These Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies are slightly soft, chewy, buttery, and melt-in-your mouth good. They taste just like traditional chocolate chip cookies!
Plus, they’re no more difficult to make than your typical chocolate chip cookie. The egg is replaced with a “flax egg,” simply a mix of ground flaxseed and water. And it works perfectly!
Table of Contents
- The Story Behind the Recipe
- Why You’ll Love Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Developing This Egg-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
- Ingredients
- How to Make Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Tips for Success
- How to Freeze No-Egg Chocolate Chip Cookies
- More Cookie Recipes
The Story Behind the Recipe
Chocolate Chip Cookies are my comfort baking recipe. When times are tough, it’s the first thing I want to bake to help bring back a sense of normalcy.
When my kid was 6 weeks old, I broke my ankle thanks to two enthusiastic dogs and a flight of stairs (luckily, I was holding a laundry basket, not my baby!) In hindsight, caring for a cuddly newborn instead of an active toddler while not being able to walk is definitely a better situation. But at the time, there was something that felt so helpless about my sudden injury … and when everything in your being tells you that you have to keep this baby alive at all costs (thank you hormones!), not being able to walk can feel pretty dire.
So I was thrilled when, after just a few days, I was able to get around pretty well in a walking cast. And one of the first things I did after a very emotional handful of days was strap my tiny baby into a carrier, hobble into the kitchen, and whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookies.
My go-to recipe is typically the Nestle tollhouse classic chocolate chip cookie recipe. It’s what my mom made, too, and I figure if it ain’t broke, why fix it?
But that recipe calls for two eggs, and as we all know, eggs are hard to come by right now. And when we finally do pay a small fortune to get some, it can be hard to sacrifice two of them to a baking recipe!
So I did some experimenting and came up with a spin on the tollhouse cookie recipe that uses flax eggs – a mix of ground flaxseed and water – instead of chicken eggs. And these no-egg chocolate chip cookies are absolutely delicious!
Why You’ll Love Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies
- They save you money. Unless you have a backyard flock (total goals), eggs are expensive right now, if you’re able to find any at all. A couple of tablespoons of flaxseed meal are way more accessible and will cost you a LOT less.
- They taste amazing! The aforementioned kid is now a teenager and is basically a super-taster who can detect the most minuscule change in a recipe. But said kid declares these chocolate chip cookies with no egg exactly the same as my typical chocolate chip cookie.
Developing This Egg-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
I started with the Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie recipe as my base recipe and experimented with adjusting the flour and a couple of other ingredients + chilling the dough until I came up with the perfect Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies!
- Test 1: I made two flax eggs (mixed flaxseed meal with water and let it sit for 20 minutes) and swapped it in for the chicken eggs. I kept everything else the same. Result: Delicious no egg chocolate chip cookies, but they didn’t quite spread enough. It seemed the traditional amount of flour wasn’t quite needed with flax eggs vs. chicken eggs.
- Test 2: I took half of the dough from test 1 and chilled it for 20 minutes to see if allowing the flour to hydrate would change the outcome of the cookies. It did change them, a little – oddly, they spread a little better. But not quite enough. I also felt they needed a bit more salt and vanilla.
- Test 3: I reduced the flour by 1/4 cup, doubled the vanilla, and added 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Bingo! These cookies spread perfectly and had just enough extra flavor to be perfect.
- Test 4: I chilled the dough just to see what would happen. Honestly, I didn’t see much difference between the chilled dough vs. straight out of the mixer dough, except that the chilled cookies were slightly thicker and browned a tiny bit more on the top. Ultimately, I didn’t think it was worth the extra 20 minutes (though I wrote it into the recipe as an option!)
- Test 5: Repeat test 3 one more time just to make sure it’s spot-on. It was! Perfect Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies!
Ingredients
- Flaxseed meal – Flaxseeds are, you guessed it, the seeds from flax plants. They’re a great source of Omega-3s and other nutrients (source). And, as it turns out, when the ground-up seeds soak with water, they form a gel that makes a perfect binder that works amazingly in place of eggs in recipes!
- Butter – I start with unsalted butter to ensure consistency (different brands of salted butter have different levels of salt). Make sure it’s room temp/softened so it whips up perfectly!
- White sugar & brown sugar – Equal amounts of both. Feel free to use light brown sugar OR dark brown sugar, whichever you prefer.
- Pure vanilla extract
- Flour – You can use whole-wheat or white whole-wheat flour, but I tend to go with straight up white all-purpose flour for my eggless chocolate chip cookies.
- Baking soda
- Salt – I like to use a fine-grain salt like sea salt or table salt.
- Chocolate chips – I tend to use classic semi-sweet, but if you prefer milk chocolate or dark chocolate, go for it! Chocolate chunks are great too.
How to Make Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies
- First, soak the flaxseed meal in the water to make the “flax eggs.” It will need about 20 minutes to soak.
- Then, whip the butter and sugar together until fluffy, then add the vanilla and flax egg.
- Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl then add it to the wet ingredients and mix together just until it starts coming together.
- Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Scoop in 2-tablespoon increments onto a baking sheet and bake for about 8 minutes, until golden around the edges.
- Let cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Tips for Success
- Use warm water for the flax egg. Not super hot, just warm. This will help it develop into its gel-like consistency faster.
- Don’t over-mix the dough. Mix it just until it comes together so that you don’t develop the gluten, which can make the cookies less tender.
- These are rather thin cookies. They’re not wafer thin, but they’re just not super thick chocolate chip cookies. I love them this way, but if you prefer a thicker cookie, I suggest adding 1/4 cup more of the all-purpose flour to your dough.
How to Freeze No-Egg Chocolate Chip Cookies
Freeze baked cookies in an airtight container or freezer bag, or you can freeze the dough balls on a baking sheet then transfer them to a freezer bag for longer-term storage. Bake a few or a lot of cookies at a time! I suggest adding 1-2 minutes of baking time if you start with frozen cookie dough balls.
I hope these Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies hit the spot for you, whether you’re having a hard time finding eggs, conserving the eggs you do have, or allergic to eggs.
No matter your reason to make your chocolate chip cookies egg-free, I think you’re going to love these cookies! I think I’ll be making these just as much (if not more) as my beloved classic version.
More Cookie Recipes
- Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies (dairy-free, gluten-free)
- Double Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
- Chocolate Snickerdoodles
- White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed (aka flaxseed meal)
- 6 tablespoons warm water (1/3 cup; I just tend to use my tablespoon measure because I already used it for the ground flaxseed)
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks; room temp/softened)
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar (white sugar)
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (260 g)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 cups chocolate chips (1 [12-ounce] package)
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix together the 2 tablespoons flaxseed meal and 6 tablespoons warm water. Allow it to thicken up for about 20 minutes; it will be thick but pourable with a slightly gel-like consistency.
- Place an oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter at medium speed until creamy, then add the 3/4 granulated sugar and 3/4 cup brown sugar. Beat on medium speed for about 30 seconds until it begins to lighten up a little.
- Add the flaxseed mixture and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix at low speed until well-combined.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt.
- Add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture and turn the stand mixer on low, mixing just until combined. Be sure to scrape down the sides if necessary. Add the 12-ounce bag of chocolate chips, mixing for another couple of seconds. Remove the bowl and stir the dough together with a sturdy spatula until completely combined.
- Optional: Chill for 20-30 minutes for thicker cookies. This might be a good idea if you're in a warmer kitchen/climate or if you started with very soft butter. My kitchen is 69-70 degrees and I started with room temp butter; I found chilling doesn't make enough of a difference to be worthwhile.
- Form the dough into balls about 2 tablespoons each (I use a cookie scoop). Place on your baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
- Bake until golden around the edges, about 8 minutes.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and let rest for about 5 minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Bake the next batch of cookies the same way, until you're all the way through the dough.
- Store in an airtight container at room temp for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
Hi! I’m Karen – I’m a real person with real recipes. No A.I. here! Since 2009, every recipe on Kitchen Treaty is thoroughly tested and loved before I hit “publish.” I’m a home cook, certified plant-based pro, and mom. I’m a vegetarian married to a carnivore, and my goal is to coexist deliciously.
