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 love this recipe I’ve used it for 3 years now and it’s So good
Amazing! I never liked oatmeal cookies until this recipe. Thanks for another delicious recipe!
I make these cookies for 5 years already 🙂 love them every time!
These are absolutely delicious. I followed the recipe exactly. I was hesitant to use the cinnamon but it really worked. This recipe is a keeper!
Is three cups of rolled outs correct? I’ve seen other recipes that only use 1 1/4 cup along with the same ingredients in this recipe
Yes! The oats amount is correct. Let us know if you give them a try!
Struggling a little with this one, my edges are as dark brown as I can let them get, but the middles are not finishing. They’ve been out of the oven for about 20 minutes and still too raw to transfer to a cookie rack.
Baking on center rack on a silicone mat on stainless steel (not aluminum) cookie sheet.
Should I try smaller cookies or a different oven temp?
Hi Sd, So sorry to hear that you had trouble with these cookies. Overspreading cookies can be the result of a few different things, like not enough flour in the dough or using butter that is much softer than room temperature. You might find this post on cookie baking tips to improve your next batch helpful — see #2 for more on how to prevent excess spread. Hope this helps!
I hate whoever came up with this recipe. WHY ARE THEY SO ADDICTING!? WHY
This is my go to recipe for oatmeal cookies. The Molasses just adds such a nice chew to them! Made my 4th batch last night and did half with chocolate, the other half with raisins. They are foolproof. If you think they’re undercooked but the edges are brown, trust the process and let them cool off. That’s what keeps them chewy and soft.
I made your Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies for Thanksgiving & they turned out fabulous! Thank you for the suggestions of using Grandmas Molasses and the Cinnamon! Your instructions were excellent & I will be making them for Christmas! Thank you!
I am literally OBESSED with this recipe. I have lost track of how many times I have made then since I gave birth to my second child in July. I tell myself they are good for my milk production. SO AMAZING. The molasses is just a wonderful addition.
How do you think Panela would do in this recipe? I would use it to replace just the sugars and keep the addition of the molasses.
Hi Michelle, we haven’t tested that, (or even baked with Panela!), but would love to hear how it goes if you do!
I made them with Panela that I ground into a powder. Tastes amazing. I will note that I don’t use store bought flour so I milled spelt and I think I need to add more next time bc they were a bit flat
These cookies bake up so nice. I made a batch of dough and followed your instructions for freezing the dough balls to take to Austin for my son and DIL who just had a new baby. They were perfect. I only baked about eight to start, so now they’ll have plenty more in the future to pop out and bake. I didn’t use any nuts, or chocolate chips, as my son didn’t want them. Love the extra tips of freezing dough – sooooo helpful!
My first go at it I used olda fashioned oats as indicated on the recipe but they didn’t cook. On the video it looks like quick oats. I’ll be trying that next time
Hello! My husband absolutely loves these cookies. The only issue I have with them is that they spread very very thin (first time I made them the entire sheet become on big thin cookie). I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.. I follow the recipe exactly and chilled the dough at various lengths the last two times I’ve tried but had the same result. Any tips would be greatly appreciated as I plan on making these a lot more in the future for my hubby! Thank you 🙂
Hi Koi, Are you starting with proper room temperature butter? It makes a big difference and is cooler than most would think – you can read more about it here. And here’s more tips for preventing cookies from spreading!
I have made these cookies many times and everyone makes them disappear. find myself without my stand mixer…
So I melted the butter. Then I thought since I changing it…instead of brown and white sugars, I used all Turbinado.
Also left out cinnamon and molases.
Then used small cookie scoop.
15min @ 350 with chilled doughballs resulted in a crispy outside and pillow soft inside. Can’t wait to add them to my Christmas cookie bake-a-thon.
I’ve made these cookies several times and they were great. This time they spread so much on the pan, became very dark after I took them out of the oven and the middles
were still wet. I don’t know what I did
wrong.
The gram measurement is incorrect. 1.5 cups is 238 grams not 188 so which is it?
Hi Janice, 1 cup all-purpose flour = 125g, so 188g is correct for 1 and 1/2 cups. You can read more about measuring baking ingredients in this post!
Didn’t like this recipe. I chilled the dough, but cookies spread way too much and are very fragile. Also are very sweet!! If I tried them again, I’d cut back on the white sugar.
Great cookies! The only thing I would change next time is less chocolate chips so they are a little less sweet. The molasses is a wonderful addition!!
This is my favorite oatmeal chocolate chip recipe :). If I brown the butter, will it make a big difference to the taste and spread of the cookies? Or is it a step that is not necessary with this recipe due to the flavors from the molasses and sugar etc? Thank you
Hi Naila, you can use brown butter – YUM! Just keep in mind you might have to brown a bit more than the recipe calls for so that after it is browned (there is some moisture loss) you end up with one full cup. See our complete guide on How to Brown Butter. Let us know how they turn out!
Loved the recipe!!! Added sugar syrup instead of molasses and a bit less normal sugar and the cookies are phenomenal! Sally never misses fr
This is a great recipe! I’ve just made it substituting chopped dried pineapple and coconut for chocolate chips and honey for molasses. Delicious!
Will it still turn out fine if I do without the white sugar?
Hi Carmel, you can certainly try reducing the sugar, but keep in mind that the sugar plays an important role in the taste, texture, and spread of the cookies. Reducing the sugar will impact the overall outcome, so we’d recommend starting small and then adjusting further for future batches.
These turned out greater than expected!, Love this recipe.
I’m not a big chocolate chip cookie person, but I can’t leave them alone. The molasses seemed crazy, but oh my goodness, it adds so much flavor.
I have been a chef for luxury resorts for almost 20 years, but when I want to actually indulge, I make these cookies. Brown the butter first, and add a tsp of instant coffee in the creaming stage, and taste the chocolate pop!! Sally always has the best recipes
we agree These are the best oatmeal chocolate chip cookies!
I’ve been making oatmeal chocolate chip
cookies for years and started using this recipe a few years ago. This is hands down the best recipe! The cookies are perfect every time. Noting that I do use black treacle instead of the molasses since that’s what I have on hand. Not sure if there’s difference between the two, but it works really well here. Thanks for perfecting my favorite cookie with this recipe!
Love this recipie, it’s buttery and delivious. I’d strongly recommend using a baking mat or parchment paper, as I baked them on a sheet pan without (but did use cooking spray) and they stuck to the pan after a very short time out of the oven.
Delicious! I have made these 4 times now and they come out perfect every time…they disappear everywhere I take them. Have made them with chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and I 1000% recommend trader Joe’s salted caramel chips. I chill the dough overnight and never have had issues of over spreading. Another great one, Sally! Thank you.
My hubby’s new favorite cookie! I subbed the chocolate for unsweetened coconut and raisins.