Soft, chewy, and flavorful Oatmeal Cookies — enjoy these cookies as is, or read on to add in raisins, nuts, and/or chocolate chips!
Once you’re totally in love with these cookies, don’t stop there—give our Snickerdoodle, Costco Raspberry Crumble Cookies, or Peanut Butter Cookies a try!
Oatmeal Cookies
While I’m ALL about chocolate, sometimes an old-fashioned oatmeal cookie is exactly the treat I’m craving. Soft, buttery, chewy, and flavorful–this is the recipe! I’ve been working on this recipe for months, and am finally ready for the big reveal. Are you ready??
If you’re looking for chocolate chips, raisins, or nuts in your cookies, you can add them to this base recipe OR, try these Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies or these Oatmeal Pecan Cookies. And for something even better than oatmeal raisin cookies, try this recipe using dried cranberries in place of raisins!
What ingredients do you need for oatmeal cookies?
The main ingredients in a classic, simple Oatmeal Cookie recipe are sugar, butter, flour, eggs, and of course, the old-fashioned oats.
In addition to these basic ingredients, we also use a few unique products to get these Oatmeal Cookies to taste their very best! Those ingredients are:
- Cornstarch: This keeps the cookies nice and soft.
- Oat flour: This gives the cookies a more intense oat-y flavor.
- Dark brown sugar: Gives these cookies a chewy consistency as well as a deeper molasses flavor. Don’t worry — light brown sugar also works!)
Now that we’ve talked ingredients, let’s talk process and tips!
Tips for making perfect oatmeal cookies:
- Precise measuring: Too much flour will give you dense cookies. Spoon your flour into the measuring cup (if you scoop it into a measuring cup, it usually gets packed in too tightly) and level it off with the flat edge of a butter knife.
- Slightly under-bake: This ensures the soft and chewy texture we all love! Over-baked Oatmeal Cookies lose their delicious chewy texture and a lot of flavor.
- Don’t over-mix: If you over-mix the batter, the cookies will become denser and less soft and chewy.
- Properly chill the dough: Chilling the dough makes a huge difference in both the flavor and the texture of the cookies. It allows the sugar and flavors to absorb and meld together.
I’ve talked a lot about how to make these Oatmeal Cookies chewy. But what makes a cookie chewy anyway? This is determined by the amount of moisture in the cookie. The extra butter and the dark brown sugar add moisture to the oatmeal cookie mixture in this chewy cookie recipe.
The number one tip to keeping a cookie chewy: Do not over-bake the cookies (because this dries the cookies out)!
A common question I get is “Can you use quick oats in cookies?” And the answer is generally no. When you use quick oats, the cookies are much drier and become cake-like. Definitely NOT what we’re going for with these Oatmeal Cookies:)
ENJOY!
More Amazing Cookie Recipes:
- The Best Snickerdoodle Recipe (all five-star tar reviews)
- Oatmeal Creme Pie
- Toffee-Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Oreo Truffle Cookies (No-Bake)
- Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies
- Edible Cookie Dough
Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup (equivalent to 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter at room temperature, NOT melted
- ½ cup dark brown sugar, packed (light brown sugar also works)
- ½ cup white sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ cup oat flour, Note 1
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt (I use fine sea salt)
- ½ tablespoon cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, optional* (Note 1)
- 1 ½ cups old-fashioned oats, ( Note 2) not quick oats
- ½ cup + 3 tablespoons white all-purpose flour,
- Optional: flaky sea salt for topping cookies
Instructions
- BUTTER: Remove butter from refrigerator 30 minutes in advance so it reaches room temperature.
- MIX: Using a hand mixer, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until light and creamy, at least 3 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract until smooth.
- OATS: To make oat flour, blend up regular oats in a blender or food processor until they resemble flour. Measure to get a leveled 1/4 cup. Add to the same bowl on top of the wet ingredients: oat flour, baking soda, sea salt, cornstarch, cinnamon, and old-fashioned oats. Beat until ingredients are well combined.
- fLOUR: Add the flour (measure by spooning the flour in the measuring cups and then leveling). Mix until JUST combined. Cover dough tightly and chill for 1 hour. These cookies will spread without being chilled.
- DOUGH BALLS: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Scoop out balls of dough (if you have a food scale, do cookie balls about 1.7 ounces in size; this will yield exactly 15 cookies)
- CHILL: Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a baking liner. Place balls of dough (no more than 9 cookies at a time) on the cookie sheet. Return the tray of cookies to the fridge for 10 minutes.
- BAKE: Bake for 7-9 minutes or until lightly browned at the edges (even if the center looks a little under-done -- they cook a bit more after being pulled out of the oven). These cookies set up and become extremely delicious and chewy if they're slightly underbaked. Err on the side of slightly under-baking these cookies for soft, chewy, and tender cookies! Add a sprinkle of sea salt if desired to the cookies. Cookies are best enjoyed within 2-3 days
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
When you mix the flour into the other ingredients, should the beater be used, or just mix in by hand.
You can use the beaters or mix by hand, just don’t overmix the batter 🙂
I was really hesitant making these because I always seem to mess up cookie recipes. I did have to extend my baking time by 3 minutes. But, once they were done, they came out perfect. These are hands down the best oatmeal cookies I’ve ever had.
So happy to hear that! Thanks so much for the comment and review Lindsey! 🙂
I absolutely love love love these cookies. Chewy and full of flavour. However, I reduced the amount of sugar to 1/3 cup each, but they still turned out too sweet for my taste. But that is just my semi-sweet tooth. 🙂 I took the liberty and amp the recipe up with raisins and fleur de sel (instead of normal sea salt). Just one question: Can I use more oat flour and less white flour to get even a more oaty flavour?
So happy to hear that!! Thanks for the comment and review 🙂 You can definitely try changing the amounts, but I am not sure what the results will be without personally testing. Wish I could be of more help!
I followed the recipe and added dried cherries the cinnamon and nutmeg. Chilled dough for a couple of hours. I preheated my oven to 350 degrees Made the balls small I guess because I got 15 cookies and still have 1/2 the dough left to bake tomorrow. I took them out of the oven after 8 minutes and I felt they looked raw and baked them another 3 minutes. They are nice textured , chewy as we like our cookies to be. But i like more spice and less sweetness. So I’m going to adjust the ingredients a tiny bit next time. I’m thinking maybe oven temperature could have been a bit higher as well since I had to bake them for 11 minutes but, maybe not. I still like the Quaker Oats Oatmeal recipe I’ll use the do not over bake tip for that recipe when I use it though because it was a good one! Thanks
Thanks for the feedback Shelley! Glad you enjoyed the recipe and good luck as you tweak it to be perfect for you 🙂
WOW… I mean… WOW!!!
I just tasted a warm cookie and it is absolutely divine!!
Unfortunately I did not have dark brown sugar but I’ll try that next time. I used chopped semi-sweet and bittersweet chocolates. Also a touch of Vietnamese cinnamon along with regular gave it a little kick. The sea salt on top was a great addition. Such a balanced flavor in this cookie and wonderful texture too!
This is now my go-to recipe!! Thank you!!
So happy to hear these were a hit! Thanks so much for the comment and the cinnamon sounds delicious 🙂
Hi…. is it normal for the dough to be really soft ? I just stuck it in the fridge to firm up….. but I was worried I didn’t put enough flour in.
Yeah they definitely didn’t turn out like I was expecting. They were really thin and I wasn’t able to lift them off the foil. Not sure what I did differently than everyone else. They taste good I won’t bake the remaining dough like it is. I think I’ll add more flour once my dough is room temp
I wouldn’t recommend baking them on foil, that would definitely have something to do with it. And maybe a bit more flour is needed 🙂 Are you at a high altitude?
Subbed coconut oil for butter (1:1, @ room temp) and 1/4 cup applesauce for the egg! Came out DELISH! Also added in some pumpkin pie spice for some fall flair. WILL MAKE AGAIN *<|:-)
So happy to hear these were a hit! Thanks for the comment Nicole 🙂
I didn’t see the recipe for adding in raisins.
It links to this recipe: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (add raisins in place of chips)
When I searched the internet for “Best Oatmeal Cookie Recipe”, I was hoping to find something tasty. But – wow! – I didn’t REALLY expect to find the best oatmeal cookie recipe!! This cookie is chewy and crispy at the same time. Almost reminds me of a lace cookie. I will absolutely be making these again – and again – and again!
Yay!! So happy to hear that Gabrielle!! Thanks so much for the comment and review 🙂
For the butter it says “NOT melted”. Have you tried making this with melted butter? Did it not work as well? Thank you!
Yes I have; definitely works better with unmelted butter.