Vegan Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
These Vegan Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies are extra soft, thick, chewy, and studded with gooey chocolate morsels!
These chocolate chip oatmeal cookies are reminiscent of the old favorite oatmeal chocolate cookie recipes you may have grown up with. They are soft, tender cookies with a nice chew and tons of flavor!
You can share them with friends, family, and co-workers with confidence, and I bet they wouldn’t even guess that they’re vegan. I love introducing easy transitional recipes, especially desserts, and this is one of them.
So I hope you enjoy this recipe, making them often to share. Serve with a nice chilled glass of non-dairy milk, and watch them disappear!
And FYI, they make great gifts all boxed up with a bow!
Ingredients You’ll Need
Here’s everything you’ll need, plus ideas on making substitutions when needed:
- Oats – old-fashioned or quick oats work here.
- Flour – light spelt flour, all-purpose, oat, pastry, and white whole wheat flour are great too.
- Sugar – Use coconut sugar or organic cane sugar – I used coconut sugar here.
- Cinnamon – optional, but adds great flavor.
- Baking soda – baking powder works in a pinch too.
- Salt – just a pinch, or make it optional
- Coconut oil – use room temp, also vegan butter works well. For oil-free try unsweetened applesauce!
- Banana or flax eggs – I love using banana, but the flax is good too.
- Unsweetened almond milk or pure maple syrup – either one, use maple for a sweeter cookie.
- Vanilla extract – adds a lovely flavor. I ♡ Ashlae of Oh Lady Cakes Vanilla!
- Dark chocolate chips (Ghirardelli 72% or Enjoy Life)
How To Make Vegan Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
There’s only a few steps needed for homemade soft, thick and chewy vegan cookies:
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Combine the wet ingredients first. In a large bowl, stir the sugar and coconut oil until creamy smooth. Stir in vanilla and banana/flax egg until light and blend well.
- Stir in the dry ingredients. Add in flour, baking soda, and salt, and mix well (above left). Next, stir in oats and chocolate chips (below left).
- Scoop and bake. Scoop up large rounded tablespoons of dough and place them on a cookie sheet lined with a silicone mat or parchment paper, about 1 1/2 – 2 inches apart (below right). Bake in the oven for 10 – 13 minutes.
Once your cookies cool, you’re ready to enjoy!
Recommended Equipment: I love this silpat or parchment paper to line my baking sheets. And using a 3 tablespoon trigger cookie scoop (<affiliate links) helps keep the cookies uniform when scooping.
Tips For Baking Cookies
- Scoop flour with a spoon. When measuring flour, never scoop it out of the bag or container with the measuring cup. Instead, spoon it into your measuring cup and level it off with the back of a knife.
- Don’t overbake! To achieve a deliciously super soft and chewy texture, slightly underbake the cookies. Over-baked oatmeal cookies tend to be dry and hard, losing their chewy texture. I usually cook these cookies for 11 -12 min max., but ovens vary, so adjust as necessary. When ready, cookies will look brown around the edges and look a bit undone on top but will change appearance after a few minutes of cooling and be perfect.
- Use a trigger cookie scoop. The oatmeal cookie dough is soft, chunky, and pretty sticky. Use a cookie scoop to keep the mess to a minimum while also keeping the cookies uniform in shape, which helps them bake evenly.
- This recipe can easily be cut in half or doubled if needed.
How To Store
Oatmeal cookies can be stored in an airtight container on the counter for 5 days. They’ll keep longer if stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks and up to 2- 3 months in the freezer.
Can I Freeze Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies?
Absolutely! To freeze baked cookies, let them cool completely, then place them in the freezer on a cookie sheet until frozen. Once frozen, place the cookies in freezer bags or freezer-safe containers with parchment paper between the layers. Freeze cookies for up to 3 months.
To freeze unbaked cookies, place the shaped cookie dough balls on a baking sheet and freeze until solid. Next, place frozen dough balls in a freezer bag or freezer-safe container. When ready to bake, no thawing needed, place the frozen dough on a lined baking sheet and bake for 12 – 15 minutes.
More Vegan Cookie Recipes!
- 1 Bowl Peanut Butter Cookies
- Vegan Snickerdoodles
- Almond Butter Cookies with only 4 ingredients
- Almond Flour Salted Pecan Sandies with chocolate chips
- Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Coconut Macaroons
If you try this vegan cookie recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment and rate it below. I love to hear what you think, or any changes you make.
PrintVegan Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
A classic chocolate chip oatmeal cookie made vegan. It’s a true crowd-pleaser that’s so easy and delicious!
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 20 min
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: Makes 24 cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert, Cookie
- Method: bake
- Cuisine: American, Vegan
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (156g) coconut oil, at room temp (use vegan butter or unsweetened applesauce)
- 3/4 cup (150g) coconut sugar or organic cane sugar
- 1/2 large banana, mashed (or 2 flax eggs, see instructions)
- 1/4 cup (60ml) unsweetened almond milk or pure maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups (153g) spelt flour (all-purpose, pastry, oat and white whole wheat ok too)*
- 1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda (baking powder also works)
- generous pinch of salt
- 2 1/2 cups (240g) oats, old fashioned or quick
- 1 cup (175g) dark chocolate or carob chips (I love Enjoy Life)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Flax eggs: If using flax eggs, in a small bowl combine 2 tablespoons flaxseed meal + 6 tablespoons water. Set aside for at least 10 minutes to gel up. If using banana, in small bowl mash your banana as smooth as possible, set aside.
Cream together oil & sugar: In a large mixing bowl, combine coconut oil and sugar, mix well, making sure there are no lumps of oil.
Add wet ingredients: Add in mashed banana/flax egg, non-dairy milk or maple syrup, and vanilla.
Add dry ingredients: Add the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt, mix well to combine scraping the bottom to make sure there are no flour clumps. Add in the oats and mix well. Lastly, add in chocolate chips, mix again.
Scoop dough: Line a cookie/baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper. Scoop out rounded tablespoons of mixture and place on baking sheet about 1 1/2 inches apart.
Bake: Place baking sheet in the oven and bake for 10 – 13 minutes, until lightly browned around the edges. Remove from oven, let cool a few minutes and enjoy.
Makes approx. 24 cookies
Store: Cookies can be stored in an airtight container on the counter for 5 days. They’ll keep longer if stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. You can freeze your cookies for up to 2 months (see notes).
Notes
*If baking with grams, flours vary widely, see this guide for flour conversions: Ingredient Weight Chart
Adjust the sugar amount to suit your taste. These would still be great but a little less sweet using 1/2 – 2/3 cup sugar, especially if using the maple syrup.
Try adding 1 tablespoon molasses for another layer of flavor.
When measuring flour, never scoop it out of the bag or container with the measuring cup. Instead, spoon it into your measuring cup and level it off with the back of a knife.
To achieve a delicious super soft and chewy texture, just slightly under bake the cookies. Over-baked oatmeal cookies tend to be hard, losing their chewy texture.
I usually cook these cookies for 10 min. max., but ovens vary so you may need an extra minute or two. Cookies will look slightly underdone after 10 minutes, but will change appearance after a few minutes of cooling and be perfect.
The dough is soft, chunky, and pretty sticky. Using a cookie scoop will keep the mess to a minimum. It also keeps the cookies uniform, helping them to bake evenly.
This recipe can easily be cut in half, or doubled, if needed.
How To Freeze Cookies:
To freeze baked cookies, let them cool completely, then place them in the freezer on a cookie sheet sheet until frozen. Once frozen, place the cookies in freezer bags or freezer safe container with parchment paper between the layers. Freeze cookies for up to 3 months.
To freeze unbaked cookies, simply place the shaped cookie dough balls on a baking sheet and freeze until solid. Place frozen dough balls in a freezer bag or freezer safe container. When ready to bake, no thawing needed, simply place the frozen dough on a lined baking sheet and bake for 12 – 15 minutes.
Recommended Equipment: I love this silpat or parchment paper to line my baking sheets. And using a 3 tablespoon trigger cookie scoop (affiliate links) helps keep the cookies uniform when scooping.
Updated: This post was first published in May 2014 and updated in Aug. 2019 with new photos and helpful tips. The recipe was modified reducing the oats to 2 1/2 cups instead of 3 cups. Enjoy the updated recipe and let me know what you think!
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I made these last night. They’re so good! I use the flax egg option and also ended up using agave. because thats what I had on hand. I followed the rest of the instructions. They’re not overly sweet. I did the tablespoon scoops; I recommend you to flatten the a bit; as they didn’t spread like regular cookie dough when I left them in the 1 tablespoon ball shape. SO just shape them how you want them to bake or flatten them. bit. Other than that, they were really good!
My cookies were dry! :-( followed the recipe but used jumbo oats (that was all I had) maybe that had something to do with it. So sad all the ingredients are going to waste! The dough was tasty though.
Sorry for the delay, I swear I replied but it isn’t showing… Anyhow, hmm, using jumbo oats shouldn’t have made them dry. Not sure what it could’ve been. At least the dough was good! I suppose in that situation you could add a little non-dairy milk to add some moisture, or save the dough in the fridge and scoop it out when you want some cookie dough. So sorry they didn’t work for you.
I also had this recipe turn out BEYOND DRY when I followed the directions EXACTLY. Even my husband went over what I had done and couldn’t find anywhere I had gone wrong. I ended up having to add more wet ingredients even to be able to anything at all with this recipe and they turned out awful. This is the first time I’ve followed a recipe that’s turned out badly. You should reconsider the flour measurements immediately, as they are incorrect by a long shot.
I found this recipe back in July and I make them constantly! I have my family making them too and none of us are vegan (but I am dairy free). I use whole wheat flour, applesauce, banana, coconut sugar and this time tried pumpkin pie spice instead of cinnamon and it’s very faint but I love it! How could I make these with more of a pumpkin flavor? :) thanks!
Made these with spelt flour and the oats as described in the recipe. Came out looking exactly like the picture! Made half with carob chips and half with stevia dark chocolate chips. Yummy!
Yumm!!! These cookies are good. However, I know I still have to eat them sparingly since coconut oil is a saturated fat, just does not cause inflammation like animal fat.
Just made these and they are the BOMB!
So tasty, easy to make and quick to bake :)
Used coconut sugar/almond milk/oat flour/flax eggs.
This is my go to recipe for cookies when the craving strikes!
I just made these and they are DELICIOUS…I mean…WOW !!! I had all the ingredients on hand..and how perfect is it that its like basic ingredients most people probably have & don’t even realize it..well vegans/vegetarians probably lol…anyway THANK YOU so much!! I can’t wait to make something savory from here.
Does it taste like banana when you use a banana?
Sheila: it didn’t taste like banana when I did it.
I tried with flax eggs, and it did not taste so good. the only good thing about it was the chocolate chips.
So I made it with gluten free 1-1 flour, and it got a little dry. So if someone is using a different flour than the one you used, I recommend to at least do 1/2 a cup of almond milk(thats what I end up using and it was perfect). It is an amazing recipe, they are delicious!
So glad you loved them!
Thank you for taking the time to share your notes. It is much appreciated! Cheers :)
thank you!! These ARE damn delicious! I used large flake (regular) oats, a banana, and added both raisins and chocolate chips. So yummy!!!
So glad you agree. Your additions sound perfect! :)
I had to throw out my batch :( I don’t suggest using regular oats unless you grind them up a bit before adding to the mix. Quick oats would work much better, but I didn’t have any :(
Hmm, so sorry your batch didn’t turn out! Nothing is worse than spending time and it doesn’t work well. I’ve used regular oats without any issues but you just never know, sometimes it just doesn’t work. I’m wondering if they seemed to dry? If so, a splash or so of non-dairy milk would help with that. Hope you try them again. They really are delicious!