With plenty of melty chocolate, chewy oats, and a sprinkle of sea salt, these dark chocolate chunk oatmeal cookies are guaranteed to be your new favorite cookie variety. They’re extra buttery and soft with slightly crisp edges and a touch of cinnamon and molasses for classic oatmeal cookie flavor. This cookie has it all!
I originally published this recipe in 2015 and have since added new photos and more helpful success tips. I have also made a few small changes to the recipe which are reflected in the printable recipe below.
Alright, I’m saying it. Oatmeal cookies are forever the best cookie on the planet. (This statement probably doesn’t surprise many of you!) Regular chocolate chip cookies are a bonafide crowd-pleaser, but they don’t hold a candle to the texture, chew, and toasty flavor of its oatmeal counterpart.
I originally published these dark chocolate chunk oatmeal cookies several years ago and after making them at least 1200x, I decided to spruce up the photos and make a couple slight changes to the dough including using more oats and adding a sprinkle of sea salt. We’re still using plenty of dark chocolate chunks, whole oats, and a touch of molasses for classic flavor. (See recipe notes below for the exact changes.)
Why You’ll Love these Dark Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies
Let me count the ways!
- Loaded with pure dark chocolate
- Super soft inside
- Chewy, hearty oats
- Cinnamon, brown sugar, and molasses for extra flavor
- Buttery crisp edges
- Topped with crunchy sea salt
- No crazy ingredients or mixing techniques
And I know you’ll appreciate this too: the cookie dough chilling time is short, making these a pretty quick cookie that holds its shape beautifully.
One reader, Marie, commented: “Once again, I made these Monday and they were delicious and will be added to the favorites… even though I thought I had my favorite oatmeal cookie recipe—LOL! Added some chopped pecans. Hard to resist, so into the freezer with 1/2 the batch! ★★★★★“
One reader, Sarah, commented: “These are hands-down the best oatmeal chocolate cookies I’ve ever had. Absolutely loved them! I used a chopped up dark chocolate bar and some semi-sweet chips. Refrigerated for 1 hour, then baked, and they came out perfectly. Thank you for sharing! ★★★★★“
The Best Oatmeal Cookie Base
If you’ve made some of my oatmeal cookie recipes before, you’re likely familiar with today’s variation. I usually stick to the same base recipe and you can see that in my Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, White Chocolate Chip Cherry Oatmeal Cookies, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, Oatmeal Scotchies, and Oatmeal M&M Cookies.
Have I mentioned I love oatmeal cookies?
I use a little more flour in today’s cookies because of the melty chocolate. Filled with brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, and vanilla flavors, this oatmeal cookie is ALWAYS a guarantee in both the texture and flavor departments. I’ve actually nicknamed them my “slow bend” cookies—the centers are so buttery and chewy that they don’t crunch and break when you start to bend them. The best!
How to Make These Dark Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies
- Cream butter + sugars: Use a hand or stand mixer to cream softened butter with brown sugar and granulated sugar until smooth. If you’re new to baking, here is my complete tutorial on how to cream butter and sugar. For extra flavor and chew, always use more brown sugar than granulated white sugar in oatmeal cookies.
- Add eggs, vanilla, + molasses: Add eggs, then mix on high for about 1 minute until incorporated. Add vanilla and molasses, mix until combined.
- Dry ingredients: Mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together in a separate bowl. Pour this into the wet ingredients. Combine together on low.
- Add the extras: Beat in the oats and chocolate chunks on low speed. Pieces of chocolate will break down, so there’s chocolate in literally every single piece of cookie dough.
- Chill: The cookie dough is pretty sticky, so chilling it is imperative. Without at least 30-60 minutes in the refrigerator, your cookies will spread into flat puddles. Chilling cookie dough is one way to guarantee thicker cookies. If you’re interested, see my 10 tips for how to prevent cookies from spreading. My white chocolate macadamia oatmeal cookies are another quick chill recipe to try.
- Roll: Roll cookie dough into balls and place on a lined baking sheet. Since it’s a textured and chunky dough, I usually use a cookie scoop to help. Since the cookie dough chilled, it’s much easier to work with.
- Bake: Bake the cookies at 350°F (177°C) until lightly browned around the edges. The cookies might look under-baked, but they will continue to set as they cool. While they’re still warm, sprinkle each with a little sea salt.
Best part: Right out of the oven, experience pools of melty chocolate in every single bite.
Best Chocolate To Use
There are so many chocolate products on the market, so let me help you navigate the best choice for today’s cookies. As if you were making chocolate truffles or chocolate ganache, stick to pure quality chocolate here. I’m referring to baking chocolate, which is sold in 4 ounce bars in the baking aisle. Chocolate chips definitely work since these are cookies, but if you want big chunks of melted chocolate, choose chocolate that’s meant to melt. Chocolate chips contain stabilizers that prevent them from melting in the oven.
I recommend bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate. For a sweeter cookie, you can use white chocolate or milk chocolate. I prefer Ghirardelli or Baker’s brands. (FYI Baker’s milk chocolate variety is sold as “German Chocolate.”)
- No matter which level of sweetness you choose, cut the bars into little chunks that are similar or slightly larger than regular chocolate chips. But keep in mind that the smaller the pieces, the more they’ll blend right into the cookie dough turning this into a chocolate oatmeal cookie… which isn’t necessarily a bad thing!
More Dark Chocolate Recipes You’ll Love
- Dark Chocolate Almond Clusters
- Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Cookies
- Chocolate Cupcakes
- Salted Dark Chocolate Cookies
- Dark Chocolate Orange Biscotti
- Dark Chocolate Cranberry Almond Cookies
Dark Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 3 dozen
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Soft and chewy with slightly crisp edges, these oatmeal cookies are full of flavor and exploding with melty dark chocolate. Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator before baking.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract (yes, Tablespoon!)
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) unsulphured or dark molasses (do not use blackstrap; I prefer Grandma’s brand)
- 1 and 2/3 cups (210g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups (255g) old-fashioned whole rolled oats*
- two 4-ounce semi-sweet chocolate bars, chopped (1 and 1/2 cups)*
- optional: coarse sea salt for topping
Instructions
- Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream the softened butter and both sugars together on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. (Here’s a helpful tutorial if you need guidance on how to cream butter and sugar.) Add the eggs and mix on high until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla and molasses and mix on high until combined. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together. Add to the wet ingredients and mix on low until combined. Beat in the oats and chocolate on low speed. Dough will be thick, yet very sticky. Chill the dough for 30-60 minutes in the refrigerator (I always chill this dough for only 30 minutes). If chilling for longer (up to 2 days), allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before rolling and baking. The cookies won’t spread as much if chilled for longer than 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Roll balls of dough (about 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons of dough per cookie) and place 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. I recommend using a cookie scoop since the dough can be sticky. Bake for 11-12 minutes or until lightly browned on the sides. The centers will look soft and under-baked. Remove from the oven, immediately sprinkle each with sea salt (if using), then let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. The cookies will continue to “set” on the baking sheet during this time.
- Cover and store leftover cookies at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Baked cookies freeze well up to three months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well—up to three months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Here’s how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Molasses: If you don’t have molasses, you can leave it out. It’s used to add a little extra flavor, and won’t affect the texture if you skip it. You could also replace it with pure maple syrup.
- Oats: For these oatmeal cookies, I use and recommend old-fashioned whole oats. They provide the ultimate hearty, chewy, thick texture we love!
- Eggs: Room temperature eggs preferred. Good rule of thumb: always use room temperature eggs when using room temperature butter.
- Chocolate: Though chocolate chips work just fine, if you want big chunks of melty chocolate, use pure baking chocolate. See Best Chocolate to Use in the blog post above. I prefer semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate here. Chop chocolate into chunks around the same size or slightly larger than chocolate chips.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
- Adapted from Loaded Oatmeal Cookies (The original recipe base. If you’d like to make them that way, follow that recipe and use 1 an 1/2 cups chopped chocolate instead of the listed multiple add-ins). Recipe originally published on Sally’s Baking Recipes in 2015.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Made it and love it! THANK YOU!
Is there any where to find the old, original recipe? This one is absolutely amazing with the new additions, but I made the old version every week with gluten free flour and coconut sugar for a family member with dietary restrictions. It was the only and BEST recipient I had ever found with those substitutions. I should have memorized it or written it down. Thank you! We have all of your cookbooks (actually doubles of the first) and your blog is my favorite for baking! Our daughter wants to make your pumpkin cupcakes weekly!
So happy you love and trust my recipes, Marti, thank you! You can see the original recipe in the recipe notes. 🙂
These cookies are great!!!! I would just like to know what the difference would be if I used milk chocolate chips? Other wise I am in LOVE! I ha e my daughter make them for me, they are so easy and delicious!
Omg, these pictures make me drool over the cookies. Totally scrumptious! These are gonna be a definite favorite of my kids and something they will be constantly craving. I’ve just printed the recipe out. Gonna give it a go this weekend.
Thank u for sharing! Your site is wonderful. I’m your fan <3
I omitted the cinnamon and used Trader Joe’s semi-sweet chocolate chunks. Delicious!
These are so delicious and definitely will add this recipe to my collection.
Hi, Sally!
Thank You so much for this recipe! (And every other as well)
Everybody loves them in this house (:
I have made them two times; one with the 30 min chilling and the other just skipping the whole chilling time (like I saw in other comments), and they still don’t spread like yours in the picture ):
Any other recommendations?
Hi Marie! Make sure you’re using whole oats, not quick oats. To really help induce spreading for your particular dough, try reducing the flour by 2 Tablespoons. Less flour to soak up the moisture will definitely help!
Whole Oats ✔️
I will definitely try reducing the flour.
Although everybody keeps loving them, even with no spreading, lol!
Thank You so much for responding !
You’re the best!
(:
I just made these without molasses and cinnamon, and they taste amazing 🙂
Excellent recipe! I did as others suggested and skipped the chilling process prior to baking. The cookies spread perfectly! Such a flavorful cookie and so rich with the pockets of semi-sweet chocolate!
I tried the oatmeal cookies today, baking as per the recipe. I used Craisins and walnuts in my batch and chocolate chips in my daughter’s batch. We both loved them!
I left the second batch in for the full 12 minutes because I felt I needed the extra minute.
Great recipe!
I made these yesterday and everyone loves them. I forgot to put the salt on them but no one noticed. I also froze half the recipe and used the frozen dough balls Today and they were still excellent.
I’ve made your earlier version recipe of the chocolate oatmeal cookies and made these the other day and both are delicious! As much as I love a good chocolate chip cookie, I think these are my new “go-to” cookie ;-). I used Trader Joe’s dark chocolate bar as that was all I had available and it very good! Thanks yet again Sally!
I made these and decided not to put in the fridge Because the house is already cool (it’s winter). I flattened balls slightly and it worked perfectly as far as presentation went. but as for taste and texture, I found them really lacking. I wouldn’t consider these “restaurant quality” that I would put on one of my catering trays or give to friends, but ok for kids who eat anything resembling a cookie. I will be sticking to my other recipes but was glad I gave it a shot.
Hi Lorrie! I would love to help out if you ever decide to try these cookies again. How was the texture lacking? Did you use whole oats? And add the molasses and cinnamon? How about the chocolate, was it the pure chocolate that leaves melty bits all throughout the cookie? Would love to help troubleshoot! Thanks!
Once again, made these Monday and they were delicious and will be added to the favorites…even though I though I had my favorite oatmeal cookie recipe LOL! Added some chopped pecans. Hard to resist so into the freezer with 1/2 the batch!
Thanks AGAIN Sally!
Hi Sally! Do you know if the chocolate chunks sold in the bag would melt into the cookie the way chopping the chocolate from a bar would?
Looking forward to trying these!
Stephanie
Hi Stephanie! They don’t. Like chocolate chips, they have stabilizers. Obviously still delicious in cookies though! But not the same as pure chocolate which melts.
Hi Sally…I made these cookies today and they are incredible! By far the best oatmeal cookies I’ve ever had. I used the baker’s chocolate and it was SO worth it!
Thank you!!
Can these be made as bars?
Absolutely! I recommend a 9×13 inch pan for thinner bars or an 11×7 inch pan for thicker bars. I fear there’s too much dough for a 9-inch square pan. I’m unsure of the exact bake times.
I was so excited to make these, I didn’t take the time to go to the store for molasses or unsalted butter. Don’t kill me but I used dark corn syrup instead and salted butter. Plus, I didn’t wait to chill the dough. With all of that being said, these were absolutely delicious. Not flat either. Can’t wait to make them correctly. Ha! I can’t believe they’ll taste EVEN BETTER!
Great flavor and easy to make, The only tricky step was chopping the chocolate. I appreciate the details in the directions.
Hi Sally,
Could you make these in “bar” form?
Absolutely! I recommend a 9×13 inch pan for thinner bars or an 11×7 inch pan for thicker bars. I fear there’s too much dough for a 9-inch square pan. I’m unsure of the exact bake times.
I just made these ….so very delish…chewy chocolatey decadence inside …crispy edges..just the way I like them. I used white whole wheat flour and a combination of Bakers Semi Sweet and Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips…Thanks Sally, I’m sure to make these again!
A comment metions adding nuts – would it be best just to add a cup of chopped nuts and leave everything else as is or would you suggest reducing the amount of chopped chocolate?
I wouldn’t reduce the amount of chocolate– just add in the nuts. Enjoy!
I cannot wait to make these? Can I omit the chocolate chips altogether, we want just a good basic oatmeal cookie? Thank you!!
You can definitely leave them plain, without the chocolate. Enjoy!
I made these this weekend and they were great! At the end I halved the batch and made half with raisins and chocolate chips and half with chocolate chunks – both turned out well. I could really tell the cinnamon flavor hot out of the oven. They still taste great, but 2 days later I can’t tell as much. Still very good and worked well with gluten free flour substituted.
Another fabulous recipe from this website. These were delicious and had a very interesting depth of flavor, which I attribute to the molasses. I will make them again and again…….thank you Sally!
Can I put walnuts in these cookies???
Absolutely!
These are so delicious! Thanks for your amazing recipes. You are my “go-to” site for the perfect baked goods!
Made these for Mothers’ Day brunch and they’re fabulous. Thanks again for sharing your consistently fabulous recipes!
I made your cookie recipe this morning and they are chocolatey deliciousness! I would never have thought of using the baking chocolate instead of chips. We really enjoy them!
Just finished baking mine and waiting for them to cool off, they smell amazing! Can’t wait to try them, thanks for posting!
Made these yesterday…another fabulous recipe Sally!!