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These sweet and chewy vegan sweet potato cookies are far from your average chocolate chip cookie! Perfect for the holidays or year-round, they’re easy to make with vegan baking staples, chocolate chips, and grated sweet potato for extra nutrients.
Thick and Chewy Bakery-Style Vegan Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Cookies
If you’re looking to make your classic vegan chocolate chip cookie a little more wholesome, then you need this recipe for vegan sweet potato cookies in your life. Like my vegan pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and chickpea chocolate chip cookies, they have secret good-for-you ingredients to put a healthy-ish spin on your favorite sweet treat!
The secret to these soft, chewy, and thick sweet potato cookies? Grated sweet potato in the batter. This healthy root vegetable adds some sneaky vitamins and minerals into each vegan cookie, like vitamin A, fiber, manganese, and vitamin C. No one (not even the kids) will guess, though, because they taste just as sweet and chocolatey as egg-based chocolate chip cookies.
You can even customize the cookie dough with more wholesome mix-ins, like chopped nuts, coconut flakes, or dried fruit. Change it up for the season or add your favorites—almost anything goes.
Soft on the inside with firm and slightly crisp edges and pools of melted vegan chocolate in each bite, this sweet potato cookie recipe is bound to be a hit with everyone. Make them year-round, for Thanksgiving along with this sweet potato bread (check out more Thanksgiving recipes) and sweet potato muffins, or throughout the holiday season!
The Ingredients and Substitutes
A handful of vegan baking staples and fresh sweet potatoes take these chewy sweet potato cookies over the top:
If you don’t have flax seeds to make the flax egg, you can use the same amount of ground chia seeds and water instead. You can also replace the flax egg with ¼ cup of unsweetened applesauce or mashed banana, although they will slightly change the flavor of the cookies. Check out this Vegan Egg Replacers for Baking Guide.
What Else Could I Add?
- Dried fruit: Stir raisins, cranberries, or currants into the cookie dough at the end for added sweetness.
- Toasted nuts or seeds: Toast raw walnuts, almonds, pecans, or pumpkin seeds in the oven or a dry skillet, then fold them into the batter.
- Spices: Whisking a pinch of cinnamon, cardamom, allspice, or nutmeg into the dry ingredients will make these cookies extra comforting.
- Vanilla extract: Enhance the natural sweetness with 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
- Brown vegan butter: Gently simmer the vegan butter in a light-colored skillet until it takes on a more golden color and nutty flavor (about 5 to 10 minutes), then wait for it to cool before adding it to the dough. The brown vegan butter will add so much elegance and depth to the cookies!
How to Make Sweet Potato Cookies
Keep scrolling to the recipe card for the complete list of ingredients and recipe instructions.
Step 1: Combine the flax meal and water in a small bowl. Set the flax egg aside until it thickens.
Step 2: Meanwhile, cream the vegan butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Then, grate the sweet potato with a box grater.
Step 3: Add the grated sweet potato to the bowl with the creamed butter and sugar, then pour in the flax egg. Gently stir the wet ingredients until combined. Save any leftover grated sweet potato for a garnish.
Step 4: Whisk the baking soda, flour, and salt together in a separate small bowl. Then, add the dry mix to the bowl with the wet ingredients.
Step 5: Gently stir the dry ingredients into the wet mixture until just combined. Then, use a spatula to gently fold the vegan chocolate chips into the cookie dough.
Step 6: Scoop the portions of the vegan cookie dough out of the bowl and onto a prepared baking sheet. Then, top each cookie dough ball with the leftover grated sweet potato and more vegan chocolate chips, then bake the cookies until they’re slightly golden and set around the edges.
Step 11: Scoop the portions of the cookie dough out of the bowl and onto a prepared baking sheet.
Step 12: Top each cookie dough ball with the leftover grated sweet potato and more chocolate chips, then bake the cookies until they’re slightly golden and set around the edges.
Remember to let the baked vegan cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. They’re very delicate when they come out of the oven, so allowing them to cool slightly helps them firm up and prevents them from crumbling.
FAQs
Yes, I recommend peeling the sweet potato before grating it so the flesh is slightly softer in the cookies. However, you can leave the peel on to bake these vegan cookies even faster! Just wash and scrub the skin very well before grating.
Cooking the sweet potato isn’t a necessary step in this recipe because the small, grated pieces become soft and tender when baked in the cookies. If you prefer a sweeter flavor and slightly softer cookies, go ahead and steam or boil the sweet potato ahead of time, then mash it before adding it to the cookie dough with the flax egg.
I haven’t tested these cookies with gluten-free flour, but a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend should work as a substitute for the all-purpose flour. Let me know if you try it!
Chilling the cookie dough in the fridge is only necessary if your vegan butter is quite soft or you’re baking these on a hot day. Otherwise, the cookies don’t spread much in the oven, so chilling isn’t necessary.
Pro Recipe Tips
- Flatten the cookie dough balls: They don’t spread much, so flattening and shaping them with your hands before baking is important.
- Give them time to firm up: The cookies will look slightly underdone and soft when they first come out of the oven, but that’s okay! They’ll firm up a bit when they’re left to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes.
- To make firmer cookies: I like my vegan chocolate chip sweet potato cookies to be soft and chewy, which is why I bake them for only 10 to 12 minutes. If you prefer a firmer, crunchier cookie, bake them for 20 minutes instead.
Storage Instructions
Once the leftover cookies are cool, transfer them to an airtight container. They’ll stay fresh and chewy for 3 to 4 days on the kitchen counter or up to 1 week in the fridge.
You can also freeze the baked cookies for up to 3 months. Place them on a cookie sheet and freeze until they’re solid. Transfer the frozen cookies to an airtight container, separating each one with a piece of parchment paper to prevent them from sticking together.
Or, to get a head start on this recipe, freeze the unbaked vegan cookie dough balls. Assemble the cookie dough balls on a baking sheet as normal, then freeze them until solid. Transfer them to an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months.
Bake the frozen cookie dough from frozen, adding an extra 3 to 5 minutes to the baking time.
Sweet Potato Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon of flax meal
- 3 tablespoons of water
- ½ cup of brown sugar
- ½ cup of granulated sugar
- 1 cup of vegan butter, room temperature
- 1 medium sweet potato
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 2 ¼ cup of all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon of salt
- 1 cup of vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. and line a large baking tray with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, whisk the flax meal and water. Set aside for 5 minutes or until it thickens.
- In a large bowl, mix the sugars and vegan butter until light and fluffy. Works best in a stand or hand mixer.
- Using the smallest side of a grater, grate the sweet potato to fill 1 cup. Add it to the bowl with vegan butter mixture.
- Add the flax mixture and mix well until fully combined. If you have any grated sweet potato leftover, set aside for garnish.
- In a small bowl mix the baking soda, flour, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the bowl with the vegan butter. Mix until just combined.
- Fold in the vegan chocolate chips and mix well. It will be a thick dough.
- Using a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle a little bit of the grated sweet potato on top of each cookie and sprinkle some more vegan chocolate chips on top. Flatten the cookies using your hand or a spatula.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before carefully transferring them to a cooling rack. Allow them to cook for 20 minutes for a firmer cookie or enjoy immediately for a soft and chewy cookie.
Notes
- Flatten the cookie dough balls: They don’t spread much, so flattening and shaping them with your hands before baking is important.
- Give them time to firm up: The cookies will look slightly underdone and soft when they first come out of the oven, but that’s okay! They’ll firm up a bit when they’re left to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes.
- To make firmer cookies: I like my vegan chocolate chip sweet potato cookies to be soft and chewy, which is why I bake them for only 10 to 12 minutes. If you prefer a firmer, crunchier cookie, bake them for 20 minutes instead.
Nutrition
Disclaimer: Although plantbasedonabudget.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, kindly note that these are only estimates. Nutritional information may be affected based on the product type, the brand that was purchased, and in other unforeseeable ways. Plantbasedonabudget.com will not be held liable for any loss or damage resulting for your reliance on nutritional information. If you need to follow a specific caloric regimen, please consult your doctor first.
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Such a yummy cookie!