Easy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies: The Best Soft & Chewy Recipe
There’s nothing quite like the comforting taste of a perfectly baked oatmeal raisin cookie. These **Easy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies** are incredibly simple to make, yet deliver an unparalleled deliciousness that will have everyone asking for more! Crafted with readily available quick oats and essential pantry staples, it’s the rich brown sugar that truly elevates their flavor profile, giving them that signature soft, moist, and wonderfully chewy texture. These classic drop cookies are so straightforward to prepare, you’ll be amazed at how quickly you can whip up a batch of these incredibly tasty treats!
Oatmeal raisin cookies are a beloved classic enjoyed throughout the year. Their delightful softness and irresistible chewiness make them a fantastic snack, a comforting dessert, or a welcome addition to any lunchbox. Plus, they freeze exceptionally well, meaning you can always have a homemade treat ready to go!
[feast_advanced_jump_to]
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Best oatmeal and raisin cookie ever, love them!”
– Ann
Why These Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Are Simply the Best
This particular recipe for raisin oatmeal cookies holds a special place in my heart, passed down from my Auntie Sue. I fondly remember how much I adored them as a child, so much so that I absolutely had to get the recipe from her. They were also a huge favorite of my Uncle Garry!
Over the years, I’ve had my share of oatmeal raisin cookies, but honestly, nothing compares to these. They consistently deliver on flavor and texture, standing out from every other recipe I’ve tried. Hands down, these are the best oatmeal raisin cookies you will ever taste. Their perfect balance of sweet raisins, hearty oats, and the rich depth from brown sugar creates a cookie that’s wonderfully soft, delightfully chewy, and bursting with comforting flavor.
One of the many advantages of this easy oatmeal cookie recipe is that it uses just a few basic ingredients. Chances are, you already have most of them on hand in your pantry, making these soft and chewy oatmeal raisin cookies incredibly convenient to bake whenever a craving strikes!
🍪 Ingredient Notes for Perfect Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
As I mentioned, the beauty of these homemade oatmeal raisin cookies lies in their simplicity. Yet, it’s the brown sugar that truly makes them shine and sets these simple oatmeal raisin cookies apart from the rest! Here’s what you’ll need for these delightful oatmeal-raisin cookies:
- Quick Oats: These are essential for the desired soft and slightly chewy texture. Quick oats are cut smaller than old-fashioned rolled oats, which helps them absorb moisture more quickly and creates a more tender cookie. They integrate seamlessly into the dough, contributing to a smoother, less coarse texture compared to cookies made with larger oats.
- Eggs: Eggs act as the primary binder in this recipe, helping to hold all the ingredients together and adding richness. They also contribute to the cookie’s structure and overall texture.
- Unsalted Butter: Using unsalted butter gives you complete control over the salt content in your baking. Softened, room-temperature butter is key for proper creaming with the sugars, resulting in a light and airy dough.
- Raisins: The star of the show! Raisins add natural sweetness and a lovely chewy burst to every bite. You can use any type of raisin you have on hand, from classic dark raisins to golden ones.
- Brown Sugar: This is the secret ingredient that truly elevates the taste of these cookies. Brown sugar, with its rich molasses flavor, adds depth and warmth that white sugar alone cannot achieve. Crucially, it also contributes significantly to the moist and incredibly chewy texture that defines these delicious cookies. Don’t skip it!
- White Sugar: While brown sugar provides depth, a touch of white sugar ensures the cookies have a balanced sweetness and helps with crisping the edges slightly, creating a beautiful contrast with the chewy interior.
- All-Purpose Flour: The foundational dry ingredient, providing structure to the cookies. Ensure it’s measured correctly for the best results.
- Vanilla Extract: A splash of vanilla extract enhances all the other flavors, adding a warm, aromatic note that is indispensable in almost any cookie recipe.
- Baking Soda: This leavening agent helps the cookies spread and rise slightly, contributing to their soft and airy internal structure.
📖 Creative Variations & Smart Substitutions
While this classic oatmeal raisin cookie recipe is perfect as is, it’s also incredibly versatile! Feel free to customize it to your taste or what you have available:
- Chocolate Chip Cookies: If you’re in the mood for a different kind of sweet treat or just having a chocolate craving, you can easily switch out the raisins for an equal amount of chocolate chips. Dark, milk, or even white chocolate chips work wonderfully!
- Raisin Varieties: Don’t limit yourself to just standard black raisins (Thompson Seedless). Sun-dried golden raisins, also known as Sunalta, offer a slightly sweeter, fruitier flavor and a beautiful golden hue. A mix of both can add an interesting visual and taste dimension.
- Brown Sugar Options: The recipe calls for brown sugar, but you can experiment with light brown sugar for a milder molasses flavor or dark brown sugar for a deeper, richer, and even more moist cookie. Both will work beautifully.
- Other Dried Fruits: For an extra twist, consider adding or substituting other chopped dried fruits like cranberries, dried apricots, or even dried cherries for a different flavor profile.
- Add Nuts: Introduce a delightful crunch by folding in ½ cup of chopped walnuts or pecans along with the oats and raisins.
- Spices: A pinch of ground cinnamon (½ teaspoon) or a dash of nutmeg can enhance the warm, comforting flavors of these cookies.
- Quick Oats vs. Instant/Old-Fashioned: It is crucial to NOT substitute instant oats for quick oats, as instant oats are much finer in texture and behave more like flour in baking, altering the desired chewiness. If you only have old-fashioned oats on hand, you can pulse them a few times in a food processor to break them down to a texture similar to quick oats. Alternatively, you can use old-fashioned oats as-is for a significantly chewier, more rustic cookie, though the texture will be different from the original recipe. You can also find detailed directions on how to make quick oats from old-fashioned oats HERE!
🔪 How to Make Simple Oatmeal Raisin Cookies: A Step-by-Step Guide
Making these soft and chewy oatmeal raisin cookies is incredibly straightforward. Just follow these simple steps for perfect results every time!
PREP: Begin by preheating your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). This ensures the oven is at the correct temperature when your cookie dough is ready, promoting even baking.
In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer (or the paddle attachment of a stand mixer), beat together the room temperature unsalted butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract until the mixture is light and fluffy. This typically takes about 2-3 minutes on medium speed. Then, beat in the large egg until fully incorporated.
In a separate, small bowl, combine the all-purpose flour and baking soda. Whisk them together briefly to ensure the leavening agent is evenly distributed. This prevents pockets of baking soda in your cookies.
Gradually add the dry ingredients mixture to the wet ingredients in the large bowl. Beat on low speed until just combined. Be careful not to overmix, as this can lead to tough cookies.
Gently stir in the quick cooking rolled oats and the plump raisins. Fold them in until they are evenly distributed throughout the dough.
Continue to mix well with a large spoon or wooden spoon until all ingredients are thoroughly combined, ensuring no dry pockets remain, but still being careful not to overwork the dough.
Drop the cookie dough by teaspoonfuls (or use a small cookie scoop for consistent sizing) onto an UNGREASED cookie sheet. If you prefer, you can line your baking sheets with parchment paper for easier cleanup. Space the dough balls about 2 inches apart to allow for spreading during baking.
Bake the cookies for approximately 8-10 minutes. Look for the bottoms to be lightly golden brown. The centers might still look slightly soft; this is normal for a chewy cookie. For larger cookies made with a medium cookie scoop, bake for 10-13 minutes.
Once baked, let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes. This allows them to firm up slightly before you transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling completely. Enjoy them warm or at room temperature!
👪 Serving Size & Adjustments
This easy oatmeal raisin cookie recipe yields approximately 20 perfectly sized cookies, making it ideal for a family treat or a small gathering. However, if you’re baking for a crowd or just want to ensure you have plenty of these delicious cookies on hand, you can easily adjust the recipe. By clicking on the serving number in the recipe card below and selecting your desired number of servings, the ingredient quantities will automatically adjust for you.
You’ll simply need to ensure you have additional cookie sheets ready. Trust me, you’ll want to make a second batch (at least!) because these soft and chewy oatmeal raisin cookies have a magical way of disappearing quickly!
🌡️ How to Store Your Delicious Cookies
Proper storage is key to keeping these soft oatmeal raisin cookies fresh and enjoyable for longer. Here’s how to do it:
Counter Storage: Once completely cooled, store your baked cookies in an airtight container or a cookie jar at room temperature for 2-3 days. This helps maintain their wonderful softness and prevents them from drying out.
Freezer Storage: These cookies freeze beautifully! For longer storage, you can place them straight into the freezer in an airtight container or a heavy-duty freezer bag. They will keep well in the deep freezer for up to 6 months.
Defrosting Frozen Cookies:
- On-the-Go: I often grab a frozen cookie and by the time I’m ready to eat it at work, it’s perfectly defrosted and ready to enjoy.
- Quick Thaw: For a faster thaw, simply pop a frozen cookie into the microwave for 15-20 seconds. This method also gives them a wonderfully warm, just-baked feel.
💡 Top Tip: Freezing Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Dough
Don’t want to bake all your cookies at once? Freezing the cookie dough is a fantastic way to enjoy freshly baked cookies anytime with minimal effort! You can freeze the dough for up to 3 months.
- Portion & Freeze: Scoop the dough by spoonfuls onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet, just as you would if you were going to bake them immediately. Place the cookie sheet in the freezer for about 30 minutes, or until the dough balls are firm. This prevents them from sticking together.
- Transfer to Storage: Once firm, remove the dough balls from the cookie sheet and transfer them to a plastic freezer bag or an airtight container.
- Label Clearly: Don’t forget to label the freezer bag or container with the date, the name of the recipe (Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Dough), and the baking temperature (375°F / 190°C). This makes future baking a breeze!
- Bake from Frozen: When you’re ready for fresh cookies, simply remove the desired number of frozen cookie dough balls from the freezer. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and place the frozen dough balls on a parchment-lined or ungreased cookie sheet.
- Adjust Baking Time: Since the dough is frozen, you’ll need to increase the baking time slightly. Bake the cookies for at least 2 minutes longer than usual (approximately 12-15 minutes, depending on your oven), or until their bottoms are lightly browned and the edges are set.
❔ Recipe FAQs About Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
While some bakers prefer to soak raisins before adding them to cookies, it’s generally not necessary for this recipe, and I never have. Soaking can plump up the raisins, making them even softer, but it can also dilute their flavor slightly. For these easy oatmeal raisin cookies, the natural moisture from the dough and the baking process keeps the raisins perfectly tender and chewy without any pre-soaking required.
Yes, you can, but it will result in a different texture. Quick oats are used in this recipe for a softer, more integrated chew. If you use old-fashioned (rolled) oats as-is, your cookies will be much chewier and have a more rustic, textured appearance. If you want to maintain a closer texture to the original recipe but only have old-fashioned oats, you can pulse them a few times in a food processor to break them down into smaller pieces, similar to quick oats. Just be careful not to turn them into oat flour!
Flat cookies are often caused by melted butter (instead of softened), overmixing the dough, or too much leavening. Hard cookies usually result from overbaking or too much flour. Ensure your butter is at room temperature, measure flour accurately, avoid overmixing, and watch the baking time closely – the edges should be golden, and the centers slightly soft.
While this recipe isn’t specifically designed as gluten-free, you could experiment by substituting the all-purpose flour with a 1:1 gluten-free baking flour blend that contains xanthan gum. Ensure your quick oats are certified gluten-free as well, as oats can sometimes be cross-contaminated. Results may vary slightly in texture.
Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Dough & Breakfast Delights
If you’re anything like me, sometimes the best part of baking is the dough itself! For those moments when you just crave raw cookie dough, I’ve got you covered. This safe, eggless, and utterly delicious Oatmeal Raisin Edible Cookie Dough takes just a few minutes to prepare and is perfect for satisfying that doughy craving without the wait for baking.
And then there are those mornings when you wish you could justify eating raisin cookies for breakfast. Good news! I have the perfect solution for you. My Raisin Cookie Overnight Oats in a Jar offer all the delightful flavors of a healthy oatmeal raisin cookie, but in a wholesome breakfast format. So go ahead, indulge your cookie cravings responsibly!
So, whether you’re looking for simply delicious easy oatmeal raisin cookies, a quick edible dough fix, or a breakfast treat that tastes like dessert, this recipe and its companions are sure to delight. These soft and chewy cookies are a timeless treat that you’ll want to make again and again.
And if you’re eager to explore more easy and delicious cookie recipes, be sure to check out my other fantastic drop cookies recipes, including my delightful Oatmeal Brown Sugar Rhubarb Cookies and the surprisingly delicious Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies!
🍪 More Irresistible Cookie Recipes
- Oatmeal Brown Sugar Rhubarb Cookies
- Strawberry Milkshake Cookies
- School Day Cereal Cookies Recipe
- Toffee Apple Pie Cookies (Award-Winning)
⭐ Comments & Reviews
Did you know that commenting and rating recipes is one of the best ways to support your favorite recipe creators? If you loved this recipe for easy oatmeal raisin cookies, please take a moment to comment and rate it in the recipe card below or share photos on social media using the hashtag #foodmeanderings or tagging @foodmeanderings! Your feedback helps other bakers discover these delightful soft and chewy cookies too.
📋 Easy Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Recipe
Print Recipe
Pin
Save RecipeSave Recipe
Rate
Add to Shopping ListGo to Shopping List
Equipment
-
baking sheet
-
electric mixer
-
large mixing bowl
-
small cookie scoop
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- ½ cup white sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ cups quick cooking rolled oats
- 1 cup raisins
Instructions
-
Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).
-
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat room temperature butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract together on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Beat in the large egg until well combined.
-
In a separate small bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour and baking soda. Gradually add these dry ingredients to the wet ingredients mixture, beating on low speed until just combined. Be careful not to overmix.
-
Stir in the quick cooking rolled oats and raisins until evenly distributed throughout the dough.
-
Mix well with a large spoon or wooden spoon to ensure all ingredients are thoroughly incorporated.
-
Drop the cookie dough by teaspoonfuls (or use a small cookie scoop) onto an UNGREASED cookie sheet or baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing them about 2 inches apart.
-
Bake for about 8-10 minutes, or until the bottoms are lightly golden brown. The centers may still appear slightly soft.
*If using a medium cookie scoop, bake for 10-13 minutes.
-
Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
You can also freeze the cookie dough for up to 3 months if you don’t want to bake them right away. This is perfect for having fresh cookies on demand!
- Place dough by spoonful on a parchment-lined cookie sheet (as if you were going to bake them) and place in freezer for 30 minutes until firm.
- Remove dough balls from the cookie sheet and add them to a plastic freezer bag or airtight container.
- Label the Ziplock freezer bag or sealed container with the date, name (Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Dough), and the baking temperature (375°F / 190°C) and place back in the freezer.
- When you are ready to bake the cookies, remove the frozen cookie dough balls from the freezer. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and place the dough balls on a parchment-lined cookie sheet or ungreased cookie sheet.
- Since the dough is frozen, you’ll need to bake the cookies for at least 2 minutes longer (about 12-15 minutes total) or until lightly browned on the bottom and set.
Variations & Substitutions:
- Chocolate Chip Cookies: For a delicious alternative, replace the raisins with an equal amount of your favorite chocolate chips (dark, milk, or white chocolate).
- Raisin Varieties: Feel free to use golden raisins (Sunalta) instead of regular black raisins (Thompson Seedless) for a different sweetness and appearance, or use a mix of both.
- Brown Sugar Options: You can use either dark brown sugar for a richer, more robust molasses flavor or light brown sugar for a milder sweetness. Both work well in this recipe.
- Quick Oats vs. Instant Oats: Do NOT substitute instant oats for quick oats, as their much finer texture will alter the cookie’s consistency, making them behave more like flour rather than oatmeal in baking.
- Old-Fashioned Oats: If you only have old-fashioned oats, you can pulse them a few times in a food processor to achieve a texture similar to quick oats. Alternatively, use them as-is for a significantly chewier cookie. More detailed instructions can be found HERE!
Nutrition