Start your day off with these superfood-packed gluten-free vegan breakfast cookies. Made in just 30 minutes for a breakfast or snack that will fuel you up all morning long.
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The first time I heard of a breakfast cookie was when working as a baker at Whole Foods.
One of our most popular in-house items was the gluten-free vegan breakfast cookie. I guess that should be no surprise. When given the opportunity, who wouldn’t choose to eat a cookie for breakfast?
I first published this recipe several years ago when I set out to recreate those sweet superfood-stuffed morning pastries. Since then, these vegan breakfast cookies have become one of the most popular recipes on the blog and, for that reason, I figured it was time to give them a little makeover.
I think you’re going to love these cookies. They are filled with healthy fats, lots of protein, some of the best superfoods, and sweet delicious flavor. All in all, not a bad way to start the day.
How to Make Vegan Breakfast Cookies {Video}
Recommended Ingredients & Equipment
These cookies are very straight-forward to make and the recipe is highly versatile. So while you will see that there are a lot of ingredients, the mixins, nut butters, and sweeteners can all be swapped out for what you have on hand.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Rolled Oats – Make sure to look for gluten-free oats for a gluten-free cookie.
- Almond Meal – You can replace the almond meal for any other kind of nut meal or ground oats
- Shredded Coconut – Make sure to look for unsweetened dessicated coconut.
- Ground Cinnamon
- Baking Powder & Soda
- Salt
- Chia Seeds –Chia seeds mixed with water make a chia egg, which is my binder of choice for these cookies. However, you can replace the chia egg with a flax egg, or 1/2 cup puréed banana, pumpkin, or applesauce
- Coconut Oil
- Peanut Butter – Feel free to sub any nut or seed butter.
- Maple Syrup
- Vanilla Extract
- Superfood Mix-Ins – I like to use a combination of pumpkin seeds, cranberries, walnuts, and chocolate chips. Feel free to mix and match and nuts, seeds, and dried fruit but aim for about 1 cup worth of mix-ins.
Recommended Equipment
For this recipe will need basic cooking equipment including a mixing bowl, mixing spoons, baking sheets, silicone baking mats, and a wire cooling rack. (<<affiliate links)
Check out the full list of my recommended kitchen tools and gadgets.
How to Make Vegan Breakfast Cookies
Step One – Make the Dough
The base of this recipe is made with old fashioned oats, almond flour, and coconut for a gluten-free base. At this point also add baking powder, soda, and salt. Mix them together in a large mixing bowl until they are well combined.
Next, we combine our wet ingredients. That’s the chia egg, peanut butter, coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract.
Pro Tip: There are several different egg replacers that would work for these breakfast cookies but, because I wanted to add extra nutrition to these cookies, I decided to go with the chia egg. Chia eggs work perfectly for most baked goods where a little extra texture is an added bonus.
To make a chia egg, whisk together 1 tablespoon of chia seeds with 3 tablespoons of water. Once the chia seeds are fully submerged, they will start to hydrate. As they hydrate, the chia egg will get thick and gelatinous – this takes 3-4 minutes.
Step Two – Add Mix-Ins
To finish off these cookies, I add a variety of mix-ins. You can add mix-ins from the following categories:
- Dried fruit such as raisins, cranberries, or cherries
- Nuts such as walnuts, pecans or hazelnuts
- Seeds such as pumpkin, sunflower, or flax
- Chocolate Chips
Feel free to mix and match this recipe as you please, but aim for about 2 cups worth of extras. Add them to the dough and mix it all together until they are evenly disbursed.
Step Three – Shape and Bake
To bake these cookies, scoop about 1/4 cup of dough and place on a parchment-lined pastry sheet. This dough is quite soft so a large cookie scoop works best. Press the cookies down so that they are about 1/2″ tall and about 3″ in diameter.
Bake for 12-15 minutes until the cookies are golden brown. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely. It’s important not to skip this step. When the cookies are still warm, they will likely fall apart.
Serving and Storing
Storing – Serve these cookies immediately or store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. You can also place them in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Make in Advance – If you want to freeze them, for best results, scoop the dough onto baking trays. Rather than baking the cookies, place them in the freezer to let the dough freeze completely. Once they are frozen, transfer the frozen cookies to a plastic zip bag. When you are ready to eat, bake a few cookies at a time for fresher results.
More Vegan Breakfast Bars
- 5-Ingredient Chewy Peanut Butter Granola Bars
- Grain-Free Granola Bars
- 4-Ingredient Chocolate Chip Banana Cookies
Gluten-Free Vegan Breakfast Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup gluten-free rolled oats
- 1/2 cup almond meal
- 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 chia eggs
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/3 cup natural peanut butter
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1/4 cup cranberries or raisins
- 1/4 cup chopped walnut
- 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- To start, make the chia eggs. In a small bowl whisk together 6 tablespoons of water with 2 tablespoons of chia seeds. Set aside for 10 minutes until the mixture becomes thick and gelatinous.
- In a medium bowl combine oats, almond meal, shredded coconut, cinnamon, baking powder and soda, and salt.
- In a small bowl combine chia eggs, coconut oil, peanut butter, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to dry and stir to combine.
- Fold in pumpkin seeds, cranberries, walnuts, and chia seeds.
- Round 1/4 cup of dough into a ball and place on a baking sheet. Repeat until dough is gone. Press down lightly and bake for 12-15 minutes until lightly browned.
- Remove from oven and let cookies cool for 10 minutes on a baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Video
Notes
- Replace almond meal for any other kind of nut meal or ground oats
- Sub any nut or seed butter for the peanut butter
- Mix and match the mixins with a variety of nuts, seeds, and dried fruit
- Replace the chia egg with a flax egg, puréed banana, or applesauce
Hi, I’m Sarah. I’m a 14-year (and counting) vegan, professionally trained photographer, former pastry chef, founder of My Darling Vegan, and author of the
Natasha says
I make these cookies every week! I change things up, like instead of maple syrup I use coconut syrup. I had 1/4 cup of hemp seed and occasionally I’ll add 2 tbsp of dairy free vegan chocolate chips. These are definitely a staple to my morning routine!
Chenica R. says
These cookies are so delicious. I bake a big batch and then freeze them and just take a couple out when i need to. And they don’t harden completely when frozen, so I could really eat them right out of the freezer. However, I would like to know how to add a bit more sweetness to get my son to eat these. In what amount should I add more maple syrup? Would I need to increase or decrease any other ingredient? I’ve also thought about just adding more dried fruit pieces. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated! Thanks for sharing!
Sarah says
If you increased the maple syrup by just 1 tbsp or so, you wouldn’t need to adjust any of the other ingredients.
Kim says
Just got done making the second batch for this week. I have shared them with my sister and a friend. We all give them a big thumbs up. The first batch was pretty soft and fell apart easily, so I am cooking this batch a little longer. I hike a lot and thought about putting them in the backpack, but I don’t think they will survive. I love all of the healthy ingredients, protein and fiber. These will be in regular rotation around here. Thanks so much for posting this!!
Trish says
I’m wondereing with what should I replace the coconut??? We dont mind the oil but we dont like the shredded !
Sarah says
You could omit it and add about 1/4 cup more almond meal. That should be about the right wet/dry ratio.
Janelle says
These are soooooo good! I make a double batch and take one to work every day for a morning snack to hold me over to lunch. I substitute unsweetened applesauce for the coconut oil and it works just fine. Delicious recipe! Thanks for sharing!
Kdjitija says
Which coconut oil u used vergin or extra verging thanks for the recipe.i will surely try it.
Sarah says
Either would work!
Kathi Bilkie says
Amazing! These may be my new favorite! I just took a batch out of the oven, the house smells wonderful! Since I am the only vegan in the house, I often make something and freeze it to eat over the next couple of weeks. These taste amazing…yep, couldn’t wait for them to completely cool. I love breakfast foods, and cookies, so they are already on the menu for breakfast tomorrow; a sliced apple, hot tea and a COOKIE!!!!
Jenny says
These are awesome! Will make them again!
Josie says
This is my new favorite cookie! Healthy & delicious! Thanks for sharing such a great recipe!
Sharon says
My cookies were falling apart can you tell me what never held together
Sarah says
Without more information, I can’t tell you want happened. They definitely shouldn’t be falling apart.
Ana Clara says
Sarah, thank you so much for the wonderful recipe. I was really looking for something like this for a while. The only problem I had was the cookies were not crunchy at all no matter how long I kept them in the oven. On the following day they still tasted good, but were mushy. The two things I did different were that I used real eggs and honey instead of maple syrup (insanely pricey here in Brazil). Am I supposed to use 2 real eggs or less? Any other ideas of what I could have done wrong to get this weird cakey consistency?
Thank you so much!!!
Cheers from Brazil
Merbs says
I think you’ll only want to substitute one egg, given the recipe only calls for one chia egg. Two would definitely make it cakey. Or just use the chia egg or a flax egg, which works the same way. I’m guessing you could use any sweetener. Someone mentioned coconut syrup, or you could try brown rice syrup, agave or any sugar syrup.
LUmfleet says
Just came out of the oven. I made a few alterations—dates instead of raisins, almond butter instead of peanut butter, gg whites instead of flax eggs, agave syrup instead of maple syrup, and chopped almonds instead of pumpkin seeds. Drum roll please…..they are delish!!! Don’t be afraid to experiment. ??
Sarah says
Glad you tried some new things. Thanks for sharing what you did!
Heather says
These are a go-to in our house and I just realized I never did a star rating with my initial comment, as I sent the link to a friend who asked for it. We often sub chocolate chips for the dried cranberries and everyone is perfectly happy with these for a dessert cookie or a snack or quick breakfast. The recipe is super versatile – I’ve used real eggs or flax eggs, different variations of nuts, wheat flour when I was out of almond flour, made them big and smaller, and the cook time is forgiving. These are just the best!
Brigitte says
These were delicious, definitely making them again! I did add 70% chocolate chips to them…made them awesome! Thanks for a healthy and satisfying way to fill my hunger!
PATRICIA L CUNNINGHAM says
These were delicious–and a pretty flexible recipe. I made a few substitution to use what I had & still had great results, e.g. sunflower seeds, dried blueberries, avocado oil, and almond butter. Posted on Facebook, and a couple other people tried & liked. So happy to have found you. Thanks
Sarah says
Glad you found me too!
Erie says
How long would you bake if you decided to make smaller cookies for snacks instead of the larger breakfast cookies? I’m thinking of 20 instead of 10
Sarah says
I would try 8-10 minutes and check them to see if they’re done.