These vegan peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are soft and fudgy on the inside with crisp edges and rich peanut butter flavor. These cookies are super quick to make, so they’re perfect for a late-night snack with a cold glass of almond milk.
Why You’ll Love These Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Besides these cookies being downright delicious, we love them because they’re so easy! Like my vegan banana chocolate chip cookies, you only need one bowl and ingredients that you probably have on hand already. These cookies don’t require any chilling time so they’re also super speedy.
They’re completely vegan, eggless, and dairy-free thanks to some handy dandy applesauce which serves as our egg replacer. If you’re in the mood for a classic treat, then you need to whip up these easy cookies!
Here are a few more reasons you’ll love them!
- Soft & Chewy: These cookies are chewy and soft, with the perfect balance of nutty peanut butter flavor and rich chocolate.
- Accessible Ingredients: This recipe uses an accessible egg substitute: applesauce! It makes the cookies vegan-friendly and gives them a fudgy texture that’s perfect for dunking in a glass of soy milk or oat milk.
- Customizable! You can customize the recipe by using different nut butters, like almond butter or smooth peanut butter, and different sugars, like coconut sugar, to suit your taste preferences.
Ingredients
These soft & chewy vegan peanut butter cookies are made with only 9 ingredients and they can be made in one bowl. Easy peasy! They’re completely dairy-free and egg-free too. The applesauce replaces all the eggs in this recipe. And we’re subbing salted vegan butter for regular butter.
To make these super easy cookies, you’ll need to gather to following:
- Melted Vegan Butter
- Peanut Butter
- Brown Sugar
- Vanilla Extract
- Applesauce
- All Purpose Flour
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Vegan Chocolate Chips
the best vegan egg substitutes
No eggs are necessary for these cookies! Applesauce serves as a fantastic egg replacer. Since eggs also help leaven cookies, today we’re adding baking soda to help the cookies rise slightly.
Over the years, I’ve tested cookies like this with a few different egg replacers and without an egg replacer. Without the egg replacer in this recipe, the cookies will be slightly crumblier and will have a looser texture (and won’t be as moist).
I also tested vegan cookies with a flax egg as the egg replacer and the texture isn’t as fudgy.
dairy free vegan butter
My go-to vegan butter for baking is Earth Balance. I’m using the Buttery Sticks, not the spreadable tub of butter.
I’ve found that Earth Balance has a firmer texture great for baking. I haven’t tried other brands of vegan butter in this recipe, but they should work because we are melting the butter today.
Substitutions
- Egg Replacer: You can use a flax egg or another egg substitute if you don’t have applesauce.
- For a Gluten-free Version: use oat flour or use a gluten free all purpose flour blend for the best results and texture.
- Nut Butter: You can use smooth peanut butter or almond butter, depending on your preference.
- Chocolate Chips: Instead of vegan chocolate chips, you can use chocolate chunks or a combination of mini chocolate chips and dark chocolate chips.
- Sugars: You can use coconut sugar instead of white or brown sugar. I don’t recommend using a liquid sweetener like maple syrup.
- Oil: While I haven’t tested oil in this recipe, it will probably work. I recommend coconut oil or vegetable oil. Be sure to add a big pinch (about 1/4 tsp) of salt if you do use oil. And keep in mind, I can’t guarantee the end result if you substitute oil since I haven’t tested it!
Helpful Equipment
Below are some suggested tools to make these vegan chocolate chip peanut butter cookies:
- Digital Kitchen Scale: to measure all the ingredients accurately
- Cookie Sheet
- Measuring Cups or Scoops
Step-By-Step Instructions
🎥 Video Tutorial is Above the Recipe Card!
STEP 1: In a medium-sized bowl, mix the melted vegan butter, brown sugar, applesauce, vanilla extract, and peanut butter.
STEP 2: Sprinkle the flour, salt, and baking soda on top of the wet ingredients. Sift dry ingredients with a fork then mix them into the wet. Fold in the vegan chocolate chips or chunks.
STEP 3: The dough will be very soft but should be able to be scooped and rolled. Scoop the dough and roll into 8-10 sized balls.
STEP 4: Space the cookies 2” apart on the un-greased baking sheet. You can use parchment paper if you’d like.
STEP 5: Press balls of dough slightly with the palm of your hand to flatten them into thick discs.
STEP 6: Bake at 350F for 13 minutes. If you’d like to air fry these cookies, follow the instructions and tips in this post!
Cooling & Serving
Baking cookies for the correct amount of time is super important! After 13-14 minutes at 350F, the edges of the cookies should be slightly browned and firm to the touch. The middle of the cookies should no longer look wet or raw.
📌 TIP: The cookies will finish baking on the baking sheet which is why it’s important to leave them on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes.
After cooling on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, remove the cookies and place them on a wire cooling rack to finish cooling. The cookies will be slightly soft straight out of the oven but will firm up and become chewier as they cool.
Serve them warm with a cold glass of your favorite plant-based milk or a cup of coffee for an extra special treat.
Storage
Now that we’ve made these delicious cookies, we need to store them (if you even have leftovers)! I recommend storing them at room temperature for no more than 2 days in an airtight container or ziplock baggie.
After 2 days, I highly recommend freezing them. To freeze these cookies, place them in a freezer baggie and store them for 1-2 months.
Pro Tips for Fudgy & Chewy Cookies!
There are 4 necessary tips and steps the help take these cookies from fluffy & cakey to chewy & fudgy. Be sure to follow all of the steps and tips below to ensure your vegan peanut butter cookies come out nice and fudgy like the cookies in these photos!
1. measuring the flour:
- Accurately measuring the flour is critical to this recipe. Even 1-2 tbsp extra flour will result in thicker, puffier cookies.
- It’s important to use either a scale or the spoon and level method for measuring flour. For reference, 1 cup scooped directly from the bag (not spoon and leveled) is 140g. Whereas 1 cup using the spoon and level method is approximately 120g.
2. don’t chill the cookie dough!
- Contrary to other cookie recipes, we do NOT want to chill the cookie dough for these vegan cookies.
- The cookie dough will be super soft once you mix everything together, but it should be scoopable. You should be able to roll it into a ball.
- Chilling the dough would prevent it from spreading. And that’s the opposite of what we want here.
3. flattening the cookie dough:
- Once you roll the cookie dough into balls, gently press down on the top to flatten them into thick discs. This helps the cookies spread out more in the oven.
- You can also leave the cookie dough as balls of dough. They will still spread when baked and result in a chewy texture…just not as much as in the photos.
4. tapping the baking tray:
- When you remove the cookies from the oven, immediately tap the baking tray on the stove or counter 6-8 times. This helps flatten out the cookies further, helping them be chewier.
FAQ
Below are some tips, tricks, and faqs to help you make the best vegan chocolate chip peanut butter cookies!
Yes! This recipe is dairy-free since it uses vegan butter for the fat to add moisture. I recommend using Earth Balance Buttery Sticks in this recipe. This vegan butter has been tried and true in all my recipes over the years.
The cookies should spread quite a bit in the oven. The edges should be baked completely and the center should no longer appear glossy or wet after about 13 minutes. The cookies will continue to bake for a few minutes after you remove them from the oven which is why letting them cool for about 5 minutes on the baking sheet is important.
The cookie dough should be very soft but it should be able to be rolled into balls. This dough doesn’t need to be chilled. The soft nature of the cookie dough helps the cookies spread while baking, making them chewy & fudgy not soft & cakey.
More Classic Vegan Cookies You’ll Love:
- Classic Vegan Snickerdoodles
- Classic Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Oatmeal Cookies with Steel Cut Oats
More Unique Vegan Cookies:
- The Best Vegan Moon Pies
- Vegan White Chocolate Espresso Cookies
- Cranberry Almond Shortbread
- Easy Vegan Peppermint Mocha Cookies
- Stuffed Biscoff Lava Cookies
- Vegan Strawberry Shortcake Cookies
Did you make These Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies?
I’d love to know! Leave a star rating and comment below!
Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
If you're in the mood for a classic treat, then whip up these Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies! These cookies are soft and fudgy on the inside with crisp edges and rich peanut butter flavor.
They're completely vegan, eggless, and dairy-free thanks to some handy dandy applesauce which serves as our egg replacer. These cookies are super quick to make, so they're perfect for a late-night snack with a cold glass of almond milk.
Ingredients
Wet
- ⅓ cup (80g) smooth peanut butter
- ¼ cup (60g) melted vegan butter
- ¼ cup (60g) applesauce, unsweetened
- ½ cup (100g) brown sugar, packed
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Dry
- 1 cup (120g) all purpose flour, spoon and level method- see notes
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix together the smooth peanut butter, melted vegan butter, applesauce, brown sugar, and vanilla.
- Add the all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt on top. Sift the dry ingredients together with a fork, then mix them into the wet mixture.
- Fold in the vegan chocolate chips.
- The dough will be very soft but should be able to be scooped and rolled. Scoop about 1 1/2-2 tbsp of dough and roll them into balls. You should be able to make 8 large cookies.
- Space the cookies 2” apart on the ungreased baking sheet.
- Press balls of dough slightly with the palm of your hand to flatten them into thick discs.
- Bake at 350F for 13-14 minutes. The edges of the cookies should be slightly golden brown and firm. The center should no longer look wet or jiggly.
- When you remove the baking sheet from the oven, smack the baking sheet on the counter or stovetop 6-8 times. This helps deflate the cookies and makes them less puffy.
- Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet. Then, transfer them to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
Notes
1. Measuring the Flour:
- Accurately measuring the flour is critical to this recipe. Even 1-2 tbsp extra flour will result in thicker, puffier cookies.
- It's important to use either a scale or the spoon and level method for measuring flour. For reference, 1 cup scooped directly from the bag (not spoon and leveled) is 140g. Whereas 1 cup using the spoon and level method is approximately 120g. To make these cookies, we need 120g of flour.
2. Flattening the Cookie Dough
- Once you roll the cookie dough into balls, gently press down on the top to flatten them into thick discs. This helps the cookies spread out more in the oven.
3. Tapping the Baking Tray after Baking
- When you remove the cookies from the oven, immediately tap the baking tray on the stove or counter 6-8 times. This helps flatten out the cookies further, helping them be chewier.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 115Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gSodium: 49mgCarbohydrates: 15gFiber: 1gSugar: 6gProtein: 3g
Nutritional info is an estimate.
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Made the vegan cookies, they are delicious!!
I’m glad you enjoyed them!