The best oatmeal cookie recipe! It yields soft and chewy oatmeal cookies that are perfectly spiced with cinnamon. Add raisins or chocolate chips!
This oatmeal cookie recipe makes perfect soft and chewy oatmeal cookies! They’re warmly spiced with cinnamon and filled with rich flavor from butter, brown sugar, and vanilla. And though I often make this recipe with raisins, it works well with a variety of mix-ins. Fold in walnuts, dried cranberries, or chocolate chips!
Another reason to love this oatmeal cookie recipe? You don’t need a mixer to make it. The dough is easy to mix up with a spatula and basic pantry ingredients whenever a cookie craving strikes.
This recipe was originally published in Sarah Copeland’s cookbook Every Day Is Saturday, and I first shared it in 2019. I’ve made it countless times since. Our readers have too—it now has over 500 5-star reviews! Try it the next time you’re craving soft and chewy oatmeal cookies. I think you’ll love it!
Oatmeal Cookie Recipe Ingredients
This recipe has simple ingredients. You likely have them in your pantry already! Here’s what you’ll need:
- All-purpose flour and whole rolled oats – They make up the base of the dough. Spoon and level your flour to avoid packing too much into your measuring cup.
- Baking powder and baking soda – They help the cookies rise.
- Brown sugar – It adds the perfect caramelized sweetness. Light brown sugar and dark brown sugar both work well.
- Sea salt – It balances the sweet sugar and raisins.
- Cinnamon and vanilla extract – For warm, spiced depth of flavor.
- Melted butter – For moisture, richness, and buttery flavor. To make these cookies dairy-free, use melted coconut oil instead.
- 1 large egg + an extra egg yolk – The extra egg yolk makes these cookies especially moist and chewy.
- Raisins or chocolate chips – For pops of sweetness.
- And walnuts – For crunch!
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
Can I use quick oats in oatmeal cookies?
Yes, you can use quick oats in this oatmeal cookie recipe. After testing it both ways, I recommend old fashioned oats for the best chewy texture, but in a pinch, quick oats work too!
How to Make Oatmeal Cookies
Making this oatmeal cookie recipe couldn’t be easier. Here’s what you need to do:
First, make the dough. Whisk together the wet ingredients in one mixing bowl and the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in another.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Then, fold in the walnuts, oats, and raisins. The mixture will be thick!
Next, let the dough rest for 20 minutes. This gives the wet ingredients a chance to hydrate the flour and oats, making it easier to work with the dough. The cookies come out chewier, too!
Then, shape and bake the cookies. Roll the dough into balls and place them on parchment-lined baking sheets. Press down lightly on the tops to flatten them slightly. Bake at 350°F for 10 to 11 minutes, or until golden brown.
Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to wire racks to cool completely. Enjoy!
Oatmeal Cookie Recipe Tips
- Use brown sugar. I’ve tested this recipe with a mix of granulated sugar and brown sugar. I didn’t find that the white sugar improved it. Use 100% brown sugar for the best oatmeal cookies. They have a richer molasses flavor.
- Let the dough rest for 20 minutes before baking. Those 20 minutes will make your dough easier to roll into balls, so the cookies will keep their shape and develop a yummy chewy texture in the oven.
- Allow the cookies to cool completely for the best texture and flavor. It may be agony, but letting these oatmeal cookies cool completely only makes them better. They’ll be chewier and fully infused with brown sugar flavor. Sarah likes these best a few hours to 1 day after baking. (Though I can attest that they’re still good if you can’t wait that long.)
Oatmeal Cookies Variations
- Use raisins to make oatmeal raisin cookies. Or swap the raisins for dried cherries or cranberries.
- Add chocolate chips to make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. White chocolate chips are a fun option too.
- Use pecans instead of walnuts.
- Add a dash of cardamom or ginger to the dough.
- Add butterscotch chips to give the cookies an extra-buttery taste.
How do you like to make oatmeal cookies? Let me know in the comments!
How to Store Oatmeal Cookies
To keep these oatmeal cookies soft and chewy, store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. They also freeze well for up to 3 months.
Make-Ahead Oatmeal Cookies
If you’re someone who likes to keep cookie dough on hand in the fridge or freezer, this oatmeal cookie recipe is for you. You can store the cookie dough in the fridge for 7 to 10 days or freeze it for up to a month.
To store the dough, roll it into balls and freeze them briefly. Then, transfer the cookie dough balls to airtight containers or Ziploc bags and refrigerate or freeze. You can also roll the dough into a log, using an 8×12-inch piece of parchment paper as a guide. Wrap the log tightly in parchment to refrigerate or freeze, and slice the cookies into rounds before baking.
Bake your cookie dough straight from the fridge. If it’s frozen, allow it to rest for 15 minutes at room temperature before putting it in the oven.
More Favorite Cookie Recipes
If you love these easy oatmeal cookies, try one of these yummy cookie recipes next:
- Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Snickerdoodle Cookies
- Easy Sugar Cookies
- Best Peanut Butter Cookies
- No Bake Cookies
- Chewy Molasses Cookies
- Homemade Brownies (not a cookie, but still delicious…)
- Or any of these 17 Easy Cookie Recipes!
Perfect Oatmeal Cookies
Equipment
- Cookie Scoop (I use this one)
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled*
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ cup unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted
- ¾ cup packed brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1½ cups whole rolled oats
- ¾ cup raisins or chocolate chips
- ½ cup chopped walnuts, optional
Instructions
- Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter, brown sugar, whole egg, egg yolk, and vanilla, whisking vigorously.
- Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir in the oats, raisins, and walnuts, if using, folding into a tight batter. Set the dough aside for 20 minutes while the oven preheats. (Note: If your dough seems too wet to become scoop-able, chill it in the fridge for this 20 minutes and it'll firm up. If your dough is too crumbly, stir in 2 to 3 tablespoons water.)
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Use a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop the dough, heaping your scoops slightly to get 20 to 22 balls of dough. Roll lightly in barely damp hands to make them round. Spread out onto the prepared baking sheets and press down lightly on the tops of the dough balls.
- Bake until puffed, golden, and a touch underbaked-looking, 10 to 11 minutes. Let cool on the pans for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Just made them and they are delicious
I accidently used Bread flour. Still delicious!
So glad you enjoyed them, Kirsti!
I love that these are made with coconut oil instead of butter. I followed the recipe as given. So delicious!
Easy recipe to make, so delicious!
So glad you enjoyed it, Phil!
Just made these today without any changes or substitutions. They are perfect!! The right amount of cinnamon and just enough sweetness. Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Anyone know if you could use real maple syrup in the recipe? I’m not sure what adjustments to make to the wet ingredients to accommodate the use of the maple syrup.
Hi Andrea, I’m so glad you loved the cookies! I’m not sure how maple syrup would work here because it’s a liquid sweetener, like you said. You might enjoy these oatmeal breakfast cookies. They call for maple syrup.
I made oatmeal chocolate cranberry cookies by substituting cranberries for raisins and chocolate chips for walnuts, delicious!
Also substituted honey for vanilla and added two whole eggs as opposed to just one egg and one yolk.
Made 12 cookies with about 2 1/2 cookies worth of extra dough, looked a tad under baked but I left them in the warm oven to cool a bit and they hardened perfectly.
Overall would definitely recommend! Pretty easy recipe to follow and were nice and soft to the bite.
Hi Fiona, I’m so glad you loved the cookies! That variation sounds delicious.
Divine!
I made with pecans instead of walnuts, chocolate chips and chocolate toffee chips. About the best cookie I’ve ever had.
Thank you!
Hi Lyn, I’m so glad you loved the cookies! These would be SO delicious with chocolate toffee chips, yum!
Hello, Thank you for the recipe. I made them and trying to figure out what may have gone wrong. Q: when you say brown sugar would this be the dark or light? Thank you for your help and time 🙂
Hi Brandon, either works, I’ve used both.
How many calories are the oatmeal raisin walnut
Cookies.
Best oatmeal cookies ever! Made without vanilla, I was out of vanilla. PERFECT
These are absolutely perfect! Thank you so much for this above the top recipe. I’m a cookie snob and they turned out exactly as promised.
Hi 😉 i love your website. Have baked so many wonderful recipes. So im about to bake these and am curious if i could use whole wheat flour instead of AP?
Will make them just like the recipe this time. Just curious if you think it would be ok for the next batch?
Also, do you recommend using metric measurements for your recipes? Or does it matter? I am used to weighing everything. But it does take more time. Just curious if u think it’s okay not to for these?
Thanks soo much! ?❤️??
It’s me, Cherish again. Just letting you know, I baked them “as is” per your recipe & they came out WONDERFUL!
Had issues with other oatmeal cookie recipes. Either no flavor or unbelievably soft, and im a very experienced baker.
Anyway, thank you so much! 💙
P.s. would it be possible to list metric measurements for your recipes? I know it’s a whole thing with the blog/website whether the feature is available or not. Just asking in case it is 💙😘
Hi Cherish, I’m so glad you loved the cookies! We’re not able to just turn on metric measurements, but it’s definitely something we’ll keep in mind for the future. Thanks for the feedback!
This has been my go to oatmeal cookie base. No matter what I add to it, raisins, craisins, chocolate, nuts, the cookie is always perfectly chewy with a slightly crisp edge.
I made it with dried cranberries and 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chunks. Sooo good!
Yum, I’m glad you enjoyed them!
Great cookie!
OMG!! These really are perfect! Just the right amount of cinnamon. Added both raisins and walnuts. Delightful!! Thx for sharing?
I’m so glad you loved them!
Made these today. The top tray caramelised beautifully but the bottom tray less so. Will definitely bake in 2 batches next time. Needs a little more cinnamon. Otherwise perfect! Keeping this recipe.
I’m glad you loved them!
I made a double batch of these for a church bake sale. I started on Tuesday afternoon, but was interrupted by a mandatory evacuation warning due to a wildfire in our area. Due to time constraints, I was unable to follow that proper instructions, and just wrapped the whole lump of dough in plastic wrap, put it in a freezer bag, and when I thawed it out three days later, it was a big, hard rock! LOL!
After a little experimentation, I found microwaving the dough, in thick slices, for a few seconds, with a little water softened it up enough to mold it to form balls, AND add Raisins. They came out FABULOUS! AND they’re still soft and chewy the next day, which is a game-changer for my husband, who judges all cookies by their “softness”.
I also added a lot more spice to mine, which I always do. I don’t think a recipe exists that has enough cinnamon for me. But I also add nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and sometimes other goodies. Just the nutmeg and cloves for these, though. They came out awesome!
We LOVE these cookies. I make a double batch once a week. But. And I’m sure it’s user error, mine run all over the pan while baking. Chilling the dough doesn’t seem to be helping. What can I do?
I used less salt and my legs feel heavy, tight and very sore.. My pressure tends to be low so I don’t suffer from hypertension. I’m going to toss out the cookies because I’m seriously worried about my health.