Soft and chewy with that trademark homemade flavor, these are the best soft and chewy oatmeal raisin cookies. Made with brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, chewy oats, sweet raisins, and a secret ingredient, this recipe wins for flavor and texture. Your family will love these easy oatmeal raisin cookies!
There are two types of people in this world. Raisin haters and raisin lovers. I fall into the latter category. Besides homemade apple pie, oatmeal raisin cookies are my favorite dessert. Thereโs something incredibly magical about the chewy texture, soft centers, plump raisins, and cinnamon flavor. Please tell me Iโm not the only raisin lover!!
What Makes These Oatmeal Raisin Cookies The Best
The competition is strong, but hereโs why youโll fall in love with these cookies.
- Moist and tender centers
- Slight crisp on the edges
- Sweetened with brown sugar
- Loaded with oats
- Studded with raisins
- Cinnamon spiced
- Buttery flavor
- 30 minute chill time
It doesnโt get much better than this!
Ingredients in Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Oatmeal raisin cookies are made with very basic ingredients.
- 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) brown sugar has incredible flavor and (2) brown sugar contains more moisture than white, which produces a softer cookie.
- Eggs: Eggs help bind everything together. You need 2 eggs in this recipe.
- Pure Vanilla Extract + Salt: Both provide flavor.
- Cinnamon: Raisins, oats, and cinnamon are winning flavor combination.
- Baking Soda: Baking soda helps the cookies rise.
- Molasses: Molasses is my secret ingredient! 1 scant Tablespoon enhances all the wonderful flavors of these buttery, cinnamon-sweet oatmeal raisin cookies.
- Flour: Flour is the structure of the cookies.
- Oats: There are a ton of oats in this recipe! Oats provide a fabulously chewy texture. I use and recommend old fashioned whole oats hereโjust like I do for flourless peanut butter oatmeal cookies.
- Raisins: I love to soak the raisins in warm water before using. This step is optional, but it guarantees they are plump and soft. Blot dry before adding to cookie dough. (You can also use this cookie dough to make my white chocolate chip cherry oatmeal cookies.)
I like to add chopped walnuts. Nuts are totally optional but highly recommended. These simple ingredients combine to make the best oatmeal raisin cookies!
How to Make Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Thereโs only a few steps between now and a batch of warm oatmeal cookies. ๐
- Cream butter + sugars: Use a hand or stand mixer to cream the softened butter with both sugars until smooth, about 2 minutes on medium speed.
- 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 raisins on low speed. Dough will be thick and sticky.
- Chill: Refrigerate the cookie dough for 30-60 minutes.
- Roll: Roll cookie dough into balls and place on a lined baking sheet. I love using these baking mats.
- Bake: Bake the cookies at 350ยฐF (177ยฐC) for 12-13 minutes until lightly browned. The cookies might look under-baked, but they will continue to set as they cool. This is the secret to a soft and chewy oatmeal raisin cookie!
Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Dough is Sticky
This oatmeal raisin cookie dough is sticky, so donโt be alarmed. The cookie dough needs to chill for about 30 minutes before baking. I donโt recommend keeping this cookie dough in the refrigerator for much longer because your cookies wonโt spread. The oats will begin to absorb all of the wonderful moisture from the eggs, butter, and sugar and wonโt expand as they bake. Sticky dough is good dough!
More Favorite Cookie Recipes
If you love these oatmeal raisin cookies, try any of these SOFT cookie recipes. Youโll wonder why you havenโt baked them sooner!
- Iced Oatmeal Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cookies
- Oatmeal Scotchies
- Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Soft & Thick Monster Cookies
- Maple Brown Sugar Cookies
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Soft and Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 13 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 26-30 cookies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Soft and chewy with that trademark homemade flavor, these are the best soft and chewy oatmeal raisin cookies. Your family will love these easy oatmeal raisin cookies!
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*
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) unsulphured or dark molasses (do not use blackstrap; I prefer Grandmaโs brand)
- 1 and 2/3 cups (209g) all-purpose flourย (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups (255g) old-fashioned whole rolled oats*
- 1 cup (140g) raisins (see Note below)
- optional: 1/2 cup (64g) chopped toasted walnuts
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. (Hereโs a helpful tutorial if you need guidance onย 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, raisins, and walnuts (if using) on low speed. Dough will be thick, yet very sticky. Chill the dough for 30-60 minutes in the refrigerator (do the full hour if youโre afraid of the cookies spreading too much). If chilling for longer (up to 2 days), allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before rolling and baking.
- Preheat oven to 350ยฐF (177ยฐC). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Roll balls of dough (about 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 12-14 minutes until lightly browned on the sides. The centers will look very soft and under-baked. Remove from the oven and let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. The cookies will continue to โsetโ on the baking sheet during this time.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week. Baked cookies freeze wellโup to three months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze wellโup to three months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Hereโs how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Oats: For these oatmeal raisin cookies, I use 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.
- Raisins: Soak your raisins in warm water for 10 minutes before using (blot very well to dry them) โ this makes them nice and plump for your cookies.
- Adapted from Loaded Oatmeal Cookies & Oatmeal Creme Pies. Recipe originally published onย Sallyโs Baking Addiction in 2014.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Made these cookies exactly as today recipe calls for. My husband loves them. Already making my 2nd batch
I am making these again. Twice in two weeks. Using Easter mnmโs
Oatmeal raisin cookies are my downfall and I decided to try to make them instead of buy them all the time. I made these and they turned out dry; during baking they barely changed shape from the raw balls. They were also not as sweet as I might have liked even though the amount of sugar seemed more than adequate. I used raisins, craisins, and dried cherries, no walnuts. Not sure what the problem was.
Hi Holly! These should be chewy. Usually a thick and dry cookie is caused by too much flour/oats in the dough. That would also affect the flavor. How did you measure the flour/oats? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much into your measuring cups โ or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
Delish. Came out perfect. Used vanilla bean paste, crasins and chopped pecans..
YUM!
I made these cookies as a thank you to my neighbor for plowing my driveway. He requested oatmeal raisin cookies, so I gave this recipe a try. I made 1 inch balls and cooked them for 13 minutes. They were soft in the middle, so I did leave them on the pan for 5 minutes to cool before moving them to the cooling racks. I chilled the batter in the refrigerator between batches. They turned out great! Not too sweet, but soft and chewy. Just an FYI, with a 1 inch ball shape, it made just over 4.5 dozen ( approx. 54 cookies) versus the yield of 26-30 cookies listed. Still a nice sized cookie. I will make these again.
Iโve made these many times and they are winners! Used pecans instead of walnuts this time. Great!
Thank you.
These were delicious and chewy. I substituted butter with coconut oil and added some white chocolate chips. They did not spread. I refridgerated the dough overnight and left it out at room temperature for 30 minutes as suggested.
Hello,
Looking forward to making these cookies!
Question โ why is there an * next to eggs and oats in the ingredients? That usually means there is a note about that line somewhere below, but I couldnโt find anything.
Thanks!
Hi Deanna, when you see that, there are recipe notes under the recipe. Eggs: Room temperature eggs preferred. Good rule of thumb: always use room temperature eggs when using room temperature butter. Oats: For these oatmeal raisin cookies, I use old-fashioned whole oats. They provide the ultimate hearty, chewy, thick texture we love!
Oatmeal Raisin are my Favorite cookie !!! Canโt wait to try this recipe !
Very tastyโฆ I followed the recipe but i did flatten them down because mine didnt spread..
can you leave the dough in the fridge covered for 6 hours?
Hi Kimberly! The dough can be chilled up to two days โ see step 2.
This is the best recipe!! Iโve made it so many times, and they are my dadโs absolute favorite cookies!! I bake them and mail them to him regularly! <3 Thanks so much for sharing!!
So I didnโt have whole rolled oats and used quick oatsโฆI didnโt bother to refrigerate the dough because it already looked too thick and I assume it was the quick oats absorbing the moisture ..I added a splash of milk and even pressed them down a bit before baking and they were still very slow to spread out and I wished they would have spread out more. The flavour and softness is great but not sure if the softness will still be there once they cook. I will put them in a ziplock bag with a slice of bread as I read is trick to keep them moist. Next time I will use the whole rolled oats and if ever have to use quick oats again, Iโm thinking an extra egg or a bit more milk?