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Soft brown butter banana bread chocolate chip cookies that are eggless and super easily made vegan.

This post may contain affiliate links, please read the privacy policy for details. || Recipe updated 03/21/24.

close up of the banana bread chocolate chip cookies

banana bread chocolate chip cookies

Take allllll your favorite things about banana bread, and turn them into a cookie. These banana bread ccc’s are super delicious, and super flavorful, with notes of brown butter, banana, cinnamon, and chocolate in every bite.

why you’ll love these banana bread chocolate chip cookies

  • They’re easily made vegan. 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!
  • They use brown butter. As most cookies should because the flavor is *delicious* Not sponsored, but Miyoko’s Creamery Vegan Butter is able to brown like normal butter making it a perfect vegan sub in these cookies. If you don’t have access to this butter, I have notes later on on how to make these vegan but without brown butter.
  • 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.

expert baking tips

Weigh your ingredients:

My recipes are all written in grams because it is the most accurate way to bake. When you use a kitchen scale, you ensure that your baked goods turn out as close to the written recipe as possible. Plus, the cleanup is way easier when using a scale! I will provide standard cup measurements but please note that I have not tested the recipe using cup measurements and therefore can not guarantee your recipe will come out how mine did. Here is my favorite kitchen scale.

Mix the dough carefully:

When adding in the flour, only fold the mixture just until no flour streaks remain. Over mixing the dough leads to more gluten formation, which can make the cookies thicker and more tough in texture.

Under bake for perfect cookies:

Cookies continue baking after they have been taken out of the oven. Once the edges turn slightly golden brown, and the cookies look just a little wet on top still, they are ready to come out. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for an additional 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.

The secret to perfectly round cookies:

Wanna know 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!

A note on oven temperature:

Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature and might not always actually be at the temperature they claim to be at. 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.

the banana bread chocolate chip cookies layered on top of each other

ingredients for banana chocolate chip cookies

  • All purpose flour: for structure and chewiness.
  • Rolled oats: I recommend rolled oats for the best texture.
  • 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.
  • Unsalted butter: for tenderness and flavor. You can easily make these cookies vegan by using 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 90g any high quality vegan butter stick in it’s place.
  • 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 ~1 small banana, that’s super ripened – basically at the point that you would consider throwing it out.
  • Chocolate chips: use your favorite chocolate here – vegan or not! Note that if you use chocolate chips your cookies won’t spread as much as if you were to use a chopped chocolate baking bar, or chocolate feves as pictured.

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.

The mixing bowl with the mashed banana and cinnamon
The mixing bowl after adding in all the wet ingredients.
  • Mash the banana with the cinnamon until it’s mostly smooth and lump-free.
  • Mix in the brown butter, both sugars, and the vanilla until well combined.
The mixing bowl with the finished cookie dough in it, prior to baking.
The cookie dough balls portioned out on a cookie sheet.
  • Fold in the dry ingredients until only a few streaks of flour remain, then fold in the chocolate chips.
  • Chill the dough for 30 minutes, then bake, serve, and enjoy!

banana bread chocolate chip cookies recipe q&a

What is brown butter?

Brown butter is super simple to make so don’t worry! It’s just regular butter that is cooked on the stove until some of the moisture evaporates, allowing the milk solids in the butter to be toasted. The result is this butter with an amber hue and little speckles that has a toasted and slightly nutty aroma.

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 asap 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?

Definitely – please be sure to use grams for the best results.

can I make these cookies ahead of time?

Definitely – cookie dough really 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 balls. 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 cookies

Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. They will keep for up to 5 days, but will taste the best 1-3 days after baking.

Close up of the banana bread chocolate chip cookies

banana bread cookies troubleshooting

Measuring error: Typically, the #1 culprit for this is always not measuring the flour properly. If you use cup measurements, you run the risk of adding too much flour to the dough which can make it super dry. If you’re using cup measurements, make sure that you fluff up your flour and then spoon it into your measuring cup, rather than scooping up the flour with the measuring cup. Measuring will also be sure that you end up with the right amount of brown butter and that you cooked it for the proper amount of time.

Overmixing: if you over-mix the dough, you will introduce more gluten into the cookies which will lead to tougher, thicker cookies. Make sure to only fold in the flour just until that last streak of flour disappears into the dough.

Oven temperature: Like I said before, it’s possible that your oven isn’t at the temperature that it claims to be at – which is, unfortunately, more common than it should be. If your oven is hotter than 350F without your knowledge, you’ll end up with thicker, more dry cookies.

Chilling the dough: 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.

Browning the butter: Another reason I recommend measuring your ingredients. When you brown the butter, moisture cooks off of it. So, if it wasn’t cooked for long enough then there would be extra moisture in the dough, which would make the cookies spread out more.

Oven temperature: 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!

other recipes you might enjoy:

Close up of the banana bread chocolate chip cookies

did you make this recipe?

I’d love to see and know your thoughts! please leave a comment and review below, and tag me on instagram @freshbeanbakery. #freshbeanbakery

Banana Bread Chocolate Chip Cookies

5 from 8 votes
Soft & chewy chocolate chip cookies that taste like banana bread.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time12 minutes
Chill Time 30 minutes
Total Time1 hour 12 minutes
Servings8 cookies
Calories367 kcal

Ingredients 

  • 113 g unsalted butter* (½ c.)
  • 80 g banana ripe (~1 small banana)
  • 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 100 g light brown sugar (½ c.)
  • 50 g granulated sugar (¼ c.)
  • ½ tsp. vanilla
  • 130 g all purpose flour (1 c. + 1 ⅓ tbsp.)
  • 60 g rolled oats (⅔ c.)
  • ½ tsp. baking powder
  • ½ tsp. baking soda
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 130 g semi-sweet chocolate discs, bars, or chips (¾ c.)

Instructions 

  • Brown the butter. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Continue to stir occasionally until the mixture turns amber in color, then remove it from the heat and set it in the fridge for 10 minutes. You should be left with 90g of butter – if you have a little less (2-3g), just add in a bit of water until you reach 90g.
  • In a medium sized mixing bowl, mash up the banana with the cinnamon until only a few lumps remain.
  • Once the butter has chilled a little, add it to the mashed banana along with the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla. Mix until well combined.
  • Add in the flour, rolled oats baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Fold the mixture together using a rubber spatula just until only a few flour streaks remain.
  • Add in the chocolate chips, and fold the mixture together just until no flour streaks remain.
  • Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and chill the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, and up to 48 hours.**
  • Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
  • Use a 3 tbsp. cookie scoop to dish out heaping scoops of the cookies (or weigh out 80g cookies), leaving at least 2" between each cookie to allow room for spreading.
  • Top the cookies with more chocolate if desired. Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until the edges begin to turn golden brown.
  • Immediately after taking the cookies out of the oven, take a bowl that is slightly larger than the cookies and swirl it around over them to make them a little more uniform and circular.
  • Leave the cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Serve and enjoy!

Notes

Affiliate links: Kitchen Scale (my favorite) | Kitchen scale (great starter option) | | Oven Thermometer | Cookie Scoops | Cookie Sheet Pan | Milk Pan
*If you’d like to make this vegan, use Miyoko’s Creamery vegan butter. I used this brand because it’s the only vegan butter that can “brown”, if you can’t find it – simply substitute in 90g of a high quality vegan butter stick (not margarine), melt it, and use it as normal in the recipe. 
**If you are chilling the dough for over an hour, you will need to take it out to sit at room temperature until it’s soft enough to scoop before baking them (~20-30 minutes before baking, depending on how warm your home is.) Note that the longer the cookies rest, the thicker they will bake up.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cookieCalories: 367kcalCarbohydrates: 47gProtein: 4gFat: 18gSaturated Fat: 11gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0.5gCholesterol: 31mgSodium: 244mgPotassium: 196mgFiber: 3gSugar: 26gVitamin A: 370IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 55mgIron: 2mg

Please note that the nutrition facts are only an estimate and may vary based on different brands of ingredients and any substitutions made.

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Recipe Rating




11 Comments

  1. Can i omit the rolled oats? if yes, do I have to make adjustments? I love your chocolate chip cookie recipe 😻 and I definitely have to try this but I don’t like oats 🥹

    Reply

    1. Hi! I haven’t tried it but if you were to omit the oats I would add in 30g of flour and it should work perfectly! That would basically turn these in to my small batch ccc’s, but with banana & cinnamon! 🙂

      Reply

  2. 5 stars
    I Love this recipe! My family enjoyed these cookies. They didn’t last more than a day. I’m a novice baker and found this recipe easy to follow. It was so helpful to read the notes on fluffing the flour and using a container to make the cookies round. My cookies looked professionally baked. I look forward to trying more recipes.

    Reply

  4. 5 stars
    Defrosted my bananas this AM and made this recipe. Really taste like banana bread in cookie form. I used dark chocolate chips and added pecans because I like nuts in my cookies. Super yummy. Thanks for another great recipe.

    Reply

  5. 5 stars
    I have made most of your cookies! I have to say that these might be the very best! I also used regular butter and they were SO GOOD!

    Reply

  6. 5 stars
    Just made these! I used regular butter and they turned out perfect. They taste just like banana bread but cookie form!

    Reply