This is my most popular cookie recipe, the original butterless chocolate chip cookies! Baked with oil instead of butter, these cookies come out delicious every time. They have the perfect amount of chewiness and sweetness and are flavorful.
And if you love cookies, also try oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chip cookies with walnuts, and the best chocolate chip cookie pie.
I created this recipe years ago when I had no butter but an intense craving for chocolate chip cookies. To my amazement, the cookies came out so delicious! I love that they are far from cakey or dry.
They’re the best chewy cookie with crispy edges, and it’s become my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe. It’s easy to make, and they’re a tremendous, easy everyday cookie recipe.
Chocolate Chip Cookies without Butter
Why You’ll Love These Cookies
It’s a great way to enjoy cookies if you are intolerant to dairy.
The oil gives the cookies a cake-like crumb texture, and because of the high-fat content, they stay wonderfully moist.
The recipe was originally posted in 2010 and has hundreds of reviews!Â
Helpful Supplies
Here are all of the supplies you’ll need:
Shopping List and Ingredient Notes
The full recipe and measurements are in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
All-Purpose Flour: We use King Arthur All-Purpose Flour. You can also use whole wheat flour too.
Baking soda and Baking powder: Both are used as leavening agents to activate the rise in the cookie.
Vegetable oil: Is used instead of butter. Use neutral oil, sunflower oil, canola, or vegetable oil, in your butterless chocolate chip cookie recipe. You will taste the flavors using an intensely flavored oil, like olive or peanut oil.
Brown sugar: Dark brown sugar works well. However, if you only have light brown sugar, that will work too.
Granulated sugar: This is used to sweeten the cookies.
Eggs: Use organic eggs if possible.
Vanilla extract: Pure vanilla extract adds flavor and enhances the recipe’s flavors.
Almond extract – Pure almond extract works best.
Semisweet chocolate chips or chunks: We love Ghirardelli and Ghirardelli. If you prefer chocolate chunks, you can do that, too. Dark chocolate also tastes delicious in this recipe.
Cookie Variations
- Gluten-Free: To make these chocolate chip cookies gluten-free, use a 1:1 ratio of all-purpose gluten-free flour. I like Bob’s Red Mill.
- Add Nuts: Add 1 cup of chopped nuts, such as pecans or walnuts.
- Different Flavored Chips: Swap the chocolate chips for white, peanut butter, or butterscotch chips.
- Salt: Sprinkle a little sea salt on top of the cookies after they come out of the oven.
How to Store
For about three days, you can store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature.
You can also freeze cookies in an airtight sealed bag or container for up to three months. However, nothing is better than a warm chocolate chip cookie right out of the oven!
More Cookie Recipes to Try
Here are a few more of my favorite cookie recipes. These are ALL fantastic recipes and are perfect for all occasions.Â
I hope you enjoy these butterless cookies! If you like this recipe, please rate it and let me know how it turned out in the comments below!Â
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Butter-less Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp almond
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together oil, brown sugar, and white sugar using the paddle attachment.
- Beat eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla and almond extract.
- Blend in dry ingredients and fold in the chocolate chips.
- Using a cookie dough scoop, scoop balls of cookie dough on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, 2" apart.
- Bake for 8 to 9 minutes, then let them cool on the pan before moving them to a wire rack.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Frequently Asked Questions
You can use oil if you want a butter-free cookie. Just make sure to use a natural oil such as sunflower, canola, or vegetable oil. This will give the cookies a crispy and chewy texture.
Yes, you can! Oil is the best substitute for butter in cookies. This recipe uses only oil (no butter), and they have the best texture and flavor.Â
Delicious! Loved the hint of almond taste
I found this recipe last week and already made it twice! It’s fantastic! The cookies are so fun and easy to make. Thank you for sharing!
These butterless chocolate chip cookies are so yummy and easy to make! Chewy and crisp at the same time. Delicious!
Thank you Matt!
Super easy recipe! I did alter it a bit to fit our families dietary restrictions, It came out absolutely delicious! Thanks for posting! I will be using this recipe going forward.
Amazing! No one would ever guess there is no butter in there. Great recipe!
Such delicious cookies!! I would recommend not adding the normal sugar and adding less brown sugar but overall great!! Don’t be fooled after it comes out the oven, it’s meant to be gooey
these are relly good .. i saved this recipe
ive used rice bran oil it is fine, they are still lovely. It is a great recipe and I have been experimenting with it. because I like to bake with what I have. I shop for extras on special occasion. I did buy choc chips though
Not sure what I did wrong, but even after an extra minute in the oven my cookies came out super flat and way too gooey in the middle. I must have messed up somewhere….either way I like the option of no butter. Thanks for sharing!
i made these with a cup of ricies, a cup of cornflakes, to use them up, also a cup of coconut. and one cup of chips. i was worried they might be abit dry because of the add ons so took out 1/4 cup of flour, also added a tablespoon of cocoa. They are great. and yum. Sorry for destroying your recipe
Love these cookies!
I made this easier and improved the nutritional value by 1. Using 1 1/4 cups each of white self-raising flour and wholemeal self-raising flour. 2. Instead of 2 cups of sugar I used 1/2 cup dark brown sugar. 3. 2 cups of choc chips is far too much – I used barely 1/2 cup.
These came out great!!!! I had a sugar craving and not enough ingredients for my usual butter cookies. I had to leave out some of the ingredients of this recipe too because didn’t have any white sugar, baking soda or almond extract but they came out perfectly (even with some things missing). Lovely and moist and chewy not like my usual cookies. This will definitely be my new go too cookie recipe ?
Wow, I was skeptical but you really don’t miss the butter in here! Fantastic!
Love these butter-less option cookies!! The texture is perfect. Totally making these more often!
These cookies are AMAZING! I love that there’s no butter too!
Love it!
ngl, i don’t really leave reviews on the recipes i’ve tried, HOWEVER, these are kinda easily the best chocolate chip cookies i’ve ever made. i used coconut oil, which i guess according to the other comments, is better for this, because they haven’t come out oily at all. i’ve made this recipe about four times this week ?
Love hearing this Sophy! Love that you used coconut oil too!! I will have to try that!
Let me just start by saying I’ve followed hundreds of recipes and I have never felt compelled to leave a rating or review until now. I was just looking for a butter less recipe simply because I was out of butter. I wasn’t expecting much, just something to get the job done. But oh my gosh these are better than any chocolate chip cookies with butter that I have ever had. These chocolate chip cookies will be my new go to!
Thank you Courtney, for the sweetest review!! I am so glad they worked for you and I agree the oil makes them so moist and chewy!! They are better than butter!
Hi, can I substitute EVOO or canola oil for the vegetable oil?
You will have a much stronger olive oil flavor that might overpower the cookies. If anything, try sunflower oil.
I was looking for a chocolate chip cookie recipe without butter and when I found this one, I was happy to try it out. When I read the comments about it being very oily, I decided to cut the oil by half and use 4 oz of applesauce along with 4 oz of oil instead of the full cup of oil. I also cut the sugar in the recipe by using 1 c brown sugar and 1/2 c white sugar. One more change that I made was by using 1/2 c oatmeal in an effort to make a healthier cookie. The results were widely accepted by my grandkids and husband!! Keeping with the changes I made, I would make this recipe again.
Bea