substitute for butter in cookies.
Both brown sugar and granulated sugar sweeten this recipe. Coconut sugar can replace the brown sugar if desired.
Vanilla extract takes cookies from good to great. No substitutions here!
Eggs help these cookies stay together. To make egg free dairy free cookies, replace the 2 eggs with a total of ½ cup unsweetened applesauce. Check out these Eggless Cookies for more egg free baking.
For flour, use gluten free 1 to 1 flour or all purpose flour. Both work well.
A teaspoon of baking soda acts as the leavening agent. I do not recommend using baking powder in its place.
A little bit of sea salt goes a long way! Trust me on this one.
The dairy free dark chocolate chips are insanely delicious. I recommend Enjoy Life dark chocolate chips since they melt well and taste great.
If desired, omit the chocolate chips to make cookies without chocolate chips.
Dairy Free Baking
Classic chocolate chip cookies utilize both butter and chocolate chips, which both contain dairy. These cookies use coconut oil in place of butter and dairy free chocolate chips.
Dairy free baking can be challenging since butter is out of the question. Butter acts as a baking fat when added to baked goods. Coconut oil is a great replacement! It is a heart healthy fat and acts very similarly to butter when baked.
Similarly to butter, the texture and state of the coconut oil is important. For these dairy free chocolate chip cookies, use room temperature coconut oil for best results. It should be slightly soft, but nowhere near melted.
How to Make
Step 1
First, beat together coconut oil, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla extract.
Step 2
Add in eggs and beat until creamy.
Step 3
Then, add in gluten free flour, baking soda, and sea salt. Mix until combined.
Step 4
Fold in dairy free chocolate chips. Next, refrigerate the cookie dough for at least 1 hour.
Step 5
When it’s time to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking pan with parchment paper.
Step 6
Use cookie scoop or ice cream scoop to scoop balls of dough onto lined baking pan. Then, place balls of dough at least 3 inches apart since these cookies spread.
Step 7
Bake for 10 to 11 minutes or until edges are golden and middles are set.
Step 8
Finally, remove these dairy free chocolate chip cookies from the oven. Cool on pan for 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.
Expert Tips & Tricks
Follow these tips and tricks to make the best dairy free chocolate chip cookies ever!
Use refined coconut oil for a neutral flavor. In contrast, unrefined coconut oil has a slight coconut flavor.
Replace eggs with unsweetened applesauce for an egg free cookie recipe. Then, they will be egg and dairy free cookies.
The cookie dough will have the same texture and taste as classic cookie dough.
Refrigerating the dough is key to this recipe. In addition, this helps the cookies hold together better while baking. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour up to 48 hours.
The longer the dough chills, the more held together the cookies will be.
Use cookie scoop or ice cream scoop to scoop balls of dough.
Spread balls of dough at least 3 inches apart on lined baking pan. These cookies will spread while baking.
Most importantly, do not over bake these dairy free chocolate chip cookies! Once the middle of the cookies are set and no longer gooey, remove them from the oven.
How to Serve & Store
These dairy free chocolate chip cookies are great once slightly cooled from the oven. Hello melty chocolate chips and warm cookies!
Serve with a glass of milk, coffee, tea, or a scoop of ice cream! Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.
Store covered at room temperature for up to 4 days.
Store in the fridge for up to 7 days.
Wrap dairy free chocolate chip cookies individually and freeze for up to 1 month.
Where to Buy Dairy Free Chocolate Chips
Many grocery stores carry dairy free chocolate chops these days. Stores such as Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Target, Walmart, and Hannaford carry great options. Here are some of the brands.
ChocZero Dark Chocolate No Sugar Added
Enjoy Life Semi Sweet
Enjoy Life Mini Semi Sweet
Kirkland Semi Sweet
Enjoy Life Dark Chocolate
Enjoy Life Chocolate Chunks
Organic Great Value Dark Chocolate (from Walmart)
Hu Chocolate Baking Gems
Lily’s Dark Chocolate
Nestle Tollhouse Allergen-Free
Organic Good & Gather Dark Chocolate (from Target)
Sprouts Semi Sweet
Trader Joe’s Semi Sweet
Wegman’s Semi Sweet
Frequently Asked Questions
The best substitutes for butter are coconut oil and Vegan butter. For cooking, olive oil or avocado oil is a great replacement.
Regular Nestle chocolate chips are not dairy free, but they did come out with an allergen free chocolate chip which are dairy free.
No, eggs are not dairy. They are not a milk product.
Yes! Chilling the dough is important for these cookies. It helps bind the cookies together.
Substitute Vegan butter or regular butter (if possible) for coconut oil.
Sure! Replace 2 eggs with ½ cup unsweetened applesauce to make milk free egg free cookies.
Yes, most chocolate chips contain dairy. Most often, chocolate chips contain milk. Be sure to use dairy free chocolate chips for this recipe.
You May Also Like
If you make this dairy free chocolate chip cookies recipe, I would really appreciate a review! You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. I would love for you to follow along! For more ideas, check out this Dairy Free Recipes page.
Get the Recipe: Dairy Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup coconut oil, room temperature
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 2 ¾ cups gluten free 1 to 1 flour, or all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 1 ½ cups dairy free chocolate chips
Instructions
- First, add coconut oil, brown sugar, granulated sugar and vanilla extract to a stand mixer or large bowl. Beat until creamy.
- Add in eggs and beat until combined.
- Add in gluten free flour, baking soda, and sea salt. Stir to combine.
- Then, fold in chocolate chips. Place mixing bowl in fridge for at least 1 hour to chill.
- When it is time to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking pan with parchment paper.
- Use a cookie scoop or ice cream scoop to scoop balls of dough onto lined baking pan. Place at least 3 inches from each other since these cookies spread.
- Bake for 10 to 11 minutes or until edges of cookie are golden and middles are set.
- Remove from oven. Allow cookies to cool on pan for 5 minutes. Then remove to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.
Notes
- I have not tested this recipe with Vegan butter, but it should work fine.
- Use refined coconut oil for no coconut flavor.
- Gluten free 1 to 1 flour or all purpose flour can be used. I used King Arthur Flour 1 to 1 Gluten Free Flour.
- Dough should resemble normal looking cookie dough.
- Refrigerating the dough allows the dough to bind together. Chill for at least 1 hour, up to 48 hours. The longer the dough chills, the more compact the cookies will be.
- Scoop evenly sized balls of dough to ensure even baking.
- I used an ice cream scoop for larger cookies.
- Bake until edges are golden and middles are just set. Do not over bake!
- These cookies spread quite a bit while baking.
- Store cookies covered at room temperature for up to 4 days.
- Store in fridge for up to 7 days.
- These cookies freeze well! Freeze each cookie wrapped individually.
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90 Comments on “Dairy Free Chocolate Chip Cookies”
Great and easy recipe. The cookies taste good, but a little on the floury side. This recipe calls for more flour than the usual 2 cups. Is there a reason for that? Does using coconut oil require more flour?
Hey! I am glad you like these cookies. I used a little more flour to offset the coconut oil, which does tend to need a bit more flour than butter. I also did not want these cookies to spread too thin in the oven.
How many calories in one cookie?
Hi Barbara! There are 345 calories in each cookie, but I did make them huge and loaded with chocolate chips. There are nutrition facts under the recipe instructions. Hope you love them!
How many calories in one cookie?
Vegan butter does not work. For some reason it doesn’t allow the dough to spread when baking. Hence the reason I’m on here looking for the best fat to use for dairy free cookies. Not a fan of coconut oil, so I’ll use shortening in place of that when trying this recipe. Fingers crossed! Thank you.
Hi Ana! It might be the brand of Vegan butter. Some work much better than others. I hope you have success with the shortening!
I actually love using the vegan butter because of the buttery flavor it gives, I’ve made this recipe a couple of times and they don’t spread so what I do is just make sure to push the balls down on the pan till I get my desired cookie size
Thank you, Bethanie! I am happy to hear that. Some Vegan butters are different than others so I’m glad you found a solution that works for you. Happy holidays!
This is a great dairy free recipe. When I first tried the cookie right out of the oven I thought they were a little bland, however the next day I tried one and was blown away at how different they tasted! Also think the blandness could be the new weaker vanilla extract I used….. this cookie is soft on the inside and crisp on the outside. I prefer to add more chips to mine too.
Hi Miranda! Thank you for making this recipe and taking the time to leave a thoughtful comment. I’m happy you enjoyed the cookies! I like your note about eating them the next day. It really allows the flavors to come through!
These were to DIE for followed recipe exactly and made about 20 cookies will be making this recipe again and again!!!
Hi Nathaly! I am so happy to hear that. These are one of my favorites! Thank you for making them and taking the time to comment. I really appreciate it!
Ok, these are absolutely THE best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made!
Hi Heather! Thank you so much for making the cookies and taking the time to leave this amazing review. I am thrilled you love them!
This is a pretty great recipe. Tastes just like a regular chocolate chip cookie made with butter. My recommendation is to use a high quality semi sweet/dark chocolate chip and a good vanilla extract. Don’t skimp especially on these, makes a big difference in flavor. These cookies will be part of my holiday cookie platters now, thank you!
Hi Miranda! Thank you for the glowing review. I agree — vanilla extract and quality chocolate are keys to great cookies. Enjoy the holiday cookies!
Lovely cookies. Perfectly flattened 🙂 I will give this recipe a try. My boys would love to snack on these cookies I’m sure.
Love that these chocolate chip cookies are dairy free as I have been limiting my dairy lately. Great recipe.