Gluten Free Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

These gluten free vegan chocolate chip cookies are made with the best vegan egg substitutes for cookies to get a perfect bakery style texture. Gluten free dairy free chocolate chip cookies can be difficult to bake at home, but this eggless chocolate chip cookies recipe has the special instructions you need for perfect vegan cookies.

Someone recently asked me about gluten free vegan baking and I honestly didn’t know much. It had been a while since I even tried to bake anything gluten free. The last time I tried, the results were horrible and everything just fell apart. I learned better techniques and some things about bakery ingredients since then. So I bought some measure for measure gluten free flour to see if the techniques from making other vegan cookies would make these just as good.

Plant based butter doesn’t exactly cook or bake identically to real butter. Gluten free flour handles moisture a little differently also. Combined together in a recipe that works great for plant based butter, like my The Vegan Chewy Chocolate Chip Recipe, the equal measure gluten free cookies had tops that looked like too much butter. Another experiment balancing the moisture and fat content to flour ratio yielded cookies that didn’t have a normal texture and crumbled easily.

Xanthan Gum: The Secret Ingredient for Perfect Vegan Cookies

Ever wonder why store-bought cookies stay soft, chewy, and perfectly shaped for days? The answer often lies in xanthan gum—a powerful binder and stabilizer used in commercial baking to improve texture and shelf life. But guess what? It’s just as useful in the home kitchen, especially for vegan baking.

Why Use Xanthan Gum?

Xanthan gum acts as a structural support in cookies, mimicking the elasticity that eggs provide in traditional baking. Without it, vegan cookies can sometimes spread too much or become crumbly. But with just a tiny amount (we’re talking ½ teaspoon per batch), you get:

✔️ Thicker cookies that don’t flatten too much
✔️ A chewier texture that holds up beautifully
✔️ Improved dough elasticity for a better bite

Xanthan Gum + Aquafaba = Next-Level Vegan Baking

For this recipe, I take it one step further—by whisking xanthan gum into aquafaba (the liquid from canned chickpeas) to create a foamy, egg-like substitute. This helps the cookies rise taller and chunkier, just like their non-vegan counterparts. 

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If you don’t have xanthan gum, cornstarch works as a substitute, though it’s not quite as perfect. But trust me, once you try the aquafaba-xanthan gum method, you’ll never look back.

The Secret to Bakery Style Vegan Cookies

So, what makes these gluten free vegan chocolate chip cookies different from the rest? It’s all in the details. Here are the game changing techniques I use to make bakery-worthy vegan cookies at home:

1. Use Vegan Butter Sticks – I swear by vegan butter sticks over all other options for the perfect fat-to-water ratio that mimics the makeup of dairy butter.
2. Add in Special Ingredients – Higher protein makes cookies chewier and thicker. This gluten free dairy free chocolate chip recipe limits what we can add for baking texture while keeping it vegan. We can increase the protein content of the flour by supplementing with unflavored protein powder. You could also try adding cornstarch which can do the same thing, just a slightly different outcome and nutritional profile. We also love to add additional xanthan gum to a gluten free baking recipe for the enhanced results as well.
3. Cream Butter & Sugar Correctly – Creaming vegan butter and sugar together properly aerates the dough, creating that perfect light-but-chewy texture.
4. Refrigerate the Dough – Chilling for at least an hour keeps the fats solid, preventing overspreading and ensuring thick, puffy cookies.

More links you might be interested in:

• The Vegan Chewy Chocolate Chip Recipe
• Chewy Bakery Style Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
• Impossible Pork Copycat – Elevated Plant-Based Protein
• Siete Dairy Free Queso Copycat – Elevated Plant-Based Cheese Seasoning
• Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookie Vegan Copycat

Ingredients For Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

• Plant based butter
• Light brown sugar
• Organic white sugar
• Aquafaba, the liquid from a can of chickpeas
• Pea protein powder
• Xanthan gum
• Vanilla extract
• Measure for measure gluten free flour
• Plant based chocolate chips
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Salt

I used King Arthur Gluten Free Measure For Measure flour and a little extra xanthan gum for this vegan gluten free chocolate chip cookie recipe. The xanthan gum is the key upgrade in making your gluten free chocolate chip cookies hold together. Together with the aquafaba and protein, it’s what takes on the role of the missing egg and gluten and keeps the cookies from crumbling and falling apart.

Instructions for Gluten Free Dairy Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

1. Sift the baking powder, baking soda, protein or cornstarch, and salt into the gluten free flour and set aside

Making a Replacement for Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

2. Whisk the xanthan gum into the aquafaba and set aside

Creaming Plant Based Butter and Sugar

3. The ultimate key to making great gluten free dairy free chocolate chip cookies is to cream the butter and sugar together well. Usually, butter is left to come to room temperature for creaming in a cookie recipe. The fat and moisture in plant based butters don’t handle the same. I found that the plant based butter creams best cold, and if you take the extra step of blending the sugar fine beforehand it creams even quicker and easier.

Assembling The Gluten Free Dairy Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

4. Being careful to not overwork the dough, add the dry ingredients and egg replacement to the mixing bowl and bring together just enough to barely combine
5. Reserve 2 or 3 chocolate chips for the tops of the cookies
6. Fold in the plant based chocolate chips by hand so they don’t get mangled by the mixer

7. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour

Baking The Gluten Free Dairy Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

8. Preheat oven to 350F
9. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and space out 2oz scoops at least a couple of inches apart
10. Without flattening the scoops of dough, apply two or three of the reserved chocolate chips to the top of the cookie

11. Bake in the upper rack of the oven for 15-18 minutes
12. Allow to cool an additional 10 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack

Variations and Substitutions

Try adding your favorite nuts for a nutty cookie, or add cocoa powder for a gluten free double chocolate chip cookie.

If you plan on making gluten free baked goods, deli seitan slices, or salad dressings you will need to pick up some xanthan gum. There isn’t a substitute for the binding quality and texture enhancement it gives these cookies.

Storing Vegan Cookies

The xanthan gum helps cookies retain surface moisture and not go dry quickly. This eggless chocolate chip cookies recipe should be stored in an airtight box or bag. Separating the cookies with parchment paper will also help retain their texture and appearance.

FAQs

Going gluten-free? These cookies hold their own against any classic version, without the wheat or the guilt. For a foundational understanding of eggless baking, read Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe: How to Bake Without Eggs. Want to expand your gluten-free baking empire? Try Raisin Oatmeal Cookies Vegan Recipe: How to Bake Without Eggs for a chewy, nostalgic option, Cornflake Cookies Milk Bar Copycat: How to Bake Without Eggs for something wildly unconventional, or go luxe with Vegan White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies: How To Bake Without Eggs.