My Best Chewy And Crispy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

About My Best Chewy And Crispy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

My best oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe makes cookies that are chewy in the middle, crisp in the edges, and filled with lots of crunchy oatmeal and pools of melted chocolate! The oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are also flavored with a generous amount of cinnamon to stay true to the classic “oatmeal raisin” cookie taste. But don’t worry—if you’re not a fan of raisins, you won’t find any in this recipe! Instead, I’ve swapped out the raisins with puddles of dark chocolate.

Think of this cookie as similar to your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, but loaded with crunch and texture from the oatmeal.

Why You Should Make The Recipe

Here are all the reasons to make my best oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe:

This oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe is adapted from the popular oatmeal cookie recipe in my cookbook, Weeknight Baking.

When writing my cookbook, I tested a ton of different oatmeal cookie recipes to find the *best* oatmeal recipe. I found that many skewed too healthy, adding in lots of dried fruit and superfood seeds to the cookies. But I wanted something more indulgent and reminiscent of a chocolate chip cookie. These cookies fit the bill! They are like my favorite chocolate chip cookie—slightly gooey in the center, crisp on the edges, with lots of chocolate—just with added crunch and texture from the oatmeal.

This oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe comes together quickly.

These oatmeal chocolate chip cookies come together shockingly quickly. If you splurge on the right ingredients, it takes only 5 minutes to prep everything needed for the cookies, another 5 to make the dough, and other 5 to assemble the cookies. That’s it! The most time-consuming part of the recipe involves baking the cookies. But still—each batch only needs 15 minutes in the oven!

This oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe stores well.

If you don’t want to bake a batch of 20 cookies all at once, you’re in luck! The oatmeal chocolate chip cookie dough freezes beautifully for future batches. In fact, if you have time, I recommended even chilling the dough in the refrigerator or freezing it overnight. Doing so allows the dough to absorb more flavors from the oats and chocolate, making extra flavorful cookies. I’ve included instructions on how to freeze the oatmeal chocolate chip cookie dough in the post below.

Ingredients and Substitutions

Now that I’ve convinced you to make my best oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe, here’s your shopping list:

Shopping List For My Best Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

• all-purpose flour
• ground cinnamon
• baking soda
• kosher salt
• light OR dark brown sugar
• granulated sugar
• unsalted butter
• large eggs
• pure vanilla extract
• old-fashioned rolled oats
• dark chocolate (between 60% to 70% cacao) whole fèves or high-quality chocolate bars

And let’s talk about some key ingredients and their potential substitutions:

All-Purpose Flour

You need 1 and ¼ cups all-purpose flour to make my best oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Does a 1-1 gluten-free all-purpose flour work in this oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe?

I’m sorry, but I don’t know. I rarely bake with those types of flour replacements because they’re expensive and my household is fortunate not to have any gluten restrictions. However, if you replace the flour in this oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe with any gluten-free alternatives, please leave a comment so I can update this post accordingly!

Kosher Salt

You need ¾ teaspoon kosher salt to make my best oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Why You Should Use Kosher Salt When Baking

I like to use kosher salt (as opposed to table salt) when baking. Its larger crystals make it difficult to confuse with granulated sugar. However, I’m warning you that not all kosher salts are created equal. Some kosher salts have smaller granules than others, which will result in saltier tasting baked goods.

For consistency, I recommend sticking to one brand, and one brand only: Diamond Crystal kosher salt. It’s the only brand of salt I use when I develop recipes for Hummingbird High. Why? Diamond Crystal kosher salt is one of the few 100% pure salts in the grocery store. Other brands have additives that can add unexpected flavors to your desserts.

I can’t find Diamond Crystal kosher salt. Is Morton’s Coarse kosher salt okay?

Yes, with reservations. Morton’s Coarse kosher salt granules are much smaller, denser, and crunchier than Diamond Crystal. According to this Food52 article, the two are different shapes and sizes because of how they’re made. Morton’s is made by flattening salt granules into large thin flakes by pressing them through high-pressure rollers, whereas Diamond Crystal is formed by a patented method in which “upside-down pyramids [are] stacked one over the next to form a crystal.” You can even see a visualization of the different sizes in this Cook’s Illustrated article.

Okay, but what does that mean, exactly? 1 teaspoon of Morton’s will taste saltier than 1 teaspoon of Diamond Crystal. Wild, right? So if you follow my recipes exactly as they are written but use Morton’s instead of Diamond Crystal, the results will come out saltier. In fact, sometimes they will come out TOO salty. So if you’re using Morton’s instead of Diamond Crystal, reduce the salt in the recipe by half.

Want to learn more about Diamond Crystal versus Morton’s Coarse kosher salt? Definitely check out the Food52 and Cook’s Illustrated articles I linked to above, as well as this Taste article.

I can’t find Diamond Crystal OR Morton’s Coarse kosher salt. Can I just use table salt?

Yes, with reservations. If you use table salt, you’ll need to reduce the recipe’s salt quantity by half.

If you read my little essay about Diamond Crystal and Morton’s, you learned that Diamond Crystal kosher salt granules are larger than Morton’s kosher salt granules. The same principle applies to table salt versus kosher salt. Table salt granules are much smaller than kosher salt granules. As a result, 1 teaspoon of table salt tastes much saltier than 1 teaspoon of kosher salt… simply because it can hold more granules! Wild, right?

So if you follow my recipes exactly as they are written but use table salt instead of kosher salt, the results will come out saltier. If you’re using table salt instead of kosher salt, I recommend reducing the salt in the recipe by half.

Brown Sugar

You need ⅔ cup light OR dark brown sugar to make my best oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Light versus Dark Brown Sugar

Brown sugar is granulated white sugar with a touch of molasses to give it its signature color and flavor. Because brown sugar contains molasses, it adds more moisture baked goods than granulated sugar otherwise would.

Brown sugar is available in two varieties: light or dark. Dark brown sugar is my personal preference; because it contains more molasses, I find it to be more flavorful. However, you can use either in this oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe without altering its flavor too much.

Can I use coconut sugar instead of brown sugar?

Sadly, no. These cookies are leavened by baking soda. What does that mean, exactly? Leaveners are the ingredients in baking recipes that responsible for making the baked goods rise. They do so by reacting with other ingredients to create bubbles in batters and doughs. The reaction is usually activated when an acidic ingredient is mixed an alkaline ingredient, and/or the heat from the oven.

In this oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe, the baking soda reacts with brown sugar (which is slightly acidic, thanks to the molasses in it) to give the cookies their signature chewy texture. Unfortunately, coconut sugar does not have this same acidic quality and has a neutral pH level similar to that of granulated white sugar.

What does that mean for your oatmeal chocolate chip cookies? If you use coconut sugar instead of brown sugar in this recipe, your cookies will likely be flatter and spread far more than mine, leading to a much crunchier cookie. It might still be tasty, but I can’t wholeheartedly recommend it.

Large Eggs

You need 1 large egg to make my best oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe.

I don’t eat egg because of allergies and/or my diet. What can I use instead of egg?

I’m sorry, but I don’t 100% know. In general, my specialty lies in creating baking recipes with conventional ingredients.

That being said, if you’ve used an egg replacer (like flax eggs, or commercial ones like Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer) in other cookie recipes with success, it’ll also likely work in this recipe. Why? This oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe is made with a pretty standard cookie recipe that’ll probably be pretty similar to what you’ve made in the past with the replacers.

However, since I’ve never tried the substitutions myself, I cannot 100% guarantee the results. If you replace the egg in this recipe with any of the options I provided, please leave a comment so I can update this post accordingly!

Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats

You need 1 and ¾ cup old-fashioned rolled oats to make my best oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe.

What are old-fashioned rolled oats?

In the supermarket aisle, there’s a shocking variety of oats. You can get instant, groats, old fashioned, rolled, steel cut, whole, and more. Their different names indicate the ways that the oat grain was processed. Each type of oat has a different texture, appearance, and cook time.

For these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, you need old-fashioned rolled oats. These look like flat, oval, textured discs.

Are rolled oats the same as old fashioned oats?

Yes! Old-fashioned rolled oats are also sometimes called by the following names: “old fashioned oats”, “rolled oats”, and “whole oats”.

Rolled Oats versus Steel Cut Oats versus Instant Oats

Now, let’s talk about all the three main varieties of oats. But first things first: all oats start off as whole, unbroken grains known as “oat groats”. When completely unprocessed, oat groats look a little bit like unpopped popcorn kernels.

After oat groats, the least processed kind of oat are steel-cut oats. Steel-cut oats are also known as “Irish oats” and “Scottish oats”. They are made by chopping the whole oat groat into several small pieces; as a result, they look a little bit like short grain brown rice. Because they aren’t heavily processed, steel-cut oats take a long time to cook. And even after cooking, the oats tend to be toothsome and extremely chewy thanks to their original texture.

On the other hand, manufacturers processed rolled oats by rolling the oat groats through a machine to flatten them. The resulting oats look like flat, oval discs. Because of their shape, they cook faster than steel-cut oats and absorb more liquid.

And finally, we have instant oats. Instant oats are processed in the same way as rolled oats, but pressed to be even more thin than rolled oats. Instant oats cook the fastest out of the three main varieties.

Can I use steel cut oats or instant oats in this oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe?

No, please don’t. Using steel cut or instant oats will result in oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with dramatically different textures and Bake Times!

I mentioned above that steel-cut oats are the least processed of the three main varieties. If you use steel-cut oats in these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, the cookies will come out gritty. Steel-cut oats are more suited for recipes with long cook times (like porridge!).

Conversely, if you use instant oats in this recipe, the cookies will come out with an unpredictable texture. Instant oats cook up faster than its two other counterparts. The cookies might end up too crunchy if you keep the Bake Time as written. Alternatively, the cookies might end up weirdly mushy. Why? In general, instant oats retain less of their texture after being cooked.

Like I said, it’s best to stick with old-fashioned rolled oats!

Are oats gluten free?

Sort of. While oat groats are naturally gluten free, they are typically processed in the same machines that process wheat. As a result, there might be some cross-contamination! As a result, you need to look for a brand that specifically states that their oats are gluten-free.

That being said, note that these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are NOT gluten free. Why? The recipe uses all-purpose flour in addition to the old-fashioned rolled oats.

Dark Chocolate

You need 8 ounces (227 grams) dark chocolate (between 60% to 70% cocoa), from whole fèves or a high-quality chocolate bar, to make my best oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Dark Chocolate versus Bittersweet and Semisweet Chocolate

In the United States, there’s no official benchmark for the “bittersweet” and “semisweet” chocolate designations. It’s up to manufacturers to determine how much cocoa to use, and percentages will vary greatly from brand to brand. Technically, both bittersweet and semisweet chocolate are considered dark chocolate… but you never know. Because of this, I advise you to ignore these bars and stick with a dark chocolate that lists its cocoa percentage.

Wait, what are chocolate fèves? Are they the same thing as chocolate baking discs and wafers?

Chocolate fèves are a fancy pastry school term for a flat, bean-shaped disc of chocolate. When baked in a cookie recipe, the fèves don’t hold their shape (similar to how chocolate chips typically do) and instead melt into puddles. These puddles give your cookies thin layers of chocolate throughout every bite. The most prominent maker of chocolate fèves is one of my favorite chocolate makers, Valrhona Chocolate. 

Unfortunately, as much as I love Valrhona chocolate, their chocolate fèves can be hard to find at your average grocery store. I typically buy Valrhona products online at Amazon, King Arthur Baking Company, or Valrhona’s online store. But if you don’t want to buy online, rest assured that other chocolate makers make similar products. Notably, Guittard Chocolate Company makes chocolate wafers. These wafers are similar to fèves, but more circular in shape. I’ve seen Guittard chocolate wafers at select Safeway, Target, and Whole Foods stores.

Do I really need to use fèves?

If there’s one thing I want you to take away from my blog, it’s this: don’t skimp on chocolate. Most grocery store brands—even the ones that offer products specifically made for baking—contain all sorts of additives like paraffin wax and palm oil. These ingredients compromise the flavor and texture of your results. I’ve stopped using chocolate chips in 90 percent of my recipes, and my baked goods have tasted so much better as a result. 

What chocolate did you use to make these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies?

For these cookies, I used Valrhona Caraïbe fèves, which 66% cacao. In general, for this recipe, I recommend using a dark chocolate that is between 62% and 73% cacao (though I simplified that to 60% and 70% in the ingredients list).

What other chocolate do you recommend besides fèves?

If you can’t find fèves, I also recommend Guittard Chocolate Wafers (which are more readily available in most major supermarkets). If you’re on a budget, I recommend chopping up a Trader Joe’s Pound Plus bar or Ghirradelli baking chocolate bars instead of chocolate chips. Chop up the chocolate into fairly large ½- to 1-inch chunks. Doing so helps give you big chocolate puddles throughout the cookie. 

How To Make Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Here are the basic steps to make my best oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe from scratch:

1. First, prep your ingredients. (Prep Time: 5 to 10 minutes)
   Prep for this oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe is easy! All you need to do is measure out the ingredients beforehand. That’s it! If you’re using whole fèves like I recommended, there’s no need to chop them up beforehand. As a result, your prep time will only be about 5 minutes. However, if you’re chopping up chocolate for the recipe, your prep time will be 10 minutes.
   
   
2. Then, make the oatmeal chocolate chip cookie dough. (Work Time: 5 minutes)
   The dough comes together really quickly! First, mix the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Next, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, then add the egg and vanilla. Finally, add the dry ingredients, oats, and chocolate. That’s it!
   
   
3. Next, assemble the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. (Work Time: 5 minutes)
   The fastest and easiest way to make picture-perfect cookies is to invest in a cookie dough scoop. These handy tools scoop the dough into dough balls that bake into perfect cookie circles every time. In general, I use a 3-Tablespoon or 4-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop to make my cookie recipes. Doing so makes perfect 3- to 3.5-inch wide cookies.
   
   
4. Finally, bake the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. (Bake Time: 15 minutes)
   The oatmeal chocolate chip cookies need 15 to 17 minutes in the oven. When done, the edges should be set. However, the centers will still look a little soft. That’s normal! In fact, that’s the secret to a perfect cookie with a chewy center.

Recipe Troubleshooting and FAQ

FAQ: My Best Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe Results

I don’t like oats. Can I leave out the oats in this oatmeal chocolate chip cookie and just make regular chocolate chip cookies?

No, please don’t! I’ve specifically adjusted the other ingredients in this recipe—like the butter, sugars, and egg—to work with the amount of oats in the recipe. Without the oats, the cookies will come out odd.

If you’re looking for a plain ol’ chocolate chip cookie recipe, check out my chocolate chip cookie recipe archive—I have several! My favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes include these small batch chocolate chip cookies, these elevated Toll House chocolate chip cookies, and these 24 Hour 24 Dollar Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I’m looking for a classic oatmeal raisin cookie. Can I replace the chocolate with raisins instead?

Yes! Instead of using the chocolate, use 1 cup (5.5 ounces or 156 grams) raisins to make a classic oatmeal raisin cookie.

If you want a combination of chocolate AND raisin in these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, use half of the chocolate (4 ounces or 113 grams) and combine it with 1 cup (5.5 ounces or 156 grams) raisins.

Help! My cookies came out too puffy. They didn’t sink after baking and don’t look flat like yours. What did I do wrong?

Okay, there are several things that could be responsible for overly puffy cookies:

You didn’t measure the ingredients properly.

I mentioned this earlier, but it bears repeating: if you used cup measures as opposed to weight measures, there’s a larger chance your cookies will come out puffy. 

There’s a LOT of variation in how people use measuring cups. Somebody who scoops ingredients into a measuring cup and packs it down as they go will have a cup that has way more ingredients than somebody who simply scoops the flour into a cup and levels it off as its filled. This is why bakers love measuring by weight with a digital scale instead—it’s much more reliable and completely eliminates any inconsistencies!

While these variations aren’t a big deal for many recipes, they can be a big deal for cookies. Specifically: if you pack a heavy cup of flour, your cookies will come out too puffy. They won’t fall and sink in the same way as mine did.

So to fill a measuring cup properly, you need to first set the measuring cup on a flat, level surface like your kitchen counter. Spoon the ingredient into the measuring cup until it forms a small mound within the cup. Use a butter knife or bench scraper to level off the mound so that the ingredient is flush with the top edges of the measuring cup.

Finally, if you’re measuring a dry ingredient that has a tendency to clump or get packed down (like flour, confectioners’ sugar, or cocoa powder), give it a quick whisk in its container first. Then, scoop the ingredient into the measuring cup as I described.

You deliberately (or accidentally!) reduced the sugar in the recipe.

Many people often deliberately reduce the sugar in baking recipes for health reasons, or for fear of the recipe being “too sweet.” But the fact is that sugar is in baking recipes for reasons beyond flavor and sweetness! In baking, sugar helps baked good spread evenly and consistently. It also adds moisture and color to the baked goods. If you went this route, it’s likely that your cookies will stay puffy and taste drier than mine.

But how do you accidentally reduce the sugar in the recipe? Similar to how you accidentally use too much flour in a recipe—by failing to use measuring cups and spoons properly. Read my instructions in the question above on how to scoop and fill a measuring cup the right way.

Finally, note that baking recipes often call for brown sugar to be “tightly packed” into its measuring cup. What does that mean? Scoop brown sugar into its measuring cup until it forms a small mound in the cup. Press down that mound, then fill it up with more brown sugar until it forms a small mound in the cup again. Then, level off the mound. There’s no need to pack it down once more!

You used chocolate chips instead of fèves or chopped chocolate.

Chocolate chips are made with stabilizers like more cocoa solids and paraffin wax (yes, the kind of wax candles are made out of) to ensure that they keep their shape when baked. They tend to stay 3-dimensional, leading to a puffy cookie that doesn’t fall flat.

Help! I made these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies but they don’t look like your cookies. My chocolate stayed mostly in tact. They didn’t melt and pool throughout the cookie like yours did. What did I do wrong?

First things first: did you use chocolate chips? If you did, they’re the likely culprit.

I mentioned earlier that chocolate chips are made with stabilizers like more cocoa solids and paraffin wax to ensure that they keep their shape when baked. They won’t melt and pool into puddles like chopped chocolate bars. That’s why I always recommend using chopped chocolate if you’re looking for a picture-perfect, Instagram-ready cookie!

However, if you did use chopped chocolate, it’s likely that you chopped your chocolate up too finely. You want to keep the pieces fairly big—think: ½ inch to 1 inch pieces. Bigger pieces will get more melty and molten!

FAQ: My Best Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe Storage

How To Store My Best Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

After baking, the cookies can be stored in an airtight container or zip-top bag at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Can you freeze oatmeal chocolate chip cookies?

You can freeze my best oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe in the following ways:

1. Freeze the UNBAKED oatmeal chocolate chip cookie dough.
   Follow the recipe instructions to make the cookie dough and scoop them out into cookie dough balls. Place the cookie dough balls in a small sheet pan. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 1 hour, or until the cookie dough balls are frozen solid. Transfer the cookie dough balls to a zip-top bag and freeze for up to 1 year.
   
   To bake the frozen cookie dough balls, follow the recipe instructions to preheat the oven. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the edges have set but the centers are still gooey.
   
   
2. Freeze the BAKED oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
   Individually wrap any leftover oatmeal chocolate chip cookies in two layers of plastic wrap, then a layer of aluminum foil. The aluminum foil will prevent the cookies from absorbing any other flavors or odors in the freezer. When ready to serve, transfer to the refrigerator to chill overnight. Rewarm in the microwave or in the oven at 350°F for 5 minutes before serving.

More Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes

• Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups
• Brown Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Earl Grey Chocolate Chip Cookies
• My Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake Recipe
• Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies
• S’mores Chocolate Chip Cookies
• The Easiest Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever
• The Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe, Elevated
• Vegan Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies

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