How to make homemade chocolate chip cookies without baking soda

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So, you wanted to make chocolate chip cookies and every recipe you find uses some kind of leavening agent. There is no issue with leavening agents, but it’s easy to forget to buy them when we’re at the store.

The saddest part is when we realize we don’t have a necessary ingredient once we start making said chocolate chip cookies.

What do you do when you’ve started making chocolate chip cookies only to realize that you don’t have baking soda or baking powder? Is it possible to make baked goods without a leavening agent?

Thankfully, the answer is yes, you can make cookies without a leavening agent. Your cookies will have the same quality and texture as they would if you used the leavening agent.

Thick, gooey, and chewy cookies are easily made without any baking soda or powder. It sounds almost impossible, but with a combination of eggs and butter, these cookies will have an impeccable taste and even greater texture. 

Making Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies Without Baking Soda Or Powder

The chocolate chip cookies are a staple of American cuisine, but also well-known all over the world. Everyone needs a chocolate chip cookie recipe in their repertoire.

Simple, straightforward, amazingly delicious, and without any funny ingredients or chilling time. How cool is that?

These are everything a chocolate chip cookie should be – crispy and chewy at the same time and loaded with chocolate. Doughy yet fully baked, and with a perfect aroma. 

How to make these chocolate chip cookies perfectly:

  • Do not soften the butter completely. To avoid the chilling time, make sure your butter is still somewhere firm and chilled.
  • Measure the flour correctly. Now, this is a very important part. Fill the cup and level the flour for these and you can easily pack in too much or too little of the flour. Too much of the flour will result in a rock hard cookies, while too little flour will just result in thin and quite unpleasing cookies. 
  • Use a lot of chocolate chips. I mean, use as many you’d like. You can use dark, milk, or white chocolate chips (these are my favorite). You can add peanut butter chips or even just go with chopped chocolate. 
  • Choose your sugar. If you use just white sugar you will have crispy cookies, and with brown sugar, you will have softer cookies. This one is up to you. 
  • Do not over bake the cookies. This is rule No.1 when baking cookies and that is not to overbake. These cookies will not have that golden finish you may be looking for, so follow the accurate time we gave you and they will be amazing. Anything over that will result in under or overbaked cookies. These cookies will be still a kind of soft when removed from the oven but as they cool down, they will get that classic cookie texture. 

These cookies will be perfect every time, but just in case they become flat, here are some potential causes:

  • Overmixing. Although this may sound like fake news, overmixing can really kill the cookie batter. 
  • Make sure your ingredients are cold. Go with cold butter, cold egg, and mix in a cold bowl. This will give the cookies a crispy finish. 
  • The right oven temperature. A preheated oven and the correct temperature will result in perfectly baked cookies. A too hot or too cold oven will give bad results. 
  • Use the right amount of ingredients. Just make sure you are using the correct amount, and you’ll end up with perfect cookies. This is one recipe where you don’t want to eye-ball the ingredients. You do want to measure them appropriately.

This recipe, like all our recipes, has been tested in our kitchen, and the results you see in the pictures are hopefully what your cookies will look like as well.

How to Make Chocolate Chip Cookies Without Baking Soda Or Baking Powder

Step 1: Gather your ingredients.

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. 

How to make homemade chocolate chip cookies without baking soda

Step 2: Beat butter and sugar in a mixing bowl.

How to make homemade chocolate chip cookies without baking soda
How to make homemade chocolate chip cookies without baking soda

Step 3: Add egg and vanilla and beat until combined. 

How to make homemade chocolate chip cookies without baking soda
How to make homemade chocolate chip cookies without baking soda

Step 4: Fold in flour until just combined. 

How to make homemade chocolate chip cookies without baking soda

Step 5: Fold in chocolate chips. 

How to make homemade chocolate chip cookies without baking soda
How to make homemade chocolate chip cookies without baking soda

Step 7: Bake the cookies for 10 minutes. 

Remove and cool completely before serving.

How to make homemade chocolate chip cookies without baking soda

How to make homemade chocolate chip cookies without baking soda

Chocolate Chip Cookies Without Baking Soda Or Baking Powder

Yield: 14

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

These chocolate chip cookies don't have any leavening agents, and they turned out amazing!

Ingredients

  • ¼ cup cold butter
  • ½ cup sugar (white or brown)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 large cold egg
  • 1 cup + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup chocolate chips (dark, milk, or white)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. 

Beat butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. As the butter is cold you will not have a perfectly fluffy mixture. 

Add egg and vanilla and beat until combined. 

Fold in flour until just combined. 

Fold in chocolate chips. 

With a rounded tablespoon, drop the cookies onto a cookie sheet. You can also use the small cookie/ice cream scoop. 

Bake the cookies for 10 minutes. 

Remove and cool completely before serving.

Notes

Serve the cookies with tea, milk, or nut-based milk. 

For a dairy-free version, you can use coconut oil and for a GF version use certified GF flour or even nut-based flour, like almond flour. 

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 14 Serving Size: 1 cookie
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 127Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 22mgSodium: 33mgCarbohydrates: 16gFiber: 1gSugar: 14gProtein: 1g

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Jaron

Hey, I'm Jaron and I'm a self-proclaimed food expert and author of this website! I'll be honest with you, I started this website because someone told me I couldn't and I needed to prove them wrong. Along my journey, I actually really fell in love with writing about food. I hope you found value from whatever article you read, and if you have any remaining questions, don't hesitate to contact me!

What happens if you bake cookies without baking soda?

What Happens to Cookies without Baking Soda? If you have a recipe that asks for baking soda and you leave it out completely, your cookies will likely be extremely dense as there was no chemical reaction to introduce those gas bubbles and give it rise.

What can I use in place of baking soda for cookies?

Since baking soda is an ingredient of baking powder, baking powder is technically the best substitute for baking soda.

How can I bake without baking soda?

If you don't have baking soda, you can use baking powder, at three times what the recipe calls for. So if a recipe calls for one teaspoon of baking soda, you can use three teaspoons of baking powder. Baking powder also contains a little bit of salt, so it's also a good idea to halve the salt the recipe calls for.

Can I use baking powder instead of baking soda in chocolate chip cookies?

Unless you want cakey cookies, avoid using baking powder: The cookies made with both the single- and double-acting baking powders were just too darn cakey. 2. Baking soda helps cookies spread more than baking powder.