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These vegan pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are soft, chewy, warm-spiced, and made in just one bowl! Using simple ingredients and no mixer, these pumpkin spice cookies are ready in 16 minutes and perfect for Fall!
Pumpkin season, in my opinion, is just not long enough. There are so many amazing pumpkin cakes, muffins, and other pumpkin recipes and so little time to fit them all in! So I’m going to make a point of making a triple batch of these vegan pumpkin cookies so that I can freeze them and enjoy them after pumpkin season has come and gone!
Pumpkin cookies are tricky, and are often cakey if you use too much pumpkin puree. But not these! These vegan pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are soft and chewy with just the slightest crisp on the outside edges. They are full of gooey chocolate chips and pumpkin spice!
Why You'll Love These Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
- This recipe is made in just one bowl, and you don’t even need a mixer!
- These cookies take around 16 minutes to make from start to finish - they are almost too easy!
- This recipe uses just ⅓ cup of pumpkin puree, which is what makes them soft and chewy, instead of cakey (even just half a cup of pumpkin puree will result in cakey cookies!). The pumpkin flavor is more subtle as a result, but the pumpkin pie spice helps with that too!
- These dairy free pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are egg free as well, and can easily be made gluten free.
- These cookies stay ultra soft for days if made and stored correctly!
Ingredient Notes
- Vegan Butter: the vegan butter should be measured before melting! If you don't follow a vegan diet, you can also use melted regular butter.
- Flour: this recipe works best with all-purpose flour, but you can also use gluten free all-purpose 1-1 baking flour.
- Vanilla Extract: I always recommend using real vanilla extract in your baking (instead of artificial)
- Pumpkin Puree: please note this is pumpkin puree (from a can or homemade), and not pumpkin pie filling! The right amount of pumpkin puree is what keeps these cookies from not being cakey. Using even ½ a cup of pumpkin puree instead of ⅓ cup of puree resulted in a cakier cookie when I tested this recipe.
- Brown Sugar: you can replace with coconut sugar, but it will change the texture of the cookie slightly.
- Pumpkin Pie Spice: If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, you can make your own. The recipe for this is in the notes section of the recipe card.
- Chocolate Chips: These cookies call for semisweet chocolate chips, with the option of also adding vegan white chocolate chips if you'd like. If you want to use chopped vegan chocolate, that works too!
Step By Step Instructions
STEP ONE: Preheat the oven to 375°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Measure the butter, then put it in a large microwave-safe bowl and microwave until melted.
STEP TWO: Whisk the brown sugar and granulated sugar into the melted butter, then add in the pumpkin puree, and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth.
STEP THREE: Add in the flour, salt, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice and stir until just incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips. Scoop 1 ½ Tablespoons of dough onto the baking sheet and bake for 8-11 minutes.
FAQs and Expert Tips
Pumpkin cookies are naturally more on the cake texture side of the cookie scale, but this recipe should not come out cakey, because it only uses ⅓ cup of pumpkin puree. If it does, you likely over-measured your flour.
Don’t over-bake them! This is my number one tip for cookies that stay soft. Keep a close eye on the cookies and they will continue baking on the baking sheet once removed from the oven, so it’s better to underbake than overbake.
You can either order them on Amazon, or you can often find them in the natural/health food section of your grocery store. Most major grocery stores carry at least one brand.
I haven't tested these cookies gluten free, but I would recommend using gluten free 1-1 baking flour if you want to try it
Yes! These cookies have been tested with regular butter and they turn out amazing. Adding an egg to these cookies would make them cakey so even if you aren't following a vegan diet, you'll love these!
Expert Tips
- Properly measure your flour: Please, please don’t over-measure your flour! The result will be cakey or dry cookies! I strongly recommend investing in a $10 kitchen scale, but you can also use the scoop and level method.
- Don’t add extra flour to the dough: The cookie dough will be soft, likely too soft to form into a ball with your hands! This is how it should be. You can use a spoon if you don’t have a cookie scoop.
- Don’t let the cookie dough sit out too long. These pumpkin cookies are made with melted butter, but the butter starts to firm up a little as the dough sits. This will make the cookies slightly thicker and puffier, so try to bake the cookies right away.
- Add nuts or pumpkin seeds if desired!
Storage and Freezing Instructions
The cookies should be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
You can also freeze them for up to 3 months in a freezer ziploc bag, then thaw at room temperature. You can also freeze the dough in individual balls and bake them later!
More Vegan Recipes You'll Love
If you make this recipe, let me know how it went in the comments below, I’d love to hear from you! You can also tag me on Instagram or Facebook so I can check it out!
Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- Baking Sheets
Ingredients
- ½ cup vegan butter, melted (or regular butter if not vegan)
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup pumpkin puree SEE NOTES
- 1½ cup all-purpose flour SEE NOTES
- 2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice SEE NOTES
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup semisweet vegan chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate)
- ¼ cup vegan white chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate) (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Measure the butter, then put it in a large microwave-safe bowl and heat in the microwave until melted.
- Whisk the brown sugar and granulated sugar into the melted butter, then add in the pumpkin puree and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth.
- Add in the flour, salt, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice and stir until just incorporated. The dough will be a bit wet - do not add more flour! More flour will lead to cakey cookies. This dough should be wetter than a typical cookie dough. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Use a spoon or a cookie scoop to scoop 1 ½ Tablespoons of dough onto the baking sheet and bake one sheet at a time for 8-11 minutes, until the edges look set but not darkened. Do not over-bake! Let cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
The calorie information provided for this recipe is an estimate. The accuracy of the calories listed is not guaranteed.
Sam
Haven’t tried them yet, but just wondering if it should be salted or unsalted butter? Thank you in advance!
Gabby
Hi Sam! I often use salted because a lot of vegan butters are already salted, but you can also use unsalted if that's what you have, the cookies might just be a little bit sweeter 🙂
Kelly
LOVE this recipe. These cookies are the perfect texture and give you a great pumpkin flavor without being overpowering. My new favorite!
Gabby
Hi Kelly! I'm so happy you loved the cookies! Thanks so much for coming back to leave a review 🙂