These oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are made with oats, butter, and brown sugar and are the softest, chewiest oatmeal cookies to come out of my kitchen. Use this perfect oatmeal cookie as the base for other add-ins such as raisins, dried cranberries, and nuts. Cinnamon and a touch of molasses add that little something extra.
I originally published this recipe in 2017 and have since added new photos and helpful success tips.
Today we’re mixing big chewy oats with the flavors of butter, brown sugar, a touch of molasses, a dash of cinnamon, and a mountain of chocolate chips.
One reader, Kelly commented: “These are hands down the best oatmeal choco chip cookies I’ve ever made! Soft and chewy, I followed the recipe exactly except for adding 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. Perfection. ★★★★★“
And another, Valerie, commented: “More compliments than I have ever heard from my family and friends, and I bake a lot! ★★★★★“
My Favorite Base Oatmeal Cookie Recipe
These soft & chewy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies start from my base oatmeal cookie recipe and it makes quite a few appearances in my cookbook, Sally’s Cookie Addiction. I’m a firm believer in having a handful of base recipes from which you can develop virtually hundreds of variations. For example: my standard muffin recipe. This chocolate cookie dough and this peanut butter cookie dough have both inspired quite a few spin offs as well.
The cookies have a slightly crisp edge with a soft center and enough chew that the cookie won’t immediately break when you bend it. A “slow bend cookie” as I like to call them—and this is the key difference between a regular oatmeal cookie and a really great oatmeal cookie.
They’re also:
- Supremely soft, buttery, and flavorful. Using more brown sugar than white helps guarantee a flavorful base.
- Super chewy thanks to old-fashioned oats. Thick whole rolled oats, not quick oats, guarantee a chewier cookie. Quick oats are finer; you simply don’t get the same texture.
- Loaded with chocolate chips. Lots of chocolate in every single bite. And for my fellow raisin lovers: try subbing in half raisins. The dough is pretty similar to my oatmeal raisin cookies.
- Taste just like grandma’s. I find the 1 Tablespoon of molasses is what makes these taste like grandma’s old-fashioned oatmeal cookies. I strongly encourage adding it.
About the molasses, one reader, Hannah, commented: “These cookies are FANTASTIC! I’ll admit, I was a little skeptical about adding the molasses, but it added a depth to the cookies that I wasn’t expecting. Bookmarking to use again for sure! ★★★★★“
Key Ingredients You Need & Why:
- Baking Soda: Baking soda helps the cookies rise and spread.
- Butter: Butter is the base of any delicious cookie recipe. Make sure you are using room-temperature butter.
- Brown Sugar & Granulated Sugar: Sugar is not only used for sweetness, but also for providing structure and tenderness. I like to use more brown sugar than white sugar because (1) it has incredible flavor and (2) it contains more moisture than white, which produces a softer cookie.
- Molasses: Molasses is my secret ingredient! 1 scant Tablespoon enhances all the wonderful flavors of these buttery, cinnamon-sweet cookies.
- Vanilla Extract, Cinnamon, & Salt: Each provide flavor. You can also top the cookies with a little flaky sea salt for more flavor.
- Oats: Oats provide a chewy texture, and there is no shortage in this dough! I use and recommend old fashioned whole oats here—just like I do for flourless peanut butter oatmeal cookies and big giant monster cookies.
How to Make Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
I especially love this recipe because the process is quick & simple—with minimal dough chilling.
Whisk the dry ingredients together. Just the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt—you’ll add the oats later. Use an electric mixer for the wet ingredients, then add the dry ingredients and mix in the oats and chocolate chips.
The dough will be thick and sticky:
Chill the cookie dough. I recommend at least 45 minutes in the refrigerator, which helps prevent the cookies from overspreading.
How Large Do I Make the Cookies?
These are drop-style cookies, so scoop the dough and drop it onto the baking sheets. 1.5 Tablespoons (30g) for regular-size cookies, 2 T. (40g) for large cookies (pictured), or 3 T. (60g) for XL cookies!
Success Tip: Use a cookie scoop. Oatmeal cookie dough is super chunky and soft, and this one can get pretty sticky. A cookie scoop not only prevents a mess, it also helps ensure all cookies are the same size and shape.
The cookies are done when the edges are set and the centers still look soft. After baking, I like to lightly press a few more chocolate chips into the tops of the cookies while they’re still warm. This is optional and just for looks. I also add a light sprinkling of flaky sea salt, which, again, is optional.
Here are the 3 characteristics we should look for in oatmeal cookies: Slow bend, chewy goodness, and ultra soft. Check, check, check! Today’s cookies have it all.
And if you’re looking for a peanut butter version, try my peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies next! Or try the sweater-weather, festive-feeling cousin recipe, these big fat dark chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies!
Print
Soft & Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 14 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 24 minutes
- Yield: 32-35 cookies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
With oats, butter, and mostly all brown sugar, you are guaranteed a soft and chewy oatmeal cookie. Use this perfect oatmeal cookie as the base for other add-ins such as raisins, dried cranberries, and nuts. Cinnamon and a touch of molasses add that little something extra. To prevent the cookies from over-spreading, don’t skip the brief dough refrigeration in step 4.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) unsulphured or dark molasses (do not use blackstrap; I prefer Grandma’s brand)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups (255g) old-fashioned whole rolled oats
- 1 and 3/4 cups (315g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
- optional: flaky sea salt for sprinkling
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until combined and creamed, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, molasses, and vanilla and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until combined. Beat in the oats and chocolate chips. Dough will be thick and sticky.
- Cover and refrigerate the dough for at least 45 minutes in the refrigerator (and up to 4 days). If chilling for longer than a few hours, allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before rolling and baking because the dough will be quite firm.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Use a medium cookie scoop to scoop the cookie dough, about 2 Tablespoons (40g) of dough per cookie, which is a heaping cookie scoop-ful, and place 3 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 13–14 minutes or until lightly browned on the sides. The centers will look very soft.
- Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. While the cookies are still warm, I like to press a few more chocolate chips into the tops and sprinkle with flaky sea salt—both are optional!
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. See step 4. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Molasses: 1 Tablespoon of molasses helps give these cookies incredible flavor. Be sure to use unsulphured or dark molasses (do not use blackstrap; I prefer Grandma’s brand). If you don’t have any, simply leave it out. Do not replace with anything else. Likewise, cinnamon adds flavor as well. Not necessary, but it sure is tasty!
- Different Size Cookies: Use 1.5 Tablespoons (30g) for regular-size cookies, 2 T. (40g) for large cookies (what is pictured), or 3 T. (60g) for XL cookies. The bake time will be a minute or so shorter for regular-size and a minute or so longer for XL cookies.
- Can I Add Raisins or Chopped Nuts? Yes, you can add either. I recommend 1 cup (180g) chocolate chips and 3/4 cup either raisins (110g) or chopped walnuts or pecans (100g).
Reader Comments and Reviews
I feel like 3 tablespoons is way too large of a measurement after watching the video. But other than that, cookies tasted amazing and turned out so sweet and chewy. Thank you!
I am a regular baker, and adore so many of your recipes! I love the flavor of this cookie, but I can’t make this recipe without the cookies seriously spreading. I haven’t had any issues with any other recipe, except this one. What am I doing wrong here? I followed the recipe verbatim and definitely know how to properly cream butter. Any tips would be amazing so I don’t have to give up on this one!
Hi Samantha, The weather can definitely affect the way things bake. What’s most important is chilling the dough and starting with proper room temperature butter (colder than you would think!)
Hi Michelle! Thanks so much! It was pretty warm here yesterday but we do have air conditioning. I left my room temp ingredients out for several hours (because I didn’t before and assumed that was the issue) and chilled the dough for about an hour. I also re-chilled before batches. Still the same result. Sigh.
I made these today too and the same thing happened. I think 3tbsp is just too much batter per cookie! Tried 2tbsp and got better size cookies.
Absolutely perfect! My dough chilled overnight. I just made ping pong ball sized (at least 4-5 tbs) balls because I like BIG chewy cookies. I cooked them about 15 minutes on parchment paper, & they spread a perfect amount.
My fussy friend allowed that they weren’t best oatmeal cookies he’d ever eaten. Thank you Sally!.
personally they don’t spread for me as long as I put them in the fridge for 45 minutes. In fact I push them down a little bit before baking so they don’t stay in a ball and do spread out a little bit.
My cookies spread thin when I used parchment paper on my lighter cookie sheets, but when I switched to using my silicone mats on my darker cookie sheets they did not spread out. I normally use parchment paper with Sally’s recipes, but for this one I can’t.
The basic recipe is good but… I agree about the spreading. I did some research and added 3 Tbsp lemon juice. When using baking soda instead of baking powder, the baking soda needs an acid to activate. I don’t taste the lemon juice because of the molasses and the cookies puffed up nicely.
Thank you so much! Brown sugar is an acidic ingredient, so that is why baking soda works here. To reduce spreading, a little more flour such as 2-3 Tablespoons can help soak up some moisture. I haven’t tested this recipe with lemon juice or swapping in baking powder.
Sally’s recipes are usually spot on but these cookies have little taste and unless you keep dough chilled they spread quite a bit.
I followed the recipe exactly , added some cranberries and nuts and they turned out perfect!! I was a little concerned they would spread because the butter was a little too soft, but they were just right. Best oatmeal cookie I have ever made.
I love the recipe! The only thing I would change is less sugar and chocolate chips. The cookies were too sweet for me.
Perfect at home subway cookie recipe!
This recipe was super easy to make! The instructions were clear (in terms of creaming butter and sugar) and I ended up with very cute homemade cookies for my shared morning tea at work. Best part is, you can mix and experiment with different “toppings” so I opted for white chocolate and macadamia. The only suggestion I would make is to reduce the sugar levels of you have less of a sweet tooth.
I love this recipe I add 2 cups of dark, milk, white total snd 1/2 c of heath bar crunch they are the very best my family loves them. I have made this recipe a lot huge success here…,thanks sally your recipes never disappoint❤️
Another great recipe from Sally! I didn’t have molasses but not a big deal – still delicious. I made mine a bit smaller (about 2 tbsp) and baked for 10 min. Best part is now I have extra to freeze for our camping trip.
The cookies taste great! Thank you for another brilliant recipe! However, I don’t know why my dough doesn’t spread. My aunt and I sort of flatten the dough balls before baking so they won’t come out as cookie balls. We have tried baking them in both a turbo broiler and a convection oven. Any ideas as to why the dough doesn’t spread?
Hi Mai, when cookies fail to spread, it’s usually due to excess flour or other dry ingredients, like oats, in the dough. Be sure to spoon and level or use a food scale if available. This post on 5 cookie baking tips will also be helpful to review (see #2 — “What if my cookies AREN’T spreading?”). If possible, we always recommend baking with a conventional oven for best, most consistent results. Hope these tips help for next time!
Thank you so much!
Would like to make these as bar cookies. What size pan do you suggest.
Hi Joanne, a 9×13 pan would be best. We’re unsure of the exact bake time.
That’s what I thought! Thanks! I baked them for 30 minutes and they came out great! Love all you recipes.
Delicious. I used less sugar – 1/4 cup brown and 1/4 cup granulated, and they still tasted great. Thank you!
This recipe makes THE BEST oatmeal chocolate chip cookies ever. Everytime I make them, everyone LOVES them. The molasses adds such a great flavour which makes them truly special, don’t skip it!
These were the BEST Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Vookies I’ve ever made! This I’d going to be a recipe for all future batches . Perfect Cookies!
I am a very experienced baker, especially with cookies and have gotten to the point where I rarely use a recipe, instead I go by instinct. The last two times I have baked though, my mojo was off and the results were just so so. My grandson had been asking for chocolate chip cookies, and rather than chance it again, I searched for a recipe I felt would be close to something I would normally do. The fact this called for molasses caught my eye, and even though I didn’t have any on hand, I noticed in one of the comments you had replied with a suggestion of using Maple Syrup. Being Canadian, I always have some of the real stuff on hand so I decided to give this recipe a go. Other than the syrup substitution, I followed it exactly as written. These cookies are absolute perfection, and I am thrilled with each and every tray of them. I found that baking 9 per pan, given their size, for exactly 12 minutes as my oven can tend to run hot, and turning them at the 6 minute mark turned out tray after tray of perfect oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
Thank you so much for being such a reliable source of recipes, even though I tend to bake cookies and muffins by heart, I often browse your blog for cake inspiration. I recently made your funfetti cupcakes for a grad party and again, perfection.
One quick tip for new bakers; I find that forming the cookies before refrigeration is easiest. Simply form your cookie, place on a tray and then refrigerate. You can then pull directly from this tray as you bake them.
Thanks again Sally, from a kindred spirit equally addicted baker
I had same spreading issue on the first sheet I baked It was a hot humid day outside although I had the air conditioning on and the inside of the house was cool. I then added 1/2 c to 3/4 c flour to rest of dough and baked them the next day. They were fine. I m wondering whether it is a humidity issue?
Hi Lin! The weather can definitely affect the way things bake. What’s most important is chilling the dough and starting with proper room temperature butter (colder than you would think!)
This recipe was delicious even without chilling the dough. I added kit kat pieces on top of the cookies after they cooled down a bit. I was thinking maybe next time I’d add coffee crisp pieces on top and would like to add coffee to the batter for flavouring.
I don’t want to ruin the consistency of the batter, any recommendations on how I could execute this?
Thank you 🙂
maybe use expresso powder or instant coffee powder to get the coffee flavor you want with this cookie. I would start with no more than 1 Tablespoon in your batch, cook a few and taste test. If you want more coffee flavor add more expresso. Just remember you can’t take it back if you put in too much!
Has anybody tried making these with oat flour? I bought a bag for a specific recipe and now I’m trying to think of ways to use it.
Thanks Sally!! This recipe turned out perfect. Nice chewie cookies with just the right amount of chocolate. I did not have molasses but did add the cinnamon. I made two bite cookies so ended up with twice as many as the recipe. This one is a keeper!!
I think this is the recipe my. Aunt used back in the 40’s 50’s special for me. Only with raisins and she used molasses and brown sugar. Thanks
Hi Sally – I’d like to flavour them with peanut butter. Can I just add a big dollop to the recipe or is there some fine-tuning of ingredients necessary?
We’d recommend using this peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe instead!
I’ve made so many of your recipes and they’ve turned out perfect. Unfortunately, this is the first one that was a big disappointment. Followed the recipe exactly and I got big flat cookies that spread out and look nothing like yours do.
Hi Diane, so sorry to hear you’ve been having troubles with your cookies. It sounds like your butter was perhaps too soft, which is usually the culprit for overspreading cookies. Here is more on what room temperature butter really means, and here are 5 tips to improve your next batch of cookies — see #2 there for more on how to prevent excess spreading. Let us know if we can help troubleshoot further, and we appreciate you giving these a try!
For a cookie that comes out about 2 1/2” in diameter, I used a #40 or 2T cookie scoop. Baking time is 8-10 minutes.
These are the absolute best oatmeal cookies that I have ever had! I followed the recipe exactly as it reads minus the molasses and they turned out great! Will definitely make them again!
I need smaller cookies – would that work with this recipe? Would I need to adjust baking time?
Hi Linda, absolutely, you can make these cookies smaller if you’d like. We’re unsure of the exact bake time, but it should be a bit less. Keep a close eye on them!
Delicious recipe! Subbed vanilla extract for orange extract, and added the zest of 2 oranges for a delicious chocolate-orange oatmeal cookie! Amazing and inhaled by my family 🙂
I make this recipe but substitute Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1:1 Baking Flour. Also substitute coconut sugar for the brown sugar & leave out the white sugar.
Taste delicious & with these subs they’re also gluten free!
Hi Sally. Can I replace the molasses with honey?
Hi Gigi, You can simply leave out the molasses– no need to replace with anything. If you’d like, honey or maple syrup would work.
This recipe is amazing. I can’t think of why or how anyone could complain about them not being THE MOST DELICIOUS oatmeal cookies. I ad hocked the amount of chocolate because I only had what was left in my stash, added raisins, messed around with the flour types (because again? I didn’t have enough white flour so I added whole wheat and some almond) and they still turned out incredible! Bake these cookies. Follow the instructions. They are insanely good and you make a huge batch (enough to freeze some dough balls for a rainy day!) Thank you for this recipe! It’s a new family fav.
These are THE best oatmeal chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made. This my husband’s favorite kind of cookie and he LOVED these. After 31 years of marriage I finally have a favorite cookie recipe. I’ll make these often. Delicious!
I have used this recipe 100 times and have added extra chocolates on top of what is recommended. My friends, family, and my husband’s co-workers all LOVE these cookies! So much so, that every one is requesting for more when I make them. I’ve had my sons preschool teachers ask me for the recipe, everyone loves them!
This recipe is deranged. I used half the amount of recommended chocolate chips and even that was excessive.