The BEST Gluten-Free Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies around! These classic chocolate chip cookies are PERFECT–golden brown and chewy on the outside, gooey in the center, with lots of chocolate in every bite!
I’ve made several gluten-free chocolate chip cookie recipes on this blog. Most of them lean toward healthier cookies, without refined sugars, butter, etc. This recipe for classic chocolate chip cookies doesn’t have a healthy bone in its body. It’s REAL DEAL, classic, cozy chocolate chip cookies made with traditional (aka not health-ified) ingredients.
And they taste INCREDIBLE.
In my opinion (and after literally years of testing), they’re pretty much the perfect chocolate chip cookie. I’m talking about:
- Chewy golden edges
- Soft gooey center
- PLENTY of chocolate throughout.
These gluten-free chocolate chip cookies are the real deal. They hit all the right notes, have incredible flavor, and can fool almost any gluten eater.
Best of all, they start with simple ingredients. Here’s what you need to make my best chewy gluten-free chocolate chip cookies recipe…
Gather Your Ingredients
- SOFTENED BUTTER (OR VEGAN BUTTER). The butter should be soft enough that your clean finger could easily poke all the way down to the bottom of the butter. If you’re dairy-free, use vegan buttery sticks like Earth Balance.
- GRANULATED SUGAR + BROWN SUGAR. I like a mix of light brown sugar and white sugar in my chocolate chip cookies. White and brown sugar help you get the golden color and perfect texture you’re looking for here. (I use coconut sugar for lots of recipes, but using it here will change your results, so I don’t recommend subbing it in here.)
- EGGS + VANILLA. Pretty standard cookie ingredients. Room temperature eggs blend in easiest! I add lots of vanilla extract to this gluten-free chocolate chip cookie recipe, and I love the flavor it gives.
- BAKING POWDER + BAKING SODA + SALT. More cookie basics! The blend of baking powder and baking soda keeps these gluten-free cookies nice and tender, with just enough puff. Then, the salt helps balance the flavors. So good.
- GLUTEN-FREE FLOUR. To round out the dry ingredients, I use a measure-for-measure or 1-to-1 gluten-free flour blend with xanthan gum for these gluten-free chocolate chip cookies. (See the FAQ for my favorite brands!)
- LOTS OF CHOCOLATE. I don’t skimp on the chocolate in my chocolate chip cookies! This recipe uses 3 full cups. I like using a blend of chocolate chips and chocolate chunks–it’s pretty and is texturally amazing. (Seriously. Try it.)
- MAYBE SOME FLAKY SEA SALT. For a pretty finish, you can sprinkle the warm cookies with flaky salt (like Maldon).
How To Make Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies, Step By Step
As always, you can find the full recipe, with ingredient amounts, detailed instructions, and tips in the recipe card below!
- Cream Butter & Sugars. In a large stand mixer or large bowl, cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar for 2 minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Finish The Wet Ingredients. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well to incorporate after each addition. Add vanilla extract and stir to mix in.
- Add Dry Ingredients. Add baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and stir to combine. Add 1/3-1/2 the flour and carefully mix. Add remaining flour in batches and stop mixing when there is still a little flour visible in the mixture.
- Add Mix-Ins. Add chocolate chips and fold them in until the remaining flour is incorporated and the chocolate chips are mixed through.
- Chill. Cover the dough and chill at least 30 minutes, up to overnight.
- Preheat & Prep. While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and line baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Scoop & Roll Dough. When the dough has chilled, scoop 1 1/2 Tbsp. balls of dough (medium cookie scoop size), roll the balls smooth between your hands, and place 8-12 cookie dough balls on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake Cookies for 8-10 minutes, or until the edges are set and turning golden and the centers look slightly underbaked. Remove baked cookies from oven, sprinkle with a few flakes of salt (optional) and let cool on the baking sheet 1-2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. (The remaining heat from the pan will finish setting the cookies while keeping them soft in the middle.)
- Repeat with remaining dough, working in batches of 8-12 at a time until all the cookies are baked.
- Store leftover cookies in an airtight container 2-3 days or freeze for best results!
Variations & Mix-Ins To Try
The first time you make these gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, I recommend making them as written, but when you’re ready to play with the recipe, you can try one of these tasty mix-ins or substitutions…
- TOFFEE BITS OR CHOPPED UP CANDY BARS. In our pre-dairy-free life, chopped up Heath bars or toffee bits were one of my FAVORITE mix-ins for chocolate chip cookies. They’d work perfectly here! You can use 1 cup in place of 1 cup of the chocolate chips or add some in addition to the chocolate for even more loaded cookies.
- BUTTERSCOTCH CHIPS. You can give these a butterscotch twist with butterscotch chips or allergy-friendly butterscotch chips. My preference is 1/2 semi-sweet chocolate chips + 1/2 butterscotch chips since butterscotch chips run pretty sweet, but if you really love butterscotch, you can do these with 100% butterscotch chips instead of semi-sweet or dark chocolate.
- WHITE CHOCOLATE CHIPS + MACADAMIA NUTS. If you prefer, you can use this same base gluten-free cookie recipe, but swap in white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts for the chocolate chips. (You can do 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips + 1 1/2 cups macadamia nuts, or do a 2:1 ratio of white chips + macadamia nuts. It’s up to you!
- PECANS OR NUTS. If you like nuts in your chocolate chip cookies, feel free to mix in some nuts in addition to the chocolate chips or instead of some of the chocolate chips. About 1 cup does the trick!
Tips For The Best Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
DON’T GO ROGUE. STICK TO THE RECIPE. REALLY. I love to play with recipes, but I can only guarantee the results here if you’re following the recipe. That means not reducing sugar, switching out flours, substituting the eggs, trying to cut down on butter, skipping the chilling step, not using parchment, etc. At least the first time you make it, I suggest making it as written, without substitutions.
CONSIDER WEIGHING YOUR INGREDIENTS. When possible, I highly recommend weighing the dry ingredients with a simple kitchen scale to avoid packing too much flour into the recipe. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, use the scoop and level method to spoon flour into the measuring cup rather than scooping WITH the measuring cup (which packs in too much flour).
A MIXER HELPS. This recipe makes quite a bit of cookie dough, so a stand mixer can be helpful. This paddle attachment is my favorite for making cookies since it scrapes down the sides so well.
MY FAVORITE GLUTEN-FREE FLOUR FOR COOKIES. Lately, I’ve been favoring King Arthur Measure-for-Measure gluten-free flour blend. It’s got a nice balance of starches and has the most neutral flavor of any GF flour blend I’ve tried so far (which means no weird aftertaste!). My second favorite is Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 baking flour. If you use a different brand, you may get slightly different results. Do NOT try to substitute almond flour, coconut flour, or oat flour into this recipe.
DAIRY-FREE? READ THIS! This recipe can be dairy-free by using dairy-free buttery sticks (like Earth Balance) and dairy-free chocolate chips/chunks.
Did You Make This Recipe?
Tell me all about it! Leave a star rating below when you try our Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. I can’t wait to hear how it goes! Happy baking!
Classic Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter or dairy-free butter, room temperature (227 grams/2 sticks)
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar (150 grams)
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar (150 grams)
- 2 eggs – room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 1/2 cup gluten-free measure-for-measure flour* (300 grams)
- 3 cups chocolate chips or chocolate chunks (I like to do a mix) (525 grams)
- flaky sea salt (optional, for finishing)
Instructions
- Cream Butter & Sugars. In a large stand mixer or large bowl, cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar for 2 minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Finish The Wet Ingredients. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well to incorporate after each addition. Add vanilla extract and stir to mix in.
- Add Dry Ingredients. Add baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and stir to combine. Add 1/3-1/2 the flour and carefully mix. Add remaining flour in batches and stop mixing when there is still a little flour visible in the mixture.
- Add Mix-Ins. Add chocolate chips and fold them in until the remaining flour is incorporated and the chocolate chips are mixed through.
- Chill. Cover the dough and chill at least 30 minutes, up to overnight.
- Preheat & Prep. While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and line baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Scoop & Roll Dough. When the dough has chilled, scoop 1 1/2 Tbsp. balls of dough (medium cookie scoop size), roll the balls smooth between your hands, and place 8-12 cookie dough balls on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake Cookies for 8-10 minutes, or until the edges are set and turning golden and the centers look slightly underbaked. Remove baked cookies from oven, sprinkle with a few flakes of salt (optional) and let cool on the baking sheet 1-2 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. (The remaining heat from the pan will finish setting the cookies while keeping them soft in the middle.)
- Repeat with remaining dough, working in batches of 8-12 at a time until all the cookies are baked.
- Store leftover cookies in an airtight container at room temperature 2-3 days or freeze for best results!
Notes
- GLUTEN-FREE FLOUR. I recommend King Arthur Flour Measure-For-Measure gluten-free flour for this recipe. If using a substitute, be sure it contains xanthan gum and is considered a 1:1 flour blend. Also, know your results may vary based on the brand of flour you use.
- METRIC IS BEST. When possible, I highly recommend weighing the dry ingredients to avoid packing too much flour into the recipe. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, use the scoop and level method to spoon flour into the measuring cup rather than scooping WITH the measuring cup (which packs in too much flour).
- IF YOUR COOKIES HAVE SPREAD MORE THAN YOU LIKE: First, be sure you have chilled the dough long enough, used parchment paper, and have your oven at the correct temperature. If all those have been taken care of, you can add 1-2 Tbsp. flour to the dough at time to help them puff more and spread less. (You can bake a test cookie or two after adding more flour, if you like)
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition facts are an estimate only and will vary based on brands and amounts used.
These are the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had. They’re crispy on the edges and soft in the middle. This will be my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe forever. You can’t tell they’re gluten free. I let the dough chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours but they’re even better when you let it chill overnight. I make the dough, let it chill for a few hours, bake 6 of them, and then scoop the remainder of the dough to have in the freezer for another time. Thank you!
Oh, I’m so, so glad you loved them as much as we do!
Amazing recipe! I made a Christmas variation with orange zest, dried cranberries and dairy free white chocolate chips and it was also great.
DELICIOUS! Thanks so much for sharing!
These were sooo good 😋
I have made this recipe several times and it is ON POINT! those of us who eat GF know that it is so hard to get it right. Well, this is a Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe for your arsenal. They are outrageously good! Thank you!!!
SHELBY!!! You totally made my day! I’m so glad you loved them as much as we do!
I was wondering if these would still turn out if you froze the balls of dough? I want to make them for a new mom but want to give her the option of just baking a few at a time.
Yes! Love this idea for a new mom! I recommend these tips for freezing & baking cookie dough.
this was SO good. exactly what I had been looking for, brought to a dinner party and I received SO many compliments. Definitely follow her baking instructions of light golden on the outside and cooking a few extra minutes on the baking sheet. I also used Bob red mills 1-1 and it worked great!
Oh, I’m so glad you loved them! THANK YOU for taking the time to leave such a kind review!
These really are the best. I could eat dozens at a time because they are so good. They have a slight golden crispiness to the outside while being soft and delicious inside. Chef kiss
This is it!! This will be the recipe that my children will be asking me to make for years to come, and create the perfect cookie memories for them!! This recipe is AMAZING!! It makes the BEST cookie!!
You COMPLETELY made my day with this comment Kelsey!!! So glad you loved them!!!