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”
Hi! I followed the recipe to a T and came out with crumbly dough that did stay together when I formed them into balls, but they never flattened out in the oven like the pictures… used all purpose flour, coconut oil room temp and all the required ingredients..
Hi May! I am sorry to hear that these did not work out for you. Dry and crumbly dough usually means too much flour. All purpose flour can be used here, so that should not be the problem. Maybe next time, use slightly less flour. Hope this helps!
I am reluctantly dairy free as I try to figure out whether my baby has a CMPA. Followed the recipe exactly (using regular all purpose flour) and they were perfect! They were my ideal cookie texture: melt in your mouth with a crisp edge, not at all dry or cakey. I always scoop my dough into balls before chilling because it’s so hard to do after lol. Thanks for a great recipe!
Hi Nicole! That is a great idea to scoop the dough balls before chilling. So happy these were perfect for you!
I just took these out of the fridge and they are rock hard. I had the dough in the fridge, uncovered for 5 hours. Do I just need to let them warm up before making them into balls and then putting them into the oven?
Hi Jaclyn! Yes, I’d wait and allow the cookies to soften a little bit before baking. Hope they turn out well!
This recipe was a WIN! I have alpha gal allergy, but I am also one of the unlucky few whocant have dairy now as a result of that! Thank you for this recipe. I’ve been dying for some chocolate chip cookies since my diagnosis. I’ve lost a ton of weight (too much- dropped down to 93 lbs but now up to 98) and I’m thinking these cookies should do the trick for me to put some weight back on. I made these tonight with unrefined coconut oil… if you don’t want coconut tasting chocolate chip cookies, use the refined!!! (I like coconut a lot so no big deal, but they’re definitely coconutty tasting chocolate chip cookies because of that. (I read it in your instructions I believe somewhere but I didn’t have refined so said screw it!)
Hi Ashley! I am so thrilled to hear how much you enjoyed these cookies. Yes, highly recommend using refined coconut oil for a neutral taste. Thank you for taking the time to leave such a great review!
This recipe is delicious! I only made 1 substitute because I needed cookies that were also egg free. So I used 1/2 cup applesauce in place of the 2 eggs. But I would confidently say the original recipe is just as good, if not better, than the cookies I made. I used an ice cream scoop for bigger cookies and then halved them for smaller cookies. 10 minutes for both. Came out perfect! The next day they are still soft in the middle. You would never know these cookies are dairy free they are that good! I made these last night and I’ve already sent the recipe to 2 people. Thanks so much for a great dairy free recipe!
Hi Courtney! I am so excited you loved these cookies. My goal is to make recipes that taste normal, not gluten free or dairy free. Thank you for the thorough review and thank you so much for sharing this recipe with friends! I really appreciate it!
Hello again, Nina here! I let the dough chill in the fridge for 40hours and it still came out like kenetic sand! I almost threw it all away! It wasn’t until I took scoops into my hands and warmed and molded them into balls then into cookie shapes, then the dough finally resembled cookie dough. I baked them for 13-15minutes and to my delight they were delicious! Dense not airy but fantastic!
Hi Nina! I admire your dedication to these cookies. I am so glad they finally turned out well for you! Thank you for your patience and for writing a detailed review. I really appreciate it!
What should I do if they didn’t bind after more than an hour in the fridge? Can I add something?
Hi Nina! Add a little bit more flour if the mixture is too wet. More chilling time will help also. Hope they bind together!
I made the dairy free chocolate chip cookies with cup for cup artesian blend flour and they came out dry and horrible. What did I do wrong? I couldn’t even get them to stay together. I had to form them into a ball to make the dough study together to put on psn
Hi Debbie! I am sorry to hear that. I have not tried the cup for cup artesian blend flour, but any gluten free 1 to 1 flour should work. Was your coconut oil softened to room temperature? If it’s really cold out, the coconut oil will be solid. That could’ve been an issue.
Made them exactly as written, and very very dry.
I thought the dough looked dry when mixing, too. Maybe one more egg or more coconut oil, or less flour would have improved the recipe. Decent flavor tho! Just very dry. Chilled for 2 hours. Maybe needs to chill longer?
I wonder if anyone had similar experience?
can you use spenda for baking?
Hi Debbie! I do not bake with Splenda so I cannot give you a perfect answer. I do think a granulated sweetener would work fine, but may be sweeter than natural sugars, causing the cookies to be too sweet. Hope this helps!
Can I substitute gluten free flour on cookies and muffins ?
Must of your recipes you use gluten free flour and sometimes I can’t use it because it’s hard to find it my country ☹
Hi Manal! The only substitute for gluten free 1 to 1 flour is all purpose flour. You can check out some of my Paleo recipes which use almond flour and coconut flour. Hope this helps!