These gluten-free pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are irresistibly soft, perfectly spiced, and low in carbs! They are the best sweet treat for fall and a star at any holiday party.
Loaded with pumpkin-y fall flavor and decadent dark chocolate chips – can you believe these gluten-free pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are also healthy? They contain no butter, oil, or flour and are packed with nutrients from the star of the show – the pumpkin.
I get so excited for holiday baking season each year and especially love recipes like this one that I can enjoy guilt-free. This recipe was inspired and adapted from Eat with Clarity. For similar recipes, check out my list of 50 Healthy Holiday Cookies.
I also have tons of other gluten-free baking recipes for you to try, like my Paleo Chocolate Pumpkin Cake, Low-Carb Flourless Chocolate Cake, Flourless Chocolate Chip Brownies, and Chocolate Almond Butter Cookies.
How to Make Gluten-Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- Butter — Let your butter come to room temperature first.
- Sugar — This recipe uses both brown and white sugar.
- Pumpkin puree — You can use canned pumpkin or my equally delicious homemade pumpkin puree.
- Vanilla extract — Just a splash adds a surprising amount of warmth and flavor.
- Gluten-free all-purpose flour — Gluten-free flour lends a soft, fluffy texture.
- Baking Soda — This makes the cookies light and airy.
- Cinnamon — If you are a fan of cinnamon, feel free to add a little extra!
- Salt — Sprinkle coarse or flaky sea salt on top to enhance the flavor.
- Dark chocolate chips — Dark chocolate makes these cookies sweet and decadent.
Instructions
Prep:
- Before you start, be sure to preheat your oven to 350°F.
- Prepare your baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper.
Mix wet ingredients:
- In a medium bowl, stir together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar.
- Then, add in the pumpkin and vanilla and beat until well combined.
Mix dry ingredients:
- In a large bowl, stir together the gluten-free flour, baking soda, and cinnamon.
Combine:
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in batches until everything is well combined.
Add chocolate chips:
- At this point, you’ll add the chocolate chips to your batter.
- Gently fold in the chocolate chips, being careful not to overmix.
Scoop the batter:
- Take your cookie scoop and portion out 1 tablespoon of batter onto the tray.
- Then, press down with your fingers to gently flatten.
- Now, you can top each cookie with a few extra chocolate chips if desired.
Bake and cool:
- Place the cookies in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
- Once they are done, allow the cookies to cool completely before removing them from the baking sheet. Otherwise, they may break apart.
Salt and serve:
- Once cooled, sprinkle a little coarse or flaky sea salt on top.
- Serve and enjoy!
Recipe Tips
- Keep in mind that canned pumpkin and pumpkin pie filling are different. Pumpkin pie filling contains sugar and is pre-seasoned with spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
- If you want perfectly symmetrical cookies, I recommend using a cookie scoop.
- Save a few chocolate chips to press on top of the cookies before you bake them – it looks and tastes wonderful!
- Be sure to let the cookies cool completely before you remove them from the baking sheet. This will help prevent breaking and keep your cookies looking perfect.
How to Store Leftovers
- To Store: These pumpkin chocolate chip cookies will stay fresh and delicious in the fridge for up to 5 days. Allow the cookies to cool completely before storing them in an airtight container.
- To Freeze: After your cookies are finished baking, flash freeze them and transfer to a freezer-safe bag. Then, you can store them in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- To Reheat: If you love a warm, fresh out of the oven cookie, you can reheat these cookies in the microwave for just a few seconds. They don’t take long to reheat and the overall time will depend on your microwave.
What To Serve with Gluten-Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
- A cozy drink: One of my favorite ways to enjoy these cookies is with a warm, cozy drink to sip on. I personally love them with a hot cup of chai, and they also taste great with coffee, tea, or hot chocolate.
- More desserts: Make a festive tray of your favorite holiday desserts and add other delicious treats, like my gluten-free peppermint brownies, cranberry almond chocolate chip cookies, or easy low-carb pumpkin bread.
- A cheese board: I think the best holiday cheese boards are the ones that have a little something sweet with them. These cookies would be a wonderful side to a savory cheese board, or you could even make a mini version and serve them right on your board! Check out my How to Make Cheese Boards tutorial for instructions and ideas!
- Pumpkin dinner: If you want to really embrace fall ingredients, serve these gluten-free pumpkin chocolate chip cookies with a delicious pumpkin dinner. Two of my personal favorites are easy Whole30 pumpkin chili and pumpkin alfredo sauce pasta. Also check out these 8 pumpkin sauces you need to make this fall for more dinner ideas!
Recipe Variations
- Chocolate chips: I like to use dark chocolate chips in this recipe, but feel free to use any kind of chocolate chip you like! See my Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies or Pumpkin Double Chocolate Chip Cookies for inspiration.
- Nuts: Add a little crunch to your cookie with some chopped nuts. Walnuts or pecans would be a great complement to the pumpkin and dark chocolate.
- Spices: A pinch of cinnamon gives these cookies a warm, spiced flavor. They would also be delicious with nutmeg, allspice, and ground cloves. Or, you could keep it easy and use pumpkin pie spice, like I do in my Gluten-Free Pumpkin Coffee Cake.
Recommended Tools
- Medium and Large Bowl. You’ll use the medium bowl for wet ingredients and the large bowl for dry ingredients.
- Baking Sheet. A standard 9×13 baking sheet will work just fine.
- Cookie Scoop. This will help you get perfectly even cookies.
Frequently Asked Questions
You certainly can! These gluten-free pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are already low-carb, and with just a couple of adjustments, you can easily make them vegan as well. Use your favorite vegan butter alternative and check that your dark chocolate is also vegan.
In order to prevent your cookies from getting soggy, make sure you let them cool completely before you put them into a storage container. If you put the cookies in a container while they’re still warm, the steam will create moisture, which can lead to soggy cookies.
If your cookies are more flat than fluffy, it is likely that your butter was too warm when you mixed it with the other ingredients. Creaming cold or room temperature butter with sugar creates little air pockets that expand as it bakes, and this is what leads to a soft, fluffy cookie.
gluten free pumpkin chocolate chip cookies
Want to Save This Recipe?
Enter your email & I’ll send it to your inbox. Plus, get great new recipes from me every week!
By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from Primavera Kitchen.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup room temperature butter
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup pure pumpkin puree
- 2 tsps vanilla extract
- 2 cups gluten free all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- In a medium bowl, stir together butter and both sugars until well combined. Add in the pumpkin and vanilla and beat together. Mix well.
- In a large bowl, stir together all the dry ingredients, except the chocolate chips.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until well combined, working in batches if needed. Then, gently fold in the chocolate chips. Scoop out 1 tablespoon of the batter and place onto a parchment-lined tray.
- Press down gently with your fingers to flatten slightly. Top each with a few additional chocolate chips, if desired.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Let them cool completely to remove from the baking sheet, otherwise the cookies may break apart.
- Top them with coarse salt.
Tips
- Canned pumpkin and pumpkin pie filling are different as pumpkin pie filling is seasoned with spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and sugar.
- Use a cookie scoop for perfectly even cookies.
- You can save a few chocolate chips to press on top of the cookies before you bake them.
- Let the cookies cool completely before you remove them from the baking sheet to prevent breaking.
- To store: Store the chocolate chip cookies for up to 5 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
- To freeze: After baking, flash freeze the cookies before transferring them to a freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months.
- To reheat: You can reheat these cookies in the microwave for just a few seconds. The overall time will depend on your microwave.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.
If you like this Gluten Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe, please share with your friends and family. Do you wanna taste more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow Primavera Kitchen on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook for all delicious recipes updates like this Sweet Potato Tuna Patties Recipe! As always, you are really appreciated for stopping by.
Sarah @Whole and Heavenly Oven says
So glad to hear that you’re doing better, Olivia! How exciting that you’re going to be having a little boy! Congrats again, friend! 🙂 And these cookies? I am totally drooling over all the chocolate + pumpkin goodness you loaded them up with—I’ll take 5!
Amira says
Congratulations dear, I hope you’ll have a healthy little superhero :). Loved your cookies so delish.
Natalie @ Tastes Lovely says
Congrats on having a boy! Such great news! We were so excited to learn we were having a boy too. I secretly really wanted our first born to be a boy, but of course would have been happy with either as long as baby is healthy. But having it be a boy made it even more exciting! My 2 pregnant girlfriends are having boys too. Feel like it’s the time for boys! Haha! Sorry for you back pain, that’s no fun. Hope yoga and swimming helps. These cookies sound delicious!
Christin@SpicySouthernKitchen says
A boy! Yay! My first born was a boy and that mother-son bond is so special. 🙂
So sorry you have been having such a hard time with your back!
Love all the chocolate chips in these cookies.
Grace @ Earthy Feast says
Yay! It’s a boy! That’s so exciting! I bet he will love these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies – you know, in a few years. 😉 They look amazing! Have a fun (yoga-filled!) weekend!
eat good 4 life says
Wow these truly look sensational. I wish I could have a couple of them with my tea right now!
Kelly // The Pretty Bee: Allergy Friendly Eats says
Hooray for a baby boy! Boys are so much fun. These cookies look wonderful! And I am so sorry you are dealing with back pain, that’s not fun. I hope it continues to improve.
Molly says
Congratulations on your baby boy! Glad you’re feeling better😃 These cookies look wonderful. Perfect for the New Year!
Olivia says
Thanks a lot. You are so sweet. Happy New Year too!
Mariah Taylor says
Hi Olivia !
I have finally found someone whos recipes are amazing ! I tried your chimichuri brocoli shrimp and your zucchini lasagna. And gosh ! So good! My question for this recipe is that for halloween i usually buy pumpkins and never do anything with it. But this recipe inspired me. What would you do to convert a real pumpkin into store bought canned pumkin ? Just grind and spice ? Thanks !
Olivia says
I have this homemade pumpkin puree recipe here that I think you will love it, because it’s even better than store bought canned pumpkin.