It's a super easy, one-bowl recipe for old-fashioned oatmeal chip cookies that comes together quickly. You can have freshly baked cookies in 30 minutes or freeze the cookie dough for later.
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After trying different recipes for years, I found a favorite, straightforward recipe that delivers chewy oatmeal cookies. Adding semisweet chips (or chunks, even better!) takes them to another level of sweetness and flavor.
It makes them a sibling to our popular oatmeal chocolate chip walnut cookies and a cousin to another of my treasured carmelitas bars. It all stays in the family.
I like to underbake them slightly and eat them warm. This creates a gooey cookie with melting chips, which is a tad messy but so yummy!
- Very easy to make: you simply mix the ingredients in one bowl. I recommend an electric mixer to make the process easier and faster, but you can make them by hand with a whisk, a large bowl, and some arm muscle.
- Flavor: the mix of sugars and butter makes delicious cookies. They have a caramel undertone and just enough sweetness to let the flavors of the oats and chips come through.
- Chewy texture: if stored properly, the texture remains wonderful for a few days. The key is baking them until they are slightly soft in the center.
- Make ahead: you can keep the cookie dough refrigerated for up to a day before baking it. Or freeze the unbaked cookie balls for up to a month and bake them directly; no need to thaw them!
Ingredients
Quantities are listed in the recipe card towards the end of this post. The Ingredients page has more details and lists the brands we use.
- Oats: Rolled oats (traditional or old-fashioned oats) are my favorite for this recipe because they have more texture than instant oats. But they both work well.
- Sugar: white granulated sugar and brown sugar are used in this recipe.
- Milk: I use whole milk, but you can use low-fat or almond milk.
- Baking soda: make sure it's not expired.
- Chocolate chips: use your favorite semisweet chips.
One of my favorite things about this oatmeal cookie recipe is that the base mixture (similar to chocolate chip cookies) is simple to make.
- Mixers: using an electric or stand mixer with the paddle attachment will make this process much easier. The cookie dough must be mixed for several minutes in the beginning, which is harder to do by hand.
- Creaming: the butter must be soft (not greasy or starting to melt) and mixed with the sugar until very creamy. Add the sugars gradually to incorporate better, especially if using a handheld electric mixer.
- Adding the egg: don't overlook this step, and take the time to beat it for several minutes. It will help the cookies' texture and shape. The dough should be soft and creamy. After this step, add the rest of the wet ingredients (milk and vanilla).
- Adding the flour mixture: also called dry ingredients, includes flour, salt, and baking soda. Add them at low speed. We don't want to develop the gluten in the flour, so it needs to be mixed until well incorporated, but no more than that.
- Preheated oven: ensure it's at the right temperature when you put in the cookies.
- Cookie sheets: I recommend turning the baking pan around (back to front) halfway through baking so the cookies bake better. Ovens transfer heat differently, and this is the easiest way to bake them evenly, especially if you use a large baking sheet.
- Preparing the pan: After years of baking homemade cookies, I butter the pan lightly. It works well for me, but you can use parchment paper, a silicone mat, or some other type of lining.
- Should you slightly flatten the tops before baking? If you're making them right away, it's not necessary. If you refrigerate the dough for several hours or days and you like soft, chewy cookies, I recommend it because it will be firmer and drier (the oats will have absorbed more liquid), so they might not expand well and take too long to bake fully.
- How long you should bake them depends on the texture you like. I like chewy cookies with crisp edges, so I underbake them a tiny bit and take them out when the center is still very soft. For crunchier cookies all around, bake them for a few minutes more, depending on the size. You can do a test run and bake a few cookies first to find your sweet spot regarding baking time and texture.
Topping
You can add extra chocolate chips before baking or the second the cookies are out of the oven.
It adds another fantastic layer of flavor. It also makes the cookies a little messy to eat if they're still warm, but that's part of the fun.
Freezing individual cookies allows you to make a large batch of dough and freshly bake them as needed.
It takes 3 simple steps:
- Measure and freeze: Pretend you're about to bake them, measure them (with a cookie scoop), and place them on a cookie sheet. There is no need to leave much space between them. Pop the cookie sheet into the freezer.
- Transfer to a bag: Once the raw cookie balls are frozen rock solid, transfer them to a plastic bag or freezer container. That way, the cookie sheet won't be stuck in the freezer until you decide to bake.
- Bake straight from the freezer: When you want fresh oatmeal walnut cookies, take the number of frozen cookie balls you want to bake, place them on a cookie sheet, and bake them as directed in the recipe below. They might take an extra minute or two to bake due to their freezing temperature.
Kitchen notes
- Organization: Read the recipe first and ensure you have ingredients at the right temperatures, equipment needed, and enough workspace. This will make the process so much easier!
- Baking time: Keep in mind that all ovens and pans are different, even if they look the same or very similar. The baking time in my recipes is as accurate as it can be, but it might take you more or less time. Use a thermometer inside the oven (like the OXO oven thermometer) to check that the temperature is right. I recommend keeping track of how your oven works and what tiny details you might need to adjust.
- Measuring the cookies: Use an ice cream or cookie scoop so that your cookies bake evenly. Leave roughly a 1- or 2-inch separation between each (depending on the size) so they can spread comfortably during baking.
- Refrigerating the dough: I don't chill it; I bake the cookies directly, and the texture is fantastic. But the type of oats you use might differ from mine, as they can vary depending on what part of the world you live in and what brand you buy. You should not have issues using quick-cooking oats because they hydrate quickly. With rolled oats, I recommend you test-bake a few cookies first and see how they come out. Letting the dough rest from 1 hour to a day will help to make moister and softer cookies. The oats will soften with the extra hydration time.
- Batching and freezing: Make a large batch (double this recipe) and freeze them. It will save you time and always have freshly baked oatmeal cookies.
- Flavorings: To boost the flavor of these cookies, add ground nutmeg, orange zest, or a tablespoon of Frangelico or some other nut liqueur. Use only dark brown sugar for soft cookies with a hint of molasses.
- Storing: Cookie jars or tins are ideal for keeping cookies, but plastic bags can also work well.
- Variations and substitutions: For a sweeter cookie, use half dark chocolate chips and half milk chocolate chips or white chocolate chips. Use dried fruit to make white chocolate cranberry cookies or chocolate chip walnut oat cookies.
Other uses
- Run out of granola? Crumble a few of these over your bowl of yogurt and fruit.
- Want to play around with your crumble recipes? Omit the milk in the recipe and use this cookie dough as a topping for apple crumb bars, raspberry apple bars or cherry crumble.
- Make sandwich cookies: if you make small-sized cookies, you can fill them with dulce de leche and have awesome alfajores cookies.
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Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
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It's a super easy, one-bowl recipe for old-fashioned oatmeal chip cookies that comes together quickly. You can have freshly baked cookies in 30 minutes or freeze the cookie dough for later.
Ingredients
- 3 cups traditional rolled oats
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- ¾ cup white sugar
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 3 tablespoons whole milk, at room temperature
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract, or 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
- 1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips, or chocolate chunks
- extra chocolate chips, for topping, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Butter cookie sheets or line them with parchment paper.
- Beat ¾ cup unsalted butter in a large mixing bowl until smooth, about 20 seconds. Gradually add ¾ cup light brown sugar and ¾ cup white sugar and beat for 2 minutes, until creamy, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add 1 egg and beat at medium speed for 3 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl a few times. Add 3 tablespoons whole milk and 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract. Mix until incorporated.
- Add the sifted 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon baking soda and ¼ teaspoon salt to the butter mixture. Mix at low speed just until well blended and no dry spots remain. Don't overbeat at this point.
- Stir in 3 cups traditional rolled oats in two parts so they're easier to incorporate.
- Add 1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips and mix well. I use a rubber or silicon spatula for this part. Make sure no flour remains in the bottom of the bowl. At this point, the cookie dough can be refrigerated for up to a day. See note below.
- Scoop out portions onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving space between them, an inch or two, depending on the size of the cookie. Add a few extra chocolate chips to each cookie dough ball if you want to. Flatten them slightly with my fingertips so they bake faster with soft centers. This is important if making larger cookies so there's less chance of the center taking too long to bake while the edges brown too quickly. If you're unsure if you want to flatten them or not, do a test bake with two dough balls, leaving one whole and flattening the other, and see which one you like best.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, depending on the size, until golden brown and still soft in the center. I use a 1.5-inch cookie scoop and bake them for exactly 10 minutes.
- Smack the pan on the counter immediately after you take it out of the oven. It will deflate the cookies a little and help with the texture.
- Sprinkle them immediately with extra chocolate chips and finely chopped walnuts if desired.
- Let them cool on a wire rack before lifting them carefully from the paper and cooling them completely. Once they cool down completely, transfer cookies to jars or an airtight container.
Notes
Baking time: keep in mind that all ovens and pans are different, even if they look the same or very similar. The baking time in my recipes is as accurate as it can be, but it might take you more or less time. Use a thermometer inside the oven to check that the temperature is right. I recommend you keep track of how your oven works and what tiny details you might need to adjust.
Measuring the cookies: Use an ice cream or cookie scoop so that you're cookies bake evenly. Leave roughly a 1 or 2-inch separation between each (depending on the size), so they can spread comfortably during baking.
Refrigerating the dough: I don't chill it, bake the cookies directly, and the texture is fantastic. But the type of oats you use might differ from mine as they can vary depending on what part of the world you live in and what brand you buy. You should not have issues using quick-cooking oats because it hydrates quickly. With rolled oats, I recommend you test-bake a few cookies first and see how they come out.
Should you slightly flatten the tops before baking? If making them right away, it's not necessary. If refrigerating the dough for several hours or days, and you like soft chewy cookies, I recommend it because it will be firmer and drier (the oats will have absorbed more liquid), so they might not expand well and take too long to fully bake.
Batching and freezing: Make a large batch (double this recipe, for example) and freeze them. This will save you time and ensure that you always have freshly baked oatmeal cookies.
Flavorings: To boost the flavor of these cookies, add ground nutmeg, orange zest, or a tablespoon of Frangelico or some other nut liqueur. If you like a sweeter cookie, substitute half of the dark chocolate chips for milk or white chocolate chips. Use dark brown sugar for soft cookies with a hint of molasses.
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