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These are the BEST vegan pumpkin chocolate chip cookies! They’re thick, chewy, soft, lightly spiced, and loaded with real pumpkin flavor and plenty of vegan chocolate chips!
Soft, Chewy, & Thick Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Fall is here, and we couldn’t be happier filling our houses with the delectable scents of apple cinnamon bread, easy pear crisp, and these vegan pumpkin chocolate chip cookies! These vegan pumpkin cookies are not only perfectly soft and thick, with a crisp outside and chewy middle (not cakey), but they’re loaded with real pumpkin, are super simple to make, and are the perfect way to embrace the season!
Rather than letting the increasing energy costs slow us down (yet), we’re using it as the excuse to use the entire oven every time it’s switched on. Meaning double or triple batches of all our favorite goods to freeze for later or making a combination of fall-based treats like these easy pumpkin chocolate chip cookies alongside vegan pumpkin chocolate chip muffins and vegan pumpkin bread. As a bonus, baking helps to keep your house warm, too!
Even better, canned pumpkin puree allows you to enjoy these dairy-free pumpkin cookies year-round if desired. Though, with the combination of regular sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon (or pumpkin pie spice), these vegan pumpkin spice cookies are the embodiment of fall and require no eggs or dairy to be delicious.
The recipe requires only 10 inexpensive pantry ingredients, one bowl, and minimal hands-on effort to prepare. Best of all, it’s adaptable too. Increase or decrease the batch size, replace the vegan chocolate chips, add to the cookies, or tweak the recipe to become gluten-free, refined sugar-free, etc.
Once baked, these soft pumpkin cookies make for a delicious afternoon snack or a welcome addition to potlucks, parties, and gatherings like Halloween and Thanksgiving (45 Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes here!
The Ingredients
This easy vegan pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe relies on just 10 inexpensive, simple pantry staples for a budget-friendly fall treat.
To make refined sugar-free pumpkin cookies, use coconut sugar in place or brown sugar and organic cane sugar to replace the white sugar. However, these both are more costly.
Other Vegan Pumpkin Cookie Recipe Add-Ins
- Orange zest: From one orange.
- Coffee: 1-2 teaspoons of espresso or instant coffee powder make delicious pumpkin spice latte cookies.
- Coconut: 2-3 tablespoons unsweetened shredded coconut for texture and flavor.
- Crystallized ginger: Very finely chopped and just a little for added heat.
Our favorite combination for subbing the vegan chocolate chips is using pumpkin seeds or walnuts with dried cranberries. They’d taste great with some vegan white chocolate chips, too.
- Cinnamon sugar: Roll the cookie dough in a coarse cinnamon sugar mixture to make pumpkin snickerdoodle-style cookies.
- Vegan icing: Combine powdered sugar, maple syrup, plant-based milk, and a little vanilla or cinnamon to drizzle over the vegan pumpkin cookies.
- Vegan frosting: Pumpkin and vegan cream cheese frosting pair wonderfully, and it’s easy to veganize, too. Combine powdered sugar with vegan cream cheese and a little vanilla – that’s it.
- Vegan chocolate: To double up on chocolate in these vegan chocolate chip pumpkin cookies, drizzle some dairy-free chocolate over the cooled cookies (semi-sweet, sweet, or white chocolate).
- Flaky salt: A tiny sprinkle over the cookies balances and enhances the sweetness and flavors within these vegan pumpkin cookies.
How to Make Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies?
Preparing these easy vegan pumpkin spice cookies couldn’t be much simpler and requires just a handful of steps, one bowl, and minimal effort.
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350F/175C and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. 2) Next, cream the vegan butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Then add the pumpkin puree, vanilla extract, and applesauce, mixing well.
Step 2: Next, sift in the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt, and mix until well combined, being careful not to overwork the batter. Finally, carefully fold in the vegan chocolate chips (and chopped walnuts, if used).
Step 3: Divide the vegan cookie dough into generous spoonfuls to transfer to the prepared cookie sheet, flattening the dough gently with the back of a spatula. Bake the vegan pumpkin cookies for between 12-15 minutes until they become golden-orange in color and are crisp along the edges. Then, remove them from the oven and transfer them to a cooling rack to cool for a minimum of 30 minutes before enjoying!
These dairy-free, eggless pumpkin cookies don’t spread much in the oven, so you’ll need to flatten them into your desired thickness and shape before baking.
Lightly greasing the spatula can help avoid sticking when flatting the dough.
For prettier cookies, you can press a few more vegan chocolate chips into the top of each cookie immediately after removing them from the oven while they’re still soft.
FAQs
You can use homemade or store-bought pumpkin puree (not canned pumpkin pie filling) to make these easy vegan pumpkin spice cookies.
However, be aware that homemade pumpkin puree can contain more liquid and may require straining through a cheesecloth-lined strainer for about an hour to remove excess liquid.
These vegan pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are actually very make-ahead-friendly. First, you could store the cookie dough, covered, in the fridge for 2 days before baking the cookies.
You can also either freeze the unbaked cookie dough balls or roll the dough into a log and wrap it tightly with plastic wrap to freeze for up to 3 months.
You can bake the cookies from frozen, adding a few minutes to the oven time (slightly flattening them halfway into the baking) OR allow the cookie dough to thaw in the fridge overnight, then shape and bake.
Top Recipe Tips and Notes
- Flatten the cookies: They don’t spread in the oven, so flattening/shaping them beforehand is important.
- The cookie size: You can easily increase or decrease their size and the baking time accordingly.
- Be careful not to overbake the cookies: They may look soft, but these vegan pumpkin chocolate chip cookies firm up as they cool.
- Don’t skip the cooling time: They’re delicious warm, but their firmness, chewiness, and flavor only improve over time, making them even better after an hour or two of cooling (and even better on day two!).
How to Store Vegan Pumpkin Cookies?
Store the cookies in an airtight container with parchment paper between the layers for 2-3 days (or 4-5 in the fridge). Note that they will soften over time this way. For a slightly crisper cooker, only loosely cover them.
To freeze them, either wrap the cookies individually or in stacks with parchment paper between them. Store them in the freezer for up to 3 months. Allow them to thaw at room temperature (for about 15 minutes) or warm up gently in a microwave in 10-second intervals to enjoy.
Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup vegan butter at room temperature
- ½ cup of brown sugar
- ½ cup of granulated sugar
- 1 cup of pumpkin puree
- 1 ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract
- ¼ cup of applesauce
- ⅛ teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 2 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1 cup vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (176 degrees C) and prepare a cookie sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, mix the vegan butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until creamed. Add the pumpkin, vanilla extract, and applesauce and mix well.
- Add the salt, cinnamon, baking soda, flour and mix thoroughly. Fold in vegan chocolate chips and walnuts, if using.
- On the prepared cookie sheet, scoop a generous spoonful of cookie dough and flatten with a spatula.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes, until they turn a golden-orange color.
- Allow to cool before enjoying.
Notes
- Flatten the cookies: They don’t spread in the oven, so flattening/shaping them beforehand is important.
- The cookie size: You can easily increase or decrease their size and the baking time accordingly.
- Be careful not to overbake the cookies: They may look soft, but these vegan pumpkin chocolate chip cookies firm up as they cool.
Nutrition
Disclaimer: Although journeytowellnesspath.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, kindly note that these are only estimates. Nutritional information may be affected based on the product type, the brand that was purchased, and in other unforeseeable ways. journeytowellnesspath.com will not be held liable for any loss or damage resulting for your reliance on nutritional information. If you need to follow a specific caloric regimen, please consult your doctor first.
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Absolutely best vegan cookies we’ve made in years. I was going to double the batch to bring some as sweet treats to thanksgiving but didn’t have enough butter 😩 so we made them smaller but have already eaten half of them! 🤣🤣😮💨
Thank you for a delicious vegan recipe that doesn’t brick up or taste like dirt !
Happy holidays 💗🍃🍂🍁🦃
That’s so awesome to hear! They’re such yummy cookies!!
Thanks for sharing this tasty recipe. I love biscoff so much
Same! So sweet and delicious!
Love these cookies so good!
You can’t go wrong with these delicious cookies!
Love this variation of chocolate chip cookies with pumpkin! It’s absolutely perfect for the fall!