Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies

This easy recipe for healthy chocolate chip cookies is low in sugar, uses whole grains, and is vegan-friendly! Makes irresistible chewy and crispy cookies! 

I don’t ever want to give up eating cookies.

But I have this thing with cookies, where anytime I make them, I eat them and then eat MORE of them. I love them so much, I have a hard time stopping at just one!

That’s one reason I created recipes like Healthier Sugar Cookies, Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies, and Dark Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies.

Chocolate chip cookies have been a bit tougher to get just right, but I finally did it! My healthy chocolate chip cookies are just as good as the original recipe, without nearly as much guilt if I end up eating half the batch!

Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you like cookies as much as I do, you’re going to LOVE these healthy chocolate chip cookies. They are:

• Soft & Chewy on the Inside
• Crispy on the Outside!
• Irresistible (yes, it’s worth saying again!) My husband said these were the best cookies ever made in our marriage (repeatedly!), and my kids kept telling me how good they were and that they were “the best cookies ever!”
• Made with Whole Grains
• Still Every Bit Chocolate-y
• Low Sugar
• Vegan-friendly

I’ve gone through MANY “healthy” chocolate chip recipes in search of THE BEST healthy cookie recipe, but I’ve found many of them change the classic chocolate chip cookie so much, that you’re ending up with a completely different cookie.

• Some use oat flour. Which means you’re making Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.
• Some recipes use milk. This is weird to me since milk also dials down the sweetness of a cookie… which seems counterintuitive.
• Some use a teeny tiny amount of chocolate chips. They’re using 2 Tbsp per 12 cookies, which comes out to TWO chips per cookie. Uh-uh. That ain’t happening here.
• Some use no sugar and are sugar-free. They use maple syrup, applesauce, or banana to sweeten – which is fine if you want an applesauce or banana cookie. But we want a CHOCOLATE CHIP cookie, right?

Ingredients for Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies (Better than Nestle!)

I grew up on the recipe on the bag of Nestle chocolate chips, so I know how good those are. But I also know how unhealthy they can be!

I’ve made some changes to that classic recipe that I think makes the perfect, absolute best healthy chocolate chip cookies!

• Butter: Required for chocolate chip cookies. Do not use coconut oil as a substitute – the cookies will spread and not rise.
• Coconut Sugar: It’s less processed than white sugar, contributing to the “healthier” aspect of the recipe. This is the brand I use. You can also use another granulated sugar, like turbinado sugar. The cookies will be darker in color if you use coconut sugar, and lighter with white granulated sugar.
• Egg: If you want a more cakey cookie, use just the egg yolk. Use the whole egg if you prefer a chewy texture and a soft cookie (with a bit more protein). Keep reading to see how to make this cookie egg-free.
• Vanilla Extract
• Whole Wheat Flour: I like to use whole grain einkorn flour for its great health benefits. You can substitute white flour or white whole wheat for whole wheat flour.
• Cornstarch + Baking soda + Sea Salt
• Cinnamon: You can’t taste the cinnamon – I promise! Cinnamon tricks taste buds into thinking the cookie is sweeter than it actually is.
• Dark Chocolate Chips

Like the regular recipe, but just a little bit different, right? We’re not doing anything crazy here, just minor tweaks for homemade chocolate chip cookies that are healthy, and no one will know the difference!

Can you make these low-sugar chocolate chip cookies?

Guess what – they already are! I researched the most popular low-sugar chocolate chip cookie recipes and calculated the flour-to-sugar ratio. You want a small ratio in general, but many have just as much sugar as a regular chocolate chip cookie recipe!

My recipe is truly low sugar – just ⅓ cup for a dozen cookies – the least amount of sugar that I found for any other “low sugar” chocolate chip cookie recipe. And the best part is that we’re still using real food, clean ingredients! No artificial sweeteners here!

How to Make My Perfect Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

If you start with the right ingredients, making the perfect chocolate chip cookie isn’t that hard. In fact, it’s a process that you’re probably familiar with:

Step 1: Cream the butter and sugar. In a bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large mixing bowl using a hand-held mixer, cream the butter and sugar together for one full minute. You want the butter to be light and fluffy and super creamy. (The color of the butter will ultimately depend on the type of sugar you use.)

Step 2: Add the wet ingredients. Scrape down the sides and mix in the egg and vanilla extract until they’re both combined.

Step 3: Add the dry ingredients. Scrape down the sides and add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, sea salt, and cinnamon and stir JUST until combined.

Tip: Sift in the flour for an even, soft textured cookie. Also don’t over-stir the dry ingredients, otherwise you’ll activate the gluten in the flour and make the cookie cake-like and chewy.

Step 4: Fold in the chocolate chips. Don’t over-stir!

Step 5: Chill the dough. This step is mandatory, but I promise it’s worth it! Set the timer for 30 minutes and clean up the kitchen while you wait. Chilling the cookies solidifies the butter, giving you a cookie that won’t spread during the baking process. Preheat the oven to 350F.

Step 6: Measure the cookie dough and bake in the oven. I like to use cookie scoops to ensure every cookie is the same size. Be sure to let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

How to Make Low-Calorie Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are already low-calorie compared to most cookies, but a few minor tweaks can reduce the calories in low-calorie chocolate chip cookies a bit more:

• Reduce the quantity of sugar. We’re using ⅓ cup, which is already super low for low-calorie chocolate chip cookies. Cookies require the baking properties of granulated sugar, but you can try reducing the sugar to ¼ cup and possibly adding a couple of drops of liquid stevia. (I recommend SweetLeaf brand, either plain or vanilla creme.)
• Use chocolate with a higher percentage of cocoa. We’re using dark chocolate chunks because they have less sugar than semi-sweet chocolate chips (and significantly less sugar than milk chocolate chips). Using chocolate with a higher percentage of cocoa (but no more than 85% for best-tasting cookies) will reduce the calories coming from sugar even more.
• Reduce the quantity of chocolate chips. Near blasphemy in my book, but you can reduce the amount of chocolate chips you use in the recipe. Proceed at your own risk!
• Use flaxseed eggs. You’ll save about 15 calories versus using a whole large egg, so it’s not much, but it is a low-calorie option.

Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies: Vegan-Friendly Option

• Swap solid coconut oil for butter. Use one less tablespoon of coconut oil than butter. Make sure your coconut oil is not melted.
• Swap flaxseed eggs for the egg. Here’s how to make a flaxseed egg.
• Swap chocolate chips for vegan chocolate chips. A great vegan-friendly brand to use is Enjoy Life. I get them here.

Note: You MUST refrigerate the vegan chocolate chip cookie dough for 2 hours before baking, otherwise the room-temperature cookies will not set properly. You can also refrigerate overnight and bake the next day.

Keep reading to see how you can freeze chocolate chip cookie dough and quickly make cookies anytime you have a craving!

How to Freeze and Store Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookies

• For chewy chocolate chip cookies, store the baked cookies in an airtight PLASTIC container.
• For crispy chocolate chip cookies, store the baked cookies in an airtight GLASS container.

To freeze baked cookies: 

1. Let cookies cool completely on a cooling rack. 
2. Lay cookies flat on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. 
3. Freeze for 2-4 hours, until thoroughly frozen. 
4. Remove from the baking sheet and store in a freezer-safe bag. 

To freeze cookie dough: 

1. Before baking, scoop dough balls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. 
2. Follow steps 3 & 4 above to freeze.
3. Thaw overnight in the fridge before baking as noted in the recipe.
4. You can bake directly from frozen by adding a few extra minutes to the bake time.

Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe Questions

How Do You Keep Chocolate Chip Cookies Soft?

There are several factors that come into play to keep chocolate chip cookies soft.

1. Start with a good recipe.
2. Don’t over-mix the cookie dough.
3. Refrigerate the dough.
4. Add one extra egg yolk (but not the whole egg) if you double the recipe below.
5. Add cornstarch.
6. Use brown sugar which has molasses (or follow my tutorial for how to make brown sugar).

Ultimately, the best way to get a soft, chewy, and perfect chocolate chip cookie is to follow my recipe!

More Healthy Cookie Recipes

• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Almond Thumbprint Cookies
• Snickerdoodle Cookies

Watch How to Make Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies