These pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are everything I want on a fall day. They're soft, puffy, deliciously spiced, and full of gooey chocolate goodness.
I was originally planning to post these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies in October, but we finished them early, they turned out great, and I just couldn’t wait. Fall or not, these cookies are SO good! Oats, pumpkin, cinnamon, spices, and chocolate baked into big soft pillowy cookies – what’s not to love? These pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are vegan & gluten free, and they will be so perfect for lunch boxes because they’re nut-free(!) as well.
I know so many of you have asked how to make these carrot cookies without nuts. That recipe really needs the almond butter to bind them but THIS recipe holds together beautifully because pumpkin puree is a terrific binder. It’s also easier than grating carrots, which means that you’ll make these so much more often, but I’m warning you – they’ll disappear even faster.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies Ingredients
Soft, puffy, and totally delicious, these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are secretly healthy! Here’s what makes them SO good (and good for you, too!):
- Flaxseed subs in for the egg in these vegan pumpkin cookies. It also adds a boost of fiber and omega 3-s.
- Oat flour makes them wonderfully puffy and soft.
- Whole rolled oats give them a delicious oatmeal cookie texture and flavor.
- Cinnamon and nutmeg add the perfect notes of pumpkin spice.
- Pumpkin puree is the real star here. Aside from adding essential pumpkin flavor, it acts as a binder and packs in plenty of Vitamin A.
- Cane sugar sweetens them up.
- Coconut oil adds richness.
- Vanilla extract deepens their flavor.
- And chocolate chips make them irresistibly gooey and chocolatey.
Yum!
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Sure, these cookies are light and fluffy and full of pumpkin flavor, but one of the best parts about them is that they’re easy to make! Here’s what you need to do:
- Make a flax egg by stirring together flaxseed and water, and set it aside to thicken.
- Then, combine the dry ingredients.
- And whisk together the wet ingredients, flax egg included!
- Stir together the wet & dry mixtures, and fold in the chocolate chips.
- Drop dollops of the dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, and bake until they’re lightly brown and your kitchen smells like pumpkin spice. 🙂
- Finally, let the cookies cool on the baking sheet (the hard part!), and then enjoy them with a coffee, tea, or cold glass of milk.
These pumpkin cookies are on the cake-y side and resemble a yummy muffin top. Like these Blueberry Breakfast Cookies, you could eat one for breakfast, or enjoy one as a semi-guilt-free midday snack or dessert. They also freeze extremely well. If you do freeze them, thaw them at room temp for an hour (or so), or pop them in the microwave for 8-10 seconds. I love thawing one to enjoy with an afternoon cup of tea.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe Variations
Want to change it up? Here are some ideas:
- If you’re not a fan of chocolate, skip the chocolate chips and replace them with walnuts, pecans, or dried cherries.
- Want chocolate + nuts or chocolate + cherries? Then go half and half on the chocolate chips and another mix-in.
- Play with the spices. I love cinnamon and nutmeg here, but cardamom, allspice, and/or ginger would also be good. Or, feel free to use pumpkin pie spice if you keep it on hand!
- Use another kind of squash! This recipe calls for canned pumpkin puree, but baked and mashed kabocha, butternut, or buttercup squash would be great here too. See this post for step-by-step instructions on how to make your own pumpkin puree. (And fun fact: canned pumpkin usually contains a mix of squash varieties anyway!)
More Favorite Cookie Recipes
If you love these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, try one of these yummy cookie recipes next:
- Carrot Cake Cookies
- Chewy Molasses Cookies
- Vegan Sugar Cookies
- Thumbprint Cookies
- Almond Butter Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- No Bake Cookies
- Or any of these 17 Easy Cookie Recipes!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed meal
- 2½ tablespoons warm water
- 2 cups oat flour
- 1 cup gluten free whole rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¾ cup canned pumpkin puree
- ¾ cup cane sugar
- ½ cup melted warm coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup chocolate chips* (see note)
- Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, combine the flaxseed and water. Stir and set aside to thicken.
- Make the oat flour: use a food processor or a blender to process 2¼ cups rolled oats into a fine flour and measure out 2 cups.
- In a large bowl, combine the oat flour, whole rolled oats, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, sugar, coconut oil and vanilla. Add the thickened flaxseed mixture and stir to incorporate.
- Add the pumpkin mixture to the bowl of dry ingredients and stir to combine. Fold in the chocolate chips. Use a large cookie scoop to drop dollops of the cookie dough onto the baking sheet.
- Bake for 16 to 19 minutes or until the tops have browned (don't under-bake). Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before cooling completely on a wire rack. When cookies are completely cool, they can be stored in an airtight container or frozen.
I use Bob's Red Mill's Certified Gluten Free Rolled Oats.
How do I make the pumpkin purée
Ps. I’m in Australia and I don’t think we have pie pumpkin or that other one we have kent and butternut are our main ones
Hi Koreena, if you don’t have canned pumpkin, here’s how you can make it: https://www.loveandlemons.com/how-to-make-pumpkin-puree/
I made these as directed and they came out great. Hubby and I finished them up ourselves. I am trying to cut oils out of our diet. Do you think I could substitute applesauce for the oil? Any other subs that would work? Thanks.
I think I totally botched these. Mine came out super dry although I see their amazing potential. I was as accurate as I could be with the measurements with a 2 year old baking assistant. I would try adding more oil and pumpkin 👍
Oh no, it sounds like something went wrong, or perhaps they baked a little too long.
Great recipe!! Thank you! Just made a double batch so I could use the whole can of pumpkin – just wondering if I can freeze the dough? Or if they have to be baked first. Thanks!
My mods:
1. Crushed some walnuts and sprinkled them on top before baking.
2. Flax upsets my stomach so I used Bob’s Red Mill egg replacer powder. They are a perfect texture!
3. Used Bob’s Oat Flour too since I was trying to get rid of it. I’ll blend the oats next time.
Hi Mary, I’m so glad you loved them! I usually freeze them after I bake them, I haven’t tried freezing the raw dough.
My mom has been making “the best” pumpkin cookies” for my whole life now (I’m 20), and this recipe just took over the throne to the whole family. We did a batch with raisins too- delicious!
Ha ha, I’m so glad you all loved them!
Wow, oh, wow. Sooo tasty and satisfying (and my house smells amazing)! Used dark chocolate chips because that’s what I had on hand, and these came out so good. Thank you for another great GF recipe!
Hi Heather, I’m so glad you loved them!
I made the vegan pumpkin pie parfait for a group of people that ended up being much larger than I anticipated. Thankfully, I also made your pumpkin chocolate chips cookies, so… I crumbled the cookies and layered them with the pumpkin parfait and they were a serious hit. To add to this, none of the people were vegan and they couldn’t believe that what they were eating was totally vegan…that made me very happy. Excellent recipe that I have made since and love!
Hi Judi, wow, that sounds like an amazing combo! I’m so glad everyone loved them!
Made these twice. The first time I followed the recipe exactly. The second time I reduced the sugar to 1/2 cup and added walnuts instead of chocolate chips, as well as about 1/4 tsp ginger and allspice. They were great both ways. I think I liked the less sweet version better (personal taste). It was more muffin-like in flavor. I love that the recipe is all oats, no flour. I’m looking forward to trying some of the other cookie recipes on this site.
I would call this a muffkie. It is not a cookie, nor a muffin. I used 1/2 cup sugar, and dried cranberries to replace chocolate. They are a dense, yummy treat. For breakfast, or tea. Perfect!
*block* party!
So these are AWESOME! We have a bunch of food allergies we manage, and this recipe totally works for us as written, and that almost never happens! Bonus that these are really delicious, too. Sharing a batch a black party this afternoon and saved a few for us for breakfast tomorrow. Many thanks, and IMHO, it’s *never* too early for pumpkin!
definitely 5 stars!
Hi Sara (so sorry for my slow reply, btw), I’m so glad everyone loved these!! I love hearing this, thank you SO much for coming back to share your feedback!
I made these cookies today with just a sub of 1/2 a banana in place of the flax egg. It worked like a gem. I was also slightly short on oats so I used half a cup of freshly ground almonds and the cookies came out so moist and fluffy! I loved them! Thanks for a great recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed! Ooh, your tweaks sound like a delicious creation 🙂 Thank you for sharing!
These are good. I used the flaxseed meal and water combo even thought I am not a vegan. I did use cacao nibs instead of chocolate chips. The nibs provide crunch without adding more sugar to the cookies. My 5 and 8 yr boys think they are great too.
I’m so glad you and your boys enjoyed these! I love the idea of using cacao nibs – thank you!
These were amazing! I already had most of the ingredients in the pantry!
these cookies are amazing but i was wondering if i would be able to substitute apple sauce for the pumpkin puree?
Hi Aerie – I can’t say without trying it since the textures are so different.
Thank you for this excellent recipe, I absolutely like these oatmeal cookies. Tell me please, do you know if I will add maca root powder, will it save it’s health benefits after the baking process?
I’m just wondering if these can be made with less sugar?
The cookies were great and quick to make but a little too sweet. I put less sugar (1/2) then suggested. I think I would put even less next time.
I did the same! I put only 1/2 cup of coconut sugar and the cookies are very sweet. I will definitely try with less sugar next time. Nonetheless, these cookies are delicious, with a soft texture that I appreciate. I had some leftover pumpkin puree that I had made for a pie a few days ago, so I used it here and I’m very happy with the result.
Could I substitute date paste or applesauce for the cane sugar?
Hi Meaghan, I haven’t tried either so I can’t say for sure. I think a dry sugar would substitute best though.
Hi!
Great recipe! I just made these and spaced out, melting the oil and forgetting to whisk it in until the mounds were already baking 10 minutes! Miraculously, they are still great, because the spices are just right with the pumpkin and chocolate flavors. YUM! I’m sure even better with the coconut oil and I will make these again for Thanksgiving 😉
Hi Jocelyn – I’m so glad you liked them even without the oil 🙂