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
cookies came out thin but flavor was on point, not sure what I did wrong!
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 have made these cookies several times. For my grandsons and the garden club. Everyone loves them
These are the best ever cookies. My grands ask me to mail these cookies cross-country. My elderly neighbor eagerly awaits each new batch. These are the only cookie my husband will eat. Fortunately, these gems freeze well. Such simple and wholesome ingredients blend into pure magic.
This is the best oatmeal cookie recipe I’ve ever used! My family loved them! thank you for sharing this.
My family RAVED about these cookies as they demolished the entire batch! I added just a smidge of ground cloves to the recipe and boy did that pop off some additional flavor! Delicious cookie, great chewy texture and super easy to make!
I’m wondering if I can skip chilling the dough? I love all your recipes!
Hi Andrea, this cookie dough does require some chilling, otherwise the cookies will over-spread into cookie puddles. Hope this helps!
can I use stevia and not brown sugar
Hi Rose, We’d love to help but we are not trained in baking with sugar substitutes. For best taste and texture (and so you don’t waste your time trying to adapt this recipe since it may not work properly), it may be more useful to find a recipe that is specifically formulated for sugar substitutes. Thank you!
Agree about refrigerating the dough. 2 hours is better than 1
Do I have to use parchment paper?
Hi Ginger, If you are using pans that are not nonstick, we would very lightly grease them.
We love this recipe. I soak the raisins in the eggs and vanilla for 1 hour – perfect!
These are true best oatmeal cookies. My husband says the raisins make the difference. I totally agree. He can’t eats nuts and he says they don’t need them. These are soft and chewy. I am going to make more today. Thank you so much for the recipe.
Another great Sally recipe! I have made these multiple times, and they are a huge hit.
Followed the directions and perfection! Note- I thought I had molasses but was out so decided to adapt while keeping an oatmeal raisin cookie flavor. Used KA ginger syrup for molasses so swapped the cinnamon for a speculaas spice to better partner with the ginger syrup. I soaked the raisins as suggested and also added a 1/3c. spiced rum. This recipe is friendly to adaptations. I used the 2 T scoop and the suggested time even though I thought they were not quite done but they were!
Theses came out really good for me. I 1/2-ed the recipe and didn’t have any raisins and they came out really good. I didn’t chill the dough, I cooked them right away and they came out great. Not sure why some people had trouble with this recipe.
Ran out of raisins so i subbed craisin, dried cherries and golden raisin mix. OMFG. Awesomeness.
I’ve made and loved the original, but this was next level for me
This is THE oatmeal raisin cookie recipe- search no further! Sally, thank you, thank you. Soaking the raisins is a game changer for these soft cookies. To the folks who said they were too dry- be sure not to over mix your ingredients and bake at the lowest minutes given in recipe (and know your own oven in case it runs hot). I did press half of the cookies down slightly with the back of a spoon to satisfy one of my family members taste preference.
I have tried a lot of your recipes, now when I want to bake something tasty I look for your recipes. They always turn out great!
This cookie is great. Turned out perfect!
Really loved this cookie.
To the person J.M., I’m not sure what you did but I followed the instructions precisely because I’m not a seasoned cook and the cookies turned out great. I did however substitute regular raisins with cranberry raisins. They turned out exactly right with very little fuss. Perhaps J.M. Needs to change the light bulb in her Easy Bake oven.
I added a table spoon of cream since the dough was dry
Will not use again 🙁
I was making these as tribute to my aunts passing since her fave cookies were oatmeal raisin. I’ve never made them before and this seemed like a no fail recipe. I was wrong. It needed significantly more raisins, a little more oats, and to be a tad bit sweeter. They over bake easily and over-bake in our over especially quick…. If you’re following the recipe, add a pinch more flour or decrease bake time significantly… I didn’t have time to mess around with seeing what times worked and which didn’t so all of them were a bit over baked or they were absolutely raw.
I only used one cup butter and they didn’t spread so I just did a bit of flattening before I baked. Perfect.
I was excited to try this recipe, but it was not a keeper. Despite me putting the dough in the fridge over an hour and using parchment, they still spread very thin and almost fall apart. I also had to change the temp to 325 and only cook for 8 minutes.
I have my first batch of this recipe chilling in the fridge, waiting to bake, I couldn’t find my cinnamon so I substituted for Pumpkin Pie Spice, I always have that on hand… I’m glad someone else has used this and likes it!!!
I guess I’m just lucky, but I had a great experience with this recipe. The cookies stayed thick in the middle and didnt spread too thin. They were soft and chewy, with a great sweet vanilla taste. Some alterations I made were to soak my raisins in rum for a couple of hours, and to add significantlymore than 1 cup… probably more like 2.5 to 3 cups. I will definitely be saving and reusing this recipe.
Nutritional information please
Hi Lawson, 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
Wow! Oatmeal raisin cookies are not my favorite ( made for a friend yesterday)—- but these are my fav now! So delicious!!!
This is my go to recipe for a group. I make one change, using sunflower seeds instead of nuts.
I am so glad I found this recipe. I have baked it at least 6 – 8 times in the last6 months. It is my husband’s favorite cookie. I prefer Oatmeal cookies w/o Raisins but this recipe with the vanilla, molasses and soaking the Raisins creates a wonderful cookie. I love it.
The best oatmeal raisin cookie ever – moist and chewy! My first batch was a little over baked so I reduced baking time by 2 minutes- the rest turned out perfectly!
I loved this recipe, But I make them for my mom so I had to substitute the molasses and sugar with honey but the recipe is still great!
I really enjoyed this recipe . I grabbed the dried cranberries instead of raisins but used them anyway they where yummy hubby loved them
Love your recipes! They always turn out perfect! I added a handful of butterscotch chips. Yum Yum Yum!!