Easy Sugar Cookies Recipe Without Butter – So Soft

I only worked out these Sugar Cookies Without Butter because I opened the cupboard one afternoon, found no butter, and still wanted cookies. Oil turned out to give a softer, more tender crumb than I expected, and now this is the version I make on purpose, not just when I’m out of butter.

You mix everything in one bowl with a hand or stand mixer, chill the dough for half an hour, roll it in sugar, and bake. This is an easy recipe that gives you a soft sugar cookie with a light sugar crackle on top, and because there’s no dairy in the dough, it works for anyone cutting back on butter or keeping things dairy-free. If you have made a standard sugar cookie recipe before, the steps will feel familiar, just with oil in place of the butter.

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Why You’ll Love Sugar Cookies Without Butter

• The oil is what makes these so soft. Butter firms up as cookies cool, but oil stays liquid at room temperature, so the crumb keeps that tender, just-baked feel a day or two later. I use a neutral vegetable oil most of the time, and coconut oil when I want a faint coconut note in the background.
• There’s nothing unusual on the ingredient list. All-purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, vanilla extract, an egg, and oil. No softening butter to room temperature, no creaming step, no specialty shopping. If you bake at all, you already have what you need.
• It’s an honest one-egg, one-bowl dough that takes the mixer about a minute to bring together, then does its real work in the fridge while you line your trays. For a cookie this simple, the payoff in texture is worth the half-hour chill.
• Because there’s no dairy in the dough, it’s an easy one to hand round when someone at the table is avoiding butter. It’s become one of my regular sugar cookies alongside the classic butter version I make at the holidays, my Christmas sugar cookies, so I’ve got a soft cookie either way depending on what’s in the fridge.

Ingredients You’ll Need

You’ll need all the ingredients shown in the photograph below.

Oil. This is the butter stand-in, so it carries the texture. A neutral vegetable oil keeps the flavor clean and lets the vanilla come through. Coconut oil is my other pick when I want a light coconut note; if you use it, melt it to liquid first. Refined coconut oil is the neutral-tasting version, while unrefined keeps more of that coconut flavor, so choose based on how much you want it to show. Olive oil works too, though a strong extra-virgin one can leave a faint fruity edge.

Granulated sugar. Plain white sugar sweetens the dough and also coats the outside, so it’s split: most goes into the mix, and the rest is for rolling the balls before they bake. That sugar coat is what gives the tops their light crackle.

Baking powder. This is baking powder, not baking soda. The two aren’t interchangeable here, and swapping in soda will throw off both the rise and the flavor.

Vanilla extract. The main flavor in a plain sugar cookie, so it’s worth using a real extract rather than an imitation. It’s the note you taste most once the cookies cool.

All-purpose flour. Standard all-purpose flour gives the right structure. If the dough feels sticky after chilling, work in a little more flour a spoonful at a time rather than all at once.

Egg. One egg binds the dough and keeps the crumb tender. Bring it to room temperature if you can, so it blends into the oil and sugar smoothly rather than seizing up cold.

How to Make Sugar Cookies Without Butter

A complete printable recipe and the measurements in both US customary and metric are available in the recipe card below.

Mix the dry ingredients

In a medium bowl, whisk the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt together and set it aside. Doing this first means the leavening is evenly spread before it meets anything wet.

Combine the wet ingredients

In a large mixing bowl, blend the oil and ¾ cup of the sugar with a stand or hand mixer, then add the vanilla extract and egg and mix until combined. The rest of the sugar is set aside for rolling.

Scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon so all the wet ingredients are evenly mixed.

Bring the dough together

Add the dry ingredients to the wet a little at a time and mix just until the cookie dough forms. It shouldn’t be sticky; if it is, add a little more flour, a spoonful at a time.

Cover the bowl and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes so the dough firms up and is easier to roll. I chill the dough for my soft spiced gingerbread cookies for the same reason; it keeps them from spreading and makes shaping cleaner.

Shape and coat

Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C. Roll the chilled dough into cookie dough balls, about 1½ inches across, using a cookie scoop if you want them even. Then, roll each ball in the remaining sugar you set aside to coat it all over.

If you want a decorated, festive sugar cookie instead of plain rolled ones, my Christmas tree sugar cookies are the version I make for the holidays.

Flatten and bake

Place the balls on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat, about 2 inches apart. Press each one gently flat with your palm or the bottom of a glass, so they don’t bake up domed.

If you like a simple scoop-and-bake cookie like this, my homemade peanut butter cookies come together the same easy way. Bake until the edges are lightly golden and the centers still look soft, about 8 to 10 minutes.

Cool

Let them sit on the tray for 2 minutes, then move them to a wire rack to cool completely. They look soft and underdone coming out of the oven, but they finish setting as they cool, which is how you get that soft center instead of a dry one.

Expert Tips for Sugar Cookies Without Butter

Don’t skip the chill. Thirty minutes in the fridge firms the oil-based dough enough to roll cleanly. Skip it, and the dough is slack and sticky, and the cookies spread more than you want.

Pull them while the centers look soft. These carry on cooking on the hot tray for a minute or two. If you wait until the middles look fully done, they’ll be crisp rather than soft once cooled.

Adjust the bake for crisp edges. The bake time sets the texture. Pull them at 8 minutes for soft cookies, or give them an extra minute or two for crisper edges, watching so they don’t over-brown.

Coat right before baking. Roll the balls in the sugar just before they go in. If the coated dough sits too long, it can dampen and lose that crackly finish.

Variations

Make it vegan. Swap the egg for a flax egg (one tablespoon ground flaxseed mixed with three tablespoons water, left to thicken). The dough is already dairy free, so this one change makes the whole batch vegan, and it comes together and bakes the same way.

Make it gluten free. All-purpose flour is the only gluten in these, so you can swap it for a gluten-free flour, but the kind matters. Use a one-to-one (measure-for-measure) gluten-free baking blend that already contains xanthan gum; that binder is what replaces the structure gluten would have given. A plain single gluten-free flour, or a blend without a binder, tends to spread and turn crumbly. With the right blend, the cookies stay soft, though the texture runs a touch denser or more delicate depending on the brand. The chill step also matters even more since gluten-free dough starts out stickier.

Make them chewier. Swap some of the white sugar for brown sugar, and slightly underbake. The extra molasses in brown sugar holds more moisture, so you get a chewier cookie.

Change the extract. Almond extract in place of vanilla gives a nuttier flavor. A little orange zest brightens the dough if you want something fresher, and a drop of lemon extract does the same in a more concentrated way.

Add mix-ins. Fold in chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, or colorful sprinkles before shaping. You can also add sprinkles to the outside along with the sugar coat for a party look.

Cut out shapes. Instead of rolling balls, roll the chilled dough out and cut shapes with a cookie cutter, keeping the dough well chilled so the edges stay clean. It’s an easy route to Christmas cookies and other holiday shapes.

Dip them in chocolate. For a finished, gift-worthy look, dip half of each cooled cookie in melted milk, dark, or white chocolate and let it set on parchment.

What to Serve With Sugar Cookies Without Butter

These are good on their own, but I rarely put them out completely plain. A hot cup of tea or coffee is the pairing I go back to most, and for the kids it’s a cold glass of milk, dairy or a plant milk, which suits the dairy-free dough.

When I’m making a spread, I set them alongside other cookies so there’s variety on the plate. On a cookie platter, they sit happily next to classic butter sugar cookies and chocolate sugar cookies.

I also like them beside my rich double chocolate chip cookies for contrast, since a plain sugar cookie and a deeply chocolate one balance each other. A little fresh fruit and a wedge of cheese round out a dessert board nicely.

For something more of an occasion, I sandwich a scoop of ice cream between two cookies for an easy ice cream sandwich, which the kids always go for in warm weather.

How to Store Sugar Cookies Without Butter

I make cookies ahead a lot, so here’s how I keep them fresh. Once the cookies are completely cool, they go in an airtight container at room temperature, where they hold their soft texture for up to a week.

Let them cool fully before you seal the container, or trapped steam softens them too much. I skip plastic bags, which tend to let cookies go stale faster, and if I’ve baked both soft and crisp batches, I store them separately so each keeps its own texture. A slice of bread tucked in the container will help a slightly stale cookie take back some moisture.

For longer storage, freeze the baked cookies. Set them on a tray until firm, then move them to an airtight container with parchment paper between the layers so they don’t stick, where they keep for up to three months. Thaw at room temperature when you want one.

The raw dough is a different clock, so I treat it separately from the baked cookies. Because it has a raw egg in it, I keep shaped dough in the fridge for up to three days rather than longer. If I want it to last beyond that, I freeze the dough balls solid on a tray, transfer them to a bag or airtight container, and bake them straight from frozen, adding a couple of minutes to the baking time.

Sugar Cookies Without Butter FAQs

More Easy Cookie Recipes to Try

If this no-butter cookie recipe won you over, here are a few more of my cookies to bake next.

For the classic everyone asks for, my chocolate chip cookies are the batch I fall back on most.

And when I can’t choose between the chocolate and peanut butter, my peanut butter chocolate chip cookies pull both flavors into one bite.

When I want something a little more special, I turn to my easy whoopie pies, which are soft, cake-like cookies around a creamy filling.

For a change from the usual chips, my white chocolate chip cookies stay soft and chewy with a sweeter edge.