Vegan Chocolate Chip Quinoa Cookies
This delicious chocolate chip quinoa cookies recipe is easy to make in one bowl with 7 ingredients and the perfect way to use up extra quinoa.
These healthier cookies are an excellent choice for those with allergies as they’re gluten-free, oil-free, egg-free and dairy-free.
They’re easy to make and while the cooking time is a little longer than most cookies, they take just minutes to prepare in one bowl with a few wholesome ingredients. You’ll love their soft texture and delicious, nutty flavour.
These can be enjoyed as healthy breakfast cookies but will definitely still satisfy your sweet tooth!
For more quinoa recipes, you can use cooked quinoa in this Vegan Breakfast Quinoa Bowls Recipe or these Quinoa Breakfast Bars. For quinoa flour recipes, you can try these Vegan Quinoa Flour Pancakes.
Recipe Highlights
- Vegan (no eggs, dairy-free).
- Gluten-free.
- Oil-free.
- Whole grains.
- No flax egg needed.
- Made with oat flour.
- Easy one-bowl recipe.
- 7 simple ingredients.
- 4 grams of protein per cookie.
Ingredient Notes
- Oat flour. If you have oats on hand, you’re all set for oat flour. Just blend them up into a fine flour and you’ve got the oat flour needed for the recipe. You can use quick oats, rolled oats or old fashioned oats to make oat flour.
- Applesauce. You’ll need unsweetened applesauce to help bind, sweeten and replace oil. Any brand works or you can use homemade applesauce.
- Sugar. You’ll need a granulated sugar of choice. I used organic cane sugar but coconut sugar, demera, sucanut or brown sugar. For a sugar-free cookie, you can use Lakanto Monk Fruit Sweetener. I have not tried this recipe with a liquid sweetener like maple syrup.
- Nut or seed butter. For nut-free cookies, use sunflower seed butter, otherwise almond butter, cashew butter, or peanut butter all work great.
- Cooked quinoa. This recipe is for cooked quinoa, not quinoa flakes or quinoa flour. You’ll need about 1.5 cups cooked and cooled quinoa. White quinoa, red quinoa, etc. are all suitable.
- Chocolate chips. I used Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips but for a lower-sugar cookie you could always leave them out or substitute them with chopped nuts such as walnuts or pecans. Chopped dark chocolate or cacao paste would also work.
Variations
- Nut-Free Option: Use tahini or sunflower seed butter for the nut butter.
- Cranberry Walnut: Omit chocolate chips and use 1/4 cup dried cranberries and chopped walnuts (can add 1/4 cup chocolate chips as well).
- Nuts & Seeds: Add up to 1/3 cup sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, pecans, etc. or swap the chocolate chips for any nut or seed.
- Coconut: Add up to 1/2 cup coconut flakes.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Mix the applesauce, sugar and nut or seed butter in a large mixing bowl until smooth and fully combined.
Step 2: Add the baking powder, oat flour, salt and quinoa and stir to combine into a uniform cookie dough. Mix in the chocolate chips.
Step 3: Drop spoonfuls of the cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet to make 12 cookies and shape each scoop into a rough cookie form. They won’t change shape during baking, so shape how you’d like them before baking.
Bake cookies for 26 minutes then remove and let cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Recipe FAQs
The cookies will keep 3 days at room temperature in an airtight container or up to 1 week in the fridge. Cool completely before storing.
Yes. Cool completely then freeze in a freezer bag or airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature or in the fridge.
No. This recipe has not been tested with almond flour or coconut flour and would need further adjustment.
For almond flour cookies, you can try these Gluten-Free Almond Flour Peanut Butter Cookies, Gluten-Free & Vegan Almond Flour Oatmeal Cookies or Easy Vegan Tahini Sesame Cookies.
Love these quinoa cookies? Here are some more recipes you might like (all gluten-free!):
More Cookie Recipes
Did you try this recipe? I’d love to hear about it! Scroll down to the comment section to leave a star rating and review.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Chocolate Chip Quinoa Cookies
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 26 mins
- Total Time: 31 minutes
- Yield: 12
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This quinoa cookies recipe makes a delicious vegan and gluten-free option for a healthy dessert with with a delicious, soft texture and sweet, nutty flavor.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (125 g) unsweetened applesauce
- 1/3 cup (68 g) cane sugar, coconut sugar or brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (60 g) sunflower seed butter, almond butter, peanut butter, etc.
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup (100 g) rolled oats blended into fine oat flour
- 1.5 cups (190 g) cooked quinoa
- 1/2 cup (85 g) dairy-free chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add the applesauce, sugar and nut or seed butter to a mixing bowl and stir until smooth and combined.
- Make some oat flour if you don’t have any prepared, then add the oat flour, baking powder, salt and quinoa and mix into a uniform cookie dough. Mix in the chocolate chips.
- Use a spoon or cookie scoop to create 12 cookies, placing them on the prepared cookie sheet to make 12 cookies. You can use your fingers to shape them a bit but no need to be perfect.
- Bake for 26 minutes then remove from the oven and let cool on the pan for 2-3 minutes before gently transferring to a cooling rack. Let cool completely before storing. The cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to 4 days in an air-tight container, in the fridge for about a week or frozen for up to 2 months.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 159
- Sugar: 12 g
- Sodium: 99 mg
- Fat: 6 g
- Carbohydrates: 24 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 4 g
I’m not crazy about peanut butter (or any nut or seed butter) taste in cookies. Is the nut butter taste very strong in the finished cookies? If so, is there a way to leave it out?
It’s not very strong in the final recipe. I would suggest almond butter for the mildest flavour. I haven’t tried this recipe without it. I used it to replace oil or butter, add moisture and help bind so I’m not how it would work without. Thanks!
I was a skeptic but I was wrong! These cookies are DELICIOUS! Even my two young boys and hubby loved them!
I made these this morning using almond butter, added a teaspoon of cinnamon, dried blueberries, dried hibiscus, coconut flakes, and toasted almonds to make the half cup instead of the chocolate chips. What a great cookie! They are delicious and they don’t fall apart lol thanks!! They were perfectly done at 26 minutes.
Thank you, Mary! I’m so glad you liked them. They sound delicious with those additions.
Can you use oats instead of quinoa?
Hmm. I haven’t tried this recipe with that much oats. I think they’d be a bit too dry made that way since the oats would absorb the moisture in the applesauce and nut butter. You could try 1 cup oat flour plus 1/2 cup oats (omit quinoa), or I’d suggest making one of my easy oatmeal cookies instead (like the 3-ingredient cookies, healthy oat cookies or peanut butter banana cookies) because I can’t guarantee how these will turn out without testing. Thanks!
The recipe is OK. The flavour is nice, however I’d put less sugar next time because the apple is a sweetener. I miss a good texture, I haven’t put peanut butter though – only some oil, which could explain.
What a great recipe! Loved these! Think I’ll try them again with raisins instead of chocolate chips.
Thanks Trisha! Glad you enjoyed them.
I am about to make these cookies and I was wondering how much dry quinoa do you use to make 1 1/2 cops of cooked quinoa?
Quinoa makes a little more than double once cooked, so I’d probably cook 3/4 cup if you have some extra you can eat it on its own or add it to a soup or salad or something.
I was looking for a recipe to use up the extra quinoa I had and stumbled on this. This recipe is very good. I really appreciate the extra details you give for substitutes. It answers the questions so we don’t have to ask them. I also appreciate you using metric because it avoids mistakes. Thank you very much for inventing this recipe and sharing it for us to enjoy.
Thanks for trying it! Glad you enjoyed them.
So delicious thank you!! I made the cookies smaller so they got done quicker. Love the crunchy taste with them. I can’t stop eating them!!😁 best part is they are full of protein and iron!
Looks delicious 😋 and they are in the oven!
Hope you enjoy them!