Thick & Chewy Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

With crisp edges and tender middles, these gluten-free chocolate chip cookies get a flavor boost from a blend of gluten-free flours – oat flour, sweet rice flour, and tapioca flour, plus delicious vanilla brown butter, loads of bittersweet chocolate, and flaky salt.

This community-favorite recipe is ridiculously delicious, easy to make, and no one will believe the cookies are gluten-free!

I originally shared the recipe for these heavenly brown butter chocolate chip cookies back in 2012. Over a decade later, this is still the recipe I'm most likely to whip up on any given day!

I've been baking gluten-free for over 20 years and chocolate chip cookies are my go-to when I need dessert ASAP. I love this gluten-free cookie recipe so much, I shared a version in my award-winning cookbook made with chestnut flour, dark milk chocolate, and dried tart cherries. And I shared versions on Food52 made with different yummy flours: buckwheat, teff, and mesquite.

These cookies are:

• crispy at the edges
• soft, gooey, and chewy in the middles
• rich & buttery
• packed with butterscotch flavor from vanilla bean brown butter, oat flour, and brown sugar
• easy to make with one bowl in under an hour, no mixer or chilling required
• super satisfying with better-than-classic flavor & texture

But no need to take my word for it. Here's what one reader had to say in the comments:

If you give them a go, I hope they become a favorite in your gluten-free baking repertoire as well!

And if you're still hungry for more, you can find all of my gluten-free cookie recipes here including these gluten-free oatmeal cookies (with chocolate chips or raisins) and chewy almond flour peanut butter cookies made with natural peanut butter.

What does brown butter do to cookies?

Once you try gluten-free chocolate chip cookies made with brown butter, you'll never go back. It makes these cookies taste absolutely freaking amazing. If it's your first time, see my post on how to brown butter for more details.

• Browning the butter caramelizes the milk solids in the butter, giving it a rich, nutty flavor. In French this is called beurre noisette for its nutty flavor.
• Browning the butter also releases some liquid in the form of steam. This makes the cookies extra rich, dense, moist, and chewy.
• I take it a step further by adding a vanilla bean to the browning butter. This infuses the butter with floral notes. But if you don't have a vanilla bean on hand, no worries: just brown the butter on its own and add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract along with the egg.

No Xanthan No Cry

My original recipe for these cookies called for 1/4 teaspoon of xanthan gum. But I've since made this recipe many times without it and I can't detect a difference. The cookies are still tender and chonky without it.

Ingredients & Substitution Suggestions

Just a handful of ingredients go into these rice & oat flour gluten-free chocolate chip cookies.

• Butter makes the cookies rich and moist. I prefer using European-style butter which has a higher fat content and is better for browning.
  • You can use plant butter such as Miyoko's to make these dairy-free.
• Granulated sugar adds sweetness, moisture, and tenderness. I use organic granulated sugar, such as Florida Crystals, but regular white sugar will work too.
  • For a refined sugar-free cookie, swap both sugars for coconut sugar, measured by weight.
• Brown sugar should be fresh, soft, and full of molasses. Either dark or light will work. I prefer organic dark brown sugar, which is more flavorful and slightly coarser.
  • For a refined sugar-free cookie, swap both sugars for coconut sugar, measured by weight.
• One large egg helps the cookies puff as they bake and hold together.
  • For egg-free cookies, my reader Debbie subs 2 tablespoons softened cream cheese and 1 tablespoon water, and she skips the step of browning the butter. Alternatively, try using a flax egg (3 tablespoons warm water mixed with 4 teaspoons ground flax).
• A small amount of baking soda helps the cookies spread and brown.
• A handful of toasted pecans add flavor, but you can leave them out if you prefer, or use a different nut.
• A sprinkle of flaky salt makes these completely addictive. I prefer Maldon salt for its thin, crisp flakes.
• Lots of bittersweet chocolate chunks offset the sweetness of the cookie dough. I like using baking chocolate with at least 70% cacao mass chopped into large pieces, but feel free to use your favorite chocolate chips.
  • For refined sugar-free cookies, use chocolate sweetened with coconut sugar or maple such as Raaka, Guittard Santé, or Hu.

Flavor Flours

A trio of GF flours creates dreamy flavor and texture here. You'll never know they're gluten-free!

• Gluten-Free Oat flour (I use Bob's Red Mill brand) gives the cookies earthy flavor, tenderness, and crispy edges.
• Sweet rice flour helps the cookies hold together and creates a smooth texture, like all-purpose flour would.
  • You can substitute Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 gluten-free flour, which is made with sweet rice flour, or try cassava flour.
• Tapioca flour adds chew and keeps the cookie middles soft.

Read more about baking with these an other flavorful flours in my beginner's guide to gluten-free flours.

Method

A few key techniques make these cookies extra-special.

• This recipe makes 15-20 cookies and takes 30 minutes of prep time, 30 minutes to let the dough sit, and 10 minutes to bake. All you need is a bowl, a spoon, and a baking sheet!
• The recipe can be doubled if you need more cookies.
• No mixer required here; the melted browned butter is simply stirred with the other ingredients.
• The dough can be made and scooped ahead of time and chilled or frozen until ready to bake. The baked cookies keep beautifully for up to 3 days.

Whether you nom these gluten-free chocolate chip cookies warm and gooey from the oven or cooled to room temp, with a tall glass of milk or plant milk, shared with a friend or hoarded all to yourself, I hope you love them as much as we do!

Bojon appétit, my sweets! If you make this, I’d love to know. Please leave a comment and rating below, and tag your Instagram snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet and #bojongourmet.

4.95 from 38 reviews

Thick & Chewy Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

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With crisp edges and tender middles, these easy gluten-free chocolate chip cookies get a flavor boost from a blend of oat flour, sweet white rice flour, and tapioca flour, plus brown butter, loads of bittersweet chocolate, and flaky salt. Ridiculously delicious and no one will believe they're gluten-free! See my post on how to brown butter if you're new to this technique.

Alanna Taylor-Tobin

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Resting Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total: 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 12 -15 cookies

Ingredients

Wet Ingredients

• 8 tablespoons butter (115 g) unsalted butter
• ½ vanilla bean, split lengthwise and scraped (or ½ teaspoon vanilla extract or paste, added with the egg)
• ½ cup (100 g) packed organic dark brown sugar
• ¼ cup (50 g) organic granulated sugar
• 1 large egg (2 ounces by weight out of shell)

Dry Ingredients

• ½ cup (78 g) sweet white rice flour (such as Koda Farms Mochiko)
• ½ cup (50 g) gluten-free oat flour (such as Bob's Red Mill)
• 2 tablespoons (15 g) tapioca flour
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 7 ounces (200 g) bittersweet chocolate (around 70% cacao mass), coarsely chopped (1 ½ cups)
• ½ cup (60 g) toasted pecans, cooled completely and coarsely chopped (optional)
• flaky salt such as Maldon, for sprinkling (optional)

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Equipment

• 2 cookie sheets
• 1 cookie scoop
• kitchen scale (for weighing ingredients for better accuracy)

Instructions

Brown the Butter

• Melt the butter and vanilla bean and scrapings (if using) together in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. (If using vanilla extract or paste, just brown the butter by itself and add the vanilla along with the egg.)
• Continue to cook, swirling occasionally, until the butter turns golden and smells absolutely amazing, 3-5 minutes. There should be dark brown bits (not black) on the bottom of the pan. When the butter starts to foam up, watch it very closely as it can go from brown to burnt in moments.

Wet Ingredients

• Place the sugars in a large bowl and when the butter has browned, scrape it and the browned bits into the sugar immediately to stop the cooking. Let cool, stirring occasionally, for 10-20 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean if using (you can rinse and dry it and use it to make vanilla extract or to flavor a small jar of sugar or liqueur).
• Whisk the egg (and vanilla extract, if using) into the cooled sugar-butter mixture until well-combined and emulsified.

Dry Ingredients

• Meanwhile, sift together the flours, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl.
• Use a sturdy wooden spoon to stir the flour mixture into the sugar mixture, stir until well combined, then continue to stir vigorously for 45 seconds; the mixture will firm up slightly. This increases the stickiness of the flours, helping the cookies hold together and be more chewy.
• Stir in the nuts and chocolate until evenly distributed.
• Cover the dough and let it sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours to allow the butter to firm and the starches to absorb moisture, leading to thicker, chewier cookies.

Bake the cookies

• Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 375ºF. Line two rimless cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• At this point, I recommend baking off a single test cookie on a small baking sheet. This way you can adjust the rest of the dough and/or oven temperature before baking off the whole batch. See Troubleshooting & Tips in the recipe notes.
• Scoop the dough into 1 ½ inch diameter balls (about 2.5 tablespoons each; a size 24 cookie scoop works wonderfully) and place on the prepared cookie sheets, spaced 2-3 inches apart. Top each cookie with a pinch of flaky salt.
• Bake the cookies about 7-10 minutes, rotating back to front and top to bottom after 5 minutes. When the cookies are ready, they will seem underbaked. The edges should be just starting to color, and the tops should be puffed all over with soft centers that collapse when gently touched with a fingertip. The centers will look wet under a thin surface of dry, cracked-looking dough.
• Remove the cookies from the oven and pull them, parchment and all, onto cooling racks to stop them from baking further. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before devouring. Or cool completely and store in an airtight container at room temperature; the butterscotch flavor comes through better when the cookies are cool.
• The cookies will keep for up to 3 days, airtight at room temperature.

Notes

Ingredient Subs:

• In place of butter, sub vegan butter by weight (such as Miyoko's cultured butter) and take care when browning the butter that it doesn't burn
• In place of either or both sugars, sub by weight coconut sugar or maple sugar
• In place of sweet rice flour, sub by weight any GF AP blend, such as Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1, or try cassava flour
• In place of oat flour, sub by weight sorghum, buckwheat, teff, or chestnut flour
• In place of tapioca flour, sub by weight arrowroot flour or cornstarch

Make-ahead:

1. Make the dough as directed, then let sit until firm enough to scoop (or chill for a few minutes).
2. Scoop into balls, place the dough balls on a small baking sheet lined with parchment, and chill until firm, about 1 hour.
3. Transfer the cold dough balls into a container and chill for up to a week or so. When you’re ready to bake, just plop the dough balls on a cookie sheet as directed, top with flaky salt, and bake. They may need a bit longer in the oven.
4. You can also freeze dough balls for up to several months. 

Dairy-Free Cookies:

Use a good plant-based butter such as Miyoko's in place of the butter. Watch closely during the browning process – it may need more or less time than specified – or skip the browning process altogether. 

Refined sugar-free cookies:

Omit the white and brown sugars and use 150 g (1 cup + 2 tablespoons) coconut sugar. Use chocolate sweetened with coconut sugar (such as Hu) or maple (such as Raaka). 

Troubleshooting & Tips for better cookies:

Since cookies are sensitive to slight changes in moisture and temperature, here are some ways to get foolproof cookies:

• measure by weight (grams) for the most accuracy
• if measuring by volume, use the dip and sweep (aka scoop and swoop) method
• make sure your oven is the correct temperature by using an external oven thermometer
• bake off a single test cookie to make sure your cookies spread the right amount
• if your cookies spread too much, add more flour or increase the oven temperature
• if they don't spread enough, flatten the dough balls or decrease the oven temperature

Nutrition facts are for 1 of 15 cookies. 

Nutrition

Calories: 238kcalCarbohydrates: 26gProtein: 2gFat: 14gSaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 28mgSodium: 120mgPotassium: 121mgFiber: 2gSugar: 15gVitamin A: 209IUCalcium: 22mgIron: 1mg

Making this? I'd love to see!Tag your snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet and #bojongourmet!

My original photos from 2012!