Sink your teeth into these thick, soft & chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. These cookies are loaded with spiced cinnamon, raisins and chewy oats. This is a simple cookie recipe to make and can be made ahead of time. Plus, they stay fresh for days.
Perfect Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Are you team raisin or team chocolate chip? My husband won’t even touch an oatmeal raisin cookie with a 10-foot pole. I on the other hand, never turn down a good oatmeal cookie! I can’t even count the number of times I made this simple recipe, then stacked them high on a plate and settled in to enjoy homemade cookies with a cup of tea.
In fact, I love oatmeal cookies so much I have a dozen variations! A few of my favorites are the salted caramel oatmeal chocolate chip, salted caramel butterscotch and the salted caramel cashew version as well. My newest recipe is for peanut butter oatmeal cookies and let me tell you – they. are. amazing.
What Makes These Cookies The Best?
This classic oatmeal cookie recipe makes soft and chewy cookies sweetened with brown sugar. They stay good for days and bring back lunchbox memories of when were kids!
I also love how this recipe comes together quickly. In fact, it’s SO EASY that you’ll be done making the batter BEFORE your oven is finished preheating. Go on, give it a try. You won’t believe how simple these cookies are to make! You don’t even have to chill the dough.
Tips for Success
Even though these oatmeal cookies are about as simple as it gets when it comes to baking, it still doesn’t hurt to have a few pro tips up your sleeve:
- Slightly warm your butter. I like to start with cold butter and then microwave is for 10-12 second. It requires a little more time to cream the butter with the sugars, but I think it prevents the cookies from spreading and I often forget to take my butter out of the fridge to soften.
- Mix dry ingredients separately. Combine all the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl so they are evenly incorporated.
- Measure accurately. I swear by using a kitchen scale when it comes to measuring dry ingredients like granulated sugar and flour so as not to overmeasure either ingredient, especially in a cookie recipe. However, for brown sugar, I do my best to evenly pack it into the measuring cup.
- Don’t over-mix. Before the dry ingredients are fully mixed in, add the raisins so you don’t have to over-mix the dough.
- Use a cookie scoop. This helps to keep the cookies the same size and ensure they bake evenly.
- Line your baking sheets with silicone baking mats. These are game changers for cookie baking. It helps the cookies from burning on the bottom or edges.
- I recommend baking one pan at a time on the middle rack of your oven for even baking.
How Do I Know When the Cookies Are Done?
You will pull them out of the oven before the centers are fully baked through. But they should not be too glossy. At that point even 30-60 seconds more can make a difference. Leave them on your baking sheet for several minutes and they will continue to finish baking as they cool.
What to Do If Your Cookies Spread Too Much
If you find the cookies are spreading, take an angled spatula, a cookie spatula or knife and push the edges of the cookies back towards the center of the cookie right when you pull them out of the oven. This makes a nice round shape and also helps keep the center nice and puffy.
What Kinds of Oats To Use
- Rolled oats: Rolled oats are best for cookies as they make for the best nice texture and they also give them more chewiness. I love biting into a cookie and seeing all the layers of oats inside.
- Quick oats: You can use quick oats if that’s all you have. However, quick oats tend to absorb more moisture and get a little mushier, which changes the final texture of the cookie.
- Gluten-free rolled oats: I also often use gluten-free rolled oats from Bob’s Red Mill or Traders Joes and they work perfectly as well. However, I’ve never combined them with gluten-free flour. If you want to make these gluten-free, make sure you’re using a 1:1 cup for cup gluten-free replacement flour.
How to Store
Store them in an airtight container as soon as they are cooled. You can store them for 3-5 days but I usually like to freeze them if it’s going to be longer than 3 days.
Can I Freeze These Cookies?
Yes! These freeze nicely, making them a great option to make ahead of time ! I prefer to place them in an airtight container. If you’re like me, and can’t stay away, thaw one in the microwave for 10-15 seconds before eating.
More Oatmeal Cookie Recipes
Soft and Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 27 minutes
- Yield: 24 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Description
Sink your teeth into these thick, soft & chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. These cookies are loaded with spiced cinnamon, raisins and chewy oats.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (229 g) unsalted butter, cold
- 1 ½ cups (330 g) light brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup (95 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups (280 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups (120 g) rolled oats
- 1 tablespoon (7 g) cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups (approximately 10 oz) Raisins
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Soften the cold butter in the microwave for 10-15 seconds. Combine the softened butter with the brown and granulated sugar. Beat on medium speed until well combined, 2-3 minutes.
- Next add the eggs and vanilla extract and continue beating until well incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, oats, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Stir to combine and slowly add the dry ingredients into the dough, mixing on low speed until dough starts to form.
- Before the dough thickens, add the raisins. Beat a couple of times just until the flour incorporates.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet. Scoop the dough using a large cookie scoop and place on a sheet pan, 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 11-13 minutes. The center of the cookie should be slightly under baked but not too gooey. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container.
Notes
- Rolled oats are best for cookies as they make for the best nice texture and they also give them more chewiness but if you only have quick oats, you can still use them. Quick oats tends to absorb more moisture and get a little mushier.
- Freezing instructions: Once baked, these can be kept frozen. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.
- Make ahead” If you’d like to prepare the dough ahead of time, I recommend scooping the finished dough onto cookie sheets and keeping in the fridge or freezer. Thaw to room temperature prior to baling.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 224
- Sugar: 21.7g
- Sodium: 132.8mg
- Fat: 8g
- Saturated Fat: 4.9g
- Carbohydrates: 36.1g
- Fiber: 1.5g
- Protein: 2.5g
- Cholesterol: 28.1mg
Great recipe sweet and perfect oatmeal cookies every time I have made them. Just now had a moment to say a little something about them I recommend giving them a try !
Love that Sandy, thanks for sharing!
Amazing delicious fantastic recipe
Thank you so much Scottie!
My grandkids and I made these the other day. The flavor was amazing but ours came out too crunchy. I cooked the second batch 1 minute less and they still had some crunch. Next time we make them, should I take another minute off the cooking time?
Hi Tammy, yes, crunchy equals over baking. The baking time will differ depending on the type of pan, type of oven and the true internal oven temperature. I would keep an eye on them the last 3 minutes of baking. Once the top of the cookie is no longer “glossy” or shiny looking, they can come out of the oven.
The taste of these cookies is amazing. Sadly, my cookies flattened out significantly, not really rising at all. I’m not sure if it’s due to my doubling the recipe, but something wasn’t quite right. Still tastes great, just too thin for my liking.
Hi Audrey, doubling the recipe would not contribute to spreading unless you forgot to double something. I truly cannot figure out why some people have issues with these spreading, I can’t replicate it in my kitchen. Contributors to this could be butter temperature, under measuring flour (did you perhaps weigh the flour), or ingredients substitutions like a different variety of oats or something.
These are absolutely the best oatmeal raisin cookies I have ever made! And the tastiest!
Thank you so much Alyce!
Spread like crazy even after trying to refrigerate dough. Won’t be making again.
Hi Donna, how was the butter to start? It sounds like something was off with your dry ingredients. The recipe is overwhelmingly successful for my readers and also on the hundreds of Pinterest reviews. Though every once in awhile, people have reported spreading. The only things that would contribute to that is recipe substitutions (maybe a different kind of oat), butter that is too warm or mismeasuring of ingredients.
We substituted dried cranberries for the raisins and added 1/2 cup white chocolate chips! This is a delicious recipe and we will definitely make it again! Thank you for sharing!
You are so welcome Michelle! Thanks for sharing!
Family loved these! I also added some chocolate chips. Mine took 14 minutes and the recipe made 54 cookies. I’m in Colorado so not sure if altitude effected the bake time.
Hi Lisa, thanks for sharing! Every oven and pan will be a bit different. Sounds like you made smaller cookies to get so many, but that just means more to share!
These are seriously THE BEST oatmeal raisin cookies I’ve ever made. My MIL raved about them too. Definitely adding to my must-make cookie list every year.
New caption, “so good they’ll even impress your MIL”. haha thank you so much!!!
These cookies were delicious! I will be making again!
Wonderful, thank you Stephanie!
My husband’s favorite cookie is oatmeal raisin so being senior citizens I’ve tried many recipes through the years but always was looking for a soft, thicker cookie that kept fresh longer. Hurray! These are perfect!! I soaked the raisins to plump them and added chopped walnuts. I only wish I’d found this recipe as a young woman. We LOVE these. Thank you! (so chewy and full of flavor!)
Oh my gosh Donna, that is the ultimate compliment! I am so glad you found this recipe, even if it took a while for you to get here.