Perfect Oatmeal Cookies
- By Amy Dong
- Updated Dec. 12, 2023
Made with simple ingredients and even better than your favorite bakery’s recipe, these simple oatmeal cookies are thick, chewy, and easy to bake for a delicious, crowd-pleasing treat! There are no raisins in these cookies, but add them if you’d like.
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Video: Watch Us Make This recipe
Why This Recipe Stands Out
- Crispy around the edges, soft and chewy in the center, and full of sweet flavor, they’re utterly irresistible.
- Just 10 ingredients are all you need to make this oatmeal cookie recipe.
- They’re fully baked and ready to eat in less than 30 minutes.
- One batch makes 24 cookies, meaning this recipe is great for parties, holiday gifting, bake sales, and everything in between.
- Once baked, leftover cookies keep well, and the dough is easy to freeze.
Key Ingredients
Here are the primary ingredients you’ll need:
- All-purpose flour – This forms the base of the cookies, helping them hold their shape. If desired, feel free to swap out half of the regular all-purpose flour for a whole wheat variety for a boost of extra fiber.
- Spices – Cinnamon and nutmeg provide a subtle warm flavor that balances out the sweetness of the sugar.
- Unsalted butter – Used to add moisture and richness.
- Sugar – A combination of granulated and brown sugars is used to sweeten the dough, providing a caramel-like flavor and keeping it soft and moist.
- Eggs – Room temperature eggs bind the batter together.
- Old-fashioned rolled oats – Unlike other varieties of oats, rolled oats are hearty, toothsome, and bake wonderfully, adding extra texture to these oatmeal cookies.
Substitutions and Variations
We love the simplicity of these easy oatmeal cookies, but feel free to mix and match different ingredients to make the flavor your own. For instance, common add-ins include:
- Dried Fruit or Raisins, as seen in this Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Recipe.
- Chocolate Chips, as we did in our Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Peanut Butter Chips or Peanut Butter: Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
- Butterscotch Chips, like our Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies
- Shredded Coconut Flakes: we use them in Coconut Oatmeal Cookie Balls
- Seasonal M&M’s: we love Monster Cookies.
- Caramel Drizzle: try this 4-Ingredient Salted Caramel Sauce
- Simple Icing: make a pretty drizzle with this Sugar Cookie Icing
Step-By-Step Instructions
- In a bowl, whisk flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg to fully incorporate.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment set to medium speed, beat together the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy, a full 3 minutes.
- Add eggs one at a time and mix until combined. Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredients, beating just until combined. Gently mix in the oats just until combined.
- Roll dough into 2 TB sized balls and place 2 inches apart on lined baking sheets. Gently flatten each ball into a disk shape. Bake at 350F on a lined baking sheet for 13-15 minutes.
For complete list of ingredients and instructions, please see recipe card below.
Pro Baking Tips
Follow the tips below, and these easy oatmeal cookies are a breeze to make. The only hard part is waiting for them to cool before digging in!
- Use Room Temperature Ingredients. Let your ingredients sit out and come to room temperature before combining them together. This allows for easy mixing, creating cookies that are soft and moist.
- Measure Carefully. When it comes to baking, using proper measurements is crucial. For the best results, we recommend using a scale to portion out all of the ingredients. If this is not an option, use the spoon and level method instead, and make sure to pack your brown sugar tightly.
- Beat Carefully. Take your time beating the butter and sugars together until they’re light and fluffy. It will require at least 2-3 minutes of beating but is essential to create the best texture.
- Avoid Over-mixing. Be sure to mix the ingredients just until they are well combined. Continuing to mix will overwork the dough, resulting in tense, tough oatmeal cookies.
- Don’t Over-bake. Keep a close eye on your oven, and remove the cookies as soon as the edges are browned and set. The centers may still look a little underdone, but they will continue to bake and firm up as they cool.
How to Store Oatmeal Cookies
Once baked, these easy oatmeal cookies keep well. Or, you can easily store the dough to make later. As a result, they’re great to prepare in bulk for a satisfying treat! Follow the tips below to keep them fresh.
Room Temperature: Once baked and fully cooled, these oatmeal cookies can be transferred to an airtight container or sealable bag and stored at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Refrigerator: If you want to prepare in advance, you can form the dough, transfer it to a sealable container, and keep it in the fridge for up to 4 days before baking this oatmeal cookie recipe.
Freezer: Both the baked cookies and the dough can be frozen and saved for later. Once assembled, the dough should be wrapped tightly and frozen for up to 3 months. Meanwhile, fully baked cookies can be stored in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 months. Then, thaw them in the fridge. Or, cook the dough from frozen, adding a minute or two of baking time as needed to ensure the oatmeal cookies bake all the way through.
Common Questions
Yes. We recommend using a hand mixer to combine the wet ingredients. Then, use a rubber spatula to gently fold in the oats to avoid overmixing the dough.
No. All-purpose flour contains gluten. However, feel free to swap it out with a 1:1 all-purpose gluten-free flour alternative, and make sure to use oats that are certified gluten-free, if needed.
If your oatmeal cookie recipe turns out hard or tough, it’s likely either because the batter was over-mixed or the cookies were over-baked. Be sure to combine the ingredients just until they’re smooth. Then, keep a close eye on your cookies, and remove them from the oven when the edges are puffy and golden brown and the center still looks just slightly underdone.
Yes, the cookie dough keeps well when wrapped airtight in the fridge. You can make the dough up to a week ahead of time. You may need to let it sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes prior to using, if chilled dough is too firm to work with.
These oatmeal cookies freeze beautifully. Wrap them airtight and keep them in the freezer for 1-2 months. Cookie dough freezes well also.
Though we love these oatmeal cookies just as they are, they’re also delicious with dark chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, or white chocolate chips. You can add raisins or dried cranberries as well.
Did you make this?
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Perfect Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- ½ tsp table salt
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 2 ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- 16 TB unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F with rack on lower middle position. Line baking sheets with parchment and set aside.
- In a bowl, whisk flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg to fully incorporate.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment set to medium speed, beat together the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy, a full 3 minutes.
- Add eggs one at a time and mix until combined. Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredients, beating just until combined; don’t over-mix here. Gently mix in the oats just until combined.
- Roll dough into 2 TB sized balls and place 2 inches apart on lined baking sheets. Gently flatten each ball into a disk shape. Bake 13-15 minutes or just until edges are golden. Cookies will seem a bit under, but they will set upon cooling.
Notes
- For flavor variation and substitutions, see original article for delicious ideas. Also try Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.
- Cookies keep well in an airtight container at mild room temperature for up to 3 days.
- Freeze baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 month.
- Unbaked cookie dough can be wrapped airtight and chilled in the fridge for up to 1 week. You may need to let it sit at room temperature for a bit, before scooping.
- If you enjoyed this recipe and want to keep it on our site, please come back and give it a rating. We ❤️ hearing from you!
Nutrition (per serving)
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- Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies – Why choose between regular chocolate chip and classic oatmeal cookies when you can have both thanks to this recipe?
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