Say hello to the BEST Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies ever!
Vegan Pumpkin Cookies
Do you have a can of pumpkin in your kitchen right now? Please, tell me you do… because you’ll need it to make these easy pumpkin chocolate chip cookies! And trust me, you’re definitely going to want to make these beauties ASAP.
Because let’s be real: can you think of any better way to spend a chilly Fall afternoon than baking and then devouring these pumpkin chocolate cookies? ↓
Tips and Tricks for Recipe Success:
- First of all, let’s talk about texture! These cookies are crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. They are NOT cakey pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. But they do come out of the oven VERY soft. So it’s crucial to cool the cookies on the baking sheet for at least 30 minutes before serving. But if you can, I suggest letting them cool a full hour! The longer they sit, the firmer and chewier and they get. The silver lining is that these cookies taste even better with time!
- So now that we’ve covered texture, let’s move onto flavor. Because these vegan pumpkin chocolate chip cookies have a lot of it! In addition to real pumpkin puree (be sure not to grab pumpkin pie mix by accident!), these cookies are flavored with brown sugar, vanilla, molasses, and pumpkin spice. Yum ♥
- These pumpkin choc chip cookies don’t spread out too much while they bake, so be sure to scoop the dough into mounds, then lightly press down the top of the mound before baking.
- I make VERY large cookies with this recipe, and usually get about 1 dozen. However you can make smaller cookies, just be sure to decrease the bake time a minute or two.
- For extra pretty – and extra chocolatey – cookies, press a few chocolate chips on top of them right when they come out of the oven. You can also add a sprinkle of flaky sea salt!
- If you don’t like coconut flavor, you should use refined coconut oil, which does not have a coconut taste or scent. If you don’t have coconut milk, almond milk or soy milk will work fine!
- Finally, be sure not to over bake your cookies! As I mentioned earlier, they will be very soft when you remove them from the oven, but they firm up a lot while they cool.
These are hands down the tastiest pumpkin chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever eaten! Not cakey, plenty of pumpkin flavor, and soooooo many chocolate chips… I mean, what’s not to love? The fact that they’re vegan is really just the icing on the cake 😉
If you try this recipe for Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, let me know! Leave a comment below and don’t forget to snap a pic and tag it #bakerbynature on instagram! Seeing your kitchen creations makes my day.
More Vegan Cookie Recipes:
Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Prep
Cook
Inactive
Total
Yield 16 cookies
Thick and chewy Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies! Loaded with flavor!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, solid (be sure it's not melted at all)
- 3/4 cups dark brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons unsulphured molasses
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened coconut milk (almond or soy milk will also work)
- 1/3 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix!)
- 2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (be sure not to pack your flour)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 and 1/2 cups chocolate chips (use vegan chocolate chips if vegan), divided
- Flaky sea salt, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl using a handheld electric mixer, beat the coconut oil, both sugars, and vanilla on medium-speed until smooth; about 2 minutes. Add in the molasses, coconut milk and pumpkin puree and beat on low speed until well combined. Turn mixer off.
- In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice; whisk well to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and, with the mixer on low speed, beat until ingredients are combined. The batter will be very thick! Fold in 1 and 1/4 cups of the chocolate chips.
- Scoop three tablespoon sized mounds of dough onto the prepared cookie sheet, leaving a few inches between each cookie. Bake for 9 to 10 minutes, or until the edges are golden and the centers are soft but set. Press remaining chocolate chips on top of warm cookies, and sprinkle with sea salt, if using. Cool cookies on the baking sheet for 30 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.
Courses Dessert
Cuisine Cookies
Anna says
September 6, 2017 at 5:40 pmDo you have any make ahead tips (Does the dough freeze well if we make it in advance?)?
And how long will these last if properly stored?
PS – Your vegan chocolate chip cookies have been a hit, so my friends and I are sooo excited for these 🙂
bakerbynature says
September 10, 2017 at 2:09 pmHi Anna! You can definitely make the dough and keep it in the fridge for up to 2 days. But you’ll need to bring it to a scoopable temperature before baking them. I haven’t had luck freezing this dough, but the cookies stay delicious for up to 3 days after being baked… not that they usually last that long 😉
Savannah says
September 10, 2017 at 1:47 amYour recipe says 1/3 pumpkin purée, does this mean 1/3 cup or 1/3 of the can??
bakerbynature says
September 10, 2017 at 2:00 pmHi Savannah! Sorry for the confusion – you’ll want to use 1/3 cup of pumpkin puree 🙂
Erin M. says
September 13, 2017 at 10:09 amI made these over the weekend and they were awesome! They’re my new favorite pumpkin cookie! Thank you for the recipe!
Rachel Hayden says
September 30, 2017 at 6:28 pmCan you use maple syrup instead of the molasses ?
Annie Harris says
December 2, 2018 at 12:14 amI did and they came out great!! best cookies I have ever had!
Laura says
October 11, 2017 at 12:14 amIs the molasses to add taste to the cookie or for a texture purpose? Could I use syrup or agave nectar instead? I want to make these this week and I have everything but the molasses. TIA,
Kris says
October 18, 2017 at 2:08 amI used honey and the cookies turned out amazing! I think syrup/agave would maybe affect the integrity of the cookies because the consistency of those two are runnier than honey or molasses, but I’m really not an expert!
Kelly says
October 28, 2017 at 6:30 pmThese are delicious!! Just made them and they turned out great. Thanks for an easy, fantastic recipe!
Nancy Anter says
November 8, 2017 at 1:12 pmCould you use apple sauce instead of 1/2 cup of coconut oil?
bakerbynature says
November 9, 2017 at 12:10 pmI don’t recommend it.
Anna says
November 25, 2017 at 4:49 amBummer… I want to make these but I can’t eat coconut oil, it hurts my stomach so bad…
Andreea says
October 25, 2018 at 12:52 pmUse a vegan margarine or vegan butter
Leanne says
November 14, 2017 at 2:40 amI was so excited to make these with my daughter, as we love trying new vegan recipes! They look so delicious and soft and chewy 🙂 Sadly, the ingredients are not 100% vegan, and that is a lot of sugar! The granulated and brown sugars are not vegan because granulated sugars (which is also what most brown sugars are made of) are processed using bone char, I know it’s gross and weird right? Ugh, well anyway, I wanted you to know. But Ill try to adapt a recipe from this one you have 🙂 Thank you!
bakerbynature says
November 14, 2017 at 12:38 pmHi Leanne. I actually used Wholesome brand sugar, which I’m 99.9% sure is vegan 🙂 Here’s a great resource for sugars not made with bone char! I hope that helps! https://ordinaryvegan.net/vegansugar/
NC says
November 30, 2017 at 5:13 amFabulous! I had leftover pumpkin from our oatmeal oven pancake. Thank you so much for warning us about how soft they come out. I resisted the urge to leave them in longer–so glad I did. These are so yummy.
I added some dried cranberries for a bit of tang. They’re perfect for our school’s fall bake sale.
Nins says
December 5, 2017 at 5:20 pmwhite sugar in Canada is vegan if you use Redpath brand
Is Redpath Sugar suitable for Vegetarians and Vegans? We do not use animal products or by-products in our refining process for sugar, so Redpath Sugar products are suitable for Vegetarians and Vegans.
FAQs | Redpath Sugar
http://www.redpathsugar.com/faqs
Hannah says
September 23, 2018 at 3:27 amI made these cookies today and the flavor is great but they never hardened up. They pretty much fall apart. I’m not sure what happened. It looks like everyone else had good results.
Brigitte says
September 28, 2018 at 5:15 pmI usually don’t bake sweet cookies , i like mine healthy with barely any sugar , I had frozen pumpkin from last year . I modified the recipe a little .
I didn’t use white sugar at all , just 2/3 cup organic brown sugar , did 1/2 cup pumpkin and 1/3 coconut oil I switched these 2 I didn’t want it to be to fattening , only 1 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 cup roasted walnuts and all organic whole wheat flour . They are very very good the texture of mine were crispy has I like my cookies hard not moist . I baked them 2 to 3 minutes longer . I got 19 cookies nice size about 1 big table spoon I patted flat a little .
Next time I will bake them just the way I did but reduce the salt I thought it was to salty to 1/4 ts and reduce the sugar because they were sweet to 1/2 cup brown sugar . I usually bake with coconut palm sugar which is less sweet but I wanted to get rid of my brown sugar . I couln’t imagine adding 1/2 cup of white sugar . You have molasses , brown sugar and the sugar from your chocolate , so if you don’t like to sweet reduce the sugar but notthe molasses because it gives the cookies depth . Thanks for a great recipe that you can change to your needs. I always like to comment after making a recipe so it helps others in baking it .
Kierstin says
October 20, 2018 at 6:09 pmMade these last night, and I had just run out of brown sugar, so I subbed that with about 1/2 cup of maple syrup and subbed honey for the molasses. Added a couple extra tablespoons of flour because of the liquid sweetener sub. Used about 1 cup of chocolate chips. They still came out great! Thanks for this recipe!
Julie D says
October 22, 2018 at 6:46 pmMan, oh man! This is our favorite new cookie recipe! ! ! These are amazing! I did reduce the sugar and cut the chocolate chips by half and they were perfect. My husband has a sweet tooth and is not vegan. He absolutely loves these also. They might be closer to the best we’ve ever had.
Rachel says
October 27, 2018 at 2:38 pmI made this 2 days ago, made a batch on the spot and left half the recipe for later. I have to say the batch that stayed in the fridge tasted much better and had a nicer shape. The cookies are all gone now, I ate 6 cookies on my own and gave the rest away to friends who absolutely loved them. So so good. The only thing I did differently was that I reduced the sugar a little bit. I used 3/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar (110g) and 1/2 cup of organic raw cane sugar (100g). I am making another batch now for my husband and to have something delicious to snack on during the week.
Liz Gergel says
November 12, 2018 at 7:02 pmThese cookies turned out to be absolutely fantastic! My party guests got into the raw cookie dough and were sandwiching the baked cookies between raw dough on either side. Thanks for posting! This will definitely be a recipe I use again.
Mikie says
November 15, 2018 at 6:17 amThat is the funniest comment I’ve seen, and now I want to party at your place lol
Cathy says
November 22, 2018 at 4:46 pmThese were so good, thanks! I used a cup for cup GF flour blend and decreased sugar to 2/3c brown sugar and1/3c white sugar. Still deliciously sweet and my whole family loves them, yum! Between all my kids there are wheat, egg, and dairy allergies so it’s great to have a cookie everyone can enjoy.
Mayelin Perez says
December 13, 2018 at 3:41 amWOW! these are PERFECT cookies!! I just found this recipe on google since i didn’t have eggs or butter for non-vegan cookies, but wanted something sweet. Went with this recipe since I had all the ingredients and I’m so glad I did–the cookies were soft, chewy, gooey, and had a delicious taste without being too sweet! Will definitely make these again and again! <3
Elizabeth says
December 16, 2018 at 1:55 pmHow are your cookies so orange with just 1/3 cup of pumpkin? Mine don’t look like that at all.
Aisha says
December 18, 2018 at 9:13 pmSo delicious!! Made them twice already !!! going to make the all the time
bakerbynature says
December 20, 2018 at 2:09 pmYay! So happy to hear that, Aisha!
Xena says
January 14, 2019 at 1:29 pmI’m not a big pumpkin lover but these cookies WERE. THE. BOMB. I think they are definitely my favourite choc chip cookie. I do have a question: when I baked some of these right away, they looked very much like your pics. The next day, I baked the remainder that had been in the fridge and for some reason, they spread more.
Any ideas as to why this may have happened?
Regardless, this was a fabulous recipe Ashley 🙂
Catherine says
February 3, 2019 at 5:47 pmExcellent!
Linda in Vermont says
March 23, 2019 at 4:47 pmThese are absolutely delicious! I made them using a medium scoop (1-1/2 T) and the baking time was roughly the same (but I think my oven runs a little cool so take that with a grain of salt). Non vegans won’t know the difference and the vegans in your life will love you for these.