Sink your teeth into the best soft and chewy oatmeal raisin cookies. Loaded with warm cinnamon, brown sugar, juicy raisins, and hearty oats, these classic cookies are easy to make, and they stay fresh for days.
I love oatmeal cookies so much that I have a dozen variations of them. Along with today’s homemade recipe, my favorites are oatmeal butterscotch cookies, iced oatmeal cookies, and peanut butter oatmeal cookies.
When it comes to classic oatmeal cookies, are you team raisin or team chocolate chip? This easy oatmeal raisin cookies recipe makes the best, perfectly soft and chewy cookies packed with raisins, oats, and cinnamon spice. I can’t even count the number of times I made these, then stacked them high on a plate and settled in to enjoy homemade cookies with a cup of tea. They stay good for days and bring back lunchbox memories of when we were kids!
Why I Think You’ll Love These Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Cold butter for thick, chewy cookies. Starting with slightly cold butter helps keep the oatmeal cookies thick and prevents spreading.
- Plenty of hearty oats and raisin. Old-fashioned oats give these cookies that classic, chewy bite. There’s just the right amount of raisins to add flavor without overpowering the cookies.
- Made with pantry staples. These cookies are easy to make with pantry ingredients, and you can customize them with chopped nuts, chocolate chips, or even a splash of maple syrup.
- No chilling needed! You can scoop and bake the dough right away, so you’re only minutes away from warm, fresh cookies.
Ingredient Notes
These are the key ingredients you’ll need to make these thick and chewy, old-fashioned oatmeal cookies with raisins. Scroll down to the recipe card for the full, printable recipe card with amounts and detailed instructions.
- Butter – This should be cold from the fridge, and you’ll soften the butter slightly in the microwave before you cream it with the sugar.
- Brown and Granulated Sugar – I use both brown sugar and granulated sugar for more moisture. It makes these cookies soft and chewy with just the right amount of crisp around the edges.
- Oats – Rolled oats are best for cookies, and give them more chewiness. If you only have quick oats, you can still use them. Quick oats tend to absorb more moisture and get a little mushier. Like the flour, weighing the oats is also important, as scooping oats gives you different measurements every time.
- All-purpose Flour – For best results, use a kitchen scale to follow the weight measurements listed in the recipe. Too much or too little flour can affect both texture and spread. See how to measure flour correctly.
- Cinnamon – You could also add nutmeg, ginger, or cardamom.
- Raisins – These can be black raisins, golden raisins (Sultanas), or currants.
About Soaking Raisins
Readers have mentioned that for extra juiciness, they soak the raisins for 10-15 minutes in hot water before stirring them into the cookie dough. You could also build the flavor by soaking the raisins in rum or brandy overnight for a boozy twist. You’ll want to remove the extra moisture from these by laying them on a towel after soaking.
Note that I have not tested this and do not make my cookies this way, as some readers have reported it caused the cookies to spread.
Tips for the Best Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Start with cold butter. I use cold butter that’s been softened just slightly in the microwave. It’s still cooler than room temperature but soft enough to cream with the sugar. If your butter is too warm, your cookies will spread more.
- Use old-fashioned oats. This recipe is written for old-fashioned rolled oats. Quick oats absorb more moisture and can make the cookies mushy, which can lead to more spreading.
- Weigh the ingredients. The flour, sugar and oats are important ingredients that should be weighed using a kitchen scale. This recipe is based on 140g/1 cup of all-purpose flour.
- Line your baking sheets. I recommend parchment paper or silicone baking mats. These are game changers for cookie baking. It helps the cookies from burning on the bottom or edges.
- Don’t overbake. You’ll pull these cookies from 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 the cookies on your baking sheet for several minutes, and they will continue to finish baking as they cool.
How to Make Classic Oatmeal Raisin Cookies From Scratch
Follow along with this easy oatmeal raisin cookies recipe, step-by-step.
- Combine the butter and sugar. First, microwave the cold butter for 10-15 seconds, until it’s softened to about 70ºF. Then, cream the butter with both sugars until it’s thick and sandy. Next, add the eggs and vanilla.
- Add the dry ingredients. Whisk the flour, oats, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda together in a separate bowl so they’re evenly incorporated. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet dough. Before they’re fully mixed, fold in the raisins. Be careful not to overmix the cookie dough.
- Scoop the dough. Now, use a large cookie scoop to portion these oatmeal raisin drop cookies onto a lined baking sheet. Leave about 2 inches of space between each cookie.
- Bake. Bake these oatmeal raisin cookies at 350ºF for 11-13 minutes. I recommend baking one pan at a time on the middle rack of your oven for even baking.
- Cool. The cookies should be slightly underbaked in the centers, but not wet or gooey when they come out of the oven. Afterward, cool the cookies for 10 minutes on the baking sheet before moving them to a wire rack.
Why Are My Oatmeal Cookies Flat? (And How to Fix It)
Cookies will spread for a few reasons, the main ones being oven temperature and butter that’s too warm. If you have experienced cookies that over-spread or are concerned, here are my suggestions on how to avoid it and how to fix it.
I suggest baking one or two “tester” cookies and see how they turn out. If your first batch of oatmeal raisin cookies spreads too much, try adding an extra ¼ cup of flour or oats, and rebake a couple of test cookies. While chilling the dough is not required, if the butter was too warm, try chilling the dough for 30 minutes before baking the next round. Also, consider trying a different pan (some materials run hotter than others).
Fix Cookies That Spread
If your cookies come out a little misshapen, take an angled spatula, a cookie spatula, or a knife and push the edges of the cookies back towards the center. Do this right when you pull them out of the oven. This makes a nice round shape and also helps keep the center nice and puffy.
How to Store
- Keep the cookies airtight. Store these chewy oatmeal raisin cookies 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.
- Freeze the baked cookies. These oatmeal cookies 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.
- Freeze the cookie dough. You can also portion the cookie dough into balls and pre-freeze the unbaked cookies on a baking sheet. Transfer the frozen cookie dough to a freezer bag and freeze it for up to 2 months. When it’s time to bake, thaw the cookie dough in the fridge beforehand.
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 classic homemade oatmeal raisin cookies! They’re soft and chewy, packed with warm cinnamon, brown sugar, and juicy raisins.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, cold
- 1 ½ cups 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) old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 tablespoon (7g) ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon (5g) 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. The butter temperature should be around 70°F. Combine the softened butter with the brown and granulated sugar. Beat on medium speed until well combined, 2-3 minutes, resembling a thick sand texture.
- 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 the 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 underbaked 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
- Flour measurements: This recipe is based on 140g/1 cup of flour. Weighing the flour is the most accurate way to follow the recipe.
- 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. Weighing the oats in important because scooping oats gives you different measurements every time.
- Test batch- If you’re concerned about cookies spreading, bake one or two and see how it turns out. If you have flat cookies, add 1/4 cup more flour or oats, try another test batch. Also consider trying a different pan
- 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 baking.
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
About how many cookies does this recipe make?
24 cookies, as listed in the recipe card
DELICIOUS 😋 The perfect oatmeal cookie
You nailed this one 🙌🙌🙌
Wonderful!! Thank you Denise!
I made these today and they are wonderful. My dough was soft (pretty sure my butter was too warm), so I put the tray of scooped cookies in the freezer for 10 minutes, baked them for 15 minutes and they looked beautiful. I did a mix of raisins and chocolate covered raisins for fun, tasted awesome!! Thank you, recipe has been moved to my keeper file!!
Thank you Barbie, that’s wonderful! I will have to give the chocolate covered raisins a try sometime
The cookies are Amazing! The only thing I would do is change the printing of the recipe. After each step, if your adding ingredients, I would print underneath the step the ingredients. That way you don’t have to scroll up and down and possibly lose your place in the recipe. Just a suggestion! Cookies are still good. Don’t change the Ingredients!!
Hi Vanna, thanks for your feedback. I’ve followed up with you via email. I am glad you enjoyed these cookies!
These cookies are the best oatmeal raisin cookies I have ever made I cut down on the sugar slightly and used Dark brown sugar as it was all I had they turned out perfect.❤️❤️
Wow Loretta! Thank you so much!!
Wonderful texture and taste. Easy to follow recipe! Thank you! Definitely a keeper!
Thank you so much Sabrina!
Literally the best oatmeal raisin cookie I’ve ever made, possibly the best cookie of any variety. Thank you!
Yaaaas! Thank you Sharry!
I just made these cookies last night and they turned out great! In fact, my husband said they were the best cookies I’ve ever made. Not the just the best Oatmeal Raisin mind you, the best COOKIE! (Note: we’ve been married for 25 years and I’ve baked A LOT of cookies over those years 😀). Thanks for the great recipe. I’ve already saved this in my “best of the best” folder and will definitely be using it as my only oatmeal raisin cookie recipe.
That is so freaking cool Lesa! Thank you so much!!
5 stars all the way, I added a little touch of nutmeg as well and my husband and I had to have 2 right away, this is soup for the soul – nothing like warm oatmeal cookies on a snowy day ❄️🍪
Yes! Thank you Erika! I am so glad to hear that!!
These are the best oatmeal raisin cookies I have ever had. When me and my daughter first made these, we accidentally added one cup of flour instead of two, but they turned out better than the original. We actually kept the recipe but changed it to one cup flour instead of two. We are making them again for the second time today, they are so amazing. Highly recommend!
Thank you Gretchen! So glad you enjoyed them!
Best oatmeal raisin cookie
I’ve ever had!!! If anyone has issues with this recipe then they’re doing something wrong. It’s the easiest recipe to follow and the results are absolutely amazing!!!!!!’Thanks
Thank you Tonya! Glad you enjoyed this recipe!
I just made these! They arr absolutely delicious and so moist. Definitely a keeper!
That’s wonderful Carla, thank you!!
These are the best oatmeal raisin cookies I ever made. My grandson was visiting for a long weekend and oatmeal raisin cookies are his favorite. I lost the old recipe I had and boy am I glad I did. He loved them. Made a couple of adjustments by adding a half cup of chopped pecans and a 1/4 tsp. Of baking powder, I also backed off the salt since my butter was salted. Just perfect. Thank for sharing.
Pecan are a great addition! Thank you for sharing!
My new go-to Oatmeal cookie recipe. I love how these turned out. Chewy center and crispy edges.
I added cranberries and pecans to the mixture. Soo delicious!
Love to hear that! Thank you!
My large cookie scoop let me have 36 of these wonderful cookies! I will share your recipe with other
These turned out wonderful!! Wish I could show you a picture of how big and beautiful they are. I added a half cup of walnuts! Thanks for the recipe!❤️
That’s amazing Sheila, thank you! You can always email me a photo! I’d love to see it.
I looked fir a recipe online today. I found this one snd followed it to a tea! I got 31 excellent size cookies! These cookies are amazing! I have tried so many supposedly soft and chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies in my 74 years. These outdo every recipe I have tried, so soft and chewy! The flavour is scrumptious! My husband loves them! Thank you for sharing!
Hi Judi, oh my word, wow! thank you so much!!
These are wonderful! We added a few mini chocolate chips as well. Perfect at Denver altitude.
Thank you!
That’s wonderful! Thank you Kerri!
I was looking for a good recipe for Oatmeal Raisin cookies when I came across this recipe. I was terribly disappointed, I followed the recipe, and they turned out terrible. They ran together on the cookie sheet, and took 15 minutes.
I feel like I wasted a lot of ingredients ( which are expensive) just to have these cookies flop.
Hi Evelyn, I absolutely understand the frustration of when a recipe doesn’t work the way you imagined. Wasting ingredients stinks. However, something doesn’t seem right here. The only reason the cookies would run together is if the butter was to warm (as in already starting to melt), or the dry ingredients were not properly measured, or something extra was added to offset the ratio of wet to dry ingredients. As you can see from the hundreds of reviews here (and hundreds more on Pinterest), the recipe does work and is quite popular. If you’d like to share a little more with me, I can try to help troubleshoot.
Mine were too flat also. The salt was too much and baking soda too little. I wonder if the amounts were reversed. I was really looking forward to a good old fashioned oatmeal raisin cookie and ended up with disappointment. I’m surprised it worked for others.
Hi Mare- I am not surprised it worked for others because it’s a well-tested recipe and the base is used across many other oatmeal cookie recipes on my website. There are dozens and dozens of reviews on here from people who’ve made the recipe successfully and enjoyed it, and a hundred more reviews on Pinterest. Many factors are involved when baking at home. It’s incredibly frustrating when recipes don’t work out. Elevation and humidity play a factor, types of ingredients come into play, and sometimes I just plain forget to add an ingredient, or don’t measure something correctly. The other day I made 3 batches of my sugar cookies and I was doubling the recipe, I forgot to double the baking soda but didn’t realize until the dough was already done. I am just saying that things happen.
This was a delicious cookie! Too delicious as a matter of fact!!! I’m eating too many!!!
I often have that “problem” 🙂 thank you so much!
Easy to follow recipe! These were super good & im not even an oatmeal raisin fan. I did take a couple liberties lol. I added chopped pecans, nutmeg & clove because I was in a very fall mood. Definitely give this recipe a try!
Love those liberties! Thank you for sharing!
I made these and used cranberries instead of raisins and they were delicious
Yes! I love that Lynne! When I make them with cranberries I also love to add white chocolate chips!
Just saying this recipe is the BOMB!!!
Made exactly as it said. My husband is a huge oatmeal raisin cookie fan and requested I make these. I can’t wait for him to try these. No more store bought cookies for him. Thank you for sharing!
That is amazing! Thank you so much for sharing!