Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

These chewy, coconut oatmeal cookies are bursting with chocolate chips.

Close-up of vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
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Serious Eats / Yvonne Ruperti

Why It Works

  • Rolled oats and coconut flakes give the cookies a pleasant, chewy texture without the aid of non-dairy binders.

As a non-vegan who eats, cooks, and bakes with animal products daily, I don't think about vegan baking in the slightest. However, I have experimented in special diets and vegan baking a few times at the request of clients. When the opportunity pops up, I take it as a challenge to devise a recipe that tastes delicious and as close to "the real thing" as possible (apologies for any offense here). When I bake up these recipes, one thing is important to me—I don't want to use any "substitute" ingredients, such as egg replacers, xantham gum, and the like. This is mostly because I just don't stock the stuff and I want to use whatever I have in house.

Years ago, an order for vegan chocolate chip cookies came in at my bakery. As I searched for recipes, I came across a popular one called "unbeatable oatmeal chocolate chip cookies." I glanced it over, eliminated the oddball ingredients such as the egg replacer and soy milk, made a few tweaks, and whipped up a batch. Even without the egg replacer as a binder, they were truly great. Admittedly more delicate than an egg-bound cookie, the cookies were still great thanks to the oats and coconut which impart a decent chew. They were so good, in fact, that I'd bake up a batch to sell in the pastry window whenever I had the chance. I wouldn't even say they were vegan, and no one ever knew.

May 2013

Recipe Details

Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

Active 10 mins
Total 30 mins
Serves 12 servings

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) packed light brown sugar

  • 1/2 cup canola oil

  • 2 tablespoons agave nectar

  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

  • 1 tablespoon water

  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

  • 1 cup (5 ouncesall-purpose flour (see notes)

  • 1 cup rolled oats

  • 1/4 cup desiccated coconut

  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

  • 1 1/4 cups chocolate chips (see notes)

Directions

  1. Adjust rack to middle position and preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

  2. In a large bowl, whisk brown sugar, oil, agave, salt, water, and vanilla until combined. Stir in flour, oats, coconut, baking soda, and chocolate chips until combined.

  3. Scoop onto baking sheet, spacing evenly apart and gently press to about 3/4-inch thick. Bake until lightly golden and just set, about 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on pan 10 minutes, then transfer to cooking rack to finish cooling.

Special Equipment

Rimmed baking sheet

Notes

Whole wheat flour can replace 1/4 cup of the all-purpose flour.

You can purchase vegan chocolate chips online or look for high-quality dark chocolate that doesn't contain dairy or animal products and then chop it into chunks. For example, Dandelion Chocolate's single origin bars are made from just cacao and sugar.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
302 Calories
16g Fat
41g Carbs
3g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 12
Amount per serving
Calories 302
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 16g 20%
Saturated Fat 4g 22%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 126mg 5%
Total Carbohydrate 41g 15%
Dietary Fiber 2g 8%
Total Sugars 25g
Protein 3g
Vitamin C 0mg 2%
Calcium 22mg 2%
Iron 2mg 8%
Potassium 127mg 3%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)