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
These look delicious, and I actually wound up with 22 cookies, just what the recipe says. I didn’t have quite enough brown sugar but that seemed to be no problem, and I used up the last of my white chocolate chips along with the dark chocolate chips. Changed nothing else.
Have you figured out the calories per cookie?
Hi..wondering if I could substitute coconut oil for the butter?
Hi Terri, We haven’t tested it with this exact recipe but it should work, obviously the flavor will be different. Let us know if you try it!
Delicious recipe! I had no molasses so I used a bit of honey and it still tasted delicious. This is a keeper thank you!
I tried this recipe and the cookies came out really hard. Tasted okay though.
Excellent! Just perfect. Pretty sweet.. But hey, they’re cookies! I substituted some store-bought maple syrup for the molasses before reading not to substitute with anything, lol. But they turned out great anyway. I also added about a half cup of coconut just because I had a little bit to use up. Super delicious 🙂 thank you!
I absolutely LOVE this recipe. My 3yr old helps me and she LOVES them too! As well as my picky-eater husband, my mom and my friends. Thank you so much for posting. I’ve made them a few times and finally wrote it out on an actual recipe card to add to my selective collection of recipes.
Hi Sally, how much nuts can be added on this recipe? And what kind of nuts is best to use? Would love to try this with nuts. Thank you!
Hi Celeste, we recommend keeping the total amount of add-ins to 1 and 3/4 cups. You could try 1 cup of chocolate chips and 3/4 walnuts, pecans, or any other combination totaling 1 and 3/4 cups.
Unfortunately, these are delicious. Ya nailed it again, Sally. 🙂
Also, there’s massive agreement in my house that the cookies are actually better the next day, so make them the day before you plan to bring them/sell them/give them away.
I always reduce the chocolate chips in things (to about half or 2/3) because of chocolate/migraine issues in our house, but I added sweetened cranberries to make up for that bulk. Absolutely delicious.
The BEST cookies I’ve ever made and everyone in my household agrees. Can’t believe a couple of people said they’re “bland”! Huh?? Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe!
These are amazing! I didn’t have enough oats, so I added some more flour. I also didn’t have molasses, so I used maple syrup. I was worried they were going to spread too much, but they were perfect!
Made these the other day! They are SO delicious and by far the perfect cookie! Shared with some friends who had to have the recipe. Making our second batch just a couple days later, to share and of course enjoy ourselves! Thank you! This one is a keeper!
I’ve made this delicious recipe 3 times in the last 2 months. Excellent recipe! I have enjoyed several other excellent recipes of yours.
I have started swapping out all but a quarter of the amount of sugar (granulated) in recipes with Stevia Blend. So far I have not had a notable difference in how my recipes’ taste or texture.
Thank you Sally! #LeighLuvsSallysbaking
Sally, I’ve tried several of your cookie recipes, and this one is by far my favorite! Your tips, especially about adding ROOM TEMPERATURE eggs/butter have GREATLY improved all of my cookies! Thank you! 🙂
My son is allergic to dairy, but I would really like him to try this recipe! Sally or fellow baking addicts, what are your thoughts on substituting butter with dairy-free margarine (Fleischmann’s unsalted margarine sticks)? I would use dairy-free chocolate chips or raisins, of course!
Thanks so much!
Hi Nancy, thank you so much for the positive feedback. We really appreciate it! We haven’t tried a dairy-free version of this recipe, but we’d love to know if you give anything a try. We also have a dairy-free collection of our recipes that your son might like. Hope you both find some to enjoy!
I don’t normally comment on recipes but OMG were these ever good !! Recipe is perfect – I would not change a thing. Thank you for sharing.
Awesome cookies!! I like to use butterscotch chips instead of chocolate chips. Delish!!!
BEST! COOKIE! EVER!! Sorry for shouting, but I could literally eat these all day long. When I make a batch I freeze half so there’s a required delay in eating them as they defrost, LOL. They have the right amount of sweetness, are chewy and just divine with the two sizes of chocolate chips. I haven’t used molasses so far but will buy that soon to see if it increases the flavor as you say. Who knows, I might find that they taste good frozen :-).
Is there a way to make this with steel-cut oats instead of rolled oats? I have an absolutely enormous bag of them…. I imagine they would be less absorptive, but maybe the result would still be yummy. Or maybe somehow soften them in advance…
Hi Melis, we don’t recommend it. We have never gotten quite the same results with steel cut oats, no matter how we adapt the recipe. For best results, stick with old fashioned whole rolled oats and use steel cut oats for oatmeal and such.
Awesome recipe! Thank you! Second time around, I doubled cinnamon, split vanilla with maple extract. If not for a hint of maple, the aroma is an added positive! Cheers! Great mix!
Poor consistency when done. Runny. Just super weird. Maybe too much butter or not enough flour but a waste of ingredients. Bummer
Oh my gosh these are the best cookies I’ve ever made/probably my favorite cookie ever.
A quick Q before I start: can I replace the flour with wholemeal? I totally trust the recipes in the blog and the tips, faultless each time, hence I am asking. It turns out we bought too much wholemeal..mmm
Hi Michela, we haven’t personally tested it but wouldn’t recommend it. The cookies would likely be very dense using that switch. For best results, we recommend sticking with all-purpose flour.
These cookies are delicious!! I have one question though – mine didn’t seem to spread out on their own, I kind of had to squish them down from their ball shape. I followed the recipe very closely, but is there something I did wrong? Thanks!
Made these following the recipe to a T, except for the optional molasses because I didn’t have any, and for fun added peanut butter chips. Perfect delicious and super easy to make. Will make these again probably a million times…
So delicious! Agree with the past comment of them tasting like Mrs. Fields ❤
I’ve made this recipe exactly a few times and love it. But the last time I replaced half the chocolate chips with butterscotch chips, if you’re a butterscotch fan these are delicious! Love them with a cup of coffee.
Can I omit the chocolate chips and just make them as oatmeal cookies? Or will I need to up the oats to make sure the dough still sticks together?
Hi Liz, you can leave the chocolate chips out if you would like. You may also like these Iced Oatmeal Cookies!
Hello
I attempted this recipe tonight. I was really excited about it. Everything came together as described, instead of chocolate chips, I used raisins. The batter when wet was packed full of flavor. I baked it as directed & after cooled I tried one & I immediately noticed that it did not taste anything like the batter did. It was bland & had very little taste. I don’t know what I could’ve done or what happened during the cooking process. Has this happened to anybody else?
I searched for days for the right cookies recipe, when I came across your page on Instagram. I thank God I found you. I just made the cookies and my little prince loves it. My husband says no buying cookies from stores. Best ever
Hi Sally
I made these today and they are truly a HIT !!! Thanks muchly 🙂
Your directions say if refrigerating the dough for more than a few hours to let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Yet your notes say to let the dough COME to room temperature after refrigerating it. Did you mean 30 minutes here, also?