These vegan sugar cookies are super soft, easy, and require no chilling! A delicious dairy-free sugar cookie recipe.
It took a few experiments to get these right, but I am very pleased with the results. I love a soft sugar cookie, and these definitely are.
When I was first tinkering with this recipe, I wanted them to be shape cutouts, but that involved a lot of chilling, mess, and work. I may still develop a recipe for those, but for now, these definitely are less effort and taste great, so I'm sticking with them as my go-to easy vegan cookie. 🙂
This soft vegan sugar cookies recipe is sweet (but not too sweet), and the ground flax adds a lovely nutty flavor to them.
I made several batches of these cookies, and everyone adored them. My husband's coworkers were definitely happy campers.
What ingredients are in vegan sugar cookies?
Vegan butter, white sugar, flax egg, pure vanilla extract, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, and optional mix-ins (e.g. sprinkles).
You can see this recipe is pretty similar to regular sugar cookies, except the egg and butter are replaced with vegan alternatives.
How to make vegan sugar cookies
Make the flax egg; set aside for it to gel. Prep the remaining ingredients.
Cream butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the flax egg and vanilla.
In another bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together. Gradually add dry ingredients to the wet ones. Fold in any mix-ins.
Roll dough into 1.5" balls and bake on a lined baking sheet at 400F for 10-12 minutes.
How to customize vegan sugar cookies
It's really easy to customize these cookies. Don't want sprinkles? Skip them.
Want to make these vegan Christmas cookies? Use red and green sprinkles like I did in most of the photos.
Want rainbow sugar cookies? Use rainbow sprinkles.
Want to make these vegan Halloween sugar cookies? Use Halloween sprinkles.
...Or make my vegan chocolate chip cookie dough frosting to go with them!
You can see that these are cookies for any occasion, basically. 😉
How to store vegan sugar cookies
I like to transfer these cookies to a sealed container as soon as they cool so that they remain nice and soft. They keep well for a few days (in the sealed container).
I hope you love these easy vegan sugar cookies!
Have you ever made vegan cookies before? Talk to me in the comments below!
Vegan Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup vegan butter slightly softened (see note)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flaxseed + 3 tbsp water)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2.5 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 small pinch of salt
- 2-3 tablespoons sprinkles (optional)
Instructions
- Prepare your flax egg by mixing the ground flaxseed and water in a small bowl. Set it aside, and prep the rest of your ingredients so it has the chance to sit for 10 minutes or so.
- Preheat oven to 400F and move the rack to the middle of the oven. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat non-stick mat or parchment paper.
- Cream the vegan butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer on a low speed.
- Add the flax egg and vanilla extract to the bowl. Mix on low.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl.
- Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture, mixing it on a low speed until all the flour is incorporated.
- Fold in the sprinkles.
- Gently roll the dough into 1.5" balls. Place the balls at least a couple of inches apart (cookies will spread) on the baking sheet. I bake two batches (one batch at a time with about 10 cookies/batch). Bake for 10-12 minutes.
- Transfer cookies to a cooling rack and then transfer them to an airtight container as soon as they've cooled a bit so they remain nice and soft.
Notes
- I use vegan buttery sticks (2 of them to make 1 cup). I like to let the vegan butter sit on the counter for 10-15 minutes prior to making this recipe. You don't want it to sit too long - it softens much faster than normal butter.
- Makes 20-25 cookies (approximately).
- I used ground brown flaxseed, but you could also use the golden variety. I also sometimes see it labeled as "milled flaxseed" and "flaxseed meal".
- Make sure you spoon and level the flour vs. scooping it so you don't end up with too much.
- Not all brands of sprinkles are vegan-friendly, so be sure to check if that's a concern.
Nutrition
Love sugar cookies? Check out my roundup of 15 of the best Christmas sugar cookie recipes.
Nicole says
5 stars! Because everyone's oven, humidity, altitude is different, I usually do a test cookie or 2 to get the timing/ spread right. My batch didn't spread so I simply flattened them with the back of a pie spatula and baked them for 11 min. These made the house smell so good! This is a really great sugar cookie recipe. I think they would work great as "grinch cookies" so next time I'll add green food coloring and a heart to the center.
Thank you for this recipe! These will be my go-to sugar cookies. (Been searching for a vegan sugar cookie recipe for a while that didn't have weird ingredients, so I'm super thrilled with this!)
Natasha says
That's smart!! So glad these worked out for you! Love the grinch idea 🙂
Nat says
I just made these and they turned out absolutely delicious! And cute! Even though I followed the recipe exactly, my cookies didn't flatten at all. So they didn't turn out as cute as they could have been. I'll just have to flatten them myself next time.
Natasha says
I'm so glad to hear it!! That is so strange re: the not flattening, though...
Mia says
Hi ! I just made the cookies and they taste delicious! Only problem was they were not spreading so I had to flatten them down myself ? Any tips ?
I did mix everything my hand cause my daughter was sleeping ( lol ) does that make a difference ?
Natasha says
I am so glad the taste was good, Mia!! I'm not sure if mixing by hand would have made a difference or not. I find mine just flatten by themselves in the oven as they bake. Did yours look a lot different than the photos?
Edie Gardner says
mine did not flatten either
Natasha says
So they baked up looking more puffy than the pics?
Ellie says
Where do you get your vegan friendly sprinkles?
Natasha says
I think I got them from Sweetapolita 😊
Kirsty says
Thanks for the great recipe! Just made these with my daughter for her school Christmas party. We substituted your flax egg with egg replacer and cut into Christmas shapes. They turned out really well and tasted fab. No one knew the difference!
Natasha says
That's awesome!! I am so happy they worked so well!
Sue says
Made these today with my 5 year old. We loved how they turned out!! I subbed 4 TBL of aquafaba for the flax just because that’s all I had. I had to just flatten the cookies slightly because they weren’t spreading with the substitution I made. I’m going to try this recipe again with coconut oil. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
Natasha says
Yay! That's great! Thanks for the aquafaba tip. That's good to know.
Leslie Herr says
How do you propose I alter the recipe to become Lavender Sugar cookies? Or Lemon-Lavender?
Natasha says
Hi Leslie, I'd add some lemon zest to the recipe. For the lavender, I'd add a bit of lavender extract (you can probably buy it on Amazon, but baking specialty stores should have it). I think you can also add dried lavender if that's your thing, but I haven't tested it so I'm not entirely sure how to do that. Maybe do a search for lavender cookies and see if there's some elements of a different recipe you can borrow and insert into this one. I like your idea.. let me know how it goes!
Megan says
Would these freeze well?
Natasha says
Hmm I haven't tried... I will have to make a batch and test! I don't see why they wouldn't freeze well, though.
Cee says
Hi
Vegan foods never contain white sugar. That's a common mistake people make. White sugar is refined thru charred animal bones.
Natasha says
Hi Cee! Thanks for your comment. From what I've read on this topic, it's debatable - it doesn't technically contain any animal products, but I do see why some vegans would be put off. If you're personally concerned about the issue, there are definitely brands of white sugar out there that are sensitive to this and are refined through other means. U.S. organic white sugar should not be filtered through bone char.
Ellie says
Even conventional white sugar in the us isn't processed with bone char
Airah says
Can't wait to try out this recipe! Will they harden if I have them packaged in cellophane wrap?
Natasha says
Thanks, I hope you like it!! I haven't tried that... if you wrapped them really tightly and kept them in a dark spot out of the sun, they would probably be ok, but I can't say for sure since I don't usually store cookies that way.
Anna says
Such a delicious and easy recipe! A new classic sugar cookie to replace my non-vegan Christmas cookie! I also love that it doesn't need to chill overnight! For my gluten-free friend, I use gluten-free flour, and it is still delicious!
Natasha says
Excellent! Thanks for letting me know, Anna!! Love the tip about gluten-free flour.
Diane says
Hi, can I use coconut softened?
Natasha says
Coconut oil that's been softened instead of the vegan butter, you mean? You could definitely try it. I think it should work, but I have not tried it myself. Please let me know how it goes! 🙂
Isla says
Hi I want to make these like now without going to the store and getting flax seeds haha do you think I can use ener g egg replacer? It states that 1 to 1.5 teaspoons with water equals one egg....
Natasha says
Hi Isla! I have not tried that product before. Vegan baking is kinda tricky as it is, so I really can't speculate. Try it and let me know how it goes, though.
Sarah says
Could you roll this cookie dough out and use cut outs for different shapes?
Natasha says
Hi Sarah, the dough is really soft, so I would recommend chilling it for at least an hour first if you do try to cut out shapes. I did attempt it myself, and it wasn't so easy to work with, so that's why I opted to roll it into balls instead.
Jennifer Guzman says
First time making vegan cookies and I don’t have any vanilla extract on hand .. is it necessary to add this to the mix or can I leave it out?
Natasha says
I think you should be ok without it. It's more for flavor than anything. Let me know how they go! Hope you enjoy them.
kellie@foodtoglow says
These look like such a great all-rounder to have in my virtual filing box. My head is whirling with possibilities!
Natasha says
Aw thanks, Kellie! 💛
Darcy Alexa says
oooh!! I think this is a recipe that even I can handle.. I might just need to make these and bring to the office and fool the non vegans.. Muahahah!!
Natasha says
Haha excellent. Let me know if you try them! I had a few people test them from my office, and they couldn’t tell. 😁