These gluten-free chewy sugar cookies are soft, buttery drop cookies made with just 7 ingredients. No rolling, no chilling overnight, no cookie cutters. Cream the butter and sugar, mix in the eggs and vanilla, add the dry ingredients, chill for an hour, scoop and bake.
They’re not the same as my gluten-free sugar cookies, which are roll-out cutout cookies you decorate with royal icing. These are the ones you make when you want a soft, chewy cookie with lightly browned edges, no decorating required.
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Gluten-Free Flour – I use Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 in the blue bag. I developed and tested this recipe with this blend, so if you swap in a different brand I can’t promise the same results. I recommend weighing your flour with a food scale if you can (350g). The way you scoop flour into a measuring cup can vary so easily, so weighing is the most accurate way to measure.
- Unsalted butter – Room temperature is key here. If the butter is too cold it won’t cream properly, and if it’s too soft or melted the cookies will spread flat. I test mine by pressing a finger in. If it leaves a dent without squishing all the way through, it’s good to go.
- Eggs – Use two large eggs at room temperature. I pull mine out when I set the butter out so they warm up together. Cold eggs don’t incorporate as smoothly into the creamed butter and sugar.
Two things will make or break these cookies.
First, chill the dough for a full hour before scooping. It firms up the butter so the cookies hold their shape and gives the gluten-free flour time to hydrate so there’s no grittiness. Second, pull them from the oven when the centers still look slightly underdone. They firm up on the pan as they cool, and that’s where the chew comes from.
Step-by-Step Instructions
You won’t believe how easy it is to make these gluten-free chewy sugar cookies. While they may seem rather basic, they are so chewy and flavorful!
The below steps with matching photos are there to help you see the recipe made at various stages so you can make your cookies perfectly every time. Pay special attention to the consistency of the cookie dough after chilling vs. before chilling and the space in between the cookies on the baking sheet.
For the ingredient list with measurements, full instructions, printable recipe, and additional notes, please scroll down to the recipe card.
Recipe FAQs
No, these are drop cookies. The dough is too soft for rolling and cutting. If you want cutout sugar cookies you can decorate, use my gluten-free sugar cookies recipe instead.
Yes. Skipping the chill means flat cookies. The hour in the fridge firms up the butter and lets the gluten-free flour hydrate, which is what gives these their chewy texture without any grittiness.
Usually one of three things: the butter was too soft or melted before creaming, the dough wasn’t chilled long enough, or your baking soda was expired. Make sure the butter is at room temperature but still firm, chill the dough a full hour, and check the date on your baking soda.
I developed this recipe with Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 in the blue bag and that’s what I recommend. Other blends have different ratios of starches and grains, so I can’t guarantee the same texture or results if you swap it out.
Expert Tips
Storage Instructions
Room temperature – Keep them in an airtight container and they’ll stay soft and chewy for 3-4 days. I honestly prefer to freeze them if I’m not going to eat them within a couple days.
Freeze baked cookies – Let them cool completely, then layer with parchment in a freezer bag or container. They freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature for about an hour, or pop one in the microwave for 15 seconds if you’re impatient like me.
Freeze the dough – This is my favorite move. Scoop the dough into balls, freeze them solid on a sheet pan, then toss them all into a freezer bag. When you want fresh cookies, bake straight from frozen and just add a minute or two to the bake time. The dough keeps for up to 3 months, so you’re basically always 15 minutes away from warm cookies.
Serving Suggestions
These are my go-to when I need cookies fast and don’t want to fuss with decorating. I bring them to school events and potluck dinners, and I always keep a stash of frozen dough balls for when someone needs cookies on short notice.
They’re great plain, but they’re also a blank canvas. I frost them with my strawberry buttercream or brown butter cream cheese frosting, or make cookie sandwiches with peanut butter frosting. In the summer I use them for ice cream sandwiches with my homemade strawberry ice cream. You can also roll the dough balls in sprinkles before baking, which I go into more detail on in my gluten-free sprinkle sugar cookies post.
If you’re putting together a cookie platter, these go well next to my gluten-free chocolate chip cookies or my gluten-free coconut macaroons for something with a completely different texture.
Gluten-Free Chewy Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups (350 g) gluten-free flour blend - Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour (in the blue bag) which contains xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup (170 g) unsalted butter - at room temperature
- 1 ½ cups (300 g) granulated sugar
- 2 (100 g) large eggs
- 1 tablespoon (13 g) pure vanilla extract
**Use the toggle button above to turn the instruction photos on and off!
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together 2 ½ cups (350 g) gluten-free flour blend, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 1 teaspoon salt. Set aside.
- In a larger bowl, cream the softened ¾ cup (170 g) unsalted butter and 1 ½ cups (300 g) granulated sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Scrape down the sides as needed.
- Add 2 (100 g) large eggs and 1 tablespoon (13 g) pure vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until no streaks of flour remain.
- Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Use a 2-3 tablespoon cookie scoop to portion the dough into balls. A red #24 scoop yields approximately 18 cookies.
- Place the dough balls on the prepared baking sheet, leaving 3-4 inches of space between each one.
- Bake on the middle rack at 350℉ for 11-13 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned and the centers are set.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to finish cooling. Repeat with the remaining dough, keeping the dough in the refrigerator between batches.
Notes
- Flour: I use Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 in the blue bag. I developed this recipe with this blend and can’t guarantee results with other brands. Weigh your flour (350g) if you have a food scale for the most accurate measurement.
- Scoop Size: I used a red #24 portion scoop for these cookies to get 18 uniform cookies. This scoop is roughly 2.7 tablespoons of dough. If you make the cookies larger or smaller, you will need to adjust the bake time.
Made these today. My husband loved them!
I’m so glad! Thanks for coming back to leave a review, Sherri!
Very good. Turned out great. I used KA Measure for Measure and had no trouble with the consistency. I would prefer a flour without corn and/or xanthan gum because it’s made from corn, but if I don’t consume too much I can get by and I like to make a recipe the first time as close to how the creator wrote it before messing with it. Lol. Thanks for all the great looking recipes!
Thanks, Corie! That’s definitely the best way to do it – make it as close to how it’s written and then make it your own after that! I would love to hear what flour blends you like to use that don’t have corn and xanthan gum. I always have people asking about corn, so curious which ones you like!