The Easiest Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

These soft, chewy, incredibly easy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are made in one bowl with no mixer required, using simple ingredients like old-fashioned oats, melted butter, brown sugar, and cozy spices. No chilling needed for this simple 30 minute oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe. Use chopped chocolate for extra chocolatey puddles, and don’t forget a sprinkle of sea salt on top!

A one bowl, no mixer, 30 minute recipe

For years, my easy chocolate chip cookie recipe has been one of the most popular recipes on this website, and so many of you make it over and over again just like I do. It’s not hard to see why – a one bowl, no mixer, no chill recipe for 24 cookies in 30 minutes? You just can’t beat it.

So it was only a matter of time before I created an oatmeal chocolate chip version of the recipe. It took several months to refine the ratios in recipe development and testing, but now — now, it’s perfect. And way better than oatmeal raisin cookies, in my opinion!

Ingredients

We’re keeping it simple with the ingredients here because when you want cookies at 9 p.m. on a Tuesday, you’re not messing around with browning butter and sifting flour and doing all the things. No siree.

• Unsalted butter
• Brown sugar – light or dark will work!
• Egg
• Vanilla extract
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Baking soda
• Salt
• All-purpose flour
• Old-fashioned rolled oats or quick oats (but NOT steel cut oats!)
• Chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, or chopped chocolate (it melts into glorious chocolate pools in the oven!)
• Sea salt on top if you’re feeling fancy

How to make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (the easy way)

Like other recipes in my easiest baking recipe series, these chocolate chip oatmeal cookies are made in one bowl and no mixer is needed. Here are the step by step instructions — spoiler alert, it’s a short list:

1. Melt the butter in a large bowl (or melt separately and pour into a large bowl), then whisk in wet ingredients: brown sugar, egg, vanilla, and baking soda and spices until well-combined and smooth.
2. Stir in the dry ingredients (flour and oats) until a dough is formed. It’s a soft dough – don’t be concerned!
3. Fold in the chocolate chips or chopped chocolate.
4. Scoop or spoon onto a parchment-lined baking sheet (I recommend this cookie scoop!). Add extra chocolate chips or chunks on top of each dough ball to make them look like my photos.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes on parchment paper lined baking sheets.
6. Sprinkle sea salt on top after baking, to taste. Cool on a wire rack and devour!

Recipe Tips

1. Weigh your flour using a food scale. This is my most important tip for success for chewy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (and all cookie recipes). I cannot stress enough how important it is to accurately measure your flour for consistent, excellent results, and weight is the most accurate way.
   • NOTE: A cup of flour weighs 125 grams, and when you measure it using a scale, it will always be 125 grams. Different brands of measuring cups are slightly different sizes. Plus, it’s too easy to pack the flour into a measuring cup, making your cup 140 or 150 grams — which could lead to dry cookies instead of chewy cookies. And what a sad day that would be.
2. Use old-fashioned oats (aka rolled oats) in oatmeal cookie recipes, not steel cut oats. Steel cut oats will not cook through during baking and your cookies would be inedible! Quick oats will work in a pinch, but won’t have the same chewy texture as rolled oats.

Storing & Freezing Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

• Room Temperature: Store baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Not that they’ll last that long, if my house is any indication.
• Refrigerator: store cookies in an airtight container for up to 10 days in the fridge.
• Freezer:
  • Baked oatmeal chocolate chip cookies can be frozen, tightly wrapped in plastic and stored in a freezer bag, for up to 3 months.  Simply thaw at room temperature for an hour or heat in the microwave for 30 seconds to serve. 
  • Oatmeal cookie dough can also be frozen and baked later: scoop dough onto a flat surface like a plate or baking sheet, and place in the freezer for an hour.  Then store frozen cookie dough balls in a freezer-safe bag to be baked whenever cookie cravings strike!  Bake from frozen for 12 minutes at 350 degrees F, or 14 minutes if you like them crispy on the edges.

I like to keep cookie dough on hand in the freezer for cookie emergencies. It’s a real thing.

Additions & Substitutions

• Spices: you can omit the spices entirely, or add 1/4 tsp of others like ginger, cloves, or cardamom for a spicier flavor
• Mix-ins: feel free to substitute 1/2 cup (~85g) raisins or dried cranberries, chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans would be great), or a mixture of all in place of the chocolate chips. I like to use both chocolate and nuts sometimes!
• Egg: can be replaced by 1 flax egg (1 tablespoon ground flaxseed + 2.5 tablespoons water) or 1/4 cup applesauce or yogurt
• Gluten-free: you can replace the all-purpose flour with an equal amount of oat flour or all-purpose gluten-free flour (1 and 1/4 cups or 155g). 
• Vegan: use plant-based butter, and use a flax egg in place of the chicken egg. Make sure to use a vegan chocolate too.

More Easy Cookie Recipes

• The Easiest Chocolate Chip Cookies
• The Easiest Peanut Butter Cookies
• Flourless Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Anzac Biscuits – the oatmeal cookie’s cool Australian cousin!
• S’mores Chocolate Chip Cookies

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