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
Year after year I make this recipe. Everyone loves it. I brown the butter and let it come to room temp before creaming it. I soak golden raisins in warm water, vanilla and a lil captain Morgan or fireball. (Just a small splash) I use a cookie scoop and point the cookies into little obelisks to get a nice thick cookie. Thank you Sally for having killer recipes!!!
What size cookie scoop do you use when baking these cookies?
Hi Barb! We use a medium scoop – linked in the recipe. Enjoy!
This recipe is VERY YUMMY! My favorite oatmeal and raisin cookie recipe was the one off back of Quaker oats , now this one is my FAVORITE!
So good! I used bobs red mill one for one gluten free flour and they are perfect. Substituted cherries and made them small for snacks at work. (I know it’s a cookie I work retail and this time of year I deserve it lol.) Baking time 12 minutes
Perfect recipe
This is amazing traditional recipe! No need to search further, this is it! To make it a bit more mine, I followed this recipe cutting butter to 1 and 1/2 sticks (6 oz or 12 tbs) and omitting white sugar and molasses altogether. Next time I might cut butter to 1 stick
(4 oz or 8 tbsp) and will cut 1/4 cup brown sugar to make it less sweet yet. I mixed rasins with crasins (dried cranberries) for subtle tart kick. Will only use 50% less sugar crasins next time, no raisins. That way it will be exactly to our taste. Whoever suggested 1 tbsp of cinnamon, I am with you!
These oatmeal cookies are great. I usually make a half batch, but use the original amount salt and vanilla. Today started a batch and realized my daughter ate the last egg, so I googled substitutes and made the half batch with 1/2 large banana mashed. Worked great, and added a bit more sweetness. Delish!
I made these cookies earlier this week. My husband doesn’t like anything too sweet but I made these with the exact amount of sugar listed and substituted the molasses with honey. OMG they turned out fantastic! My husband gave his approval and even asked me to make these again. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!!!
The very BEST oatmeal raisin cookies according to my husband. I don’t eat raisins so I separated the dough to make a few plain. They turned out fabulous! Depending on the pan I used, one spread more than the other. I think my butter was too soft even after refrigerating for over an hour. Didn’t matter, they were still good. I didn’t have molasses so I used pure maple syrup. It worked. I love your recipes especially because you list ingredients by weight. It is so much easier and more exact to weigh ingredients. Thank you!
how many carlies are in 1 cookie
Hi Val, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
One of THE BEST raisins cookies I’ve ever tried. Thank you very much it was a huge hit with my family especially that they don’t like raisins at all
Chewy, soft, and sweet!
Give it a try you’ll love it!
I followed the recipe, but something went very wrong. I’m not an inexperienced cook, so I don’t know what happened. I chilled the dough for several hours, I scooped it onto parchment paper, and in 10 minutes, everything was basically a soupy mixture that all ran together. Everything was stuck to the parchment paper. It was too soft and gummy to even put on a cooling rack. The flavor was absolutely delicious, but I can’t figure out what happened!
Hi Wendy, there are quite a few different factors that can cause cookies to spread. This post on how to prevent cookies from over spreading should be helpful to review — let us know if we can help to troubleshoot further and thank you for giving this recipe a try!
I put mine in the refrigerator for 30 minutes and they weres still totally flat after I baked them. I agree with another reviewer they aren’t sweet really at all and are kind of bland. I definitely won’t be using this recipe again!
Thank you for giving this reicpe a try, Nikki! Here’s our best tips for keeping cookies from spreading.
These are the best oatmeal raisin cookies I’ve ever had. Just the right sweetness. My wife ate 4 of them while they were hot just out of the oven and I reminded her that she doesn’t like oatmeal raisin cookies. I made more than 30 cookies by making them smaller, brought them to an event and only 2 cookies came home with me at the end of the evening. An older gentleman at the event told me they were delicious and I later saw him grab a fistful of them and head back to his seat. I was grinning and absolutely delighted. In my eyes, he looked like a little kid, thoroughly enjoying his sweet treat.
I made these today for the first time. My husband gets heartburn from butter, so I substituted the butter with soft coconut oil. Amazing!!
These are my new favorite cookies. I made them exactly by the recipe, and wouldn’t change a thing. I don’t think I’ve ever had a better oatmeal raisin cookie. Don’t underestimate the importance of refrigeration and making nice round balls. I made the full recipe then baked half the first day then the second half a day later. The day 2 cookies made from balls in the fridge overnight turned out even better than day 1.
(I don’t even know what to say about the person who said they tossed them in the trash.)
Has anyone tried this recipe with gluten free flour?
Hi Joyce, We haven’t tested this recipe with gluten free flours, but some readers have reported success using 1:1 flour substitutes (like Cup4Cup). If you try it, let us know how it goes!
I have used gluten free flour. The cup 4 cup makes it very moist; and I used golden flour which makes it crunchy and use it with the same measurements.
I have also tried Bob’s Red Mill, it tends to give it an odd flavor like the way the flour smells. I prefer the golden flour.
Cookie crumbs are falling into my keyboard as I type this because I can’t stop eating these cookies! These taste better than any bakery oatmeal raisin cookie I’ve ever had. I made half a batch with chocolate chips instead of raisins and they were fantastic also. This is a home run recipe. Anytime I need to bring cookies for an event it will definitely be these.
I haven’t had oatmeal raisin cookies since I was a child and my mom made them. Not to downplay her baking because it was always delicious, but when I made these cookies. Best I have ever had! I bake a lot therefore timing is everything. Each place where it states how long to mix I set a timer. I also read all the notes and the recipe before starting. These cookies came out so light, just the right amount of sweetness, and not overly sweet. I baked these for the kids in our family and it was all the adults that ended up fighting over them lol! They definitely will be sticky; therefore, I highly recommend food handling gloves. I chilled them for about 60 minutes at most and only because I had to wrap up a different batch of cookies I was baking. I have already had a request for these cookies again and will be shipping them soon. Thank you Sally!!
I have made many many of your recipes. Making these for my husband he loves oatmeal raisin.
Hope you love them, Marie!
I’m sorry to say, I was very disappointed in this recipe. Cookies were dense and lacked flavor. I tossed the entire batch into the trash
What oatmeal cookie recipe have you found you like? Or have you found one?
Absolutely love this recipe! I do add dried cranberries as well as chocolate chips from time to time! Always a family favorite!
Tried this and it’s really good! I think next time though I’ll use a little bit less sugar.
How do I store them to keep fresh
Hi Maria, As long as you keep them covered, you can store them at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Made these and they were great. Is there a way to substitute the butter for brown butter or would it not have enough moisture?
Hi TJ, we haven’t tested this particular recipe with brown butter, but you could give it a try! Please report back and let us know how it turns out.
Hiya! I came here to ask the same question about using brown butter. Has anyone tried this yet? If so, what were your results? Thanks so much!
I‘m a guy in the kitchen…
I have never baked an oatmeal cookie before, but these were yummy, demolishing all the nay-sayers. I don’t have an electric mixer, so I had to use the “Armstrong” method to cream the butter with the sugars. The cookies still turned out good!
Mine spread too much even after the dough was in the fridge for 90-minutes. Any suggestions?
Hi Evvy, there are quite a few different factors that can cause cookies to spread. This post on how to prevent cookies from over spreading should be helpful to review — let us know if we can help to troubleshoot further!
If you use an icecream scooper, it helps
Love this recipe! I used a melon baller overloaded and it was the perfect sized cookie. I left the first batch balled and the second batch I flattened them as done in the house like chewy with crisp edges. Either way, perfect!
Everything about these scream delicious
The BEST raisin oatmeal cookies ever!!!
I’ve made them following the recipe.. fabulous.. I’ve also fiddled around a bit. My favourite is I toast the oats before using them and I add a full tbsp of cinnamon ( we love cinnamon). I do suggest cooling in the refrigerator for a full 60 min to avoid spreading.
You will not be sorry using this recipe!
I don’t understand the person who said they threw them out!!!! Must have not made them right … they are the best!!
These are delicious. I followed the recipe exactly, except I put my raisins in rum and brought them to a boil, then let them sit till they cooled and drained the rum off. They’re perfectly baked at 12 minutes, no spreading or burning, just perfectly shaped and chewy. My only complaint (and it’s not really a complaint) is that they’re definitely on the less sweet end of the cookie spectrum. That makes them taste healthy-ish, so I feel like I can eat more of them at a time!
these are the best cookies but sometimes when i make them they fall apart. what am i doing wrong?
Hi Nikki, we’re so glad you love these cookies. An extra minute or 2 in the oven should help!
I made these today and they were perfect. They weren’t flat, my biggest concern, and they were just as described. I didn’t have molasses so I used a little maple syrup and it worked. The best oatmeal cookies I’ve ever eaten! Thank you Sally!
I just made these today. They are delicious. I baked on a silpat and they turned out perfectly. I love them. #surethingsally
I did NOT love this recipe. Despite all the vanilla and cinnamon these cookies turned out flavourless?? Followed the recipe exactly including letting the dough rest for 60mins.