This Vegan Cookie Dough Recipe is the perfect no-bake dessert ready in 15 minutes! It's quick and easy to whip up, and made with just 7 ingredients!
Sometimes we all have a sweet tooth where we want a dessert now, not two hours from now, or tomorrow, but just right now.
This is exactly where this vegan cookie dough recipe steps in! It's fudgy, delicious, easy to make, and packed with chocolate chunks. The best part is that it's ready in 15 minutes!
And think of the many ways you can use this vegan chocolate chip cookie dough- in homemade vegan brownies, carrot cake cupcakes, carrot cake frosting, ice cream, etc.
For more quick and easy vegan desserts, check out my 1-minute vegan mug cake, oat milk chocolate pudding, and Oreo milkshake without ice cream.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Perfectly safe to eat. This recipe is made using heat-treated flour and without eggs, making it safe to consume raw.
- Ready in no time! I love making my double chocolate chip cookies, but because the dough needs to rest they take SO long. With this recipe, you can have a treat ready in less than 20 minutes!
- Allergy-friendly. This vegan cookie dough is egg-free and dairy-free and can be made gluten-free with 1 simple swap.
- Suitable for make-ahead and freezing. It can last for up to 2 weeks in the fridge and 3 months in the freezer.
Ingredients You'll Need
- Vegan butter: I use VioLife's plant butter block, but I think that this recipe can work with vegan butter from a tube as well. Nowadays, you can find vegan butter in most grocery stores in the US.
- Chocolate: Use vegan chocolate chips or chop a bar of dark chocolate.
- Light brown sugar: Brown sugar gives chewiness and flavor to the cookie dough. You can also use coconut sugar if desired.
- Granulated sugar: I like to use a mix of brown sugar and white sugar, but you can use all brown sugar as well.
- Flour: I use regular all-purpose flour, but you can also use gluten-free all-purpose flour if needed.
See the recipe card below for the full list of ingredients and exact measurements.
Substitutions
If you want to make this recipe using healthy ingredients, here are some swaps you can make. Keep in mind that the cookie dough won't taste the same, and the texture may change.
- Flour: You can use oat flour, almond flour, and coconut flour, but keep in mind that the measurement will change. For example, coconut flour is extremely absorbent, so you may need to add just a few tablespoons (not 1 cup of flour as written in the recipe). Start with a low amount and work your way up, adding some almond milk if the dough gets too dry.
- Butter: To add more healthy fats, you can substitute half of the vegan butter with cashew butter or almond butter. Just note that there will be a nutty taste and the flavor won't be as neutral.
- Sugar: You can substitute it with maple syrup, I think that ½ cup in total should be enough. Note that you may need to add a bit more flour to make up for using a liquid sweetener.
- Chocolate: You can use dark chocolate chips or mini chocolate chips if you want to switch things up.
How To Heat-Treat Flour
Raw flour can contain harmful bacteria, making it unsafe to eat. Therefore, it needs to be heat-treated before incorporating it into the dough. Here are the two ways you can do that:
- Oven: Preheat oven to 390F (200C) and spread flour on a baking sheet in a thin layer. Bake for 10 minutes, stirring every 3 minutes to prevent burning. Let it cool completely.
- Microwave: Spread flour in a thin layer on a microwave-safe plate. Microwave the flour for 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds to prevent burning, until piping hot. Let it cool completely.
How to Make This Vegan Cookie Dough Recipe
Step 1: Heat treat your flour using one of the methods mentioned above. I like to use the microwave and cook the flour for 2 minutes since it's quicker. Set aside and let it cool completely.
Step 2: To a large bowl, add softened vegan butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Using a handheld mixer, cream the butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes until the butter is fluffy and everything is well combined.
Step 3: Add the cooked flour, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt, and using the mixer, mix for 10-20 seconds, just until the flour is incorporated. Don't overmix!
Step 4: Add the chocolate chips and mix them into the dough using a rubber spatula. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes before serving to firm up. This is optional, but recommended. Then form it into cookie dough balls if desired.
👩🏼🍳 Petra's Tips
- Use room-temperature butter. Unlike other baked goods like eggless cinnamon rolls where you need melted butter, here softened butter is mandatory! This ensures that the fat will be able to mix with the sugar and the rest of the ingredients well.
- Cool the flour completely after heating. If you add the flour hot, you risk melting both the butter and the chocolate.
- Use high-quality chocolate. It really makes a difference, especially when you're not baking the dough. Use a chocolate that you love, I like to chop a bar of Lindt dark chocolate.
- If using salted butter, skip the added salt for best results.
Recipe FAQs
No, you'll need to modify the batter to bake the dough successfully. For example, you'll need to add a flax egg, baking powder, and some milk.
No. Regular cookie dough contains raw flour which can be dangerous. That's why we use heated-trough flour to make sure there aren't any harmful bacteria.
Generally, this is fine in recipes like vegan banana bread and vegan churros, and although I haven't tried it, I think it will work here as well. You'll need to use softened, and not melted coconut oil. Also, make sure to use refined coconut oil, otherwise, your cookie dough will have a coconut taste.
Yes! This recipe freezes perfectly. You can scoop it into balls, transfer them to a plastic bag, and freeze it for up to 3 months.
This recipe can last up to 2 weeks in your fridge! I like to use a cookie scoop to form it into balls, and then transfer them into an airtight container.
Serving Suggestions
- Add fun mix-ins! You can fold sprinkles, vegan M&Ms, chopped nuts like roasted air fryer pecans, and even brownie pieces. The sky is the limit! However, don't use more than ⅔ cups of mix-ins or the dough will have a hard time sticking together.
- Make cookie dough ice cream - fold the cookie dough into your favorite vegan vanilla ice cream.
- Turn it into cookie dough bars - press the mixture into a loaf pan and let it set in the fridge for 2 hours. Then cut into bars and enjoy!
- Stuff it inside my cinnamon rolls without eggs. And yes, that's a thing! Instead of adding butter and cinnamon sugar, you can spread some of this cookie dough for a fun twist!
More Easy Vegan Desserts
If you tried this Vegan Cookie Dough Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting today!
📖 Recipe
Vegan Cookie Dough Recipe
Equipment
- Handheld mixer or a stand mixer
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour of choice (either all-purpose flour of GF all-purpose flour)
- ½ cup unsalted vegan butter* softened to room temperature
- ½ cup brown sugar unpacked
- 2 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- A pinch of salt
- ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate
Instructions
Heat-treat flour (2 ways)
- Microwave: Spread flour in a thin layer on a microwave-safe plate. Microwave the flour for 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds to prevent burning, until piping hot. Let it cool completely.Oven: Preheat oven to 390F (200C) and spread flour on a baking sheet in a thin layer. Bake for 10 minutes, stirring every 3 minutes to prevent burning. Let it cool completely.1 cup flour of choice
Make cookie dough
- To a large bowl, add softened vegan butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Using a handheld mixer, cream the butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes, until the butter is fluffy and everything is well combined.½ cup unsalted vegan butter*, ½ cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoon granulated sugar
- Add the cooked flour, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt, and using the mixer, mix for 10-20 seconds, just until the flour is incorporated. Don't overmix!1 teaspoon vanilla extract, A pinch of salt
- Add the chocolate chips and mix them into the dough using a rubber spatula. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes before serving to firm up. This is optional, but recommended. Then form it into cookie dough balls if desired. Serve!½ cup semisweet chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate
Video
Notes
- Use room-temperature butter. Make sure to soften the butter before making this recipe. Cold butter or malted butter won't work! This ensures that the butter will be able to mix with the sugar and the rest of the ingredients.
- Cool the flour completely after heating. If you add the flour hot, you risk melting both the butter and the chocolate.
- Use high-quality chocolate. It really makes a difference, especially when you're not baking the dough. Use a chocolate that you love, I like to chop a bar of Lindt dark chocolate.
- Fridge: This vegan cookie dough recipe can last up to 2 weeks in your fridge! I like to use a cookie scoop to form it into balls, and then transfer them into an airtight container.
- Freezer: This recipe freezes perfectly. You can scoop it into balls, transfer them to a plastic bag, and freeze it for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated with third-party calculations without including the optional ingredients.
Natasha says
Delicious! The salt and the chocolate chunks - omg incredible.
Petranka says
Happy to hear you liked the recipe!