Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
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These delicious, chunky, vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with cherries are the perfect healthy-ish treat to satisfy your sweet tooth! They are made with old fashioned oats and packed full of nuts, dried fruit, and chocolate!
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 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 this vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe with cherries and almonds is one of my favorite homemade treats!
These chunky vegan oatmeal cookies are addictively delicious!
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👩🍳 Why This Recipe Works
- Chewy cookies with no animal products
- Made with wholesome ingredients
- The whole family will love them!
- The best vegan oatmeal cookies
- Easy to make
- Ready in less than 30 minutes
- No chill time necessary
- Soft, chewy texture with crispy edges
- The best dessert for a picnic
- Classic chocolate chip cookies get an upgrade!
🥘 Ingredients
Vegan chocolate chip oatmeal cookies require simple ingredients found at your local grocery store.
All-Purpose Flour or Oat Flour: A combination of rolled oats and regular flour gives these vegan cookies the perfect texture! For a healthier option, use oat flour or whole wheat pastry flour. Vegan oat flour chocolate chip cookies are gluten-free too. Just be sure to use gluten-free labeled oats and oat flour.
Baking Soda: Without leavening, these classic cookies would be too dense. The baking soda reacts with the brown sugar to create lift for a chewy cookie!
Salt: A little bit of salt accentuates sweetness in this recipe.
Coconut Oil: Fat adds moisture to baked goods, so they aren’t dry or tough. Coconut oil is a healthy and vegan alternative to butter. Vegan butter works too!
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! For a healthier option, use coconut sugar in place of white sugar.
Flax Egg: A flax egg is ground flax seed combined with warm water. It acts like an egg and gives the cookie structure.
Vanilla Extract: Don’t forget vanilla! A small amount enhances all the ingredients.
Almond Extract: Almond extract has an amaretto flavor to it. A little goes a long way. If you don’t like the flavor, leave it out.
Old-Fashioned Oats: Be sure to buy rolled oats. Quick oats aren’t a 1:1 substitute since they respond more like flour. Use gluten-free oats if you’re gluten intolerant. Do not use steel-cut oats!
Chocolate Chips: Dark or semi-sweet are both great options. Be sure to buy vegan chocolate chips!
Dried Cherries: Dried cherries have a sweet but tart flavor! They’re fantastic in this recipe.
Slivered Almonds: For a nutty component! Almonds, cherries, and chocolate are a trio made in heaven.
📖 Variations
- Vegan Gluten-Free Oatmeal Cookies: Replace regular flour with gluten-free flour. Be sure to buy gluten-free old-fashioned oats.
- Vegan Chocolate Oat Cookies: Add 1/4 cup of cocoa powder to the dry ingredients.
- 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 work too!
- Make It Healthier: You can easily reduce the calories and fat in this recipe by making a few swaps. To make this recipe healthier, 1) Use oat flour instead of all purpose 2) Use 1/2 the amount of sugar and 1/2 the amount of dried cherries 3) Use 80% vegan dark chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet 4) Make them smaller – instead of 12 giant cookies, make 24 smaller cookies!
- 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.
- Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies: Omit the chocolate chips, almonds, and dried cherries. Add 1 cup of raisins instead.
- Vegan Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies: Omit the almond extract, dried cherries, and almonds. Add 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice.
🔪 Instructions
The best vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are a breeze to make! Here’s how to do it.
Preheat Oven: 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 Dry Ingredients: 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 too!
Add Flax Egg: Add the flax egg and both extracts. Beat until incorporated.
Add Flour: Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and beat until combined. Add the oats and mix well.
Add Mix-Ins: Then mix in chocolate chips, cherries, and almonds.
Scoop: Scoop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheet.spacing 2 inches apart. This will give them room to spread. I like to use a cookie scoop for uniform cookies.
Bake Cookies: Bake for 12 minutes. Switch and rotate baking sheets then bake until golden brown – about 6 minutes more.
Let Cool On A Wire Rack: Let the oat flour vegan chocolate chip cookies cool for a couple of minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. They will firm up as they cool. Enjoy with a glass of almond milk!
❓ Recipe FAQs
Definitely! Kids love cookies! These ones are so chewy and soft your kids won’t even know they’re vegan. If your kids dislike dried cherries or almonds, you can replace them with other dried fruit and nuts, or leave them out altogether. Serve these with a cold glass of milk and your kids will be happy!
Let these treats completely cool before storing them. Store these healthy vegan chocolate chip oatmeal cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. You can also store them in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
Yes! To freeze, let these treats cool completely, and then place them in the freezer, unstacked until they are frozen. The easiest way to do this is to just place the cooled baking sheet directly in the freezer. Once they are frozen, transfer them to a freezer-safe container. They will keep up to 3 months in the freezer. To defrost, microwave until warmed through.
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 in the recipe card below).
💭 Expert Tips
- When placing the cookie dough on the baking tray, be sure to leave enough room for the dough to spread.
- For best results, don’t over mix the batter. Overmixing can make these treats dry and flat.
- Don’t substitute almond flour or coconut flour in this recipe. The ratios won’t be correct.
- This recipe will make 12 large cookies, but you can make mini cookies by making 24 half-sized treats! Reduce the baking time if you decide to make smaller cookies.
- These treats will last for 5 days if stored on the counter. To extend their shelf life, store in the fridge and they will last up to 2 weeks.
- To make these cookies gluten free, I recommend grinding up these gluten free oats in a food processor to make GF oat flour.
- For oatmeal raisin cookies, omit the mix-ins and replace them with 1 cup of dried raisins!
If you loved this vegan oatmeal cookie recipe, you will love these recipes too!
- No Bake Chocolate Chip Cookie Bites
- Gluten Free, Vegan Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
- Grab and Go Breakfast Cookies
- Secretly Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Almond Flour Cookies (Vegan, Gluten Free!)
- Ginger Snap Cookies Recipe (Vegan And Gluten Free)
- Vegan Tahini Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Chips
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📋 Recipe Card
Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies with Cherries
Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour or oat flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup coconut oil, melted
- 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1 flax egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp almond extract
- 1 cup old-fashioned oats
- 1 cup semisweet or dark chocolate chips dairy free
- ½ cup dried tart cherries
- ½ cup slivered almonds 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.
- 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).
- (Can be prepared 1 week ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.)
Notes
- 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!
- These cookies will last for 5-6 days if stored on the counter: Store airtight at room temperature. To extend their shelf life, store in the fridge and they will last up to 2 weeks.
- 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! Right now this recipe makes 12 giant cookies – you could use half the amount of batter per cookie and end up with 24 smaller cookies for half the calories and fat.
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!