Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

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This classic, quick oatmeal chocolate chip cookies recipe combines hearty rolled oats, cozy brown sugar, and warm hints of cinnamon. Think oatmeal raisin cookies, but better!

After years of testing cookie recipes, I wanted a version that combined that nostalgic oatmeal chew with the rich flavor of a classic chocolate chip cookie. These bake up soft in the middle, crisp at the edges, and perfectly cozy! This is the kind of cookie that disappears faster than you expect — every time.

If you’re looking for a classic, no-oats version, try my soft chocolate chip cookies! They’re chewy, gooey, and one of the most popular recipes on the site.

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Ingredient Notes

Each ingredient for this recipe plays an important role in creating a fun twist on classic chocolate chip cookies. The key ingredients include:

• Oats: Old-fashioned or quick oats work for this recipe, but I recommend old-fashioned oats. They create a heartier and chewier cookie texture and hold their shape better. Oats generally steal moisture (in any recipe), but old-fashioned oats are a little less absorbent than quick oats.
• Chocolate chips: I use semi-sweet chocolate chips, but you can substitute them for the same amount of milk chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, or bittersweet chocolate chips. These swaps will vary the cookie’s sweetness, so keep that in mind. You can also swap them out for chopped nuts — like walnuts or pecans — or raisins at a 1:1 ratio.
• Cinnamon: I love adding a pinch of cinnamon to complement the other flavors, but you can leave it out if you prefer. 
• Sugars: For this recipe, you’ll need granulated sugar and dark brown sugar. The molasses in the dark brown sugar adds a delicious caramel element and helps keep the dough moist.
• Eggs: The eggs and egg yolk add richness and additional moisture. I haven’t found any easy substitutes, but feel free to experiment if needed.  
• Butter: Make sure you’re using room-temperature unsalted butter. Around 67°F is ideal (or even a few degrees cooler). Too warm butter can cause the cookies to overspread and flatten while baking.

Sprinkle of Science

How to Make Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies come together quickly, but a few small details make all the difference between good and perfectly chewy results. Here’s how to make them step by step:

1. Preheat the oven and pans. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line baking sheets with parchment paper. 
2. Combine the dry ingredients. Whisk together all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Mix well to evenly distribute the dry ingredients before mixing with the wet ingredients.
3. Cream the butter and sugars. Beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar on medium-high until the mixture looks smooth and well combined — about a minute or two. 
4. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix until the dough looks cohesive and glossy. 
5. Mix everything together. At low speed, gradually add the flour mixture and beat until it is just combined. Stir in the oats and semisweet chocolate chips. You’ll have a thick, chunky dough.
6. Portion and bake. Portion the dough with a large spring-loaded scoop (about 3 tablespoons). Flatten slightly with the bottom of a measuring cup, and bake 14-15 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. The edges should be lightly golden.
7. Cool. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling racks.

The Perfect Cookie Baking Tips

These are so simple to pull together, and with a few small technique tweaks, your cookies will look just as good as they taste. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Use a digital kitchen scale to measure the flour. It’s easy to accidentally compact the flour with measuring cups. Compacted flour means dry, hard cookies that don’t spread. If you don’t have a scale, use the spoon and level method instead.
• Don’t reduce the sugar! Sugar does more in a recipe than create sweetness — it also affects the moisture, chewiness, and spread. If you decrease the sugar, the cookies will be less sweet, harder, drier, crumblier, and spread far less. I experimented with reducing sugar and found that it resulted in one fewer cookie dough ball.
• Be sure to use unsalted butter at a cool room temperature. Too warm butter can cause the cookies to overspread and flatten while baking. 
• For thicker cookies, put the dough balls in the freezer while the oven preheats. The cooler the dough is when placed in the oven, the thicker and chewier the cookies will turn out. You can also refrigerate the dough balls for up to 2 days before baking — just keep them well-covered and don’t leave them any longer than that! 

For pretty cookies: 

• Use a large spring-loaded cookie scoop to create perfectly round and even dough balls.
• Roll the dough balls between your palms to smooth out, then flatten slightly so they spread evenly.
• Dot the already shaped dough balls with a few more chocolate chips. 
• Bake on a heavy-duty, unlined aluminum half-sheet pan lined with parchment paper for golden brown cookies. 

Check out my giant chocolate chip cookies for even more cookie science and bakery-style tips!

More Cookie Recipes You’ll Love:

• Biscoff Browned Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies 
• Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies 
• Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies 
• Bourbon Rye Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies

How to Make

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

By: Tessa Arias

4.88 from 308 votes

Yield: 24 cookies

Prep Time: 15 minutes mins

Cook Time: 15 minutes mins

Total Time: 30 minutes mins

Review Print

Your new favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe with some new ingredients: hearty rolled oats, rich brown sugar, and a cozy dash of cinnamon.

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Ingredients 

• ▢ 1 ¾ cups (222 grams) all-purpose flour, measured correctly
• ▢ 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt (fine sea salt)
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ▢ 1 ½ sticks (170 grams) unsalted butter, at cool room temperature
• ▢ 1 ¼ cups (250 grams) packed dark brown sugar
• ▢ ¾ cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
• ▢ 2 large eggs plus one egg yolk, at cool room temperature
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 3 cups (297 grams) old-fashioned rolled oats
• ▢ 1 ½ cups (255 grams) semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions 

• Preheat oven to 350°F and line large baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, use a stand mixer to beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar on medium-high speed until smooth and well combined (about 1 to 2 minutes).
• Beat in the eggs and vanilla, and then, on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture and beat until just combined.
• Stir in the oats and chocolate chips.
• Using a large spring-loaded cookie scoop, drop 3-tablespoon-sized balls of dough onto prepared cookie sheets and flatten slightly with the bottom of a measuring cup.
• Bake for 14 to 15 minutes, or until the edges are slightly browned, rotating cookie sheets halfway through. If you prefer a slightly softer cookie, bake for about 12-13 minutes, or until the edges are slightly brown but the middle still looks underdone (it will firm up while cooling).
• Let the cookies cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Show us!If you make this recipe, be sure to snap a picture and share it on Instagram with #handletheheat so we can all see!

Recipe Notes

For softer, chewier cookies, pull them from the oven when the edges just start to brown but the centers still look glossy. They’ll finish cooking from residual heat. That carryover baking gives the cookie a perfectly chewy texture.

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This post was originally published in 2013 and has been updated with recipe improvements, recipe tips, new photos, and a new video. Photography by Ashley McLaughlin.