These dairy-free chocolate chip cookies taste just as soft and buttery as cookies that use real butter. Regardless of if you can eat dairy or not, this is a classic and never fail cookie recipe. Using shortening as a substitution ingredient seamlessly eliminates any discomfort for dairy-free folks, but the best part is that most people cannot even tell the difference. In just three steps, you can have yourself a fresh batch of the best dairy-free chocolate chip cookie around. 

Dairy-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

  • Prep Time:25 mins
  • Cook Time:10 mins
  • Total Time:35 mins
  • Servings:40
  • Medium

    Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 cup butter flavored Crisco
  • 2 Tablespoons water
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 egg
  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups dairy-free chocolate chips
butter, cake, cookie, chocolate
Allison Curley
  • Step 1

    Cream together the Crisco, water, brown sugar, vanilla, and white sugar. Add the egg in slowly at the end.

    milk, chocolate, coffee
    Allison Curley
  • Step 2

    Add the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt) while slowly mixing.

    Allison Curley
  • Step 3

    Stir in the chocolate chips and then place a spoon of the batter onto a baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 375°F.

    butter, peanut, peanut butter, chocolate, cookie
    Allison Curley

The best dairy-free chocolate chips that I have found are from the brand Enjoy Life. They are an allergy-friendly food company, and these mini chocolate chips can be found at grocery stores like Kings and Target. These chocolate chips are great even for people who aren't dairy-free because they are just pure unsweetened chocolate and cane sugar. This way you can avoid all of those chemicals and unnatural ingredients like soy lecithin. 

milk, coffee, sweet, candy, chocolate
Allison Curley

While this recipe has a lot of ingredients, it is pretty easy to throw together and bake. You can never go wrong with a classic chocolate chip cookie recipe, and this one mainly requires gathering up all of your ingredients and then mixing it all in one bowl. It is important to always mix wet ingredients and then slowly add in the dry in order to make sure all of the leavening is evenly distributed to each cookie.

Another great benefit of this recipe is that without the butter and only one egg, these cookies save really well. You can make a big batch and save them in the freezer for another day, or just keep them in your refrigerator without worrying about eating them before they go bad. 

I had my friends and family try these cookies, and trust me, not a lot of them like the idea of "dairy-free" baked goods. This type of baking tends to come with a stigma of less taste and richness. In order to get their honest opinions, I did not tell them in advance that they were dairy-free, but they all ate them with smiles and without question because these dairy-free cookies are still creamy and delicious, especially when homemade.