Yield: 14 vegan banana bread chocolate chip cookies // Total Time: 1 hr. 10 min. // Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links.

Vegan banana bread chocolate chip cookies

Why you’ll love these banana bread chocolate chip cookies

1. They’re vegan – but you wouldn’t know it. I tested a vegan and non-vegan version of these and the difference is negligble. Just be sure you use a high quality vegan butter, and not margarine!

2. They use brown butter. That’s right, brown butter in a vegan cookie! Now this does require using a certain brand of vegan butter. Not sponsored, but I used Miyoko’s Creamery Vegan Butter to be able to incorporate vegan brown butter into these recipes. If you don’t have access to this butter, I have notes later on on how to make these vegan but without brown butter, or you can use standard butter if you don’t mind them not being vegan.

3. They’re super easy to make! These banana bread cookies come together in one bowl (+ one saucepan), don’t require a mixer, and require just 30 minutes of chill time.

Recipe tips

Weigh your ingredients

• Weighing your ingredients is important for getting the recipe perfect and getting consistent results. I do provide cup measurements but please note that I test all my recipes in grams and can not guarantee that your bake will turn out like mine. This kitchen scale is super cheap and a great starter scale! If you don’t have access to a scale, here is the best way to measure flour: fluff up the flour with a fork, then use a spoon to scoop it into your measuring cup. Use a knife to level off the top of the cup, then use as directed.

Mix the dough carefully

• When adding in the flour, only fold the mixture just until no flour streaks remain. Overmixing the dough leads to more gluten formation, which can make the cookies super tough and chewy.

Underbake for perfect cookies

• Cookies continue baking after they have been taken out of the oven. If you used a 3 tbsp. cookie scoop & use an oven thermometer, these will be ready to take out at the 12 minute mark!

How to get perfectly round cookies

• The secret to perfectly round cookies? It’s cookie scooting! Right when the cookies come out of the oven, take a bowl, cup, or biscuit cutter that is just slightly larger than your cookies and place it over one of the cookies. Gently swirl the bowl around the cookie to make the cookie perfectly round (and slightly thicker). And that’s all there is to it!

Ingredients and substitutions

All purpose flour: for structure and chewiness.

Baking powder: for helping the cookies rise.

Baking soda: for helping the cookies rise and to help them brown nicely.

Salt: to help balance and bring out the sweetness of the cookies

Ground cinnamon: a touch of cinnamon brings that classic warmth and flavor from banana bread.

Vegan butter: for tenderness and flavor. I used and recommend miyoko’s creamery vegan butter since it does have the ability to be browned like dairy butter. If you are unable to get miyoko’s brand, you won’t be able to brown the butter but can use 125g any high quality vegan butter in it’s place. If you don’t mind these not being vegan, you can substitute in dairy butter and brown it as well.

Light brown sugar: for flavor, sweetness, and adding mositure.

Granulated sugar: for sweetness and helps lock in moisture.

Vanilla: for flavor.

Banana: you’ll need 100g (~1 small) banana, that’s super ripened – basically at the point that you would consider throwing it out.

Chocolate chips: use your favorite vegan chocolate chips here – or even non-vegan ones if you don’t mind! You can also use a baking bar and chop it up to get nice pools of chocolate throughout the cookies.

How to make banana bread chocolate chip cookies

Here are the steps to follow to make these cookies. You can find the complete recipe (which is printable!) at the end of this blog post.

1. Make the brown butter. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Continue to stir occasionally until the mixture turns amber in color. Remove the butter from the heat and chill it in the fridge for 10 minutes.

2. Mix the wet ingredients. In a medium sized mixing bowl, mash up the banana. Then, mix in the browned butter, both sugars, and the vanilla.

3. Add in the dry ingredients. Add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Fold the ingredients together just until a few flour streaks remain, then add in the chocolate chips. Stir just until no flour streaks remain.

4. Chill. Annoying but necessary! Wrap the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, and up to 48 hours.

5. Bake. Once the dough has chilled, dish out the cookies using a 3 tbsp. cookie scoop and bake for 12 minutes.

6. Get perfect cookies. Once the cookies come out of the oven, I recommend “scooting” them. This just means take a bowl, cup, or biscuit cutter that is slightly larger than the cookie, place it on top of the cookie, and swirl the bowl around to make the cookie a little more round.

7. Serve and enjoy!

Vegan banana bread chocolate chip cookies Q & A

Do I need to use ripe bananas?

• I know it can be quite frustrating if you don’t have any ripe bananas on hand, but you do need to use a very ripe banana for this recipe. Ripe bananas provide are a different texture, sweeter, and more flavorful than green or yellow bananas. If you don’t have any ripe bananas, simply buy some at the beginning of the week and leave them out with the intention of making a banana recipe at the end of the week! If you need the bananas ripe NOW, I’ve seen that you can bake them in the oven until they turn brown (although I have never tried this method).

Can I double this recipe?

• Of course! Simply double all the ingredients in this recipe to make 28 delicious banana bread chocolate chip cookies. I even more strongly recommend measuring by weight if you are going to double the recipe for the best results.

Can I make these cookies ahead of time?

• Definitely! Cookie dough only gets better with time. You can keep the cookie dough tightly covered in the fridge for up to 2 days before baking. For longer term storage, you can also freeze the cookie dough. Just be sure to take the dough out of the fridge at least 30 minutes to 1 hour before you want to bake, so that it becomes soft enough to scoop again!

How to store banana bread chocolate chip cookies.

• Like most baked goods, these cookies will definitely taste the best on the day that they are baked. They will last for up to 3 days stored in an airtight container at room temperature.

A note on oven temperature

Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature. For example, I always have to set my oven to 330°F if I want it to bake at 350°F. If you love to bake like I do, I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer. They are super helpful for letting you know when your oven might be lying to you! I use this one.

Vegan banana bread chocolate chip cookies troubleshooting

Help! My cookies turned out dry and crumbly.

• There are two main reasons that this might have occurred but the #1 culprit is always not measuring the flour. If you use cup measurements, you run the risk of adding too much flour to the dough which can make it super dry. Another reason could be that you browned the butter for too long which resulted in a lot of moisture loss. I recommend weighing the butter after you brown it and adding in water to reach 113g, if you don’t have at least 113g.

My cookies spread too much during baking.

• The #1 reason for this would be that you didn’t chill the cookie dough. Although it can be frustrating to wait, the cookie dough does need to chill to give time for the butter to firm up and the ingredients to meld together so that they don’t completely spread out in the oven. It could also be that your oven temperature is running lower than it claims to be. For that reason, I recommend always using an oven thermometer. The one I use was ~$6 and is linked under “baking tools” in my amazon storefront below!

Tools and ingredients

You can find all my favorite tools and ingredients that I use on my Amazon Storefront page, here!