Gluten-Free Pudding Mix Chocolate Chip Cookies

These fudgy gluten-free pudding mix chocolate chip cookies are a DREAM. Delicately crisp and golden on the outside, soft and fudgy on the inside, with plenty of melty chocolate chips in every bite!

I love gluten-free chocolate chip cookies any way I can get them, whether it’s giant bakery-style cookies, thin and crispy chocolate chip cookies, or anything in between. And our newest recipe definitely makes that list!

If you’ve never made gluten-free cookies with pudding mix before, you’re in for a LITERAL treat! These gluten-free pudding chocolate chip cookies are the perfect all-around chocolate chip cookie–delicately crisp edges and golden brown on the outside, soft and fudgy on the inside, with plenty of melty chocolate chips in every bite. They might just be your new favorite cookie!

What does the use of pudding mix do in cookie dough? Well, I see 3 main perks:

1. It adds extra flavor! Think even more vanilla flavor in every bite, for extra delicious results. They’re a total crowd pleaser!
2. It improves texture! These pudding mix cookies are a thicker cookie, with a great mix of fudgy & soft texture.
3. It cuts down on eggs! While not an egg substitute per se, the starch and thickeners in instant pudding mix helps bind the cookie dough together, which means you need fewer eggs to make this cookie recipe work.

And the best part? This easy recipe starts with simple ingredients! So, grab a box of pudding mix and let’s get started!

Simple Ingredients To Get Started

• Gluten-Free Flour. These gluten-free pudding cookies keep things simple with a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend. We highly recommend King Arthur Gluten-Free Measure-For-Measure Gluten-Free flour for taste & texture, but if you need to use another brand, be sure it contains xanthan gum so the cookies turn out properly. Do not use alternative flours, like coconut flour, almond flour, or oat flour in this recipe.
• Baking Soda. For the perfect puff & spread!
• Salt. A flavor enhancer that keeps the flavor of these vanilla pudding cookies beautifully balanced.
• Butter. Softened butter is perfect for creaming! Your finger should just make an indent when pressed into the butter, but the butter shouldn’t be shiny or greasy looking (a sign it’s too soft + will make the cookies spread too much).
• Brown Sugar & White Sugar. A blend of light brown sugar and granulated sugar gives us the best of both flavor and texture. A total win for these gluten-free chocolate chip cookies!
• Eggs. Room temperature eggs are a must for blending in well without ruining the creamed butter and sugar.
• Vanilla. Plenty of vanilla extract always and forever!
• Vanilla Instant Pudding Mix. The secret ingredient! We’re using Jello brand instant vanilla pudding mix since it gives us consistent results every time. Do not use pre-made pudding or a pudding mix that requires cooking. You want DRY instant pudding mix here!
• Chocolate Chips. I prefer dark chocolate chips or semisweet chocolate chips in these pudding mix chocolate chip cookies. There’s a generous amount of chocolate chips, so I find that dark & semisweet chips add a rich chocolate flavor without making the cookies too sweet. (I think milk chocolate chips get too sweet here!)

How To Make Gluten-Free Pudding Cookies, Step By Step

As always, you can find the full recipe, with ingredient amounts, detailed instructions, and tips in the recipe card below.

1. Preheat The Oven & Prep The Pans. Start by preheating the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Combine The Dry Ingredients. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine, then set aside.
3. Cream Butter & Sugars. Add softened butter, brown sugar, and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl and cream 2-3 minutes on medium speed with the paddle attachment or a hand mixer, or until light, fluffy, and fairly smooth.
4. Add Eggs One At A Time, mixing to fully incorporate each egg before adding the next one. Mix In Vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the vanilla extract. Mix to combine.
5. Add Dry Pudding Mix to the wet ingredients and stir until fully combined.
6. Mix In Half Of The Dry Ingredients to cookie batter at a time (this prevents the flour from flying everywhere!), then add the second half of the dry ingredients and mix until the flour mixture is almost fully mixed in, with just a few dry patches left.
7. Add 2 1/4 cups Chocolate Chips, and mix until well distributed and no dry patches remain in the dough.

8. Scoop & Bake. Use a large cookie scoop (3 Tablespoons) to measure 3-Tablespoon cookie dough balls. Add 6 cookie dough balls to one of your prepared baking sheets. Bake the cookies 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are set and the centers look just underdone. (I pull mine out closer to 12 minutes) 
9. Shape & Finish. If desired, use a large circular cookie cutter, a glass, or the back of the spoon to coax the cookies into perfect circles. Fill in any empty spots with a few extra chocolate chips.
10. Cool & Repeat. Let the cookies cool 1-2 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling completely. Repeat the baking steps with the remaining cookie dough, alternating baking sheets with each batch so you don’t put cool dough on a hot baking sheet.
11. Serve & Store. Enjoy the cookies right away or store in an airtight container or bag at room temperature 1-2 days. Or, freeze baked cookies in a freezer bag up to 2 months. 

Cookie Baking Tips To Help You

• How to Get Eggs To Room Temperature FAST
• How to Measure Flour Correctly (Scoop & Level Method)
• How to Check if Your Baking Soda is Fresh
• How to Freeze Cookie Dough
• 8 Cookie Tools We Use All The Time

FAQ + Tricks For The Best Pudding Chocolate Chip Cookies

Mix-Up The Mix-Ins! One of the best parts of these gluten-free pudding cookies is that it’s easy to swap the mix-ins when you’re craving a change of pace. Try swapping some of the chocolate chips out for chopped chocolate or chocolate chunks, some chopped nuts (like pistachios, macadamia nuts, pecans, or walnuts!), use a mix of chocolate chips (half white chocolate chips + half dark chocolate chips), try adding some sprinkles to the dough, or a little bit of flaky sea salt on top! There are tons of options for playing with this recipe!

Make Sure You’re Using Gluten-Free Pudding Mix! We recommend Jello brand instant vanilla pudding mix since it’s considered gluten-free and it’s easy to find in the United States. Do not use pudding mix that requires cooking (stick with instant pudding mix!), and if you use another brand, be sure that it’s gluten-free.

Measure Carefully! For best results, we recommend using a kitchen scale to get precise measurements when you measure flour. If you don’t have one, we highly recommend using the Scoop & Level Method to spoon flour INTO the measuring cup rather then scooping flour WITH your measuring cup. Using the cup to scoop flour packs too much flour into the cookie dough, which impacts the flavor, texture, and spread of the cookies.

Let Them Cool! Keep in mind that these chocolate chip pudding cookies will KEEP cooking even after they come out of the oven. The residual heat from the baking sheet and the cookie itself will help set the centers of the cookies as they cool. If you cut or bite into one warm, it’ll be gooey. If you wait for it to cool, you’ll get soft, chewy cookies with a perfectly fudgy, chewy center. 

Can I Use Another Flavor of Pudding? Some people like to make pudding cookies with Pistachio pudding mix or butterscotch pudding mix, but we think this recipe works best with vanilla or french vanilla pudding mix. (Should I share chocolate pudding mix cookies next?)

More Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes To Try

Thin & Crispy Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Gluten-Free Sprinkle Chocolate Chip Cookies

Gluten-Free Nutella-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe Card

Gluten-Free Pudding Mix Chocolate Chip Cookies

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5 from 1 review

• Author: Emily Dixon, Sweets & Thank You
• Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
• Yield: 20–22 cookies 1x
• Diet: Gluten Free

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Description

These gluten-free pudding mix chocolate chip cookies are the perfect all-around chocolate chip cookie–delicately crisp and golden brown on the outside, soft and fudgy on the inside, with plenty of melty chocolate chips in every bite.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Dry Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cup (270 grams) gluten-free measure-for-measure flour, weighed or scooped and leveled
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Wet Ingredients:

• 1 cup softened butter (2 sticks/226 grams)
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar (150 grams)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar (50 grams)
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 (3.4 oz.) package Jello instant vanilla pudding mix (96 grams)

Mix-Ins:

• 2 1/2 cups (15 oz/425 grams) dark chocolate chips or semisweet chocolate chips

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Instructions

1. Preheat The Oven & Prep The Pans. Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Combine The Dry Ingredients. In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine, then set aside.
3. Cream Butter & Sugars. Add softened butter, brown sugar, and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl and cream 2-3 minutes, or until light, fluffy, and fairly smooth.
4. Add Eggs One At A Time, mixing to fully incorporate each egg before adding the next one. Mix In Vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the vanilla extract. Mix to combine.
5. Add Pudding Mix and stir until fully combined.
6. Mix In Half Of The Dry Ingredients at a time (this prevents the flour from flying everywhere!), then add the second half of the dry ingredients and mix until they’re almost fully mixed in, with just a few dry patches left.
7. Add 2 1/4 cups Chocolate Chips, and mix until well distributed and no dry patches remain in the dough.
8. Scoop & Bake. Use a large cookie scoop (3 Tablespoons) to measure 3-Tablespoon cookie dough balls. Add 6 cookie dough balls to one of your prepared pans. Bake the cookies 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are set and the centers look just underdone. (I pull mine out closer to 12 minutes)
9. Shape & Finish. If desired, use a large circular cookie cutter, a glass, or the back of the spoon to coax the cookies into perfect circles. Fill in any empty spots with a few extra chocolate chips.
10. Cool & Repeat. Let the cookies cool 1-2 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling completely. Repeat the baking steps with the remaining cookie dough, alternating baking sheets with each batch so you don’t put cool dough on a hot baking sheet.
11. Serve & Store. Enjoy the cookies right away or store in an airtight container or bag at room temperature 1-2 days. Or, freeze baked cookies up to 2 months.

Notes

• Gluten-Free Flour. We highly recommend King Arthur Gluten-Free Measure-For-Measure Gluten-Free flour for taste & texture, but if you need to use another brand, be sure it contains xanthan gum so the cookies turn out properly. Do not use alternative flours, like coconut flour, almond flour, or oat flour in this recipe.
• Measure Carefully! Whenever possible, we recommend using a kitchen scale to get precise measurements, but if you don’t have one, we highly recommend using the Scoop & Level Method to spoon flour INTO the measuring cup rather then scooping flour WITH your measuring cup. Using the cup to scoop flour packs too much flour into the cookie dough, which impacts the flavor, texture, and spread of the cookies.
• Let Them Cool! Keep in mind that these chocolate chip pudding cookies will KEEP cooking even after they come out of the oven. The residual heat from the hot baking sheet and the warm cookie itself will help set the centers of the cookies as they cool. If you cut or bite into one warm, it’ll be gooey. If you wait for it to cool, you’ll get soft, chewy cookies with a perfectly fudgy, chewy center.

• Prep Time: 25 minutes
• Cook Time: 45 minutes
• Category: Dessert
• Method: Oven
• Cuisine: American

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