These Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies are soft, chewy pumpkin cookies filled with crunchy dark chocolate chips and packed with pumpkin flavors.
Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are amazing and such an essential part of the Autumn season.
You might have seen my delicious almond flour pumpkin cookies, but if you have a nut allergy or don’t have almond flour, you will want to try this new nut-free recipe with very simple ingredients and minimal steps.
However, if you prefer a thicker cookie, try my Banana Bread Cookies.
Ingredients and Substitutions
All you need to bake delicious vegan cookies this fall are:
- All-Purpose Flour – You can also use white spelt flour or white wholewheat flour.
- Canned Pumpkin Puree – This is not pumpkin pie filling! Pumpkin puree is made from pure pumpkins with no added oil or added sugar. If you can’t buy store-bought pure pumpkin puree, try my homemade pumpkin puree recipe.
- Soft Brown Sugar or coconut sugar.
- Sugar – You can also use sugar-free sweeteners like Swerve.
- Maple Syrup, molasse, or brown rice syrup.
- Pumpkin Pie Spices – for classic fall flavors.
- Baking Soda – for a small rise.
- Vegan Butter – melted and cooled at room temperature.
- Vanilla Extract – for flavor
- Vegan Dark Chocolate Chips – I like to use mini chocolate chips for cookies. They easily blend in the dough.
How To Make Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
If you are a baking lover, put your apron on and try baking a batch of these chewy vegan pumpkin cookies.
- To make the cookie dough, add the melted vegan butter, sugar, pumpkin puree, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and brown sugar in a stand mixer or large bowl (photo 1).
- Beat with a paddle attachment or hand beater until the sugar has dissolved. It takes under a minute. Stop the beater (photo 2).
- In another bowl, stir all the dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spices, salt, baking soda, and baking powder (photo 3).
- Finally, pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients, stir halfway, then fold in vegan chocolate chips (photo 4).
- Keep stirring until the chocolate chips are evenly incorporated into the pumpkin cookie dough (photo 5).
- Film the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes (photo 6).
Baking The Cookies
Meanwhile, line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper and lightly spray cooking oil on the paper. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
When the dough has chilled, remove the bowl from the fridge, remove the film, and grab 1 1/2 tablespoons of cookie dough in your hand.
Roll into a cookie dough ball and place on the cookie sheet, leaving two thumb spaces between each cookie dough ball.
Press the top of the cookie a little, not too much, so they keep some decent height when they bake.
Bake on the center rack of the oven. They will expand slightly. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes at 350°F (180°C) until just golden brown on the edges.
Let the cookies cool down for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.
Cool completely at room temperature. It takes about 30 minutes to cool.
Storage Instructions
Store the cookies in an airtight container in the pantry for up to 3 to 4 days.
You can also store the cookies in the fridge for up to 1 week or freeze them in airtight zip-lock bags for a month.
Thaw the pumpkin cookies a room temperature the day before eating.
Allergy Swaps
If you need some ingredient substitutions, try some of the options below.
- Gluten-Free – I didn’t try all-purpose gluten-free flour but I am pretty sure it will work well if your blend is a 1:1 substitute to wheat flour. This type of blend generally contains added gums that hold the cookie shape well.
- Chocolate Chips – You can use any type of dairy-free chocolate chips, including white or oat milk chocolate chips. Other options are finely chopped pecans, walnuts, or almonds.
- Sugar – You can replace the granulated sugar with more brown sugar. The cookies will be chewier without white sugar.
- Vegan Butter – You can use melted coconut oil, but the cookies will harden and crisp more.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below are my answers to your most common questions about this vegan pumpkin dessert recipe.
Most of the time, flat vegan cookies have too little flour or too much sugar.
Since there are no eggs as a binder, the precision in measuring each ingredient matters even more for cookies.
More Pumpkin Cookie Recipes
If you like baking with pumpkin, you’ll love these other pumpkin cookie recipes:
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Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chips Cookies
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup Pumpkin Puree
- 1 ¾ cup All-Purpose Flour
- ½ cup Dairy-Free Butter (Unsalted) - melted, cooled
- ½ cup Soft Brown Sugar
- ¼ cup Sugar
- 2 tablespoons Maple Syrup
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ¼ teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon Cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spices
- ½ cup Dairy-Free Dark Chocolate Chips
Instructions
- In a large bowl and using an electric beater, beat melted vegan butter, sugar, brown sugar, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and pumpkin puree until smooth and no lumps of sugar are left.
- In another bowl, whisk flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin spices.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients, and halfway, fold in 1/2 cup of vegan chocolate chips.
- Stir to incorporate evenly and form a consistent pumpkin cookie dough.
- Cover the bowl and chill the dough for 30 minutes. This is a must. Don't skip.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper and lightly oil the paper with oil spray.
- Scoop 1 1/2 tablespoons of cookie dough and roll it into a ball between your hands.
- Place the cookie dough balls on the cookie sheet, leaving 3 inches (8 cm) of space between each.
- Flatten each cookie ball lightly with your fingers – these cookies won't spread much, so this is a must, or the cookies will be thick and take longer to bake.
- Bake for 11-12 minutes or until golden brown and slightly puffed up.
- Cool at room temperature on the cookie sheets for 15 minutes, then slide a spatula under each cookie to gently transfer it onto a cooling rack.
- The cookies deflate and get all their pumpkin flavors after a few hours at room temperature and enhance after a few days.
Storage
- Store in a cookie jar for up to 4 days or freeze in an airtight container for up to one month.
Could I substitute the flour for whole wheat flour?(and if so just a 1-1) ratio?)) thank you!!!!
-and could I use applesauce instead of the butter?
Do you think it would still taste the same?
Thanks
It will definitely not taste the same, since the cookies already contains lots of moisture from pumpkin puree, I wouldn’t swap oil for another high moisture ingredient like applesauce. The oil is much neede dfor texture here. Wholewheat flour should work, but it will add fiber, drying out the batter and making the cookies much more dry.
H! Can I use this recipe to make a bread loaf?
Looks like the only ingredient I need to add is 2 eggs…
You can bake the recipe in a loaf pan, you don’t need to add eggs the recipe hold it’s shape perfectly egg-free.
These cookies are easy to make, have a great texture and big potential for flavor. Nevertheless, although I love cinnamon I think the quantity of the recipe is excessive. It camouflages all the other flavors. I’ll give it a try again but with a quarter of the spices. Thank you for your share.
Pumpkin cookies on repeat in my kitchen! They turned out amaze. Shared with my skeptical non-vegan pals, and they couldn’t believe it’s plant-based!
Made these pumpkin cookies for my Halloween party. I added a dash of nutmeg for that extra spooky kick. Delicious
Y’all, these vegan pumpkin choco-chip cookies are a fall dream come true! Made them for a cozy movie night, and they disappeared faster than autumn leaves. Huge thanks!