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. There’s something incredibly magical about the chewy texture, soft centers, plump raisins, and cinnamon flavor. Please tell me I’m not the only raisin lover!!
What Makes These Oatmeal Raisin Cookies The Best
The competition is strong, but here’s why you’ll 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 doesn’t 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 here—just 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
There’s only a few steps between now and a batch of warm oatmeal cookies. 🙂
- 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 350°F (177°C) 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 don’t be alarmed. The cookie dough needs to chill for about 30 minutes before baking. I don’t recommend keeping this cookie dough in the refrigerator for much longer because your cookies won’t spread. The oats will begin to absorb all of the wonderful moisture from the eggs, butter, and sugar and won’t 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. You’ll wonder why you haven’t 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 Grandma’s brand)
- 1 and 2/3 cups (209g) all-purpose flour (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. (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, 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 you’re 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 350°F (177°C). 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 “set” 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 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 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) – this makes them nice and plump for your cookies.
- Adapted from Loaded Oatmeal Cookies & Oatmeal Creme Pies. Recipe originally published on Sally’s Baking Addiction in 2014.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Just the smell out of the oven alone took care of my oatmeal cookie craving! Awesome recipe. The kids gobbled them up faster than you could blink. Baked as the standard recipe, no substitutions or changes. Will definitely make again!
THE PHOTOS ARE A LIE! No where in the recipe do I see walnuts listed as an ingredient!
Hi Ombe! See the last ingredient in the ingredient list in the gray recipe card — “optional: 1/2 cup (64g) chopped toasted walnuts.” Hope this helps!
Have you ever had any issues doubling the recipe? Or any issue with elivation I’m at 5500 ft?
Hi Tammy, doubling this recipe should be just fine. We have no experience baking at high altitude, but some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
Cookies were good but not Chewy at all….
Trying this recipe with peanut butter and chocolate pieces.
In the oven. Can’t wait to see how they will turn out.
Let you know later.
Audrey here try these cookies with peanut butter and chocolate pieces not bad at all.
Will do again.
I always have great cookies with your recipes and tips. I always go to your recipes for ideas and have made several cookies and muffins/bread with great results.
Tonight I chose to make these cookies and while the oven was heating it starting smoking.
Darn.. I shut it off and opened a window. I’ll have to bake in the morning after cleaning the oven. Must have been bacon spatters from yesterday (no smoke then). My oven is kept clean but this first bacon in the oven threw a wrench in plans. Will let you know …I am sure they will be delish!
You NEVER disappoint!! Thank Sally – another delicious recipe!
I’ve made a lot of Oatmeal cookies in my life but this recipe is moving to the top if my list…I tend to improvise but for a change I followed the exact recipe. I think whipping the butter mix and adding the molasses made all the difference! These cookies are soft, chewy , moist and delicious!
Thank you Sally
Made these for the first tone and my family loves them. I for once did not have the old fashioned oats, used the quick oats instead. Still turned out amazing. Definitely making again.
I made the recipe almost as is. I subbed chocolate chips for the raisins and didn’t do any of the chilling the dough/rolling the dough steps (I just scooped them onto the baking tray like any other cookie) and they came out great! No major spreading at all. My only complaint is that they weren’t very sweet (like at all) which was disappointing. I’ll be adding probably 1/4–1/2 cup more white sugar next time.
Following recipe with a few exceptions. Mixed oatmeal/ blueberry granola (KIND). Golden raisins along with regular and dried cranberry (1/2 -1/3 cup total). Crushed walnuts and a sprinkle of cinnamon.
I love oatmeal cookeis and this oatmeal cookie recipe is 100% fool proof, just like all of your other recipes! Everytime I make these they turn out PERFECT! I omit the molasses and vanilla since I never have any and they still turn out amazing! The perfect amount of raisins and walnuts in these cookies! Everyone in my family loves them and they are pretty easy to make, the most time consuming proccess for me was creaming the butter and sugar and mixing all the ingredients together and then just chilling the cookie dough. I’m defintley going to use this oatmeal cookie recipe from now on! 🙂
These are truly awesome. I love all the things that you bake!!!
Great recipes. I’ve used chocolate chip, oatmeal rasins and Very very peanut butter cookies many times and they have came out every time.These are easy to follow. Thanks a bunch for making my life a little bit easier.
Let me first say that I am pregnant and have been craving oatmeal raisin cookies for weeks. I finally decided to make some myself and these are AMAZING! So soft and chewy, but have a nice crunch along the edges. It took no time to whip up. Doesn’t get much better than this. Thank you for satisfying my craving, Sally!
Do you have any recommendations for replacing the vanilla extract? I am allergic to vanilla.
Hi James, we haven’t tested it, but you could try replacing the vanilla with some bourbon or maple syrup. Let us know what you try!
If you can have the alcohol in extracts then you could try almond, maple or rum. There’s also cake batter and butter flavor extracts that I’ve tried(for calorie reduction purposes) and they are decent too. If they don’t turn out great then you can use the cookies in ice cream or yogurt or find some non picky kids to eat them.
Thank you for sharing this recipe. Ut has been a while since I made oatmeal cookies, and these were so delicious. My husband said these are his new favorites.
I tried this.. It was my first time baking cookies. It was delicious!
I made these cookies for the nurses and doctors at a hospital and they enjoyed them very much thank you very much Sally great recipe
I’m making them right now for the nurses at the hospital for nurses week
Great recipe! Second time using. I make a few modifications. I soak my raisins in rum for a few days and omit the vanilla. I also add dried unsweetened coconut. I use gluten free rolled oats an half flour and half a blend of almond meal, flax meal, oat bran. Dark brown sugar is a must and I double the cinnamon. This time I also added mini semi-sweet chocolate chips. Lastly, I make large 4 once cookies and bake for 20 min. I big cookie is great for dessert or a late afternoon snack. Even breakfast if your so inclined.
These came out delicious. I didn’t have any molasses and I used the oatmeal from The Dollar Tree.
These were fantastic! I omitted the molasses as I did not have any but otherwise kept to the recipe – They came out absolutely delicious. soft and chewy and perfectly baked! I highly recommend using a scale to weigh out the ingredients (good rule for baking) especially when using flour and other dry ingredients! It can be the difference between a great bake and a subpar one!
Next time I am going to try adding molasses as I do feel it would add a nice depth of flavor!
I made these last night. I substituted pancake syrup for the molasses because I was out of molasses. I also used a thumbprint to flatten them just a little. CAME OUT GREAT! They were soft and had wonderful flavor. I made them for a friend, have to say, I kept a few for myself.
Thank you Sally
Every Sally’s Baking Addiction recipe I have tried has been more amazing than the last, and these cookies are no exception. Thank you again! <3
I reduced the sugars by nearly half, added just a tsp of vanilla (it’s so expensive these days!) and added double the molasses. This made for a more cake-like cookie, but as I’m trying to cut my sweets, it worked great for me. I’d make these again, but given the price of vanilla, I would skip it entirely, as I found plenty of flavor in the other ingredients. I used a small scoop that does about 1 Tablespoon and baked for 9 minutes at 350. Baking time was perfect for that size.
Amazing. Thanks for your recipes, Sally!
This cookie recipe is the best! I added raisins and walnuts and they were delicious. The problem is I can’t stop eating them Lol!
I made these today with a few changes since my husband is diabetic. I used 1/2 c. SPLENDA BROWN SUGAR with the white sugar,
LILYS less sugar chocolate chips (from Wegmamns) with 3/4 c raisins and 1/2 c chopped pecans. Baked 1st batch 14 min and fot too brown but not burned…tried 11 min amd better. Tasted very good and would do again…
I did not chill the dough. The cookies spread perfectly staying, soft enough in the center, slightly crispy on the edges. 14 minutes after the first tray to allow the temperature to recover.
Sally’s recipes are fail proof!
Hi sally! I love your recipes!! But I have a question/problem. The oatmeal cookies never bake right for me. All my other cookies turn out perfect. But these are either round and beautiful but still raw in the middle or flat and crispy. What am I doing wrong??? Thank you!!!!
Hi Jennifer! Sounds like you’re having a couple separate issues. A cookie that doesn’t spread likely has too much flour in it – we always recommend spooning and leveling your flour when measuring to prevent packed down flour. For cookies that spread too much, this blog post should be helpful for next time. Thank you so much for making these cookies – they’re a favorite.
These simply are the best. I used Golden Syrup (couldn’t find molasses). Your recipe (and cautionary note re vanilla quantity!) really user friendly. End result…yup, the best! Thank you so much!
Made 2 batches of these oatmeal raisin cookies today. They were excellent, easy to make, soft and chewy. When first batch was cooling down in the refer I mixed up the second. Will put one batch in the freezer. Recipe is a keeper. Thank you.
One of my family’s favorites! Pecans added and a handful of dried cranberries (my granddaughter likes them instead of the raisins) and you have the BEST oatmeal cookie! Thanks!