This quick and easy butterless chocolate chip cookie recipe uses coconut oil instead of butter for a soft, chewy cookie.
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!
PS - You can also use coconut oil instead of butter for our small batch chocolate chip cookies!
How do you like YOUR chocolate chip cookies? Let me know in the comments!
Video: How to make butterless chocolate chip cookies
📖 Recipe
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 (180 grams) (see recipe notes)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (8 grams)
- 2 eggs
- ¾ cup white sugar (150 grams)
- ¾ cup packed brown sugar (160 grams)
- 2 ½ cups flour measured correctly by scooping and leveling (330 grams)
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt (4 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda (5 grams)
- 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.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 cookies
- Calories: 201
- Sugar: 17 g
- Sodium: 95.2 mg
- Fat: 9.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 27.3 g
- Protein: 2.4 g
- Cholesterol: 14.9 mg
Charlene
Thank you for this recipe! I have made these at least 10 time already since going totally dairy free and soy free in my diet. My breastfed infant is intolerant to dairy and soy, so I can’t eat anything that contains either of these ingredients or it severely impacts him through the breastmilk!
Recipes like these make my life more fun and yummy 🙂 thanks again!
Rhonda @ Life As A Strawberry
You're why we spend so much time testing our recipes! So happy you're loving these.
Jennifer Francis
I modified the amount of oil. About 140 grams - 145 g of coconut oil was plenty. Other than that, cookie heaven!!
In one bowl, I combined all the dry ingredients using a pastry blender tool to get the lumps out of the sugar and distribute dry ingredients evenly.
In a second bowl, I combined the wet ingredients (hand beat egg and vanilla first, then the oil (just barely melted and not too hot). I quickly beat these together, then made a well in the dry ingredients. Stirred and it quickly formed a smooth dough. Folded in the chips last.
Used a 2 TBSP cookie scoop and baked in my convection toaster oven at 350 for 11 minutes. Thermopen registered 185-190. Removed to cooling rack.
Rhonda @ Life As A Strawberry
So glad you liked this recipe! Happy baking!
HArry Alexander John Waters
It came out to oily and not good. Do not recommend
Rhonda @ Life As A Strawberry
Sorry this didn't work for you. We test our recipes over and over and over again to try and prevent any issues. Not knowing what was done, it sounds like the measurements weren't quite right. Did you use a scale for measuring the ingredients? We find most times a recipe doesn't work it is due to the way the ingredients were measured.
Trish
What did I do wrong? Mine turned out like fruit leather.
Team Life As A Strawberry
It's hard to say without being in the kitchen with you! The most likely culprit to a flat, sticky cookie is too little flour being used. We recommend measuring flour by scooping and leveling or using the gram measurements for best results!
Rebecca D
So delicious! My husband and I were skeptical as we felt butter would just be the best option for cookies. But after needing to make a batch for a dairy-free friend, we found these cookies to be truly the best cookies we have ever made/ever had! Everyone was complimenting how delicious they are and how soft they are. I love a soft cookie but don’t like it to feel doughy. These were perfect. It felt like they are straight out of a bakery. This is my new go to recipe.
I just made a batch with butter as we are now out of coconut oil (after the 2 batches I made of following this recipe haha)
And by comparison the coconut oil ones blow the butter ones out of the water. So a huge thank you for this!!!! Very happy to have come across this recipe
Team Life As A Strawberry
YIPPEE! We're so happy you gave this recipe a try and found a new favorite!
Angela
Hi! I have a question. Can I make the dough, roll into balls, store in the frig and bake the next day? Thx!
Team Life As A Strawberry
We recommend baking these cookies right away because the temperature change from the solid to liquid coconut oil can affect the texture of the cookies!
Renee Martin
These work well, in a 9” cast-iron skillet too! I baked them for about 17 minutes.
Team Life As A Strawberry
YAY! We love the swap for a skillet!
Jenna
So good! Made these with enjoy life chips for a friend who is dairy free. This may be my new go to cookie recipe!
Team Life As A Strawberry
YIPPEE! We're so glad you and your friend enjoyed the cookies!
Kris
Have you tried freezing these after baking? Have a get together coming up.
Team Life As A Strawberry
Yes! These cookies freeze well after baking! They can also be stored in an airtight container on the counter along with a small slice of bread (they’ll absorb moisture from the bread and stay softer!) for a few days.
Sarah
These turned out great! Thank you for the recipe!
Rhonda @ Life As A Strawberry
So glad you liked the cookies!
Sarah
Made these tonight. Wow so delicious. Thank you for this fab recipe!
Team Life As A Strawberry
YIPPEE! We're so happy to hear that you loved them!
Mrs Maui
I made half of the recipe to test it out. Kids absolutely loved it. I liked it too. Except mine didn't come out chewy. It did come out soft and a little Crisp around the edges. I always make cookies with the butter. However, we ran out and this recipe looked the best. All in all if you don't have butter this recipe is tasty, just don't expect the same texture.
Team Life As A Strawberry
We're so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe and that your kids loved the cookies!
Pauline
Just finished making these cookies. My husband thinks they are very good but dont think 12 min is enough as the cookies seem very doughy. I left the 2nd pan in a little longer and still the same. The third pan will be in even longer. I used a small ice cream scoop *1 tblsp) and they are a good sizes
Rhonda @ Life As A Strawberry
Without knowing exactly what is going on, there are a few things you can check. First, make sure the cookies are cooling before eating, otherwise they will be more doughy. Second, confirm your oven is the temperature you expect. If the cookies are cool and oven temp is correct, you can try to reduce the temperature by 25 degrees and bake 5-8 minutes longer. You can also try adding a little more flour (15 grams or so - 2 Tablespoons) to the dough.
Rachel
I also love these cookies! Can you freeze the cookie dough to bake later a few at a time?
Rhonda @ Life As A Strawberry
So glad you love these cookies! We haven't frozen these but they should freeze fine. Form the cookies before freezing. Then remove the number you want to bake. You can place them into the oven straight from the freezer or thaw them first. If baked from frozen it will take a few extra minutes.
Amaya
Wow!! This recipe is amazing!!! I have been trying differnt DF chocolate chip cookie recipes and this is by far my favorite!!! They turned out soft and delicious! Definitely recommend!!
Rhonda @ Life As A Strawberry
So glad you loved them!
Charm
Recipe is a BUST
I ENDED UP WITH A GIANT BOWL OF DRY FLOUR. COUKDNT MAKE A COOKIE OUT OF THIS IF I TRIED. WHAT A WASTE!!! WHY DIES ANYOBE NEED 10 CUPS VOLUME IF COOKIES ANYWAYS???
BadMedisin
If you got 10 cups out of that, you did something wrong… 😉
Lan Seyfarth
I would like to change my blogger archive frequency from 1 month to longer, like 3 months. How do I do this?.
Catherine B
A recipe so good that it warrants leaving a review! I was skeptical that that melted coconut oil wouldn't turn into very crispy cookies, but they turned out so beautifully chewy. I got so many compliments from everyone who tried them that I baked another batch within a week of my first one (which got eaten in a day)
Rhonda @ Life As A Strawberry
These cookies don't last very long at our place either. So glad you loved them!
Misha
I know that this review won’t necessarily help people who want results of the unaltered recipe, but I just wanted to throw out that this recipe CAN be adjusted and it works beautifully.
I am totally out of butter and wanted to make a cookie my mom(GF) and I could eat. I had Bob Mills All Purpose(garbanzo bean flour mix) and Xantham Gum. Using Bob’s recommended Xantham-Flour ratio, I was able to turn this into a delicious, fluffy gluten free cookie!!
Reducing the sugar also didnt hurt the recipe, in my experience! Nor did the kind of sugar I used. (although brown sugar is necessary for that classic caramel flavor for regular chocolate chip cookies) — I reduced it by a 1/4th cup and now I have cookies at 9PM. MAGIC.
The oven you have drastically changes the appearance of the cookie! I had a classic, big-chunk look in my convection toaster oven, but a less risen ‘cracked’ cookie from my regular oven- which doesn’t circulate heat as well. Good to keep in mind for people who struggle making recipes “turn out” at home.
This is going in my go-to recipe book next to sugarspunrun’s pizza dough. I finally have a good cookie again! Thank you!!!
Rhonda @ Life As A Strawberry
We are so glad you were able to make this your own. Glad you love it!