Get the best dairy free chocolate chip cookies recipe! These dairy free cookies are based on the original Toll House cookies recipe, and are delicious and chewy with crisp edges. Learn how to make butter free chocolate chip cookies, get info on finding a chocolate chip that’s dairy free, and more! You’ll love these non-dairy chocolate chip cookies that taste just like the ones that contain dairy.
Delicious cookie, taking it out when they don’t look fully cooked was a game changer
– Mary
Do chocolate chip cookies contain dairy? Though there are many recipes out there for cookies without milk, most chocolate chip cookies use butter and chocolate chips with dairy. Luckily, it’s very easy to make your favorite chocolate chip cookies recipe dairy free.
Please keep in mind that though that this dairy free chocolate chip cookie is not a recipe for allergen free chocolate chip cookies. These cookies still contain the major allergens wheat and eggs. (If you need a vegan or gluten free dairy free chocolate chip cookie, don’t miss my tips in the FAQs below.)
All we’re doing here is taking the Original Nestle Toll House Cookie Recipe and substituting the butter and chocolate chips. These swaps don’t make the cookie any more healthy (unless of course not eating dairy is healthier for you).
If anything, making your cookies dairy free might make them a little less nutritious. You may not get the vitamin A you would in the butter, the small amount of calcium in the chocolate chips, and so on. (Note: some dairy-free products are fortified so the missing vitamins and minerals are added.)
If you wanted a healthy dairy free chocolate chip cookie (“healthier”), try swapping half the all purpose flour in this recipe for whole wheat flour. You can also substitute the white sugar and brown sugar for 1:1 Swerve sugar substitutes.
🍪 Dairy Free Chocolate Chip Cookies Ingredients
Here’s your shopping list for chocolate chip cookies without dairy:
- 1¼ cups all purpose flour (white flour; 150g)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoons vegan stick butter (1 stick)
- 6 tablespoons white sugar (72g)
- 6 tablespoons packed light brown sugar (72g)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup dairy free chocolate chips (240g)
Get a printable recipe card below!
These are basic ingredients that most U.S. kitchens will have, except for the vegan butter and DF chocolate chips. For the non-dairy “butter,” be sure to use a stick butter, not a whipped butter in a tub. The vegan butter spreads tend to have added water and/or air, and don’t bake like regular butter.
These days, it’s easy to find vegan butter alternatives in regular U.S. grocery stores such as Super Walmart. I’m using Country Crock Plant Butter. Here are some other non dairy butter substitutes for cookies:
Some of the dairy free chocolate chips are far more expensive than regular Nestle’s morsels. If you’re on a budget, look for the Great Value chocolate chips that are free from the 8 major food allergens. You can find them at Walmart.
Here are some other options for dairy free chocolate chips:
🍽 Equipment
Here is the kitchen equipment you need for dairy free chocolate chip cookies:
You also need an oven, obviously.
A food scale is especially important when measuring dry ingredients for baked goods. Often, if a cookie recipe “didn’t work” it’s because the person used measuring cups alone. Cookie dough can end up too dry or too wet depending on how those ingredients were measured.
A cookie scoop gives you evenly sized cookies and makes the process easier. It is optional, but helpful if you bake often.
A baker’s rack works well as a cooling rack and helps keep excess moisture from collecting under the cookies as they cool.
For the best results choose a light colored baking sheet.
💡 How to Make Dairy Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Let’s make dairy free cookies! If you’ve made Tollhouse cookies before, this is basically the exact same thing.
Mix the white flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Set it aside for now.
Put the vegan butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla in a medium-size mixing bowl. Use an electric hand mixer to beat it until creamy. You don’t want to overmix it- 1-2 minutes is plenty.
Next, add in your egg and flour mixture and mix again with the electric mixer. After the flour is fully incorporated, stir in the dairy-free chocolate chips by hand.
Now put the bowl with the dairy free cookie dough in the fridge and chill for one hour. This helps make the cookies soft and thick, without too much spreading.
What does melted butter do to chocolate chip cookies?
When you put warmed cookie dough straight in the oven, the butter melts too quickly and the cookies spread a lot. Your cookies will be very thin and crispy with chewy middles. If you want a dense chocolate chip cookie, don’t skip chilling the dough.
At the end of the chilling time, preheat the oven to 375F (190C). Use a cookie scoop to put rounded tablespoons of chilled dough on the cookie sheet.
Make sure to leave enough space between the cookies. I usually only put 9-12 scoops of dough on the baking sheet at a time, and bake the cookies in multiple batches.
️⏲ Dairy Free Cookies Cooking Time and Temperature
Bake dairy Free Chocolate Chip Cookies for 8-10 minutes in an oven preheated to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190C). The cookie sheet should be on an oven rack about one-third of the way from the top of the oven. The cookies should look a little underdone coming out of the oven.
The cookies on the left in this photo were baked 10 minutes on a dark cookie sheet, while the ones on the right baked 8 minutes:
They continue to firm up as they cool, so you don’t want them to get too dark in the oven.
Let the cookies cool on the baking tray for 1-2 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to finish cooling. If using a dark baking sheet, you’ll want to get them off the sheet as soon as you can.
These cookies are delicious warm or cold, and are great with a cold glass of your favorite dairy free milk alternative. Enjoy!
🌡️ Leftovers
Dairy free chocolate chip cookies last up to 3-4 days in the refrigerator in a covered container.
These cookies also freeze beautifully. Stack them in a freezer-safe container with parchment or freezer paper between the cookies to prevent sticking. Put them back in the fridge to defrost for 24 hours when you’re ready for a snack.
Dairy Free Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
These dairy free chocolate chip cookies are based on the original Toll House cookies recipe, and are delicious and chewy with crisp edges.
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Course Snack
Cuisine American
Servings 21
Calories 147 kcal
Please leave a comment below 😊
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Measure the flour, sugars, and chocolate chips using a food scale.
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Mix the white flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Set it aside for now.
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Put the vegan butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla in a medium-size mixing bowl. Use an electric hand mixer to beat it until creamy. Don’t overmix it- 1-2 minutes is plenty.
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Next, add in your egg and flour mixture and mix again with the electric mixer. After the flour is fully incorporated, stir in the dairy-free chocolate chips by hand.
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Put the bowl with the dairy free cookie dough in the fridge and chill for one hour. Don’t skip this step! It helps stop the cookies from over spreading.
- At the end of the chilling time, preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Use a cookie scoop to put rounded tablespoons of chilled dough on a cookie sheet. I usually only put 9-12 scoops of dough on the baking sheet at a time, and bake the cookies in multiple batches. Hot tip! A rounded tablespoon means 2 tablespoons.
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Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes on an oven rack about one-third of the way from the top of the oven. The cookies should look a little underdone coming out of the oven.
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Let the cookies cool on the baking tray for 1-2 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to finish cooling. If using a dark baking sheet, you’ll want to get them off the sheet as soon as you can.
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Dairy free chocolate chip cookies are delicious warm or cold. They’re great with a cold glass of your favorite dairy free milk alternative.
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💭 Expert Tips from Dietitian Summer Yule
This is a level 3 recipe (weight maintenance and active lifestyles). These dairy free chocolate chip cookies are just as indulgent as traditional ones. They are not lower in calories or higher in fiber, though they may be a bit lower in saturated fat depending on the vegan butter you use.
If you prefer to limit vegan butter because it is highly processed, you can replace half of it with refined coconut oil. This change will increase the calories slightly, since coconut oil has about 120 calories per tablespoon while butter has about 100.
If you are choosing dairy free cookies due to lactose intolerance, keep in mind that regular butter is very low in lactose. Chocolate chips made with milkfat but no milk can also be nearly lactose free. Depending on your needs, you may find that you do not need specialized ingredients.
The biggest nutritional shift would come from replacing the sugars with Swerve and using sugar free chocolate chips. This would reduce the calories and lower the carbs. Even with these swaps, cookies are easy to overeat, and some people with a weight loss goal may find them difficult to enjoy in moderation.
Nutrition information is for one cookie.
nutrition info disclaimer
All recipes on this website may or may not be appropriate for you, depending on your medical needs and personal preferences. Consult with a registered dietitian or your physician if you need help determining the dietary pattern that may be best for you.
The nutrition information is an estimate provided as a courtesy. It will differ depending on the specific brands and ingredients that you use. Calorie information on food labels may be inaccurate, so please don’t sweat the numbers too much.
“To taste” means to your preferences, which may have to be visual to follow food safety rules. Please don’t eat undercooked food x
Calories: 147kcalCarbohydrates: 19.2gProtein: 1.8gFat: 7.5gSaturated Fat: 3.9gFiber: 0.8gVitamin A: 0.3% DVCalcium: 0.1% DVIron: 3.6% DV
Keywords dairy free chocolate chip cookies, dairy free cookies
FAQs
What’s the best substitute for butter in chocolate chip cookies?
IMVHO, the best substitute for butter in cookies is either refined coconut oil or vegan butter sticks (such as the ones by Earth Balance). Vegetable shortening (i.e., Crisco) may have a similar profile of added fats as vegan butter. However, the vegan butter is flavored to be more similar to butter and may be fortified with more of the nutrients butter has.
Are Nestle chocolate chips dairy free?
Regular Nestle Toll House chocolate chips do contain milkfat and (in some cases) milk as well. Even the Nestle dark chocolate morsels are not dairy free. However, Nestle also offers allergen free morsels that are dairy free. They have dairy free white chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, and semi-sweet chocolate.
Are Betty Crocker cookie mixes dairy free?
At the time of writing, Betty Crocker chocolate chip cookie mix does contain milk. Many of their other cookie mixes are listed on various sites as vegan, but this is largely incorrect. Additionally, baking mixes with a dairy free ingredients list may have had cross-contact with dairy-containing ingredients during processing.
How to make gluten free dairy free cookies?
To make dairy free cookies gluten free, you will need a GF substitute for white flour. Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour is a popular gluten free flour option. I haven’t tried it in this recipe, but it would be a worthy experiment!
How to make dairy free chocolate chip cookies vegan?
To make vegan chocolate chip cookies, use the dairy substitutes mentioned in this article for the butter and chocolate chips. You will also need to use your favorite egg replacer in place of the egg. Additionally, make sure the sugars you use are vegan and haven’t been processed with a bone char filter.
What egg substitute should I use for chocolate chip cookies?
Flax eggs and Ener-G egg replacer are two popular egg substitutes for cookie recipes. Ideally, the replacer will have binding and leavening properties.
👨🍳 More Dairy Free Cookie Recipes
After making my dairy free choc chip cookie recipe, here are some other recipes for dairy free cookies to try:
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Hello! I’m Summer, a registered dietitian and home chef who loves to cook, eat, and create recipes for you! Every recipe on this site has been tested by me to help ensure your success in the kitchen. All eaters are welcome here 🙂
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