Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read my disclosure.These delicious, chunky, easy vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are the perfect healthy-ish treat to satisfy your sweet tooth! They are packed full of nuts, whole grains, and chocolate! Make these chewy cookies with dried cherries, raisins, or just as-is!
We all know that technically cookies aren’t healthy. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t ever have a cookie! As most of you know – my philosophy is everything in moderation. This means that one, amazing, freshly baked cookie once in a while is totally warranted! Life isn’t about deprivation – it’s about enjoying real, whole foods and delicious treats on occasion! 🙂
If you’re going to indulge in a sweet treat, pick something that’s made with real food, and that doesn’t have any weird ingredients that you can’t pronounce. Not only do real ingredients taste better but they’re much better for you than processed alternatives.
This is why these vegan chocolate chip oatmeal cookies are one of my favorite homemade treats!
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With crispy edges, and a soft, chewy center, these delicious oat chocolate chip cookies are super easy to make and are ready in less than 30 minutes. And if you like these, be sure to check out my vegan gluten free oatmeal raisin cookies which are a fun twist on a regular oatmeal cookie too!
Read on to learn how to make these healthy vegan oatmeal cookies delicious every time!
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- 100% Plant-Based: These eggless oatmeal cookies are naturally vegan and dairy-free and are very easily made gluten-free. They’re a great allergy-friendly cookie recipe, and are a fun vegan twist on classic chocolate chip cookies.
- Wholesome And Delicious: Made with wholesome ingredients, oat flour cookies are better for you while still being soft, chewy, and crispy around the edges.
- Family-Friendly: This recipe will satisfy and delight the whole family!
- No Chilling Time Required: There is no need to plan ahead when making chocolate oat cookies, making them a great option whenever you are craving a sweet treat!
- Quick And Easy: Vegan oat cookies are made with just a handful of easy-to-follow steps and are ready in less than 30 minutes.
Looking for more vegan oat flour cookie recipes? These oat flour chocolate chip cookies are a fan-favorite recipe, too!
The best oats for oatmeal cookies are old-fashioned oats. Also known as rolled oats, these oats retain their size and texture during baking while not being too tough or absorbent.
The types of oatmeal that you don’t want to use for this recipe are quick oats and steel-cut oats. Quick oats aren’t a 1:1 substitute since they are very absorbent and respond more like flour. Steel cut oats also don’t work as they require a longer cook time and don’t have the right texture for these eggless oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
Note: Use gluten-free oats in this recipe for a gluten-free and vegan oatmeal cookie.
🥘 Ingredients
This easy vegan oatmeal cookies recipe calls for pantry staples and simple ingredients found at your local grocery store. Here’s what you need:
- All-Purpose Flour or Oat Flour: Using either rolled oats or all-purpose flour gives these vegan cookies the perfect texture! For a healthier option, use whole wheat pastry flour. Or to make vegan gluten free oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, use oat flour or a gluten free all purpose flour.
- Baking Soda: Without leavening, these classic cookies would be too dense. The baking soda reacts with the brown sugar to create just the right amount of airiness for a chewy cookie!
- Salt: A little bit of salt accentuates sweetness in this vegan chocolate oat cookies recipe.
- Coconut Oil: Fat adds moisture to baked goods, so they aren’t dry or tough. It also contributes to their chewy texture. Coconut oil is a healthy and vegan alternative to butter and works perfectly in these no butter vegan oatmeal cookies.
- Granulated Sugar & Brown Sugar: For sweetness, of course! Brown sugar is sugar with molasses in it. It has a slight caramel-y flavor and results in a finished product with more chew!
- Flax Egg: A flax egg is ground flax seed combined with warm water. It acts like an egg and gives these oatmeal chocolate chip vegan cookies structure.
- Vanilla Extract & Almond Extract: Don’t forget vanilla! A small amount enhances all the ingredients. For the best flavor, use pure vanilla extract. Almond extract has an amaretto flavor to it. A little goes a long way. If you don’t like the almond flavor, just leave it out.
- Old-Fashioned Oats: Also known as rolled oats! See my notes above for why rolled oats or old-fashioned oats are the best options for these oat flour oatmeal cookies.
- Vegan Chocolate Chips: High quality dark or semi-sweet are both great options. Dark chocolate chips should naturally be vegan but double-check the ingredient list for milk ingredients. If using semi-sweet chocolate chips, be sure to buy the vegan or dairy-free variety!
- Dried Cherries: Optional, but highly recommended! Dried cherries have a sweet but tart flavor, adding a nice dimension to the cookie. They also taste great with the almond extract and are fantastic in this vegan oat flour chocolate chip cookies recipe.
- Slivered Almonds: Optional, for a nutty component. Almonds, cherries, and chocolate are simply a trio made in heaven. If you would prefer a classic vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe, however, you can leave this ingredient out as well.
🍲 Ingredient Substitutions
- Oil: Unsalted vegan butter can work in place of coconut oil. If using salted vegan butter, just decrease the salt in the recipe by a pinch!
- Sugar: For a healthier option, use coconut sugar or raw sugar in place of white sugar. Coconut sugar, since it has a naturally caramel-like flavor, can also substitute for packed brown sugar. You can also use maple syrup, but it might slightly change the texture of these gluten free vegan oatmeal cookies.
- Dried Fruit: Though this vegan oatmeal cookie recipe can be made without dried cherries or fruit, I highly encourage stirring some dried fruit in! If you don’t have or don’t prefer dried cherries, raisins golden raisins, or chopped-up dried apricots are all delicious in these cookies!
The best vegan oatmeal cookies are a breeze to make! Here’s how to do it.
Preheat Oven, Sift Dry Ingredients: Position the racks in the center and top third of the oven. Preheat the oven and line baking sheets with parchment paper. This will prevent the dough from sticking to the cookie sheet. Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl.
Beat Sugar & Oil: In a large mixing bowl, combine the oil and both sugars. Using an electric mixer beat the mixture until well blended. A stand mixer works great for this step, too!
Add Flax Egg & Flour: Add the flax egg and both extracts to the wet ingredients. Beat until incorporated. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and beat until combined.
Add Oats: Add the oats and mix well.
Stir In The Mix-Ins: Mix in chocolate chips, cherries, and almonds (if using).
Scoop: Scoop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheet. Space the cookies at least 2 inches apart. This will give them room to spread. Repeat with the second batch and the second baking sheet.
Bake Cookies: Bake these vegan gf oatmeal cookies for 12 minutes. Switch and rotate baking sheets then bake until golden brown – about 6 minutes more.
Cool Cookies On A Wire Rack: Let the oat flour oatmeal chocolate chip cookies cool for a couple of minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. They will firm up as they cool. Enjoy these healthy vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with a glass of almond milk or your other favorite plant-based milk!
💭 Expert Tips
- Make a flax egg by mixing 1 tablespoons ground flaxseed with 2 1/2 tablespoons water. Let the mixture rest for 5 minutes before using it in this vegan chocolate chip oat cookies recipe.
- Measure the flour by weighing it. Scooping the flour or spooning and leveling the flour can increase the flour in the recipe by up to 20%, resulting in dense and heavy cookies!
- Don’t substitute almond flour or coconut flour in this recipe. The ratios won’t be correct and the end result will be disappointing.
- Don’t over-mix the batter. Overmixing can make these no egg chocolate chip oatmeal cookies dense, dry, and flat.
- Use a cookie scoop to make uniform cookies. Alternatively, you can also weigh the scoops of cookie dough for uniformity.
- For best results, space out the cookie dough on the cookie sheets. When placing the cookie dough on the baking tray, be sure to leave enough room for the dough to spread.
- Rotate the cookies throughout the baking time. This helps them to bake evenly.
- Make mini cookies. This vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies recipe will make 12 large cookies, but you can make mini cookies by making 24 half-sized treats! Reduce the baking time to 10-13 minutes if you decide to make smaller cookies.
- How to make your own oat flour. Just grind up old fashioned oats in a food processor until they have reached flour consistency. Use certified gluten-free oats to make gluten-free oat flour!
📖 Variations
- Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies: For this classic cookie, just omit the mix-ins and replace them with 1 cup of dried raisins!
- Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies: Omit almonds and dried cherries. Add 1 cup of raisins along with the chocolate chips instead.
- Vegan Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies: Add 1/4 cup of cocoa powder to the dry ingredients and follow the rest of the recipe instructions as written.
- Vegan Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies: Reduce the flour to 3/4 cup and add 1/3 cup of peanut butter to the sugar and oil. Leave out the dried cherries and almonds. Almond butter or cashew butter works, too!
- Vegan Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies: Add 1/2 cup of mashed banana to the sugar and oil. Increase the rolled oats to 1 1/2 cups. Omit the dried cherries from the recipe.
- Vegan Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies: Omit the almond extract, dried cherries, and almonds. Add 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice to the dry ingredients.
🙌 Dietary Adaptations
Though these are naturally vegan and dairy free oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, you can make a few simple adjustments to even better suit the cookies to your diet.
Make These Oat Flour Cookies Healthier
You can easily reduce the calories and fat in this eggless oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe by making a few swaps:
- Use oat flour instead of all-purpose flour
- Use 1/2 the amount of sugar and 1/2 the amount of dried cherries
- Use 80% vegan dark chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet
- Make the cookies smaller (see my notes above to make mini oatmeal chocolate chip cookies!).
Make Vegan Gluten Free Oatmeal Cookies
To make these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies both vegan and gluten-free, use gluten-free oat flour instead of all-purpose flour and certified gluten-free old fashioned oatmeal in place of traditional. Alternatively, a 1-to-1 gluten-free flour blend can substitute for the all-purpose flour as well!
⏰ Make Ahead Directions
The cookie dough can be made up to 3 days in advance. Just make it as directed and store it covered in the refrigerator before baking.
You can also freeze the unbaked cookie dough to help it last even longer. Just scoop and freeze balls of the cookie dough in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Bake the full batch of frozen cookie dough balls, or even just 1 or 2 at a time for an individual treat. When baking from frozen, add on 1-2 minutes of baking time, or until these vegan oat chocolate cookies are golden.
🫙 Storage And Freezing Directions
Oatmeal cookies will last for 5 days if stored in an airtight container on the counter. To extend their shelf life to 2 weeks, store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
These vegan oat flour cookies can also be frozen in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Just defrost the cookies at room temperature for 1-2 hours before enjoying them.
❓ Recipe FAQs
Are Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies Healthy?
Cookies are best in moderation. Even though these treats contain wholesome ingredients like fiber-rich oats, flax seeds, almonds, and dried fruit, they’re still cookies. However, you can cut the calories, fat, and sugar in half pretty easily and turn these into super healthy cookies (just follow the tips on the blog post or in the recipe card below).
Why Are My Vegan Oatmeal Cookies Flat?
There are a few reasons why your oatmeal cookies could be flat: overmixing the dough, not using enough leavening agents (i.e., baking soda or baking powder), not using enough flour, or using a warm baking sheet. By following the directions on the recipe card below and measuring your flour by weighing it you should avoid these mistakes and turn out with thick and chewy oatmeal cookies!
What Makes Cookies Chewy Instead of Crispy?
Factors such as baking time, moisture content, and fat content can affect if cookies are chewy or crispy. Cookies higher in fat tend to be chewy, whereas cookies that are lower in fat tend to be crispy. When it comes to moisture, cookies that are higher in moisture from ingredients like brown sugar, molasses, or honey tend to be chewy while cookies that are lower in moisture tend to be crispy. Finally, baking cookies at a higher temperature creates chewier cookies and baking at lower temperatures results in crispy cookies.
Are Vegan Cookies Healthier Than Regular Cookies?
Though vegan cookies could be considered healthier than regular cookies in some ways, it all depends on the ingredients that are used in the recipe. For example, coconut oil or vegan butter and flax eggs are lower in saturated and fat and cholesterol than dairy butter and regular eggs, but if the vegan cookies contain a lot of added processed sugar, the potential benefits can be outweighed. Therefore, since this cookie recipe only has a moderate amount of sugar it is a healthier option.
If you loved these vegan and dairy-free oatmeal cookies, you will love these recipes too!
- Peanut Butter Bliss Balls
- Gluten-Free, Vegan Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
- Vegan Breakfast Cookies
- Black Sesame Cookies
- Snickerdoodles Without Cream Of Tartar
- Secretly Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Almond Flour Cookies
- Ginger Snap Cookies Recipe
- Gluten Free Lactation Cookies
- Sesame Tahini Cookies
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📋 Recipe Card
🎥 Watch How to Make It
Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
These chunky vegan oatmeal cookies are made with old fashioned oats and are packed full of nuts, whole grains, and chocolate! Make these cookies with dried cherries, raisins, or just as-is!
Servings: 12 cookies
Calories: 345kcal
Ingredients
- 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour or oat flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup (120ml) coconut oil, melted
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) coconut oil, melted
- ½ cup (110g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (55g) packed dark brown sugar
- 1 flax egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp almond extract
- 1 cup (80g) old fashioned oats
- 1 cup (170g) semisweet or dark chocolate chips dairy free
- ½ cup (80g) dried tart cherries (optional)
- ½ cup (46g) slivered almonds (optional) toasted
Instructions
- Position racks in center and top third of oven and preheat to 325°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Sift flour, baking soda and salt into medium bowl.
- In a separate bowl, add sugar, oil, and brown sugar.
- Using electric mixer, beat oil, sugar and brown sugar until well blended.
- Mix in flax egg and both extracts.
- Beat in flour mixture.
- Mix in oats.
- Then mix in chocolate chips, cherries, and almonds (if using).
- Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart.
- Bake cookies 12 minutes. Switch and rotate baking sheets.
- Bake cookies until golden, about 6 minutes longer. Cool cookies on baking sheets (cookies will firm as they cool).
Notes
These cookies will last for 5-6 days if stored on the counter: Store airtight at room temperature. To extend their shelf life to up to 2 weeks, store them covered in the fridge.
Top Tips for Making Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Make a flax egg by mixing 1 tablespoons ground flaxseed with 2 1/2 tablespoons water. Let the mixture rest for 5 minutes before using it in the recipe.
- When placing the cookie dough on the baking sheet, be sure to leave enough room for the cookies to spread.
- Don’t over-mix the batter.
- Measure the ingredients as precisely as you can.
- This recipe will make 12 large cookies, but you can make mini cookies by making 24 half-sized cookies!
- To make these cookies gluten-free, I recommend grinding up these gluten-free oats in a food processor to make GF oat flour
- Try oat flour, or whole wheat pastry flour, instead of all-purpose flour (or use 1/2 all-purpose and 1/2 oat flour)
- Use less dried cherries – cut them down to 1/4 cup to reduce the amount of added sugar.
- Try coconut sugar instead of granulated sugar. Still nice and sweet but slightly lower glycemic. You can also decrease the amount of sugar you use.
- Use 80% dark chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet for less sugar + more of an antioxidant punch!
- Make smaller cookies! Using half the amount of batter per cookie means each cookie has half the calories and fat.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 345kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 100mg | Potassium: 193mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 21g
Yum yum yum! I tried both your original recipe and the peanut butter variation, and I cannot decide which recipe I like better! They are both sooooo good! Love your vegan recipe!
Aw thank you Ieva – so glad you liked these cookies! 🙂
Yum! These were so satisfying with my afternoon cup of tea!
Great to hear, thanks Vanessa!
Such a delicious cookie recipe with a perfect chewy texture. We loved them and I am making a second batch of these.
Thanks so much Gunjan!
This looks like a fantastic vegan cookie recipe, I love the idea to add some dried cherries. I bet that pairs fantastically with the dark chocolate chips, can’t wait to try these!
Yes!! These are totally delicious, you will love them!
My sister in law was looking for a good chocolate chip cookie recipe. I am sending her this one to try. I tried it and it’s fabulous. Total yum!
Yay! Thank you so much Gina!
Hi Anjali,
Thank for for the wonderful recipe! Have you used/done any research on the “Quaker Oats Old Fashioned Oatmeal” sold at Costco? Just wondering if it is a healthy choice to use in recipes for kiddos?
Thank you!!!!
Hi Jessie! Great question! The Quaker Oats Old Fashioned Oatmeal (the plain variety) has good ingredients in that it’s 100% oats and has no other ingredients added. But my main concern with quaker oats is the levels of glyphosate / pesticide residue that ends up in the oats because they are not organic. So for that reason I wouldn’t recommend buying quaker oats – instead I’d look for organic rolled oats (any brand would work, as long as it’s plain organic oats). Hope that helps!
Love these oatmeal cookies. I will bake these for my family soon.
Yay! Thanks so much!
Chocolate and cherries are a wonderful combination and I love them in these cookies. They come out great every time.
I know right?? It’s a fun twist on the traditional oatmeal raisin version!
There’s something special about oatmeal cookies I absolutely love the combination of flavors for these cookies!
Thanks so much! So glad you liked it!
I will be trying this recipe this week, I will let you know how it goes! Thank you!
Yay! I’m so excited – you’re going to love these cookies!
Is this kid friendly? It’s so easy to make and absolutely looks like what my husband would love..
Absolutely!! I haven’t met a kid who doesn’t like these cookies!
This looks so delicious! I can’t wait to make this recipe for my family.
It’s super family friendly Kara – they will love it!
Can I add nutmeg in to this recipe or would it ruin it?
I think a pinch of nutmeg would actually taste pretty good in these cookies!
Guilt free chocolate chip cookies? Sign me up any day!
Totally!! They are so good!