This Chewy Oatmeal Cookie Recipe delivers soft, chewy cookies every time. Enjoy them plain or load them with your favorite mix-ins.
author’s note
Soft, Buttery, Chewy, And Full Of Flavor!
As much as I love chocolate, sometimes nothing beats the simplicity of an old-fashioned oatmeal cookie.
Soft, buttery, chewy, and full of flavor—this is the recipe I’ve been perfecting for months, and I’m so excited to finally share it with you!
If you’re craving chocolate chips, raisins, or nuts, you can easily add them to this base recipe. Or, check out these Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies or Oatmeal Pecan Cookies.
For a twist on the classic, try using dried cranberries instead of raisins—you won’t regret it!
Chewy Oatmeal Cookie Recipe Ingredients
| Ingredient | Swap Or Tip |
|---|---|
| Old-fashioned oats | Use rolled or old-fashioned oats for the best chewy texture. Quick oats will make the cookies softer and less textured. Do not use steel-cut oats. |
| Oat flour | Make your own by blending old-fashioned oats until they resemble flour. |
| Dark brown sugar | Adds moisture, chewiness, and rich molasses flavor. Light brown sugar also works. |
| Unsalted butter | Let it soften at room temp, but do not melt it. Melted butter can cause the cookies to spread too much. |
| Cornstarch | Helps keep the centers soft and tender. |
| Cinnamon | Adds a subtle warmth but can be left out. |
chelsea’s recipe tips
Chewy Oatmeal Cookie Recipe Tips
- Accurate measuring: Too much flour can make dense cookies. Scoop flour gently into the cup and use a knife to level it off.
- Under-bake slightly: It keeps the cookies soft and chewy. Baking too long makes them dry and less tasty.
- Use old-fashioned oats not quick oats!
- Refrigerate dough: It improves texture and helps the flavors come together.
Storage
Freezing Chewy Oatmeal Cookie Recipe
- Freeze dough balls on a sheet pan for 1 hour, then transfer to a bag for up to 3 months.
- Bake from frozen, adding 1-3 mins to the bake time, or thaw in the fridge first.
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Chewy Oatmeal Cookie Recipe
Soft, delicious, and packed with flavor, this Chewy Oatmeal Cookie Recipe is perfect as is or loaded with raisins, nuts, or chocolate chips—your call!
Equipment
- Blender or food processor
- Sheet pan (15" x 10")
- Parchment paper or silicone baking mat
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter 1/2 cup, at room temperature, not melted
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar firmly packed, or light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup oat flour see note 1
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt I use fine sea salt
- 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon optional, see note 1
- 1-1/2 cups old-fashioned oats see note 2, not quick oats
- 1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- Flaky sea salt for topping cookies, optional
Instructions
- Remove butter from fridge 30 minutes in advance so it reaches room temperature.
- Using a hand mixer, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and creamy, at least 3 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract until smooth.
- 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, salt, cornstarch, cinnamon, and old-fashioned oats. Beat until ingredients are well combined.
- Add the flour (measure by spooning the flour in the measuring cups and leveling). Mix until just combined. Cover dough tightly and chill for 1 hour. These cookies will spread without being chilled.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Scoop out dough balls (if you have a food scale, do cookie balls about 1.7 ounces in size; this will yield 15 cookies).
- Line a sheet pan with parchment paper or a baking liner. Place dough balls (no more than 9 cookies at a time) on the sheet pan. Return the tray of cookies to the fridge for 10 minutes.
- Bake 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 underbaking 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
Final step! Please let us know how it was by leaving a review.
Recipe Notes
Note 1: I love the hint of cinnamon in these cookies, but you can leave it out if you prefer. For more of a spiced cookie, add 1/8 teaspoon of ground nutmeg and ground cloves in addition to the cinnamon.
Note 2: It’s easy to make your own oat flour. Just add old-fashioned oats to a blender and process until it’s the texture of flour. Stir it around to be sure all the oats are ground.
Storage: Store baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week or freeze in a sealed bag. Freeze dough balls separately and bake from frozen, adding a few extra minutes.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 196kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 29mg | Sodium: 45mg | Potassium: 66mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 14g | Vitamin A: 215IU | Vitamin C: 0.003mg | Calcium: 18mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Delicious recipe! Will they still turn out great if I refrigerate them overnight and bake in the morning, or would that be too much chilling?
I find overnight chills makes the cookies not flatten enough (so they’re like thick balls), so I wouldn’t recommend overnight chilling. Enjoy Grace! 🙂
Love these with the oatmeal and little salt sprinkled on top – all the tricks to a perfect cookie!
Thanks Natasha! 🙂
The best cookies ever!!!
Yay! Thank you! 🙂
The best oatmeal cookies recipe!
So happy to hear it! Thanks Valentina! 🙂
I never leave comments on recipes but these cookies were too good ! Everyone absolutely loved them
Yay! Love hearing that 🙂 Thanks so much Jacqui!!
I loved the sea salt on the cookies, it gave them such a yummy flavor!
So happy to hear that! Thanks for the comment Emily! 🙂
These cookies are hands down, the BEST!
I made these last night and they turned out wonderfully! I found that forming the balls first and then refrigerating them yielded a better result once baked. I was handling them too much at first when forming the balls and the dough was getting quite warm causing A LOT of spreading.
Thanks for the great recipe!
I’m soo glad you loved these! And YES!! That is great advice!! Thanks for sharing!!
These cookies were the best I’ve had (and I’ve made hundreds of dozens in my 65 years). I added the cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. I just had one concern. The recipe says “this will yield exactly 15 cookies), but the Nutrition Facts say it “Serves 18”. How do you decide which people get only half a great cookie?
Hi Cindy, I am soooo happy you love these cookies! 🙂 Thanks for your sweet comment! So it makes up 15-18 cookies depending on how small/big you roll your balls.
I literally signed up just to reply “LMAO!” to this comment haha
Oatmeal cookies have always been my favorite! Thanks for a great recipe!
You’re welcome! 🙂
The SECRET IS OFFICIALLY OUT! This iIS the BEST OATMEAL COOKIE RECIPE ! Flavorful ✅ Soft ✅ Chewy ✅ WARNING: THESE COOKIES DISAPPEAR FAST.
Awe, thank you Dorothy! Your comment made my day! So glad these were a hit 🙂