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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Thanks!!! Just tried recipe! I love it and my kids love it! Made with banana and organic spelt flour.
Great recipe! I used the coconut oil, banana and whole wheat flour. I was just a little short on plain oats and substituted the last 1/2 cup with muesli and it was yum! I might try more muesli next time! I’ve made several recipes off of this site with much success… I’m hooked!
Yum! Made these during the Covid-19 stay-at-home period using what I had in the house. Of the options in the recipe, I used Whole Wheat flour, a small frozen banana (thawed and mashed), coconut oil, unsweetened Almond milk, golden sugar, baking powder and added some walnuts without reducing the volume of anything else. I weighed all the ingredients. These are SO GOOD! Not too sweet at all. The dough is sticky but not too hard to handle. I made 17 cookies using a 2T spoon measure and they kept their shape really well. Thanks! I will try more of your recipes. :-)
I subbed out applesauce completely for the oil and they turned out great. Used the banana rather than flaxseed, and spelt flour. I’m planning to make another batch with half of it just raisins (instead of chocolate chips) as that is how hubby fondly remembers oatmeal cookies from childhood. I already added raisins with the chocolate chips last time, so now I want to try them without the chocolate. These are a hit at our house!
Just made these cookies !
Delicious
I made these for a family gathering and they everyone loved them. No one could tell they were vegan. Thank you for the great recipe! xo
So good and allergen son approved! I used banana and vegan butter and all purpose flour as that was all I had on hand. Definitely a keeper! Thank you so much for sharing!
I’ve made these a few times and thought it was time to leave a comment. They are so delicious and everyone I share them with love them too. Keep up the great work!
Hey, these worked great. I seriously love them. Thank you!
My kids love them! They didn’t flatten, but the kids don’t seem to care what shape they are.