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I took my popular recipe for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and gave it an upgrade, making the cookies spread less and come out chewier. The final product: a foolproof recipe for thick, chocolatey, chewy oatmeal cookies!
Classic Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Chewier cookies are always best! That’s why I decided to spend some time in the kitchen, tweaking and upgrading my popular baked chocolate oatmeal cookies, making it even better!
If you’ve ever made homemade oatmeal cookies, you may have run into issues with dryness or cookies that spread too much when baking. Not when you use this recipe! In my easy recipe, I use my tried-and-true baking tricks to make sure these don’t spread and are super soft with chewy centers.
Is your mouth watering yet? Because mine is just writing about these. They are that good! Keep reading for the full recipe and my simple tricks to making the perfect chewy cookies!
Why You’ll Love This Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
This is going to become one of your new favorite, save-it-forever, cookie recipes. Here are just a few of the reasons you’ll love this recipe:
- Perfect chewy centers
- Packed with gooey chocolate chips (see my trick below!)
- Made with simple ingredients
- Only 5 easy steps!
- Easy to make gluten-free
- Can be customized easily
Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie Recipe Ingredients
These easy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are made with simple ingredients, most of which you probably already have in your kitchen. Keep reading for my best tips for chewy cookies, and get the full recipe with measurements and ingredients in the recipe card below. Here’s what you’ll need:
- All-purpose flour
- Old-fashioned rolled oats
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Cinnamon
- Salt
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Unsalted butter: room temperature
- Brown sugar: packed
- Granulated sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
How to Make The Best Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
These classic oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are soft and chewy with a gooey center, loads of chocolate, and a hint of cinnamon. Plus, there are just 5 super simple steps in this recipe! Keep reading for all my best tips and tricks and get the full recipe in the recipe card below. Here are the easy steps:
- Mix dry ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, old-fashioned oats, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and 1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips. Reserve the remaining ½ cup chocolate chips for the outside of the dough balls.
- Cream butter and sugars. In a separate medium bowl cream the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together with a mixer on medium speed for 1-2 minutes.
- Add wet ingredients. Add in the eggs and vanilla extract, mix again on low. Gently add in the dry ingredients, mixing on low or by hand just until combined. The dough will be thick.
- Add dough balls to cookie sheet. Use a cookie scoop to drop dough balls on a silicone mat lined baking sheet. Press the remaining chocolate chips into the dough balls. Place the cookies about 3 inches apart on a silicone lined baking sheet and refrigerate for 15 minutes. You can chill them longer for a thicker, chewier cookie.
- Bake. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Bake for 11-12 minutes. The cookies will look underbaked when you pull them out of the oven, but they will continue to bake on the hot cookie sheet.
The Secret to Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
No one wants a dry, crumbly oatmeal cookie. That’s why I’ve pulled out all my best cookie-baking tips and tricks and applied them in this recipe to ensure thick cookies that don’t spread and turn out chewy in the center. For best results, follow these tips:
- Measure flour correctly. The first step for the right cookie texture is to measure flour correctly. Use the spoon and level method!
- Room temperature butter. The butter temperature is important because you’ll need to be able to cream the butter and sugar together smoothly, and you just can’t do that well with cold butter.
- Use a large cookie scoop. Making sure your cookies are uniform in size is key to baking them evenly. Using a cookie scoop is an easy way to do that. Plus, this dough tends to be on the stickier side, so it saves your hands a mess too! If you make smaller dough balls, you should reduce the baking time otherwise the cookies will be overdone.
- Load them with chocolate chips. Press chocolate chips onto the outside of the dough balls before chilling and baking. This creates a loaded cookie that looks like it came from a bakery!
- Chill the dough. Don’t skip this step! Chill the dough for at least 15 minutes, but chilling for longer will create a thicker, chewier cookie because it prevents the cookie from spreading too quickly.
- Don’t worry if they look under-baked when you pull them out of the oven. They will continue to bake on the hot cookie sheet before they begin cooling. You don’t want to over-bake, as that will result in a dryer, harder cookie.
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe Variations
- Gluten-Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies: I have made these cookies multiple times with King Arthur’s gluten-Free all-purpose flour with great success. Be sure to use certified gluten-free oats too.
- Chocolate Chips: I prefer to use semi-sweet chocolate chips, but you could use any of your favorite chocolate chips like dark chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, or you could use chocolate chunks.
- Other add-ins: You can add in any of your favorite things like raisins, dried cranberries, or chopped nuts.
Storing Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. To ensure that cookies stay soft for days, place a piece of bread in the container. The moisture from the bread will be absorbed by the cookies.
How to Freeze
Another great thing about these cookies is that they freeze well! You can freeze the oatmeal cookie dough, or the cookies after they are baked.
To Freeze the Cookie Dough:
- Portion the dough into cookie dough balls. Press the chocolate chips into the outside of the dough.
- Place the cookie dough balls on a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat. You can place the dough balls close together since you won’t be baking them.
- Place the baking sheet in the freezer until the cookies are frozen solid, about 1 hour.
- Remove the baking sheet from the freezer and transfer the frozen cookie dough balls to a ziplock freezer bag. Label the bag with baking directions.
- Freeze the cookie dough for up to 3 months.
To bake: remove the dough from the freezer. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Frozen cookies may need to bake for 1-2 minutes longer.
To Freeze the Cookies:
If you want to freeze leftover cookies after they are baked, store them in an airtight container or freezer-safe bag. I recommend separating layers of cookies with parchment paper so they don’t stick together. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw on the counter at room temperature when you’re ready to eat them.
More Oatmeal Dessert Recipes
- Homemade Apple Crisp with Oatmeal
- Oatmeal Muffin Recipe
- Homemade Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- No Bake Oatmeal Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
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Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, 180 grams
- 3 cups old fashioned rolled oats, 267 grams
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, 255 grams
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature, 226 grams
- 1 cup brown sugar, packed, 213 grams
- ½ cup granulated sugar, 99 grams
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and 1 cup of chocolate chips. Reserve the remaining ½ cup chocolate chips for the outside of the dough balls.
- In a separate mixing bowl cream the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together with a mixer on medium speed for 1-2 minutes.
- Add in the eggs and vanilla extract, mix again on low. Gently add in the dry ingredients, mixing on low or by hand just until combined. The dough will be thick.
- Use a cookie scoop to drop dough balls on a silicone mat lined baking sheet. Press the remaining chocolate chips into the dough balls. Place the cookies about 3 inches apart on a silicone lined baking sheet and refrigerate for 15 minutes. You can chill them longer for a thicker, chewier cookie.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Bake for 11-12 minutes. The cookies will look underbaked when you pull them out of the oven, but they will continue to bake on the hot cookie sheet.
What temperature and why didn’t you include measurements for first one?
Hi Cate! The full measurements and instructions are in the recipe card.