These classic gluten free chocolate chip cookies are deliciously rich and thick, with slightly crisp brown edges and the perfect chewy center. They really are the best you'll find!
What makes these “the best” gluten free chocolate chip cookies?
It's entirely possible that you already have a recipe for classic gluten free chocolate chip cookies that you think is straight-up the best. But I'm here to tell you, these are better.
This recipe is a version of the thick and chewy chocolate chip cookies that I was small-f famous for, long before I started baking gluten free for my son (and you) in 2004. In fact, I'd been making them for years before that.
They still brown. They hold the same glorious shape. They're thick, and they are chewy.
They're ever so slightly crisp on the very edges and the bottom, but just enough that they are ridiculously satisfying to bite into. This is the super simple chocolate chip drop cookie recipe that is simply perfect for so many occasions.
To be clear, they're crispy on the edges, thick throughout, and chewy in the center. If you prefer a cookie that isn't crisp at all, and bakes up thin and chewy, try our recipe for soft and chewy gluten free chocolate chip cookies.
Tips for baking thick and chewy gluten free chocolate chip cookies
This recipe for gluten free chocolate chip cookies is incredibly easy. And it's fairly forgiving, too, making it perfect for beginner gluten free bakers as well as seasoned pros. But still, there are some tips and tricks that can help you make these gluten free cookies bake perfectly and last longer.
Can you freeze the raw cookie dough?
Both the shaped dough and the cookies themselves freeze perfectly. I almost always have a batch of the cookies themselves, and a batch of the cookie dough disks in my freezer.
You can bake them right from frozen, but if you plan to do that, I recommend pressing the raw disks of cookie dough flatter, since they'll spread less if you bake them from frozen. You'll also need to add another minute or two to the baking time.
Do you have to chill the gluten free cookie dough?
If your cookie dough is at room temperature to begin with, you will only need to chill the shaped dough for a few minutes before baking. It will maintain its shape during baking, crackling a bit toward the end of baking.
If you live in a hot and/or humid climate, chilling the shaped cookie dough becomes more important. The best way to know how important chilling the dough will be is if your “room temperature” butter is nearly liquefied.
If you press your finger lightly into the butter, and it leaves a shallow impression, your butter is at perfect room temperature. If the butter barely resists your touch, your butter is too soft.
Your cookie dough may end up a bit greasy, so be sure you're mixing it a bit extra (ideally in a stand mixer) and then chilling it until firm after shaping. For more tips on making gluten free cookies of all kinds, see our tips and tricks for making gluten free cookies.
How many chocolate chips should you add?
You'll notice that there is actually a range of chocolate chips that you can add to this recipe. You begin with 12 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips, and you can add up to another 4 ounces for a total of 16 ounces, or 1 full pound.
It's really a matter of personal taste (how many chips are you hoping for in each and every bite?). If you add more than about 14 ounces of chips, the less the cookies will keep their perfect shape during baking.
How to store gluten free chocolate chip cookies
If you don't want to freeze the cookies, I recommend wrapping them tightly or placing in an airtight container. Then keep them in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Although I doubt they'll hang around that long, as they're just so good!
Mix all the dry ingredients first
It's important that you whisk all the dry ingredients, apart from the brown sugar, together first, just like the recipe tells you. This way, the dry ingredients are properly and consistently incorporated throughout the cookie dough.
If you try and make gluten free chocolate chip cookies by just throwing everything in a bowl altogether, you'll find that your cookies won't be consistent and will most likely have problems like excessive spreading, no rise, or clumps of improperly blended dry ingredients.
Save yourself the headache and take the extra 30 seconds to blend the dry ingredients before you add the brown sugar and the wet ones. And once you've added the brown sugar, be sure to break up any lumps in your sugar before adding the butter, eggs and vanilla.
Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients
We make this cookie dough using the “reverse cream method,” which means that we add the wet ingredients into the dry, instead of creaming the butter first. Using the reverse cream method avoids incorporating air into the cookie dough the way creaming the butter first would do, and allows us to make the chewiest, most deliciously dense gf chocolate chip cookies. Gf cookies should taste like cookies, not gf cake (all due respect to gluten free cake!).
Use a silicone spatula to press the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients
When you're mixing the eggs, butter, and vanilla into the dry ingredients in the cookie dough in this recipe, begin by mixing the wet ingredients together in the center, and then draw the dry ingredients into the wet by pressing the back of a silicone spatula firmly into the wet ingredients. It will hydrate the dry ingredients more slowly, making it easier to create a smooth, uniform gf cookie dough.
Add a few more chocolate chips
If you're rolling your cookie dough, and you feel like you just can't see enough chocolate chips, go ahead and add a few more to each of the cookie dough balls.
Chill the cookie dough for at least 12 hours
I know this is not what anyone wants to hear, because this is a simple recipe that should produce quick, easy, delicious home baked gf cookies in minutes! If you want your cookies to stay thick, you'll need to chill them at least until they're cold.
And if you want the cookies to have that beautiful caramel flavor that the best chocolate chip cookies have, you'll need to chill them for at least 12 hours.
Substitutions for gluten free chocolate chip cookies ingredients
This recipe for gluten free chocolate chip cookies is easy—and it's pretty forgiving. So you can make some substitutions and still get really great, tasty gluten free cookies. But please be cautious, particularly if you've never made them before.
Gluten free dairy free chocolate chip cookies
I have successfully made this recipe with Spectrum healthy vegetable shortening (an affiliate link) in place of butter, and they come out beautifully. They don't brown as much in the oven, but they're still crisp on the edges. Keep in mind that shortening will get very hard in the refrigerator, so be sure to shape the dough before chilling it or you won't be able to shape it at all.
Avoid using vegan spreads as, like margarine, these will cause your gluten free chocolate chip cookies to spread excessively during the bake.
You can also try using Melt or Miyoko's Kitchen brand vegan butter. Those are generally my favorite butter substitutes for baking.
Gluten free egg free chocolate chip cookies
You can try replacing the two eggs in this recipe with a “chia egg” each (1 tablespoon ground white chia seeds + 1 tablespoon lukewarm water, mixed and allowed to gel).
These are such simple cookies that the texture may not be the same when you make such an important substitution, but it's definitely worth trying.
If you'd like to make a recipe that is written to be dairy-free and egg-free, try our vegan gluten free chocolate chip cookies recipe.
Can you make these gluten free chocolate chip cookies with alternative sugars?
These are not healthy cookies. They're gluten free chocolate chip cookies, meant to have all the good stuff: butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla. But you might be able to make them with a sugar substitute.
If you would like to try them with a sugar substitute, I recommend Lankato brand monk fruit granulated sugar replacement for the granulated sugar, and their “golden” variety as a replacement for the brown sugar. You can also replace the brown sugar with coconut sugar one-for-one.
Those sugar alternatives do tend to be drying, though, so you may need to add water by the half-teaspoonful as necessary to achieve the proper cookie dough consistency. Watch the video carefully before trying the swap.
FAQs
What's the best flour to use for gluten free chocolate chip cookies?
The best gluten free flour for these chocolate chip cookies is a high-quality gluten free flour blend. I've used Better Batter here, but you can also use my Better Than Cup4Cup blend if you prefer to make your own.
Just be sure to avoid anything that's too grainy and coarse or that tends to be inconsistent. Check out my gluten free flour guide for more detail.
Why are my gluten free chocolate chip cookies dry and crumbly?
There are several reasons why your gluten free chocolate chip cookies might be dry and crumbly:
- You didn't let them cool and firm on the baking sheet for long enough after baking.
- You didn't use enough xanthan gum, or any at all
- You used a poor-quality all purpose gluten free flour blend that uses gritty rice flour and/or is just poorly balanced so nothing you make with it will turn out as intended
- Your butter was too cold when you made the cookie dough, so it never got fully mixed into the cookie dough, leaving it in big pockets here and there
- You got a measurement wrong so the cookies had too much gf flour
Why are my gluten free cookies flat?
If your gluten free chocolate chip cookies are flat, it could be because the butter was melted or just too greasy when you made the cookie dough, or your cookie dough was too warm for another reason when you put your batch in the oven. Remember, your cookie dough must be at least cold before it goes in the oven or the fat will melt too quickly, leading to flat cookies.
What can I use instead of xanthan gum?
I get the best results with xanthan gum, but if you're really set on baking gluten free chocolate chip cookies, or really any gluten free recipes without it, here are some potential alternatives:
- Ground psyllium husk (note that I do not like the taste or texture that this ingredient adds to baked goods, but some have had success with it)
- Guar gum (although it's better in cold applications; xanthan gum is better for heated recipes, like this one)
- Konjac powder (this is by far the most promising xanthan gum substitute)
Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups (315 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend (I use Better Batter, but my Better Than Cup4Cup blend works well, too)
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum omit if your flour blend already contains it
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- ¾ cup (164 g) packed light brown sugar
- 8 tablespoons (112 g) unsalted butter at cool room temperature
- 2 (100 g (weighed out of shell)) eggs at room temperature, beaten
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips plus more as desired, up to 16 ounces total
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line rimmed baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper and set them aside.
- In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, salt, baking soda and granulated sugar, and whisk to combine well.
- Add the brown sugar, and whisk again to combine, working out any lumps in the brown sugar. If you are finding many lumps, try using the tines of a fork to break up any stubborn ones.
- Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and add the butter, eggs, and vanilla, and mix until well-combined.
- You can use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment to make quick work of it.
- Add 12 ounces of chocolate chips and mix until evenly distributed throughout the cookie dough. The cookie dough will be thick but not stiff. Add more chocolate chips if you like, and mix thoroughly.
- Divide the cookie dough into 21 portions (or 24 if you’ve used all 16 ounces of chips), and roll each tightly into a ball about 1 1/2 inches in diameter (and about 50 grams each).
- Press each of the balls of dough into a disk about 1/2-inch thick and place about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
- As you’re rolling the dough, add a few more chocolate chips to each ball, if desired, and roll them into the dough.
- To ensure the thickest cookies with the best flavor and color, cover the dough on the baking sheet and refrigerate the shaped cookie dough for at least 12 hours and up to 5 days.
- Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator and place the baking sheets, one at a time, in the center of the preheated oven.
- Bake until the cookies are golden brown around the edges, light golden brown all over and set in the center (about 12 minutes).
- Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes or until firm before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups (315 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend (I use Better Batter, but my Better Than Cup4Cup blend works well, too)
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum omit if your flour blend already contains it
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- ¾ cup (164 g) packed light brown sugar
- 8 tablespoons (112 g) unsalted butter at cool room temperature
- 2 (100 g (weighed out of shell)) eggs at room temperature, beaten
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips plus more as desired, up to 16 ounces total
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line rimmed baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper and set them aside.
- In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, salt, baking soda and granulated sugar, and whisk to combine well.
- Add the brown sugar, and whisk again to combine, working out any lumps in the brown sugar. If you are finding many lumps, try using the tines of a fork to break up any stubborn ones.
- Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and add the butter, eggs, and vanilla, and mix until well-combined.
- You can use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment to make quick work of it.
- Add 12 ounces of chocolate chips and mix until evenly distributed throughout the cookie dough. The cookie dough will be thick but not stiff. Add more chocolate chips if you like, and mix thoroughly.
- Divide the cookie dough into 21 portions (or 24 if you’ve used all 16 ounces of chips), and roll each tightly into a ball about 1 1/2 inches in diameter (and about 50 grams each).
- Press each of the balls of dough into a disk about 1/2-inch thick and place about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
- As you’re rolling the dough, add a few more chocolate chips to each ball, if desired, and roll them into the dough.
- To ensure the thickest cookies with the best flavor and color, cover the dough on the baking sheet and refrigerate the shaped cookie dough for at least 12 hours and up to 5 days.
- Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator and place the baking sheets, one at a time, in the center of the preheated oven.
- Bake until the cookies are golden brown around the edges, light golden brown all over and set in the center (about 12 minutes).
- Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes or until firm before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Nancy Hornick says
I’m new to gluten free cooking…Are regular store brand chocolate chips gluten free?
Nicole Hunn says
Most are, yes, Nancy, but always check package labels and do your own online research to see if the company has any disclosures!
Dave says
What a great recipe! My housemate is gluten intolerant so I will sometimes bake GFan decided to try these. Great recipe and just like “real” cookies.
I was a 20g short on eggs so added a bit of vegetable oil. I also had some random bits of choc chips – caramel, white, milk, ruby – so dotted these on the top and they look so good!
Baked 4 so far as a test and they stayed in perfect shape after 12 hours in the fridge, nice and moist in the inside and a little crisp edge. Yum!
Don’t usually make cookies but I love the idea of having these just in the fridge and ready to pop in the oven anytime.
Like I said – cookie novice – would it work rolling this into a log and just cutting them off? I wonder if that would give a more uniform shape and thickness? Anyway – thx great recipe!
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Dave, yes! You can roll this cookie dough into a cylinder, wrap it, refrigerate, and then slice and bake. It works great!
Kelly Thompson says
New to gluten free baking, also require dairy free, what do you find works best to replace butter with?
Nicole Hunn says
Please see the substitutions section of the text of every post for suggestions.
Miriam says
I made two batches for a family reunion. Everyone raved about them! I made one batch with King Arthur flour and the other with Sunset both came out amazing! Thank you.
Dana says
I have been making these cookies for maybe 2 yrs since my daughter was diagnosed with Celiac. In the summer I routinely make them in the toaster oven and it works great. Recently per my daughter’s request I substituted M&Ms and she declared them the best cookies ever.
Nicole Hunn says
That’s a brilliant way to make cookies without turning on the oven in the summertime, Dana. So glad you love them as much as we do!
Catherine says
Excellent recipe, I made these for the first time and all of your detailed tips and explanations helped them come out perfectly.
One suggestion: It might make sense to remove or modify the instruction to preheat the oven in step 1, since if the cookies are chilling for 12 hours, the oven won’t be needed for a while.
Debby Pascal says
I loved your previous version of thin and crispy chocolate chip cookies. Is that recipe still available?
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Debby, I’ve reprinted that under a different URL (linked). You can always use the search function to find it again. So sorry for the confusion, it’s just some blog housekeeping. :)
Janine Marshall says
Why did you pull down the recipe for New York Times chocolate chip cookie? I went to make them and the recipe was gone!
Nicole Hunn says
I’m so sorry for the inconvenience, Janine. That recipe has been republished under a different URL: https://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/new-york-times-style-gluten-free-chocolate-chip-cookies/ I’m working on ensuring that it’s searchable, but for now please bookmark that URL!
Janine Marshall says
Thank you! I have a question. It states to omit xanthan gum if the flour we are using already contains it. I’m using your bread flour recipe which is required in the recipe and that includes xanthan gum. Should I add more xanthan gum if my All Purpose Flour blend doesn’t contain any? Or is the amount used in your Bread Flour enough?
Thanks!
Janine
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Janine, my bread flour recipe calls for my mock Better Batter all purpose gluten free flour (or actual Better Batter’s classic blend), which itself contains xanthan gum. To that you add Expandex modified tapioca starch and whey protein isolate. There is no more xanthan gum called for in the recipe. Please see that post for further details.
Lucinda Wright says
I have made a wide variety of gluten free cookies & these are THE best. My family loved them. I used King Arthur gluten free flour.
Sara Graham Donahue says
Hi, just wondering if that nutritional info is per cookie. Thanks for the recipe, I have a batch in the oven now 🙂
Nicole Hunn says
Please see the bottom of the recipe card, below the heading that says “Nutrition”
Elizabeth says
I tried this recipe for the first time today. I usually browse through gf recipes as my son has celiac disease ( he’s an adult but comes over and snacks )
This recipe made the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever eaten . My husband just ate 4 . I thought putting the batter in the fridge for that long was a bit much but I am a complete convert now!
I am in Canada and the best gf flour I can get here is cup4cup . I will definitely make this again .
Thank you for sharing.
Nicole Hunn says
You’re so welcome, Elizabeth, and I’m so happy to hear that your family enjoyed them. I expect to continue to bake for my son well into his adulthood, so I understand!
Debby says
Hi Nicole. Thanks for all your great recipes. I dummy really have room in the fridge to pre roll the cookies and then chill them. Do you think it would be ok to chill the dough. Then roll and bake? Thanks!
Nicole Hunn says
You don’t have to preroll them and chill them, Debby. You can store the dough, unshaped, in a sealed container and then pull out the dough as necessary to shape and bake what you like.
Debby says
Thanks so much for the quick response. I’ll be making them today!
Nicole Hunn says
You’re very welcome, Debby!
Rhonda @ Change In Seconds says
Hi Nicole,
Just shared your wonderful recipe on Pinterest. Delicious!
Martha Bains says
I’m loving your cookies and better still the husband with celiac it too! Thank you. I’m wondering about your process. I have a beater for my kitchen aid stand mixer that I got at a kitchen store. It’s not kitchen aid but it has silicone sweeps on the bottom so it gets everything in the bowl. I’ve used it once successfully to incorporate wet into dry and had great success. I’m wondering if there is any reason why you don’t do that.
I’m also wondering why you put the sugar with the flour rather than creaming it for recipes that contain gluten. I love everything I’ve baked from your recipes, but I like to understand what is going on.
I haven’t tried the bread yet, but everything in that book looks so great. I’m waiting until after my mother in law leaves and then I’m going for it.
Nicole Hunn says
My methods are not different in that regard because they’re gluten free. The method you’re describing is called a reverse cream, Martha. I use it in certain recipes where I find that it does a better job of incorporating ingredients where I don’t particularly want lightness. It also makes very quick work of the recipe. You can certainly use your stand mixer to make the recipe as I describe. In certain recipes, like sponge cake, angel food cake, my very best vanilla cake, I cream the butter and sugar as it’s appropriate and necessary there for a good end result.
youngbaker2002 says
Oooooo… thin and chewy are my favorite!
Valerie Purcell says
I love everything you do – just wish I had the energy (CSF, post-triple cervical neck surg, 3 kids, 1st gc on the way & FT job I loathe & blooming art biz). I’m a very late in life GF person, so everything is compared to “the real” version. I got your 1st book last yr after diagnosis & have been hooked since! YOU are amazing to do all you do for us! CC cookies are SO necessary in life & you give us SO many choices! THANK YOU! The only thing I’d add is some alternative chips, like peanut butter, white chocolate and/or Heath bar pieces on occasion. We have a baby shower next week & that daughter is GF – so guess whose recipes will be on the table?!
Laurie Barrie says
It’s a tossup between the chocolate chip oatmeal and the cookie with the giant chocolate chunk pieces! With my love of chocolate, the big chunk may just win. Thank you for all the choices but my waistline might not thank you :-)
Katy @ Katy's Kitchen says
I have yet to try baking a gluten free chocolate chip cookie, even though I want one SO badly. I have to admit, I’m scared!
Ruth M. Henshaw says
My grandchildren prefer the oatmeal chocolate chip cookie that I have made for years but my personal preference is the Boston Drop Cookie and I would fight you for those.(Well I guess I would share but I’d be eating fast.) I haven’t had any of these cookies for several years because I haven’t tried to convert them to gluten free. For Easter I baked over 12 dozen cookies and made Easter baskets filled with homemade cookies for the grandchildren. (It is really hard to not sneak a nibble of these cookies when they come out of the oven but the thought of how sick I get stops me cold.) Maybe I’d better get busy and try to convert that Boston Drop Cookie recipe.
ladoramartin says
The timing of this is funny. I had made the recipe for chewy chocolate chip cookies from one of you past blogs. Family loved it so much I decided to double the recipe for other family. I used the recipe in your cookbook though so I ended up with 5 dozen cookies!!!! Sometimes the most important thing to read is how many servings it makes! Both my mother in law and brother in law are happy that I made the mistake though.
gfshoestring says
That is a happy accident, indeed, ladoramartin. At least for your mother-in-law and brother-in-law!
xoxo Nicole
Donia Robinson says
I’m a chewy chocolate chip cookie type person. Crunchy cookies of any type need not grace these lips. But my secret (past) love? Those giant ones that are made to be cookie cakes (with frosting, thank you very much). How do they get them so chewy? How?? Don’t give me cakes or cupcakes. I’ll take my frosting on a big old slice of cookie.
mary beth says
I’d love to know this, too. Any ideas on how to make a gf cookie cake??
gfshoestring says
I’ll do you one better than that, Mary Beth! I will make it and post about it. Love those!
xoxo Nicole
gfshoestring says
Oh, Donia, that’s a MUST MAKE! I have thought about posting a recipe for one of those cookie cakes a million times. And it must be frosted here and there with both white and blue buttercream (why? I have no idea but it must). Oh, I will be doing that for sure.
xoxo Nicole
Donia Robinson says
I’m so excited!!!!!!!
Jennifer Sasse says
Hey Sister! You are awesome and I’m so glad that you didn’t stop because this year cannot go fast enough until your bread cookbook comes out!!!! can we preorder yet! :)
So, I found this recipe for a chocolate chip cookie and went to get some Erewhon(sp) gluten free cornflakes to get it started yesterday: http://cookingactress.blogspot.ca/2012/07/momofukus-cornflake-chocolate-chip.html
Cookies like these make me jump for joy! :) Also, I was hoping someone would redo that famous nordstroms chocolate chip cookie recipe that floats around…. just sayin’!
gfshoestring says
The Nordstrom chocolate chip cookies are a great idea to make gluten free! they’re kind of like the Mrs. Fields gluten free chocolate chip cookies, but not exactly. Thanks, Jennifer!
xoxo Nicole