These vegan brown butter chocolate chip cookies are perfectly gooey in the center while being deliciously crisp around the edges. They're easy to make and loaded with the most amazing flavor thanks to the rich brown butter and pools of dark chocolate.
This recipe was originally posted in March 2021, but has since been updated as of October 2024.
Thanks to brown butter, these are easily the best vegan cookies I've ever had and I've tried a lot of vegan cookie recipes! They stay soft and chewy for days and are the perfect combination of salty and sweet. They're similar to my peanut butter chocolate chip cookies except they don't have peanut butter and use brown butter for a richer flavor.
Like most cookie recipes, they're easy to make and can be prepped ahead of time. If you or your friends & family have any allergies, these are the perfect option as ingredients can easily be swapped without sacrificing the deliciousness of these chewy cookies!
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Why you'll love this recipe
- Brown butter adds a slightly nutty and toffee-like flavor to take a classic chocolate chip cookie to the next level!
- The perfect texture: they're soft and chewy yet have crispy edges and pools of melted chocolate.
- You need less than 10 basic ingredients. You likely already have the majority, if not all, of the ingredients in your kitchen.
- They're freezer-friendly, making it easy to either prep ahead of time or whip up a few cookies whenever a craving hits!
- Allergen-friendly: these cookies are vegan, dairy-free, eggless and can easily be made gluten-free!
Equipment
- Baking sheet / Cookie sheet
- Cookie scoop: for even sized cookies, and ultimately even baking! I like to use the 1.5 ounce scoop.
- Parchment paper: to ensure the cookies don't get stuck to the baking sheet
- Whisk
- Mixing bowl: one large bowl for the cookie dough, one small bowl for the egg replacers.
- Spatula: switch over to a spatula when mixing the dry and wet ingredients together to avoid overmixing.
- Kitchen scale: for the most accurate measurements of all ingredients
- Measuring cups & spoons: if you don't want to use/don't have a scale. Be sure to use the spoon & level method for the flour.
Ingredients
- Flour: all-purpose flour is best here but 1:1 gluten-free baking flour works as a substitute if needed.
- Baking Soda: as our leavening agent to help the cookies rise.
- Salt: just a pinch!
- Vegan Brown Butter: Brown butter is typically real butter that has been cooked just long enough to toast the milk solids found in the butter. Browning the butter adds richness and an irresistible nutty but sweet flavor to cookies. But vegan butter doesn't have milk solids, so what are we doing? We're taking it past the point of melted right up to when it changes color and begins to caramelize! Making the brown butter is super simple on the stovetop, just keep your eye on it (seriously, don't walk away). I recommend using sticks as opposed to the tubs of butter. Vegan butter from a tub/spread often contains added water, which can make the cookies more firm than soft. I like to use Earth Balance, Melt, Miyoko's Creamery or Country Crock sticks for all of my dessert recipes.
- Sugars: we'll be using a mixture of both light brown and granulated sugar. The light brown sugar will help make the cookies soft and chewy while the cane sugar will help the cookies spread.
- Flaxseed Meal: to create a flax egg (and a flax egg yolk) as our egg replacer!
- Vanilla Extract
- Chocolate Chips: I used mini vegan chocolate chips for these cookies but feel free to use regular morsels, chocolate chunks or a chopped chocolate bar. I recommend using semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips in order to balance out the sweetness level.
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
variations & Substitutions
- Make these cookies gluten free by substituting all-purpose flour with gluten-free flour at a 1:1 ratio.
- Use applesauce or egg replacement powders instead of flax eggs. I have found the cookies come out a bit more cake-like with applesauce.
- If you don't have vegan butter, you can use melted coconut oil instead. Your cookies will taste a bit different, but will still be delicious!
- Swap the sugars out for coconut sugar. The cookies won't be as sweet, but it'll work!
- Switch up the mix-ins. Swap the chocolate chips for chopped walnuts, pecans, or vegan white chocolate chips.
- Swap out 4 tablespoons of flour for cocoa powder! This makes brown butter double chocolate chip cookies!
This recipe has not been tested with any other substitutions or variations than the ones listed above. If you replace or add any ingredients, please let us know how it turned out in the comments below!
Instructions
- Brown the butter over medium heat, stirring constantly until the butter begins to foam and turns a golden brown, this should take 5-7 minutes. As soon as the butter turns golden, take it off the heat to prevent any more liquid from escaping. Pour the brown butter into a heatproof bowl to stop the cooking process. Let the butter cool to room temperature before using.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together cooled browned butter, light brown sugar and granulated sugar until smooth and combined. Add in the flax egg and vanilla extract, whisk until combined.
- Add the flour, baking soda and salt to the wet ingredients. Fold in the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula until just combined.
- Add in the chocolate chips and mix once more until the chocolate chips are distributed throughout.
- Chill for at least 1 hour or overnight for best results. Scoop the dough and roll into balls. Place the balls of dough 2" inches apart on your prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10-11 minutes, or until the edges are just golden and the middle is puffed and still soft.
COOLING THE COOKIES: After removing from the oven, allow the vegan brown butter cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before eating or transferring to a cooling rack or wire rack, plate or container. This will allow the cookies to finish baking and the center to firm up, resulting in a super chewy cookie!
Expert Tips
- Once the butter turns a golden brown color immediately remove it from the heat. I've tested a few different brands, and some take longer to caramelize than others. Keep an eye on it and stir often so the butter doesn't burn.
- Allow the butter to cool before using in this recipe: in baking we prefer to use room temperature ingredients, so we should allow hot ingredients to cool down. This ensures that your cookies aren't oily and dense.
- After browning, there should be ~140g butter remaining. If too much butter evaporated while browning, add non-dairy milk!
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients a little bit at a time to be safe, just in case the butter evaporated too much. If you add it all at once, your dough may end up a little dry.
- Chill the cookie dough for at least 1 hour before baking! The cookies will be extremely thin and spread out otherwise.
- Weigh your ingredients for the most accurate result. If you don't have a kitchen scale, be sure to use the spoon and level method when measuring the flour especially.
- Do not overmix! Stop mixing once the moment there are no more flour streaks running through the cookie dough. Overmixing will lead to a tough, dense cookie.
- Don't overbake. I promise the cookies will continue baking outside the oven and the middle will set.
- Bake cookies on the middle rack. For the softest, chewiest and evenly baked cookies, only use the middle rack of your oven.
- Make perfectly round cookies by placing a large, round cookie cutter (or a wide-mouthed glass) over a cookie. While the cookies are still hot, spin the cookie cutter in a circular motion to scoot the cookie edges into a perfect circle.
Serving Suggestions
I'm sure we all know how to eat cookies, but here's some suggestions to enhance the experience:
- Serve on a dessert 'charcuterie' board
- Sprinkle with flaky sea salt
- Drizzle with melted chocolate
- Allow the cookies to cool completely then build ice cream sandwiches by pressing a scoop or vegan ice cream between two cookies
- Crumble into a milkshake
- Dip into a glass of plant-based milk, vegan whipped cream or vanilla yogurt
Storage
Room temperature: These cookies will stay soft and keep well for a few days. Stored baked brown butter chocolate chip cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Do not store the raw cookie dough at room temperature, ever!
Refrigerator: Store unbaked cookie dough in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Then, roll into balls and bake as directed! Baked cookies can be stored in the fridge for up to 5-7 days.
Freezer: These cookies are freezer friendly! Allow the baked cookies to cool completely first then transfer to freezer safe bag or container and freeze for up to 3 months. Allow them to thaw at room temperature before enjoying. You can also freeze unbaked cookie dough for quick and easy cookie baking in the future. Follow recipe direction steps 1-6 as is. Once chilled, form the balls of cookie dough then place each cookie dough ball on a lined baking sheet. Flash freeze for 2-4 hours, or until the cookie dough balls are frozen solid. Transfer the dough balls to a freezer friendly ziploc bag or container and freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to bake, remove from the freezer and pick back up with recipe step 7. Bake for 1-2 minutes longer than directed, or until golden on the edges.
FAQ
This could be the result of not allowing the brown butter to cool to room temperature before mixing the dough, not chilling the dough long enough, or not browning the butter long enough to allow some of the liquid to evaporate off! Browning the butter will naturally cause some of the liquid to evaporate, but make sure have 140g of brown butter remaining. Chill for at least 1 hour but if the dough still seems too wet, chill for longer.
This is likely the result of too much flour! Be sure to either weigh your flour or use the spoon and level method. Add the flour in increments to make sure you're not adding too much and left with a dry dough.
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- Parchment Paper
Ingredients
- 2 flax eggs 2 tablespoon of flaxseed meal + 4 tablespoon of water
- ¾ cup (168 g) vegan butter browned and cooled to room temp (you should have ~140g (½ cup + 3-4 tablespoons) remaining once browned)
- 1 cup (200 g) light brown sugar packed
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1 ¾ cup (210 g) all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ cup (185 g) chocolate chips
- a sprinkle of flaky sea salt for garnish (optional but highly recommended)
Instructions
- In a pan, melt and brown the butter over medium heat, stirring constantly until the butter begins to foam and turns a golden color (or just deepens in color), this should take about 5-7 minutes. As soon as it turns the golden brown color, remove the pan from heat. There should be 140g (~½ cup + 3-4 tablespoons) of butter remaining. Transfer the brown butter to a bowl and allow to cool to room temperature. If it's too hot, the dough and cookies will be a greasy mess. Do not let it re-solidify, it should still be a pourable liquid!¾ cup vegan butter
- Prepare the egg replacer and allow to set for 5 minutes.2 flax eggs
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the cooled brown butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Beat until smooth. Add flax eggs and vanilla extract. Mix to combine.2 flax eggs, ¾ cup vegan butter, 1 cup light brown sugar, ¼ cup granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon vanilla
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Using a rubber spatula, fold the ingredients together until just combined. Gently fold in the chocolate chips.1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour, ¾ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, 1 ½ cup chocolate chips
- Cover the cookie dough with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour (overnight is best if you can stand to wait), or up to 72 hours.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a cookie scoop, scoop the dough out into balls, placing on the prepared baking sheet a 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 10-11 minutes, until golden and the edges are just set (you want to underbake them slightly, as they'll continue to bake as they cool).
- Sprinkle each cookie with flaky sea salt and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes. Enjoy!
Grey says
Fabulous recipe. Had to use spreadable vegan butter as that's all I could find, also used chia eggs instead of flax but these still turned out amazing! The brown butter definitely adds another layer of flavour.
Lauren Casolaro says
I'm so glad you liked these and that the spreadable worked well!!
Erin says
Hi! I'm excited to try these. Is this a dough I could roll and use cookies cutters on or does it spread too much?
Thanks!
Lauren Casolaro says
Hi!! I would not recommend using cookie cutters, they definitely wouldn't hold the shape!
Michael Coulson says
These are my GO TO cookies and everyone I’ve ever made them for requests me to make them again every time I go over to their place haha
However I will share my secret ingredient, a droplet of almond extract. And I mean a DROPLET. It is overpowering and can take over. Say 1/8 teaspoon. It is the one thing I think brings the cookies to the next level.
Lauren Casolaro says
I'm so glad you love these!!! I'll have to try a drop of almond extract the next time I make these for myself!
John says
Loved these! Still soft and chewy days after
Lauren Casolaro says
Yay!!
Kristin says
I made these and loved them?? However, are we supposed to use unsalted butter or just regular?
Lauren Casolaro says
I'm so glad you loved them!! They're one of my favorites. You can use unsalted or salted, it honestly doesn't make a difference so I typically use regular salted because it's what I always have in the house.
Tyler says
THESE TASTE SIMILAR TO ENTENMANN’S COOKIES BUT EVEN BETTER THEY ARE SOOO GOOD!!!
Lauren Casolaro says
LOL I'm so happy to hear that! Glad you enjoyed
Samantha says
I love these cookies so much!! I’ve made them several times and have even made a few batches gluten-free and every time they’re perfect!
Lauren Casolaro says
I'm so glad you love these and have had success! Thanks for your review 🙂
Sophie Lusty says
HELP! I made these, and although delicious, they spread out and were very thin and crispy 😭. I converted the ingredients to weight, is that where I went wrong? Is the most likely culprit not enough flour? Could it be the brand of vegan butter I used (Trader Joe’s). Thanks!!!
Lauren Casolaro says
AH!! So sorry - it might be the conversion, I doubt the butter! Did you chill the dough?
Stephanie McCarthy says
Same here! I did everything according to the recipe. They were SUPER oily before baking and ended up really flat around the edges.
Lauren Casolaro says
Thanks so much for letting me know! I'm going to retest these ASAP and I'll let you both know when updates are made!!
Lauren Casolaro says
Hi Stephanie - I've just updated the recipe card with new (and metric) measurements for the flax egg and the butter along with more thorough instructions and notes. Be sure that you've evaporated off enough butter from the browning process, there should be ~140g of butter remaining. Also, let the brown butter cool to room temperature before using. I've upped the chill time to a minimum of 1 hour but longer is always better. Thank you for bringing the issues you had to my attention and if you do try the updated recipe, I hope it works for you! If you don't want to try again, I completely understand!
Lauren Casolaro says
Hi Sophie - I've just updated the recipe card with new measurements for the flax egg and the butter along with metric/weight measurements for everything and more thorough instructions & notes. Be sure that you've evaporated off enough butter from the browning process, there should be ~140g of butter remaining. Also, let the brown butter cool to room temperature before using. I've upped the chill time to a minimum of 1 hour but longer is always better. Thank you for bringing the issues you had to my attention and if you do try the updated recipe, I hope it works for you! If you don't want to try again, I completely understand!
Tamar says
Oh wow! Completely decadent! The recipe is definitely for keeps. Thanks!
Lauren Casolaro says
So glad you loved it!! 🫶🏼
Micaela says
These are INCREDIBLE!!! Non vegan here and made them for some vegan friends. I was totally skeptical at first using vegan ingredients but they were to die for! Huge hit and will definitely make again 🙂
Pinch of Parsley says
Thanks so much Micaela!! So glad to hear you and your friends loved these.
Lauren says
my favorite brown butter chocolate chip cookies ever.
Paige says
I thought the POP oatmeal chocolate chip cookies were my favorite.. NOT ANYMORE. This is the most divine chocolate chip cookie recipe! Truly the perfect balance between sweet and salty. I opted for gluten-free flour and regular butter sticks, and it worked out great!
Pinch of Parsley says
OMG yay!! Thank you so much Paige. Glad you're loving the cookie recipes 🙂
Kristen says
I have made this recipe twice. The cookies seem a bit greasy - what consistency should they have after the flour is added? My dough is positively soupy. I measure flour by weight. Could that be it? Otherwise the flavor is great, the best flavor of any vegan chocolate chip recipe I have tried.
Pinch of Parsley says
Hi Kristen, thanks so much for your comment, I'm so glad you love the flavor of these! 🙂 The dough should definitely NOT be soupy. It should feel and look like a standard cookie dough that you can easily roll and mold. I've never had a problem with the dough being soupy so I would recommend using a standard measuring cup for the flour and see if that helps with the consistency or just add 1-2 grams of flour at a time until it's no longer soupy. I believe it should be at least 224g of flour. Also, can I ask what butter you're using? If you're using vegan butter, make sure it's the sticks and not the tub. The butter in the tub typically has a higher oil content, resulting in greasier cookies. Don't forget to chill the dough for at least 1/2 hour before rolling and baking. Please let me know if you try them again and if any of these suggestions were helpful!
Robert says
These are the best cookies ever. I almost forgot to bake them because the dough was so good I couldn't stop eating it. Bonus points for being edible!
Pinch of Parsley says
Thank you so much Robert! The dough is tooooo good, totally agree
Sasha says
Can I use two regular eggs? Or will it change the cookies? Want to try these!!
Lauren Casolaro says
Hi Sasha! Yes, I’d recommend using 1 egg and 1 egg yolk (both at room temp)!
Nicole says
these are the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had
Pinch of Parsley says
Ah!! Yay, I'm so glad to hear that! Thanks so much Nicole.
Mariann says
You weren't kidding...these are really the best chocolate chip cookies. You would never know they're vegan! I am not vegan so I have tried these with regular eggs and butter and they're very delicious that way too.
Pinch of Parsley says
I cannot tell a lie!! So glad the vegan and non-vegan version worked well for you.