This quick and easy butterless chocolate chip cookie recipe uses coconut oil instead of butter for a soft, chewy cookie.
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Full disclosure: I am WEIRD about chocolate chip cookies. I don't know what it is, really. I'm just PICKY. And I'm picky, but, like, in the WRONG ways?
Example: I DO NOT like chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven. Sometimes you get burned by a still-really-hot chocolate chip, which UGH. Give me room temperature cookies all day every day.
I also refuse to dip cookies in milk - milk makes cookies soggy and I just don't get the appeal, I guess.
SO. Just give me a soft, fluffy, room temperature chocolate chip cookie with no milk, please. This is the way to my strange, anti-all-the-regular-chocolate-chip-cookie-things heart.
These butterless chocolate chip cookies are actually kind of wonderful, though. Made from scratch? Check. Without butter? Check. Soft and chewy? Check annnnnnd check.
(And you are totally allowed to eat them hot from the oven and dip them in milk if those things make your heart happy. We accept all kinds of cookie monsters here at Life As A Strawberry HQ!)
Chocolate Chip Cookies Without Butter!
These cookies have NO butter! There's just a bit of smooth, melted coconut oil for body and flavor.
(Note: Coconut oil at room temperature is usually solid, but just spoon it into a glass measuring cup and zap it in the microwave to melt it down for this recipe):
I've been having a lot of fun baking with coconut oil lately, and it's a great alternative if you prefer to avoid butter/dairy in recipes (or have a craving for chocolate chip cookies but no butter in the house!)
You can taste a bit of coconut flavor in these chocolate chip cookies, but it's definitely not overpowering. The coconut oil also lends a very slight crispness to the outside of these butterless cookies - but the insides are soft and chewy just like a perfect chocolate chip cookie should be!
How do you like YOUR chocolate chip cookies? Let me know in the comments!
VIDEO: HOW TO MAKE BUTTERLESS CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Butterless Chocolate Chip Cookies with Coconut Oil
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: Makes 25-30 cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Description
Easy, chewy chocolate chip cookies with no butter.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup liquid form coconut oil (see recipe notes)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- ¾ cup white sugar
- ¾ cup packed brown sugar
- 2 ½ cups flour (measured correctly by scooping and leveling)
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 heaping cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine liquid coconut oil, vanilla, eggs, sugar, and brown sugar. Whisk to combine.
- Add flour, kosher salt, and baking soda to bowl and stir until ingredients are incorporated and you have a smooth dough.
- Fold chocolate chips into dough until they are evenly distributed.
- Line a large baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or a sheet of parchment paper.
- Use a large cookie scoop (I like this 3-Tablespoon one) to scoop dough, and place dough scoops 1 inch apart on the baking sheet.
- Bake cookies at 375 degrees F for 9-12 minutes until lightly browned. Remove to a wire rack to let cool.
- Serve cookies immediately or let them cool completely and then store in an airtight container on the counter for up to a week.
Notes
How to melt coconut oil into its liquid form: Coconut oil is generally solid at room temperature, but we want to melt it into a liquid form for this recipe in order to incorporate it more easily into our chocolate cupcake batter. (We’ve used virgin unrefined coconut oils from 365/Whole Foods, Nutiva, and Carrington Farms and like them all). To melt coconut oil, scoop about 1 cup of coconut oil (in its solid, room-temperature form) into a microwave-safe glass measuring cup, and then microwave for 30-40 seconds until it’s melted down. Give the coconut oil a stir and then check the measurement – you may need to add another spoonful of room temperature coconut oil to bring the liquid up to the correct amount. Melt too much oil? Pour any excess right back into the container.
Work quickly when you bake these cookies – as the coconut oil starts to come back to room temperature, the dough will stiffen and be a little more crumbly and harder to work with, so plan to bake these in just one or two batches as opposed to storing the dough in the fridge for later!
If you use a larger or smaller scoop to form the cookie dough, you may need to adjust your bake time – just keep an eye on the cookies as they bake and pull them out when they’re very lightly browned!
Adjustments and Substitutions. Feel free to use more chocolate chips than called for, or to add nuts or white chocolate chips. Add a sprinkle of flakey sea salt on top if you like! You can also swap the chocolate chips for chopped baking chocolate (we like dark or semi-sweet) for chocolate chunks.
These chocolate chip cookies are relatively soft and slightly dense. If you like a thinner, crispier cookie, you can reduce the amount of flour in this recipe by ¼ cup. For an ultra-thick, especially dense cookie, you can increase the flour by up to ¼ cup.
Homemade cookies can dry out after a few days - to keep them soft, store them in an airtight container on the counter along with a small slice of bread (they’ll absorb moisture from the bread and stay softer!) or pop a cookie in the microwave for a few seconds to warm. These cookies also freeze well once cooked!
For more butter-free recipes, check out our Coconut Oil Chocolate Cupcakes or Salted Olive Oil Dark Chocolate Cookies!
Adapted from Nestlé Toll House.
Keywords: no butter, christmas, homemade
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These turned out great! I used 2 duck eggs and one chicken egg since I live in Reno, NV which is a very dry climate. SO GOOD YUMMY!
★★★★★
We're SO happy you loved them and we love the swap for duck eggs!
cookies melted into one giant sheet of cookie. bad recipe.
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We’re so sorry to hear these didn’t turn out for you! We haven’t run into this problem before, but we’d love to help you troubleshoot. If you followed the rest of the recipe to a T and didn’t make any substitutions, our first guess would for a “melted” cookie culprit would be that too little flour was used. Flour is notoriously difficult to measure by volume, so we recommend measuring by weight or using the scooping and leveling method for best results. A quick way to double-check that you have the right amount of flour is by looking at the texture of the cookies when you scoop them – did the dough hold together and look like it does in the photos, or was it already liquidy/puddly?
I’ve tried making these twice now, a few years part. Both times my cookies didn’t spread or flatten when I baked them. What did I do wrong? They look so good in the picture and I want them to turn out like that!
The most amazing cookies! I use a 1 in. cookie scoop and bake for 6 minutes. I let them rest for a minute or two before moving to a cooling rack. They're so perfect and often get confused for store baked. I have your page bookmarked so I can easily share the recipe with others.
★★★★★
YIPPEE! We're so happy you love these cookies!
Hello I just finished eating 1 of these cookies, okay it was 2 so who counting 🙂 here's what I did I had to tweak the recipe because I don't like a lot of sugar I reduce both sugars to a half a cup. I'm assuming that is the reason I was only able to add 2 cups of flour 🤷 I don't know I'm a self-proclaimed I don't like to bake person lol and I used butter flavored coconut oil which taste delicious and added toasted pecans 😋
★★★★★
We're SO happy you loved them! We love the addition of pecans!
Wow, Zowie... I've never baked with coconut oil before. Ask me about coconut oil for your hair, for your body and even for your dog's body, in fact the only reason I had it was for a homemade dog treats recipe. Absolutely fantastic. I've been home for about 3 years newly disabled. So I have an enormous amount of time. 24/7 365! Since around August I've been baking and eating a minimum of 3 batches of cookies a week. Yes, a week. So I went looking for butterless dessert, really any kind. After I read "Full disclosure" my mind pictured a tall lanky gay man with style and flair. And on my way to bake cookies with that inspiration. And they are fabulous, yummy pockets of heaven. I don't know how to pin, tag or ##. I took pictures but don't know where to add them. Anyway, Thank you and I hope you aren't offered.
★★★★★
We're SO happy you loved making these butterless cookies!!
Never mind, I see it! Sorry about that 😬
So glad you found it! Happy baking!
Wait… do you ever add the white sugar? I don’t see it in the instructions but it’s in the ingredients list. I’m confused!
I’ve made these cookies twice and they are delicious! I don’t recall if I changed anything the first time but I may have done the authors recommendation of reducing the flour for a thinner and crispier cookie. The bottom got very crispy and almost caramelized. This time the change I did was to reduce the sugars to 1/2 cup each. The cookies are sweet enough and a delicious treat.
★★★★★
YIPPEE! We're so happy you loved the cookies!
Ran out of butter so I searched for a coconut oil choco chip recipe. My batter turned out crumbly! I didn't have my ingredients ready to go as suggested! I just put my bowl in hot water and put some elbow grease into getting it somewhat soft. Seemed to do the trick! Not bad! Wish I would have followed that direction though! Also ran out of vanilla extract so I used maple syrup.
★★★★
Great thinking with the hot water and elbow grease to smooth it out!
Made these for a family friend who's daughters are both allergic to soy in addition to milk, so I needed a non dairy and non vegetable oil cookie recipe. They were a huge hit. Everyone loved them!
The only changes I made were that I used 1:1 gluten free flour, made my cookies smaller, and chilled them before baking. My test cookies that were not chilled came out flat and crispy. I prefer my cookies to be thick and chewy.
Thank you for a great recipe!
★★★★★
WAHOO!! We're so happy to hear the cookies were a hit!
Delicious. The coconut oil makes for a lovely crisp, sugary outside and the inside is soft and delicious. I used milk chocolate chips for extra tastiness. Cut the sugar to 1/2 cup each.
★★★★★
WAHOO! We're so glad you loved them!
These cookies are amazing-- probably my favorite recipe. They are so gooey and soft.
★★★★★
WAHOO! We're so glad you love these cookies!
This is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I've ever made! And the very first time a recipe has ever earned a review from me. Thank you for sharing!
★★★★★
YIPPEE! Thanks so much, Ella!
Perfect! I made them with Olive oil 🤫
★★★★★
WAHOO! We're so happy you loved it!
I ran out of butter so I googled an alternative way on how to bake cookies without it. I’m so glad I found your recipe and I must say, my cookies turned out delicious! Thanks for the recipe. Also, I don’t think you are WEIRD and PICKY when it comes to your cookies. I don’t like chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven (I usually eat them the next day or 12 hours later) and I also refuse to dip my cookies in milk. You’re not the only one! Haha. Anyway, thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
We're so happy you loved the cookies!!
1) Any tips for halving this recipe beyond just using half of each listed ingredient amount?
2) I'd like to use less sugar than listed, but will that affect the cookies? I don't want them too crumbly, but it'd be ok if they were more chewy/fudgy.
This recipe is great for halving and doesn't require any extra notes! You could likely reduce the amount of sugar called for by 3-4 Tablespoons without noticing a huge change, but any more than that and you’ll definitely notice some texture differences.
Can I use just plain sugar instead of brown sugar? Or shall I caramelize to he sugar to get that brown sugar effect?
If you have molasses, you can also make your own brown sugar – there’s a good walkthrough here. You can use just white sugar in a pinch, but the brown sugar (or the DIY molasses sugar) adds a lot of flavor!
I made these cookies with a blob of Nutella in the middle as I didn't have any chocolate chips, very tasty. Perfect warm and fresh from the oven.
★★★★★
WAHOO! We love the addition of Nutella!
I am so grateful for this cookie recipe! I've been able to use it several times now for a baking ministry on campus. People really appreciate a big cookie, and it's an easy, reliable recipe that I'm comfortable varying the add-ins with. Thanks a bunch and God bless you!
Thanks so much, Allie! We're so happy you've been enjoying this recipe!