These Chickpea Flour Cookies are a delicious gluten-free dessert. They have the perfect chewy texture, and since they’re made with chickpea flour, they also pack extra protein in each bite!
What is Chickpea Flour?
Chickpea flour is simply ground dry chickpeas. That’s it! You can make it at home in a blender by grinding dry chickpeas, or you can buy a bag of it at the store, just like you would regular flour.
This type of flour is naturally gluten-free and nut-free, so it’s great for baking when you need to be careful of allergies or special dietary needs. It’s perfect for making socca bread, chickpea pancakes, and more!
The main thing you should know about chickpea flour is that it tastes very bitter before it’s cooked. I don’t recommend taste-testing the raw batter, or you might be turned off before you even bake these. I promise that they taste 100% better after you cook them!
Chickpea flour acts remarkably like all-purpose flour, even though it doesn’t have the same density. (This is something I always test on my kitchen scale when working with new flours.) Maybe this is due to chickpea flour’s higher protein content?
Either way, I’ve found that this recipe is relatively flexible, just like a cookie recipe made with all-purpose flour is. I like to use 1 1/3 cups of chickpea flour, but you can use only 1 1/4 cups flour for a flatter, more gooey cookie, or 1 1/2 cups flour for a thicker, more doughy cookie. I’ve tried it all, and my kids like them all, but I like the cookies best in the middle-range, so I use 1 1/3 cups of chickpea flour.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Whenever I develop a new cookie recipe, I always like to use a classic recipe, like the famous Nestle Tollhouse recipe, as my benchmark. As a result, these chickpea flour chocolate chip cookies use similar ingredients, with a few upgrades.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Chickpea flour
- Butter (or vegan butter)
- Coconut sugar
- Egg (or flax egg)
- Baking soda
- Vanilla
- Salt
And don’t forget the chocolate chips! This recipe is easily made vegan if you use dairy-free chocolate chips, and I like to use dark chocolate ones, so they aren’t quite as sweet.
How to Make Chickpea Cookies
To make these Chickpea Flour Cookies, start by mixing together the butter and sugar. I’m using coconut sugar because it is slightly less sweet than other sugars, but you can use any other granulated sugar you have on hand. (Vegan butter also works here, or you can use 1/3 cup softened coconut oil.)
Next, add in the egg (or flax egg) and vanilla, and mix again.
Now it’s time to add in the dry ingredients! Mix in the chickpea flour, baking soda, and salt, and stir until the batter looks uniform.
Stir in the chocolate chips, then scoop the dough with a tablespoon or 1-ounce cookie scoop.
Drop the cookie dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, then bake at 350ºF for 8 to 10 minutes.
I like to pull the cookies out of the oven when the edges look lightly golden, but the centers still look soft to the touch.
They will firm up when they cool, for a cookie with lightly crispy edges, and gooey centers. Yum!
These cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to 3 days, but they will last longer in an airtight container in the fridge. You can store them in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Substitutions
I don’t recommend substituting the flour here, since this recipe is specifically developed for chickpea flour. If you have another flour on hand, check out my other cookie recipes:
- Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Almond Flour Cookies
- Coconut Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Oat Flour Cookies
- Chickpea Cookies (made with pureed chickpeas!)
I can’t wait to hear what you think of these cookies! It’s shocking to me how much my kids love these. (They told me they like them better than cake… which is saying something.)
Chickpea Flour Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter , softened (1 stick; 113 grams)
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar (125 grams)
- 1 large egg (50 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (5 grams)
- 1 1/3 cups chickpea flour (170grams)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (3 grams)
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt (3 grams)
- 3/4 cup chocolate chips (138 grams)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, mix together the softened butter and sugar.
- Add in the egg and vanilla and mix well, then add in the chickpea flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir until the batter looks uniform; it will be relatively thick and sticky. Warning: Do NOT taste the raw cookie dough, because chickpea flour tastes terribe before it's cooked.
- Fold in the chocolate chips, then scoop the batter using a tablespoon or 1-ounce cookie scoop. Drop the dough onto the lined pan, spacing the cookies about 1 to 2 inches apart to allow for spreading. You can sprinkle the cookie dough with some flaky sea salt, if you like a sweet and salty flavor.
- Bake at 350ºF for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the cookies look lightly golden around the edges. Let the cookies cool on the pan completely, to let them firm up. They should be lightly crisp on the outside, and soft on the inside. (Let the bake longer, until they are more golden, if you prefer a crispier cookie.)
- Chickpea flour cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. They can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
If you try these Chickpea Flour Cookies, please leave a comment below letting me know what you think! And if you try any modifications, I’d love to hear about those, too. We can all benefit from your experience!
I weighed out the ingredients and everything was delicious! Thanks for the awesome recipe!
Hi Meghan, I lovely our recipes, found you when I was experimenting with gluten free diet. Curious about coconut sugar, my husband is diabetic so wondered if I can substitute stevia based sweetener in these cookies.,.
Thank you for all you do!
Pam H
Hi! Are there benefits to using chickpea flour over almond flour?
Chickpea flour is lower in calories and research suggests it has the same benefits as dry whole chickpeas. You can read about the potential benefits in my chickpea flour post! Plus, this is a great alternative for those who have nut allergies.
I wish more ppl were aware of what is happening to the bees in California due to almond trees. Plz self-educate, & avoid almondsas much as possible.
As far as I’m concerned, almonds are no longer VEGAN.
MARNI – what is happening to the bees in California due to the almond trees? My family is in the agricultural business of beekeeping and every February our bees are driven in trucks to CA to pollinate the almond trees there for 2 months… our bees are fine and return home safely via trucks, plus we get honey (with hint of almond flavor) from our bees that pollinate there. So I am curious what you mean by your post?
This recipe is almost identical to one I’ve been making from Ambitious Kitchen except this uses butter instead of coconut oil…
Hi Marie! It looks like the recipe you’re referring to calls for an extra egg yolk, only 1/2 cup brown sugar, and more chickpea flour, in addition to the coconut oil, so I imagine the results would be different from this one, but I’m sure it’s delicious, too!
How should I modify if I don’t have natural peanut butter on hand? None of mine is drippy.
Do you think I could substitute coconut oil for the butter and if so, would it be the same amount? It’s all I have on hand! Thanks!
I’ve used coconut oil a d it works perfectly same measurements too.
My first time to try chickpea flour.
I did add a little extra water, just to get the ingredients to bind together.
I resisted the urge to lick the spoon (per instructions) –and was a bit nervous about biting into the first cookie. But it tasted great!
So good to know that we can enjoy chocolate chip cookies while getting a boost of fiber & protein!
Will definitely be making these again.
Delicious and so quick and easy to make. We like them even more refrigerated and even then they keep their chewy texture. Will make these cookies again!
5 stars
Made these with a flax egg, almond extract, and less salt-scrumptious!!! They reminded me of the perfect chocolate chip cookies- slightly crisp on the outside and soft on the inside! Delish!!
Muy buena receta gracias por el aporte, yo en lo personal siempre a la mezcla del chocolate le agrego un poco fe cafe para que le de un toque amargo especial
I just realized I posted my comment in the wrong place above!
Do you think I could substitute coconut oil for the butter and if so, would it be the same amount? It’s all I have on hand! Thanks!
I just realized I posted my comment in the wrong place above!
Do you think I could substitute coconut oil for the butter and if so, would it be the same amount? It’s all I have on hand! Thanks!
I usually use about 1/3 cup of melted coconut oil (I always melt coconut oil to measure it) to replace a 1/2 cup of butter. I haven’t tested that here, but that’s my best guess. Let me know if you give it a try!
Awesome recipe… Thanks
These chocolate chip cookies taste like the real deal, and these are my kind of ingredients too! I’ve been looking for a chocolate chip cookie that was gluten-free, dairy-free, and with healthier ingredients that actually tasted like the old gluten sugar laden ones I remember, for a long long time. These are amazing! Thank you so much!💕
Fantastic!!!
I always love your recipes!! I didn’t have softened butter and didn’t feel like waiting so I melted it instead and the batter turned out great! The initial taste of this cookie is really good but then there’s a bit of the bitter chickpea flour aftertaste for me. I’ll try the oat flour chocolate chip cookies next!
These are the real deal – the best-tasting GF chocolate chip cookies I’ve found! This is now our favorite cookie! In the last batch, I tried half chocolate chips and half butterscotch chips with a few chopped pecans. Do you think this recipe could be adapted in some way for Oatmeal Raisin cookies?
hi, can you substitute butter/oil for applesauce?
The texture will be more muffin-like I would think, and the applesauce flavor will come through, so they won’t taste the same or have the same texture. But, in theory, it should still hold together. Let me know if you give it a try!
I love the peanut butter chickpea flour cookies from this blog. I made these on accident, having confused the recipes. Turns out I prefer the other recipe. These came out a bit dry & I could faintly taste the chickpea flour. My kids still hobbled them up, though.
I’ll go back to Megan’s other excellent recipe next time.
*gobbled
Thank you Megan! I have been keto for about 6-7 months and in that time I have tried numerous chocolate chip cookie recipes using almond flour which ALWAYS produced soft crumbly results. In my quest for a crispy cookie, I decided to try chick pea flour instead. After several recipes your recipe produced the closest to my perfect crispy cookie. Now,it’s my favorite!
I used my mixer instead of hand mixing and added about 1 tbl. of 1/2 and 1/2 to produce a peanut butter consistency, and added 1/2 cup of chopped almonds.
How much vanilla extract should I add to recipe if I want to make vanilla flavoured cookies instead?
Such an easy and DELICIOUS recipe! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you, these are great! I subbed EVOO & 1/8 tsp salt for the butter since it’s better for my lipid profile. A flax meal egg in place of regular worked well too,. It’s also healthier than an egg and less expensive too if you’re like me and don’t use eggs except for baking.
These are one of the best things I’ve made on the diet I’m on ,easy to make and they actually taste nice
I had some chickpea flour to use up, so I tried this recipe because it seemed easy. I did not have any coconut sugar so I use white sugar instead. The cookies turned out great!!
Thank you for sharing this recipe! These are the only cookies I have been baking since 2020 with variations of additives for nuts, white/milk/dark chocolate, crystallized ginger, etc. I have tried them all. This is truly a simple and superb recipe that has ignited a love for baking in me whilst maintaining a fitness lifestyle. Store bought treats are a thing of the past for me.
Omg these cookies are incredible! Made these on a whim because I had some leftover chickpea flour from a while ago that I never knew what to use it for. I tricked my husband and didn’t tell them they were made with “healthy” ingredients, and he had no idea. Even said “these are the best cookies I’ve had in forever!” I am so impressed, this will forever be my go to chocolate chip cookie recipe from now on. Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe!
Girl! These were so good! Just recently saw some videos about making chickpea flour, so ground some up from the raw chickpeas. Found your recipe to use my new flour. I was only missing the butter, so I subbed with 1/2 cup applesauce. What’s weird is they still taste so buttery and delicious. My husband says also a subtype aftertaste of peanut butter though none was used. I used carob chips instead of chocolate chips. This was a big hit in my house! Thank you! God bless you and your readers! Jesus loves you!
pleasantly surprised with this recipe! I used ghee and 1 1/4 cup of the flour and it was amazing! I can’t even taste the chickpea. Delicious, will make again for sure!