These Vegan Protein Cookies are thin, crispy, and wildly satisfying. Each cookie pack 8 grams of protein without oats or bananas, just healthy fats and plant-based protein powder for long-lasting energy. Made in one bowl and and once you try them, you’ll be doubling the batch every time, so you’ve always got a grab-and-go snack ready.
"Wow, a delicious and addictive cookie! I love the wholesome ingredients and that these are a healthy grab and go, thanks!" - Sabrina
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- ⏲️Ready In: 45 Minutes
- 👪Serves: 8
- 🍽 Calories and Protein: 216 kcals and 8 grams of protein
- 📋 Main Ingredients: Vegan vanilla protein powder, almond butter, maple syrup, chia seeds, and coconut milk powder
- 📖 Dietary Notes: Dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegan.
- ⭐ Why You'll Love It: Soft, chewy, and naturally sweet, these vegan protein cookies make a deliciously healthy snack or quick grab-and-go breakfast.
SUMMARIZE & SAVE THIS CONTENT ON
Need healthy snacks in a pinch? This vegan protein cookie recipe are made with plant-based protein and classic trail-mix add-ins. They taste indulgent while keeping you fueled, just like chocolate protein fluff or almond butter dark chocolate cups when you’re craving something sweet but want the protein payoff. If you’re curious why that matters, you can learn more about the benefits of a high protein diet and see how easy little swaps like this are.
Grab them on your way out the door, stash a couple in your gym bag, or use them as a mid-afternoon pick-me-up. These healthy vegan protein cookies become a staple fast — especially when you pair them with overnight oats with protein powder to stay full for hours.
💭Why You'll Love This Recipe
Easy to make: These gluten-free vegan protein cookies are made all in one bowl and prep time is minimal.
Allergy-friendly: Naturally dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegan, so perfect for any dietary restrictions.
Flavorful: Even though the cookies are made without bananas or peanut butter, they pack a punch of sweet flavor that you'll keep coming back to.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Most protein cookie recipes (and protein recipes in general) use a combination of whey protein powder, peanut butter, and oats or bananas, like these no-bake protein cookies. These gluten-free protein cookies flip the script and do something different.
- Vanilla protein powder: These cookies use vegan powder, and because each vegan powder has a slightly different makeup, the kind you choose can and will affect the flavor and texture, like in any other vegan protein powder recipes.
- Almond butter: Make sure to use fresh nut butter so that it blends into the batter well, versus the hard stuff at the bottom of the jar. Almond butter is great but peanut butter works just as well!
- Coconut milk powder: This gives the cookies a very indulgent taste. If you don't have any on hand, add an extra 2 tablespoons of protein powder.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
These cookies are pretty easy to substitute. Chocolate chips are a great addition (mini chocolate chips work best!) and peanut butter will work for almond (any nut butter should be okay!).
Flavor Variations
Double chocolate: For a rich chocolate flavor, use a chocolate protein pwoder and replace the dried cranberries with mini (dairy-free) chocolate chips.
Extra crunch: Use a crunchy nut butter in place of smooth for added texture.
Dried fruit: Play around with the dried fruit by using dried cherries, blueberries, or apricots for new flavors in the pea protein cookies.
How To Make Vegan Protein Cookies
Step 1: Combine all dry ingredients into a large bowl before adding the wet ingredients one by one.
Step 3: Mix until everything is coated and sticky.
Step 3: Use a trigger ice cream scoop to portion the cookies.
Step 4: Press the cookies down slightly and then bake for roughly 14 minutes.
Expert Tips To Make It
Because each protein powder absorbs differently, each one will have a different texture. Powders like Orgain and Botanica will create crispier cookies. Powders like Progressive or Genuine Health will be more hearty because they absorb more liquid. Learn more about choosing a vegan protein powder.
If using one of the crispy protein powders, the batter will seem runny when spreading onto the cookie sheet. This is normal and how they crisp up.
Make sure to let the cookies cool completely on the cookie tray. Otherwise, they fall apart. This is especially true if you plan to dip them into protein cookie butter as they won't hold up.
Lastly, these vegan protein cookies taste even better and crispier when stored in the fridge for a day, unlike these chocolate chip protein cookies, which have a dense texture.
Vegan Protein Cookies FAQs
Protein is used to rebuild tissue, boost your immune system, and keep you full. Thus, increasing your protein intake can be a great way to stay healthy and get fit. Protein cookies make it easy to increase your daily intake while still enjoying delicious foods.
Vegan protein powder absorbs liquid. This means it can replace the flour in many recipes (though not in equal measurements). Adding protein powder to cookies can reduce their carbohydrate values while increasing the protein in the cookies.
Many times, protein cookies are dry because they need more liquid. Vegan protein powder (specifically pea protein) absorbs liquid which means the recipe needs to have extra in order to get the desired texture. If protein cookies are dry, try increasing the oil, adding chocolate chips, or a liquid sweetener to the recipe.
No. Baking protein powder does not destroy the properties or the benefits of the powder.
That's the fun thing about baking with protein powder: it's easy to switch up flavors! Though this recipe was made with vanilla, using a chocolate protein powder or even a caramel one is an easy way to give some variety.
More High-Protein Desserts
If you tried this Vegan Protein Cookies Recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes!
Vegan Protein Cookies (gluten-free)
Video
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup vanilla protein powder 1.5 scoops
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ cup almond butter
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ⅛ cup chia seeds
- ¼ cup coconut milk powder
- ⅛ cup dried cranberries
- ¼ cup pumpkin seeds
- ⅛ cup coconut unsweetened
- 2 tbs coconut oil measured solid
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Melt the coconut oil.
- In a large bowl, combine the protein powder, baking powder, coconut milk powder and chia seeds.
- Once the coconut oil is melted, stir in the oil, almond butter, and maple syrup. Once everything is coated, stir in the remaining ingredients.
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and using an ice cream scoop, portion out the batter leaving LOTS of space between cookies. Press each cookie down into a circle.
- Pop in the oven and bake for 14 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on the pan.
- You can eat them like that and they're moderately crispy. However, popping them into the fridge overnight makes them absolutely perfect.
Notes
- The protein cookies spread out quite a bit so leave lots of space between cookies on your baking sheet.
- Because each protein powder absorbs differently, each one will have a different texture. Powders like Orgain and Botanica will create crispier cookies. Powders like Progressive or Genuine Health will be more hearty because they absorb more liquid. Learn more about choosing a vegan protein powder.
- Coconut milk powder: This gives the cookies a very indulgent taste. If you don't have any on hand, add an extra 2 tablespoons of protein powder.
- Each protein powder has a slightly different protein count (in grams) and thus, the protein markup in the nutritional profile might be off by 1-2 grams
- Video differences: The protein cookies were originally made with more maple syrup and dried fruit. This made it so the batter was a bit more "runny" and spread out. I revised the cookies to bring the carb count down slightly. With the revisions, the batter will not be as runny as you see in the video and you'll need to press the vegan protein cookies down into circles.
Disclaimer:
Nutrition values are estimates only, using online calculators. Please verify using your own data"
Nutrition
Domini says
Could I use cashew butter or sunflower seed butter? I want these NOW!
fitasamamabear says
Yep you can! They have roughly the same texture too so it should work perfectly.
Amanda says
I just made these cookies and WOW...I love them!! They are perfectly crispy and airy while the cranberries add a bit of chewiness. They are just the right level of sweet, too. I used RS Salted Caramel Cupcake protein powder and since I don't have pumpkin seeds on hand, I substituted with sesame seeds. It tastes good so I would say it is a safe substitute.
Thanks a million for the great recipe, Mama Bear! I will be using this one a lot 🙂
fitasamamabear says
Ahhh, caramel cupcake protein would be AMAZING. Thanks for the heads up on the substitution and the protein swap. I'm o happy you gave them a go! You'll be addicted now... hehe
Rachel Campbell says
Is there anything I could use instead of coconut milk powder?
fitasamamabear says
Hrm, you could use a dairy-free creamer (powder) if you have it, otherwise, I'm not sure. The coconut milk powder helps sweeten and also gives the batter a creamy texture. I'd say try adding 1/4 scoop more protein powder but it's a binder & thickener so may change the texture a bit. Either that or replace in equal amounts with almond meal and give that a go.
Kelly Neil says
What a great little pick-me-up snack! Pinned this one to make later. Thanks for all of the great info!
fitasamamabear says
Ah glad you like them! Honestly, they're freaking addictive haha crazy decadent but loaded with trail-mix yummy lol enjoy them!
Marieke says
I'm vegan and celiac and I honestly still struggle with finding breakfast foods that I want to eat - but breakfast cookies?! Count me in!
fitasamamabear says
It can be such a challenge! I find dairy-free, gluten-free challenging too because you HAVE to go with gluten-free vegan lol But yes! These are freaking addictive though so you've been warned 😀 We double the batch every time now lol
Camille says
Wow, these scream DELICIOUS!
fitasamamabear says
They're soooo decadent!
Sabrina says
Wow, a delicious and addictive cookie! I love the wholesome ingredients and that these are a healthy grab and go, thanks!
fitasamamabear says
Thank you! Yup it's a tasty one, my kiddos can't get enough of them haha and I love that they're loaded with "trail mix" style things!
Jennifer Van Haitsma says
These look good! I've been reading more about the benefits of chia seeds but don't really know where to start. Can I just cook them into anything? HELP! lol. Thanks for sharing this!
fitasamamabear says
Eekk yes!!! Chia seeds kick butt and a little goes a long way!! So you can start by adding them to oatmeal/ogurt/smoothies m(more in this post: https://fitasamamabear.com/five-way-to-get-chia-seeds-into-your-diet/) we rock chia pudding the most because my girls LOVE IT (I have a few recipes for it so search around.
Keep in mind chia seeds ABSORB so for baking you can't just add them in willy nilly lol they pull all the water. I love using them in no-bake recipes (energy balls, bars etc) because you just add more liquid if you need it. Those are good places to start. <-- I just realized I sent you like a paragraph here haha I get REALLY excited about chai seeds!