Eggless Sugar Cookies
Crisp on the outside, perfectly chewy inside, and scrumptiously fluffy—this eggless sugar cookies recipe is so satisfying and simple! Honestly, you’d never know they’re made with no eggs. Whether you have an egg allergy or you’re just looking for easy egg free sugar cookies, this recipe is worth giving a whirl. Learn how to make sugar cookies without eggs in just 30 minutes.
Typically, in cookie recipes, eggs bind the ingredients together, create a soft and moist texture, and they help sugar cookies to spread while baking. Knowing this, I half-expected my no egg sugar cookies to turn out dense, dry, and crumbly… Instead, I was surprised to find my eggless cookies were soft and fluffy, with a crave-aby cakey bite! No need to use any complicated egg substitutes—just a few small adjustments to a classic recipe.
Really, the main difference in this sugar cookie recipe with no eggs is that the cookies won’t spread out as much. Taste-wise, they’re amazingly chewy, comforting, and sweet—especially when finished with sparkling sugar on top! Bite into one of these fluffy delights, and you wouldn’t guess they’re eggless. See how to make sugar cookies without eggs for an easy egg free treat (including a vegan option)!
Do you have to put eggs in sugar cookies?
No, eggs aren’t necessary—these eggless sugar cookies are just as tasty and comforting as the classic version! A classic sugar cookie recipe uses eggs to bind the ingredients together, and to add moisture for a soft, chewy texture. Eggs also help the cookies spread while baking. Although these won’t spread as much without the eggs, it’s easy to make egg free sugar cookies by relying on different ingredients for binding and moisture!
What happens if you don’t put eggs in cookies?
If you take a standard sugar cookie recipe and simply remove the eggs, you’ll basically end up with shortbread cookies: dry, dense, and crumbly. Not the ideal texture for sugar cookies! But, eggs aren’t the only ingredient that can create the soft, chewy bite that we crave. The secret to making equally delicious sugar cookies without eggs is to replace the moisture they’d provide by adding some milk.
What can I use instead of eggs for sugar cookies?
There are loads of possible egg substitutes for cookie recipes: applesauce, mashed banana, yogurt, oil & water, flax eggs, and more. In this eggless sugar cookie recipe, a few ingredients work together to replace the eggs. Softened butter is rich in fats and has a viscous texture, so it acts as the binding agent in lieu of eggs. Baking soda helps the cookies rise, keeping them light and fluffy. And a dash of milk adds moisture for a soft, chewy texture!
Ingredients for Eggless Sugar Cookies
- Butter. Make sure to let butter soften at room temperature overnight, or at least for a few hours! Softened butter has a viscous texture that helps to bind these egg free sugar cookies together. For a vegan option, use a plant-based butter instead.
- Sugar. Of course, a sugar cookie recipe needs some sugar! White sugar is the classic choice here—if you want to use brown sugar, just know that it can give your cookies a browner color.
- Vanilla. A classic yet subtle cookie ingredient that enhances all of the other flavors in the recipe.
- All-Purpose Flour. Since we’re making sugar cookies without eggs, it helps to use a reliable, sturdy, glutinous flour like all-purpose flour. With the eggs removed, gluten can help to maintain the shape of the cookies, while still keeping them soft and light. Whole wheat flour could also work in this recipe, but a gluten free flour might not work as well. Although I haven’t personally tested using a GF flour, feel free to experiment with it if you’d like!
- Baking Soda. A little leavening goes a long way to give cookies a light, fluffy bite.
- Salt. A surprisingly essential ingredient in baked goods that brightens and highlights all of the sweet flavors!
- Milk of Choice. Personally, I made these eggless sugar cookies with a 2% dairy milk, but you could also use skim, whole, or any nondairy milk you prefer. If you need a dairy free or vegan option, almond milk, cashew, coconut, soy milk, etc. can all work in this recipe.
- Sparkling Sugar. Finally, I highly recommend finishing your cookies with a sprinkle of sparkling sugar before baking! It’s totally optional, but it adds some gorgeous sparkle and an extra dash of sweetness.
How do vegans replace eggs in baking?
There are plenty of vegan egg substitutes for baked goods, like flax eggs (ground flax + water), applesauce, xanthan gum, aquafaba—the list goes on. For example, my Vegan Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies use applesauce, or try my Grain Free Paleo Breakfast Cookies using flax eggs. But, if you want to make these egg free sugar cookies vegan, just use vegan butter instead of real butter, and the nondairy milk of your choosing!
Can you substitute oil for eggs in cookies?
Yes, you can use oil instead of eggs in a cookie recipe—but the best option is to combine about 1 Tbsp oil with 2 Tbsp water. This way, the oil adds viscous fats for binding, while the water adds moisture for a soft texture. In this recipe for eggless sugar cookies, instead of oil and water, the combination of butter and milk act as a substitute for eggs!
How to Make Sugar Cookies without Eggs
- In a large bowl, cream together softened butter, sugar, and vanilla with a hand mixer until smooth and fluffy.
- Separately, whisk flour, baking soda, and salt to combine.
- Pour dry mixture into wet mixture, beating with the hand mixer until integrated. Then, add milk and finish mixing with a spatula. (The dough should hold together when pressed.)
- Scoop dough, roll into a ball with your hands, and flatten each ball slightly to form a small disc. Transfer to prepared baking sheets. (I used a 1-Tbsp cookie scoop to yield ~20 eggless sugar cookies.)
- If desired, sprinkle sparkling sugar on top before baking.
- Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 10 minutes, until lightly golden.
How do I know when my eggless sugar cookies are done?
When making sugar cookies without eggs, you’ll notice the cookies do not spread as much while baking. Also, they may not look as browned as you’d expect when they’re done baking. So, watch your egg free sugar cookies as they bake, but don’t wait on them to brown or spread out! They’ll only look lightly golden when they’re done but, after about 10 minutes, they will be cooked through.
Are cookies better with or without eggs?
Sure, some cookie enthusiasts may claim cookies always taste better with eggs. But, as a lifelong cookie lover myself, I thoroughly enjoy these no egg sugar cookies and think they’re delicious! Soft, sweet, and chewy—with a texture that’s a bit thicker, cakier, and fluffier than the classic recipe. If you have an egg allergy, or you don’t have eggs a home, or you just want to try something new, these eggless sugar cookies are their own kind of scrumptious!
Can you eat raw cookie dough without eggs?
Since raw eggs can have a slight risk of salmonella contamination, yes—raw dough for sugar cookies without eggs is safer than dough with eggs. But, there are still other ingredients (like uncooked flour) that can potentially contain harmful contaminants. You may want to take a bite of your eggless sugar cookie dough, but it’s best to limit how much you eat. For an egg free, flour free option that’s totally safe to eat, try my edible cookie dough recipe instead!
What else can I bake without eggs?
For more eggless cookie recipes and egg free baked goods, try some of these treats:
- Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Eggless Peanut Butter Cookies
- Easy Eggless Brownies
- Edible Cookie Dough
- Fluffy Vegan Pancakes
- Healthy Churro Bars
- Vegan Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins
- 3-Ingredient Homemade Whole Wheat Bread
Eggless Sugar Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 oz butter, softened, (or vegan butter)
- ⅓ cup white sugar, (67g)
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, (120g)
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 3 Tbsp milk of choice, dairy or nondairy (45mL)
- 3 Tbsp sparkling sugar, (optional, for topping)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
- In a bowl, cream together butter, sugar, and vanilla with a hand mixer until smooth and fluffy.
- Separately, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add dry ingredients into wet mixture and beat with mixer until combined.
- Add milk and mix with a spatula, pressing dough together. (The dough might seem crumbly at first but, as you continue to mix, it will become doughy and should hold together when pressed. If the dough seems too sticky at this point, chill in fridge for 30 minutes.)
- Use a 1-Tbsp cookie scoop to portion dough, roll into a ball with hands, and flatten slightly to form a small disc. Transfer to lined and greased baking sheets.
- If desired, top cookies with sparkling sugar before baking.
- Bake 10 minutes, until lightly golden. (These eggless cookies will not spread much, and they may not look fully done/browned when you take them out—but they will be cooked through!)
- Allow to cool 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack.
- Yields ~20 eggless sugar cookies (using 1-Tbsp scoop).
27 Comments on “Eggless Sugar Cookies”
Not a bad recipe, very easy and simple. I will most likely adjust the amount of sugar and vanilla next time though. They don’t have a ton of taste and don’t have a sweet flavor like I would expect from a cookie. Still a good recipe though!
Thanks for trying out our eggless sugar cookie recipe! We appreciate your kind & honest review – we haven’t made these in a while and it’s possible they could benefit from more sugar. We’ll have to test it out, and we’d love to know any adjustments you try with the recipe to make it tastier 🙂
Thanks for a great and fast eggless cookie recipe!
Hi Kelly, so happy to hear this egg-free cookie recipe worked out well for you! We appreciate you trying it out & sharing your kind comment here 🙂
I used heavy whipping cream for the dairy bc I needed to use it up. In a family of 5 one kiddo has a severe egg allergy so he rarely gets baked sweets. These were delicious. They spread similarly to a regular sugar cookie, perhaps due to the added fat content? If you prefer a but more spread it may be worth a try. Very tasty- otherwise tasted and felt like a typical sugar cookie. Thank you!!
Hi there, thank you so much for trying our eggless sugar cookie recipe! We know it can be tough to make equally-delicious sugar cookies without eggs, so we’re happy to hear your batch turned out tasty & satisfying, and that your kiddo get to enjoy them as well 🙂 We appreciate you sharing your kind words with us, and we appreciate you being here!
These are delicious! Was having a bad day and wanted to bake something to keep my mind busy. We didn’t have any eggs in the fridge, so I did a quick search of “eggless cookies” and this one came up! Highly recommend!
Hi Gabby, we’re so glad you enjoyed this egg-free sugar cookie recipe! It’s so nice to be able to bake a batch of cookies when there’s no eggs at home, and making cookies is one of the best ways we’ve found to make a hard day a little better. Thank you for trying out the recipe, and thank you for sharing your kind comment with us. Wishing you well & we appreciate you being here 🙂
My family loved it, they kept coming back for more!
Hi Ari, we’re so glad your family enjoyed these egg-free sugar cookies! Thank you for trying out the recipe and sharing your kind words with us 🙂
this recipe didn’t work out for me. it looked good and the directions were very clear, but i’m new to baking so i think it was just me. thanks! hope to get another recipe from you!
Hi Hayden, thanks for trying out our eggless sugar cookie recipe! We’re sorry to hear it didn’t work out for you – we know baking can be tricky & sometimes things go wrong. If you have any questions that I can help with, please feel free to leave them in a comment!
Also, if you ever want a visual to help with the process, you can check out the video embedded in the post, or the photos in the post, to give you a sense of how things are supposed to look each step of the way 🙂 We hope you’ll give it another try, or try one of our other recipes!
I personally thought they were too doughy but my dad loved them and said they reminded them of his grandpa
Hi Trinity, thanks for trying out eggless sugar cookie recipe! We’re glad to hear your dad enjoyed them so much, and we appreciate your honesty about what you thought of the texture. We know egg-free cookies can taste a bit different from the cookies we’re used to. And for some folks, an eggless cookie just won’t cut it! We totally get it.
If you decide to try out the recipe again, we’d love to know how the next batch turns out. Or you might enjoy one of our other eggless cookie recipes more than this one – I’ve linked those below 🙂
Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies
Eggless Peanut Butter Cookies
Sweet Potato Cookies
quick and easy.. use vegan butter so the taste was more … almond than anything. Tried multiple times, finally with 5 teaspoons of vanilla and it finally override the almond taste. Very good though. Crisp on the outside soft on the inside.
Curtis! Thank you so much for trying out our egg-free sugar cookies & sharing how you made the recipe work with vegan butter. Great to know that adding vanilla helped offset that almond flavor – that will surely be helpful to others who want to make a vegan version of this recipe 🙂 So glad to hear they turned out well!
The best cookie I have had in such a long time. Thank you.
The best cookie I have had in such a long time. Thank you.
Hi Cayanne, thank you for trying our egg-free sugar cookies recipe! So glad that you enjoyed them 🙂
Made these twice. Such a simple recipe but such taste!
The second time I did make a couple of modifications…
Used 1/4 c margarine and 2 Tbls oil.
Doubled the vanilla.
Soured the milk.
Hi Karen, we’re so glad you’re enjoying our recipe for sugar cookies without eggs! They’re one of our favorite easy treats to make 🙂 Thank you for trying them out, and thank you for sharing the ingredient modifications you used so others can benefit from your experience!
Super easy to follow recipe! Easy to make with limited ingredients and done in no time! I was looking for a quick and easy weekend bake and these will definitely be a new go to!
Hi Azrael, thank you for trying out our egg-free sugar cookies recipe! So glad to hear the recipe was quick to make & easy to follow 🙂 It’s so fun to bake when the recipe is simple and it turns out well!!
Awesome my grand babies are allergic to eggs these recipes are the best thank you
Hi Kathy, thank you so much for trying out our egg free sugar cookie recipe! We’re so happy to hear they turned out well and that you were able to share them with your grandchildren 🙂
Easy to make with limited cupboard ingredients
Yes, Victoria! Eggless cookies are such a tasty and convenient option that you can make with only a few ingredients. Thanks for trying out the recipe! If you’re interested, we also have recipes for eggless chocolate chip cookies and eggless peanut butter cookies 🙂