Learn how to make oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies from scratch! These chewy cookies are easy to make, and you can use only chocolate chips, raisins, or leave out both. It's my basic recipe for oatmeal cookies with soft centers, crispy edges, and a mind-boggling chewy texture. By the way, if you love breakfast cookies, you should also try my chocolate chip sourdough discard cookies!
Before you make the best oatmeal cookies recipe, check out my ultimate guide on how to make chocolate chip cookies and learn about the most common cookie mistakes and my favorite troubleshooting tips.
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Why You Will Love This Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Recipe
- Ultimate Cookie Combination: Our recipe takes the classic oatmeal cookie and makes it even more amazing with both chocolate chips and raisins!
- Flexible Recipe: Feel free to swap out the raisins and chocolate chips for something totally different.
- Great Texture: If you're looking for a chewy oatmeal cookie, look no further and gather up your ingredients to make a batch now.
Love oatmeal cookies recipes? You've got to try our Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies and Air Fryer Oatmeal Cookies next!
Ingredients
- All-purpose flour: The backbone of your cookies. It's best to spoon it into the measuring cup and level it off so you don't add too much.
- Baking basics: Baking soda and salt give these cookies a little lift and flavor. Make sure your baking soda is fresh!
- Unsalted butter: It's best to make sure your butter is at room temperature before baking. You can use salted butter if you prefer but you might want to decrease the added salt a bit. If you're out of butter you can consider one of these butter substitutes but note the outcome may be slightly different.
- Sugar: These cookies use a combination of granulated sugar and packed light or dark brown sugar. The higher amount of brown sugar gives the cookies a softer and chewier texture. Need a swap for brown sugar or regular sugar? We've got an outline of the best brown sugar substitutes for cookies and granulated sugar substitutes to guide you.
- Egg: Adds moisture and helps hold all the ingredients together.
- Vanilla extract: For added flavor -- it balances everything out and brings all the flavors together. Try a substitute for vanilla if you're out or want a different flavor profile.
- Rolled oats: Old-fashioned oats are the only oats that bring the desired chewy texture to these oatmeal raisin cookies. Learn more about the different oatmeal types for baking.
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips: My preference for cookies because they make the cookies a bit more balanced in sweetness. You can also use dark chocolate chips for a less sweet option or milk chocolate if you prefer your cookies sweeter.
- Raisins: For that fruity sweetness. You can also use dried cranberries, dried cherries, or another dried fruit.
Variations
- Vegan Oatmeal Cookies: Use my vegan cookies recipe as a guide on how to use a suitable butter substitute for cookies and the best egg substitutes for cake mix. Customize the ingredients to your preference while following the recipe as directed below..
- Gluten-Free Oatmeal Cookies: Substitute the all-purpose (plain) flour with Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flour.
- Raisins and Chocolate Chips: I added half raisins and half chocolate chips to the dough but you can replace one for the other or leave out both to your liking.
- Different Mix-Ins: Try other add-ins like walnuts, white chocolate chips, or cranberries can be used. Make sure that you don't add more than 1 cup of add-ins in total.
By the way, have you seen my handy list of chocolate chip cookie recipes?
Step-by-Step Tutorial
How to Make Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Step 1: Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Cream the butter, sugar, and brown sugar on medium-high speed for about 2-3 minutes in another large bowl.
Step 2: Add the egg and vanilla to the bowl and mix until creamy and well combined.
Step 3: Add the flour mixture to the bowl and mix on low speed just until incorporated.
Step 4: Stir in the oats just until combined. Last, add the chocolate chips and raisins and mix just until well distributed. Cover and chill the dough for an hour.
Step 5: Scoop equal-sized balls of cookie dough.
Step 6: Roll it into balls between your palms.
Step 7: Place the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with raisins on the prepared baking sheets and flatten slightly with your fingers. Bake them in a preheated oven.
Expert Tips
- Chilled vs Unchilled: Unchilled dough leads to thinner cookies with browner and crispier edges, and the taste is sweeter. I recommend increasing salt to a half teaspoon if you plan to skip the chill. Chilled dough leads to thicker cookies with well-balanced flavors. The more you flatten them, the thinner they turn out, though. Both methods result in cookies that are soft and chewy.
- Don't Over-Mix: After you add the flavor you want to only mix to combine the ingredients.
- Don't Over-Bake: For soft and chewy cookies it's essential that you bake just until they're ready. It's ok if they are slightly soft in the center as they will continue to cook even after you remove them from the oven and will set up as they cool.
How to Store
- Store: Place fully cooled cookies in a storage bag or container and keep at room temperature for up to five days.
- Make Ahead: Prepare the dough up to 2 days in advance and chill it covered in the fridge. Let it stand at room temperature for 20-30 minutes until it's a smooth and spoonable dough.
- Freeze Baked Cookies: Wrap baked and chilled cookies in plastic wrap, place in freezer bags, and freeze for up to 3 months. Let thaw at room temperature for 1-2 hours before eating.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, you can! Make the dough as described and chill for 1 hour. Then scoop balls of cookie dough, roll, flatten them, transfer to freezer bags, and freeze for up to 3 months. You can also flash-freeze them on a baking tray and then transfer them to a bag to make it easier to pull out a few cookies at a time to bake. Thaw them at room temperature for 1-2 hours before baking, or thaw them in the fridge overnight and then let them stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking.
It depends on what outcome you prefer. Chewy oatmeal cookies made from chilled cookie dough usually don't spread much during baking. The flour and the oatmeal absorb the liquid so the cookies spread less. That's why it's important to flatten them before baking.
If you want them to spread more and desire a flatter and thinner cookie, you can skip the chilling process. Unchilled oatmeal cookie dough is sticky since the flour and oatmeal don't have as much time to absorb the liquid. This also makes them spread more during baking. Skipping the chill also changes the flavor of the cookies. In my how to make cookies guide, you can read more about the chilling process and how it affects your cookies. You will also find there other useful tips and tricks to get perfect cookies every time. See the image below for the difference between chilled and unchilled dough.
More Cookie Recipes
Find here some of my favorite recipes, which are loved by family, friends, and readers around the world:
If you tried this Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Recipe
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Raisin Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ½ cup raisins
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, and set aside.
- In a large bowl, using an electric mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, cream the butter, sugar, and brown sugar on medium-high speed for about 2-3 minutes. Then, add the egg and vanilla and mix for about 1 minute, until creamy and well combined. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed just until incorporated, about 30-60 seconds. Stir in the oats just until combined. Then add the chocolate chips and raisins and mix just until well distributed. Cover and chill for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Scoop 16 equal-sized balls (about 2 tablespoons [45g]) of cookie dough, roll into even balls, and place 6-8 cookies, about 3 inches (7.5 cm) apart, on each prepared baking sheet and flatten slightly with your fingers. Bake one sheet at a time for 10-12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are set and lightly browned and the centers look underbaked, pale, puffy, and dry.
- Remove from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, or until firm enough to move. Then, transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely. The cookies will stay fresh in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
- Chilled vs Unchilled: Unchilled dough leads to thinner cookies with browner and crispier edges, and the taste is sweeter. I recommend increasing salt to a half teaspoon if you plan to skip the chill. Chilled dough leads to thicker cookies with well-balanced flavors. The more you flatten them, the thinner they turn out, though. Both methods result in cookies that are soft and chewy.
- Don't Over-Mix: After you add the flavor you want to only mix to combine the ingredients.
- Don't Over-Bake: For soft and chewy cookies it's essential that you bake just until they're ready. It's ok if they are slightly soft in the center as they will continue to cook even after you remove them from the oven and will setup as they cool.
You can find the video in the post above. If you don't see a video, please check your browser settings.
Shannon
Very good !
Jeanne Brian
Excellent recipe. I will make this again. Thanks, Jeanne
Jeff Patterson
Delicious
Gretchen Kowalick
I used dried cranberries instead of raisins- to die for!
Diane
Amazing oatmeal raisin chocolate chip! Easy and beyond delicious! Texture is outstanding! I made it using organic oatmeal and am doubling the recipe each time I make it going forward! Thank you so much!
Laura Collins
Cinnamon is missing from the list of ingredients
Luckily I watched the video, or would have missed it
Carri
Fabulous!❤️ Love lighter recipes so I don’t feel guilty lol. Only bad part is that I love them, gonna eat more lol….VERY GOOD, thanks!
Victoria K.
My favorite cookies. I call them my Cinderella Cookies. Everyone loves them.
MOLLY ANN THORPE
Best cookies I've ever made!!! I added both raisins and chips (1/2 cup milk chocolate chips and 1/2 cup white chocolate chips). I've got to hide these from myself or I'd eat the entire batch!
Christina
Made these last year for the holidays and they were a HIT at work! I was wondering if I could add nuts though. Perhaps pecans? Thank you!!!