The Best Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Soft, chewy, and golden crisp on the outside, these gluten-free chocolate chip cookies are the BEST! And oh yeah – they don’t skimp on the chocolate chips!
Okay, first thing’s first: yes, I’m a dietitian. Yes, this blog is about nutrition and a healthy lifestyle. So what’s a chocolate chip cookie recipe with butter and sugar doing here?
First – it’s not because these chocolate chip cookies being gluten-free makes them inherently a more nutritious choice. It doesn’t.
It’s because a healthy lifestyle is one that lets you live your life. And while different things work for different folks, there is certainly room for you to enjoy your favorite treats in any lifestyle! Health isn’t black and white – you can eat salads, roasted vegetables, crunchy chickpeas, and quinoa pilafs to your heart’s content AND you can enjoy occasional cookies, french fries, adult beverages (21+ please!), and other treats, too.
Okay, now that that’s settled. 😉
Why are these the best gluten-free chocolate chip cookies ever?
I’ve tried a LOT of gluten-free chocolate chip cookie recipes in the five years I’ve been eating gluten-free. And y’all…there are a lot of not-so-great ones. Here’s why I love this recipe and think it’s the best:
- They’re soft and chewy, and get slightly crisp on the outside.
- If crisper cookies are your thing, just leave them in the oven a couple minutes longer.
- It’s full of chocolate chips.
- You don’t need to buy fifty different flours and gums and starches. Just get one bag of gluten-free cup-for-cup/ measure-for-measure flour. I use King Arthur Gluten Free Measure for Measure Flour.
- It uses regular sugar and brown sugar – no expensive coconut sugars or other fancy “healthy” sugars (that really aren’t “healthy” and still are treated as sugar by your body).
- There are no gritty textures.
- No weird flavors or aftertastes from specialty flours.
- They’re freaking delicious!
How to Make the BEST Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
For ingredients, you need:
- gluten-free measure for measure flour
- baking soda
- butter
- cane sugar
- light brown sugar
- vanilla extract
- egg
- chocolate chips or chunks
While you could just use a whisk to cream together your butter and sugars, I really prefer a mixer. I always use my Kitchen Aid stand mixer (mine’s in cobalt blue, I love it!), but an inexpensive hand mixer works well, too.
Then you follow the same process you do for most any cookie recipe!
Cream together softened butter with the sugars for a few minutes until soft, smooth, and creamy. Add in a room temperature egg and vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and briefly mix until just combined. Then stir in the chocolate chips.
When it comes to baking, you can use any baking sheet – I love using half sheet baking sheets lined with these silicone baking mats.
To portion out the cookie dough, I use a small cookie scoop. It helps create a uniform cookie, which is great for even baking. Plus it’s really quick to scoop out and on to the pan!
Then bake your cookies, let cool a few minutes, and they’re ready to be enjoyed!
Know Your Oven
One of my biggest tips when it comes to baking of any kind is to know your oven. If you feel like you have a hard time baking or often overcook or burn things in the oven, check what temperature your oven actually runs at compared to what you’re setting it at. Just get an oven thermometer to check!
The Biggest Mistake People Make When Baking
If you feel like your cookies (or muffins, cakes, etc.) never turn out like the pictures do or taste too dry, usually it’s because you aren’t measuring flour correctly.
Do you do any of these things?
- Use your measuring cup to scoop into the flour?
- Pat the flour down, pack the measuring cup, or scoop into packed flour?
- Not use a flat spatula or knife to level off the top?
If you do any of the above, your baked goods likely are ending up with more flour than called for by the recipe.
The most accurate way to measure flour is per grams. But honestly, I didn’t even list gram measurements here because I know the majority of my United States-based readers (where most of y’all reside!) don’t have or use a kitchen scale.
So to try to measure as accurate as possible, try the following:
- Make sure your flour isn’t packed.
- Carefully spoon flour into your measuring cup (again – don’t pack it or use packed flour!).
- Use a flat edge, like the flat side of a knife or a spatula to gently scrape across the top of the measuring cup to remove excess flour (without accidentally pressing more flour in, like you may if you use a finger or spoon).
Also for best accuracy in measuring dry ingredients like flour, be sure to use measuring cups, not glass liquid measuring cups.
Does it matter what type of chocolate is used?
Nope, as long as you use what you like! I’ve tested this recipe dozens of times over the past few months, and have had multiple taste testers and recipe testers! Ultimately when it comes to the chocolate – use what you like! My husband loves these cookies with mini chocolate chips whereas I enjoy them most with either just semi-sweet chocolate chips or a blend of semi-sweet chocolate chips and bittersweet or dark chocolate chunks. I’ve also just chopped a chocolate bar, before, too – chocolate is chocolate, still works great!
What type of gluten-free flour is best?
I use and love King Arthur Gluten Free Measure for Measure Flour. I know one recipe tester used Bob’s Red Mill measure for measure gluten-free flour with success. Some different brands of gluten-free flour can have slight variations, but the most important thing is to be careful with accuracy of measuring like I detailed above (you don’t want hockey puck cookies!).
If you test with another brand of gluten-free flour (or even whole wheat or regular all purpose flour), leave a comment with how your cookies turned out!
Do you need to chill the dough?
No. I found chilling the dough beforehand made the cookies slightly puffier, but in a comparison, my husband and I both actually preferred the cookies where the dough went straight from being mixed to the oven. Which is great! A no chilling cookie dough recipe is the perfect low maintenance chocolate chip cookie recipe I want!
Freezing Instructions
You can freeze these cookies two ways. The first, is by freezing the baked cookies once they’re cool. A little secret of mine is that I actually love cold cookies just a few minutes out of the freezer. 🙂
The second method of freezing is my personal favorite. Scoop the cookie dough onto a silicone mat or parchment paper-lined cookie sheet (or cutting board, or whatever flat surface will fit in your freezer). Make sure the cookie dough balls are not touching. Freeze in the open air for a couple hours. Once cookie dough balls are frozen solid, transfer to a ziplock bag or airtight container. These can be frozen up to three months.
When you’re ready to bake your frozen cookie dough balls, just place them on a silicone mat or parchment-paper lined baking sheet as you’re waiting for your oven to preheat. Bake as normal (350 degrees, 10-12 minutes), possibly adding just one extra minute if your oven preheats quickly.
And there you have it – fresh baked gluten-free cookies basically on demand. 😉 Because truly, what is better than a fresh baked cookie?
All in all, these are the best gluten-free chocolate chip cookies I ever wanted. And for the record, my taste testers were primarily folks who don’t eat gluten-free, so it’s a cookie recipe to be loved by all – not just gluten-free folk!
More Gluten-Free Dessert Recipes
If you want to try more of my favorite gluten-free dessert recipes, try these!
- Pumpkin Pie Crumble Bars
- Chocolate Avocado Truffles
- Healthy Buckeyes
- Skillet Brownies with Raspberries (grain and gluten-free!)
If you love this recipe, I’d love if you shared on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest! Thank you!
The Best Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter softened
- ⅓ cup white cane sugar
- ⅔ cup light brown sugar packed
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1¾ cups gluten-free measure-for-measure flour (217 grams)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1½ cups chocolate chips (one 12 oz bag)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
- Using a stand mixer (or a hand mixer with a large bowl), cream softened butter, white sugar, and packed light brown sugar for 3-4 minutes on medium speed, or until soft, smooth, creamy, and evenly incorporated.
- Add the room temperature egg and vanilla extract. Turn the mixer back on to medium speed and cream together another minute.
- Add the carefully measured dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda) and mix on low speed until just combined.
- Stir in chocolate chips.
- Using a small cookie scoop, scoop cookie dough onto silicone baking mat lined baking sheets. (If you don't have a cookie scoop, each cookie dough ball contains about 2 tablespoons cookie dough and has a diameter of about 1.6 inches.) Don't overcrowd cookie sheet as cookies will spread. Place cookies a couple inches apart, 12 cookies per baking sheet.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until desired crispness.
- Remove from oven and let cool on the baking sheet a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
My 9 year old daughter was recently diagnosed with celiac. She is an extremely picky eater, so I’ve been experimenting like crazy with gluten free recipes, trying to find things she will eat. She absolutely loved these cookies! So did my husband and 8 year old son, who do not have celiac. Thanks for the great recipe.
Thanks Mindy, so glad to hear y’all loved these cookies! Celiac is a tough diagnosis, especially for a 9 year old — your daughter is lucky to have you experimenting with all these recipes and supporting her! You’re doing great!
It took me ages to find the actual recipe and this page is overflowing with ads. So sick of these pages long recipes with the writer’s whole life story. I know you’ve got to do your seo right but it’s at the expense of the reader
There is a place in the recipes at the start in red. Jump to recipe❤️ I just ignore the adds. Easy as cookies.
OH MY GOODNESS these were amazing but a bit too sweet for my husband and I so I added to the last batch some Nutiva superseed blend (chia, flax and hemp seed) as well as a spoon of super chunky peanut butter and they were amazing. Just fell apart a little more. Thank you so much!
I will be using this recipe often!
Thank you, Sherry! That sounds delicious!
Hello Lindsey! Just made the cookies and they are amazing. Finally found a recipe that I will stick to it. Thank you so much! BTW- I used just Walmart brand gluten free flour and worked great. The cookies melt in the mouth. 😍
Thanks so much, and I’m glad to hear the Walmart GF flour worked well!
I made these and added an extra egg since the batter seemed too dry!
These are amazing cookies!
I don’t think you could taste the difference between this gf recipe or the traditional!!
Thanks!
Our favorite cookie recipe! This is our go to cookies now. It’s super easy too! Just about to make another batch for my son who is away playing hockey. He’s always thrilled when I make him more!
I’ve tried to make this recipe twice now and the dough comes out dry and crumbly. So I add a bit of almond milk. Makes dough better. But they do not cook well at all. Very disappointed.
I hate to hear that, Mandi. I’m so sorry you’ve wasted your ingredients and time twice now with poor results. Respectfully, there are thousands of folks who regularly make this recipe just fine, so if you’re willing, I’d love to hear about variables like what type of flour you used, how you measured it, etc., so that way I could help you troubleshoot what went wrong. No worries if you’re done with the recipe, I understand, but if you keep having issues making gf cookies, I’m happy to help see if we can figure out what’s going on. All the best!
I Love the cookies if you don’t have chocolate chip then you should put M &Ms they are so good 😊
My daughter is celiac and she really loved these cookies. She doesn’t like many sweets but chocolate chip cookies are the one thing she missed. I made them as is and thought they were great. I’m still trying to find good gf flours. I just used what we had which was Robin Hood but I’d love something a little less rice flour dependant if possible. My daughter doesn’t mind but I’m not crazy about the gritty texture.
I use and recommend the King Arthur Gluten Free Measure for Measure flour! I don’t get the grittiness at all. 🙂
Absolutely incredible cookies! Perfectly crispy on the outside and deliciously chewy on the inside. My husband couldn’t believe they are gluten free!
Thanks so much!
Do you use salted or unsalted butter?
I use/ prefer salted butter, but you can use either.
What gluten-free flour do you use?
I use King Arthur Gluten Free Measure for Measure Flour.
I followed the recipe exact and the cookies spread out flat and deflated on the pan in the oven. I used bobs red mill baking flour, not sure if that’s the issue. A disaster.
Gluten-free flours can be so different (and fickle!) so that’s definitely possible! Other possibilities: butter that was melted instead of softened, expired baking soda, an uncalibrated oven, different altitudes, or even human error (it happens! that’s why thousands love this recipe, yet some may find they spread flat, while others find they make the exact same recipe yet get poofy and dry cookies).
I have made these several times and they are delicious! We have taken to many gatherings and no one even knows they are gluten free. I even use DF butter!
Simple and yummy! Very happy with this recipe :). Haven’t had tons of luck with GF chocolate chip cookies but I did with this one!
These cookies are absolutely delicious and easy to make. I have celiac and difficulty with chocolates related to IBS. I make them without the chocolate chips and they are wonderful. They freeze well, and they are a treat that I have been able to enjoy for a month from the same batch. Thank you so much!
These are my go to cookies, everyone anyways says they’re their favorite cookies and can never tell or care that they’re gluten free.
So happy to hear that, Corie!
These cookies are so good! I used coconut sugar in place of light brown sugar and Bob’s Red Mill GF flour. They turned out perfectly and i would agree that they are as good as regular chocolate chip cookies.
Thank you for sharing what you used – the coconut sugar sounds great!
My cookies didn’t spread and they were more candy than I like. I did the recipe exactly as written except used coconut sugar instead which I wouldn’t think would be the problem. They look nothing like photo 🙁
I meant they were more cakey. Not candy.
I’m sorry to hear that! Others have used coconut sugar without issue, so I agree – I don’t think that caused the problem. What type of flour did you use? And you used 1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter (not melted, not too cold)? Different gluten-free flours can affect the texture, too. And cakey textures can also sometimes be caused by overmixing the dough, not enough fat (so if you used less butter or substituted a different fat source that has a different water/ fat ratio), and too much flour. Too much flour is the most common culprit. No matter the recipe you use, make sure you gently spoon flour into the measuring cup and then level it off. If you’re scooping the measuring cup directly into the flour, it’s packing too much flour in and your cookies will be dry and cakier. I hope that helps troubleshoot a little!
Delicious flavour, good texture and easy to make. I decreased chocolate chips to one cup and added 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. Cookies did not spread much at all while baking so after the first tray, I flattened slightly the balls of dough. Used White Wings (Australian brand) g/f flour. Definitely a recipe to use again. Thank you, Lindsay!
Thanks so much, especially for sharing which international flour you used! You could always try decreasing the flour by a couple tablespoons next time to see if that helps. Have a great day