Soft and chewy with that trademark homemade flavor, these are the best soft and chewy oatmeal raisin cookies. Made with brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, chewy oats, sweet raisins, and a secret ingredient, this recipe wins for flavor and texture. Your family will love these easy oatmeal raisin cookies!
There are two types of people in this world. Raisin haters and raisin lovers. I fall into the latter category. Besides homemade apple pie, oatmeal raisin cookies are my favorite dessert. There’s something incredibly magical about the chewy texture, soft centers, plump raisins, and cinnamon flavor. Please tell me I’m not the only raisin lover!!
What Makes These Oatmeal Raisin Cookies The Best
The competition is strong, but here’s why you’ll fall in love with these cookies.
- Moist and tender centers
- Slight crisp on the edges
- Sweetened with brown sugar
- Loaded with oats
- Studded with raisins
- Cinnamon spiced
- Buttery flavor
- 30 minute chill time
It doesn’t get much better than this!
Ingredients in Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Oatmeal raisin cookies are made with very basic ingredients.
- Butter: Butter is the base of any delicious cookie recipe. Make sure you are using room temperature butter.
- Brown Sugar + Granulated Sugar: Sugar is not only used for sweetness, but also for providing structure and tenderness. I like to use more brown sugar than white sugar because (1) brown sugar has incredible flavor and (2) brown sugar contains more moisture than white, which produces a softer cookie.
- Eggs: Eggs help bind everything together. You need 2 eggs in this recipe.
- Pure Vanilla Extract + Salt: Both provide flavor.
- Cinnamon: Raisins, oats, and cinnamon are winning flavor combination.
- Baking Soda: Baking soda helps the cookies rise.
- Molasses: Molasses is my secret ingredient! 1 scant Tablespoon enhances all the wonderful flavors of these buttery, cinnamon-sweet oatmeal raisin cookies.
- Flour: Flour is the structure of the cookies.
- Oats: There are a ton of oats in this recipe! Oats provide a fabulously chewy texture. I use and recommend old fashioned whole oats here—just like I do for flourless peanut butter oatmeal cookies.
- Raisins: I love to soak the raisins in warm water before using. This step is optional, but it guarantees they are plump and soft. Blot dry before adding to cookie dough. (You can also use this cookie dough to make my white chocolate chip cherry oatmeal cookies.)
I like to add chopped walnuts. Nuts are totally optional but highly recommended. These simple ingredients combine to make the best oatmeal raisin cookies!
How to Make Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
There’s only a few steps between now and a batch of warm oatmeal cookies. 🙂
- Cream butter + sugars: Use a hand or stand mixer to cream the softened butter with both sugars until smooth, about 2 minutes on medium speed.
- Add eggs, vanilla, + molasses: Add eggs, then mix on high for about 1 minute until incorporated. Add vanilla and molasses, mix until combined.
- Dry ingredients: Mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together in a separate bowl. Pour this into the wet ingredients. Combine together on low.
- Add the extras: Beat in the oats and raisins on low speed. Dough will be thick and sticky.
- Chill: Refrigerate the cookie dough for 30-60 minutes.
- Roll: Roll cookie dough into balls and place on a lined baking sheet. I love using these baking mats.
- Bake: Bake the cookies at 350°F (177°C) for 12-13 minutes until lightly browned. The cookies might look under-baked, but they will continue to set as they cool. This is the secret to a soft and chewy oatmeal raisin cookie!
Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Dough is Sticky
This oatmeal raisin cookie dough is sticky, so don’t be alarmed. The cookie dough needs to chill for about 30 minutes before baking. I don’t recommend keeping this cookie dough in the refrigerator for much longer because your cookies won’t spread. The oats will begin to absorb all of the wonderful moisture from the eggs, butter, and sugar and won’t expand as they bake. Sticky dough is good dough!
More Favorite Cookie Recipes
If you love these oatmeal raisin cookies, try any of these SOFT cookie recipes. You’ll wonder why you haven’t baked them sooner!
- Iced Oatmeal Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cookies
- Oatmeal Scotchies
- Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Monster Cookies
- Maple Brown Sugar Cookies
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Soft and Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 13 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 26-30 cookies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Soft and chewy with that trademark homemade flavor, these are the best soft and chewy oatmeal raisin cookies. Your family will love these easy oatmeal raisin cookies!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs*
- 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract (yes, Tablespoon!)
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) unsulphured or dark molasses (do not use blackstrap; I prefer Grandma’s brand)
- 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups (255g) old-fashioned whole rolled oats*
- 1 cup (140g) raisins (see Note below)
- optional: 1/2 cup (64g) chopped toasted walnuts
Instructions
- Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream the softened butter and both sugars together on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and mix on high until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla and molasses and mix on high until combined. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together. Add to the wet ingredients and mix on low until combined. Beat in the oats, raisins, and walnuts (if using) on low speed. Dough will be thick, yet very sticky. Chill the dough for 30-60 minutes in the refrigerator (do the full hour if you’re afraid of the cookies spreading too much). If chilling for longer (up to 2 days), allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before rolling and baking.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Roll balls of dough (about 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie) and place 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. I recommend using a cookie scoop since the dough can be sticky. Bake for 12-14 minutes until lightly browned on the sides. The centers will look very soft and under-baked. Remove from the oven and let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. The cookies will continue to “set” on the baking sheet during this time.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week. Baked cookies freeze well—up to three months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well—up to three months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Here’s how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Oats: For these oatmeal raisin cookies, I use old-fashioned whole oats. They provide the ultimate hearty, chewy, thick texture we love!
- Eggs: Room temperature eggs preferred. Good rule of thumb: always use room temperature eggs when using room temperature butter.
- Raisins: Soak your raisins in warm water for 10 minutes before using (blot very well to dry them) – this makes them nice and plump for your cookies.
- Adapted from Loaded Oatmeal Cookies & Oatmeal Creme Pies. Recipe originally published on Sally’s Baking Addiction in 2014.
These were a huge hit at a party today! At the request of my toddler we also added chocolate, butterscotch and white chocolate chips and they were delicious
You are right about pressing them a little before baking. I had my grandchild and he was pressing them. It was fun watching him pressing each one of them and then leaking his finger at the end)
Love this cookies! I have made them several times (I add my personal touch). I make them smaller and add a pinch of nutmeg , I also use dry cramberries instead of raisins. People just love them that sometimes I have to bake 3 or 4 times
I’ve never made oatmeal raisin cookies before this, but it’s safe to say this recipe was a hit! It was super easy to make, fast in the oven, and taste absolutely delicious. A good amount of chewy and a slight crisp, and not too sweet! Sometimes I omit the raisins and add chocolate chips when my friends don’t like raisins and it works perfectly well too! Absolutely enjoyed this recipe.
This Oatmeal Raisin Cookie recipe is hands down the best recipe ever, and produces such fantastic tasting treats. I love anything with Molasses.
Really, really good. Better than the cookies from our famous and over-priced local boutique bakery. Soft butter seems to be the key and more cinnamon for me.
I followed your recipe exactly and they are the best oatmeal cookies I’ve ever made. I added the optional walnuts. Thanks for an awesome recipe!
Perfect! Didn’t have molasses so used syrup but I thought these turned out great.
This was the first recipe i have ever made from scratch!
this was the first time i have ever baked from scratch. i followed every instruction and they came out amazingly. unfortunately they did not flatten at all which is fine they were enjoyed but next time i would recommend pressed them a little before baking to make them nice and round. needless to say they turned out delicious and were enjoyed by everyone!
This recipe is amazing! it makes about 50 smaller sized cookies if anyone was wondering ☺️
Hi Rylee…just wondering when making 50 (which I would like to do) do you remember how many minutes? Thanks a bunch!
Amazing cookies. I’ve made these 5x so far. i’ve made it as it’s written , change up the nuts, added glace cherrys with raisins ,used mix fruit. I’ve even used mix spice a few times. The bones of this recipe even with 1TBS of vanilla paste is worth the price and effort.
I used applesauce as an egg substitute and it worked well! Just didn’t spread as much so maybe chill for less?
Hi, I would love to try this for my picky eater. Any substitute for egg please. My son has egg allergy. Thanks!
Hi Rashmi, we don’t have much experience with egg-free baking, so we’ve never tried this recipe with flax eggs or another substitute. If you give anything a try, we’d love to know how it goes!
I love this recipe!
I made them a couple of days ago, and just added some nutmeg and chocolate chipe. Amazing!
Today I altered it by soaking raisins and cranberries in whisky, and adding white chocolate, orange rind, and nutmeg.
Again, beautiful outcome.
Thank you for this recipe!
Wow best ever Oatmeal Raisin cookies I have ever had. Excellent recipe love the molasses and tablespoon of vanilla. I use a lot of your recipes and they are all fabulous!!! Thank you!!
These were absolutely fabulous! Chewy and perfect.
Made these for Easter Sunday to share with my adult children. I followed the recipe, except I discovered I didn’t have all purpose flour on hand. I used whole wheat instead. When I rolled them into a ball to place on the cookie sheet, i gently flattened them into a cookie shape. They came out beautifully!! No spreading as other folks said. I chilled them for 30 minutes before rolling and baked right away. Thank you for the recipe❤️
I have enjoyed your website and have been printing and baking your recipes for a while. Last week I bought two of your books, Sally’s Baking Addiction and Sally’s Cookie Addiction. I totally love baking.
I have had problems with oatmeal cookies in the past turning out flat. But this morning, armed with your book I made your recipe for Giant Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.
I weighed, I measured exactly. Even though your instructions didn’t call for refrigerating the cookies before baking them, I did.
Well, I have flat cookies…again.
I turned to your website to see what others said about the recipe to see where I went wrong. I was surprised to find that your current recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies, albeit not giant, has really been tweaked.
Lesson learned, I will check your website for tweaked recipes before baking your recipes again. Was very happy to see that you added soaking the raisins in water before adding to a baking recipe. My mom taught me to that that when I was young.
Looking forward to baking some perfect cookies.
Hi Jeannie, thank you so much for popping in to say hi– I’m glad you’re loving my website! My cookbook recipes are pretty much exclusive to the books so you will find different recipes there. A few of my more popular recipes appear in both the book(s) and on the website. The oatmeal raisin cookies are different– you’ll find this website recipe a bit more chewy and buttery.
Great recipe! They turned out perfect & soaking the raisins in warm water really made a difference! I added pecans to mine.
These cookies are DELICIOUS! Everyone loved them and I love the molasses in them. Will be making these again. Thank you Sally.
Wow, the molasses gave these a great depth of flavor without shouting “HELLO I’M MOLASSES” in your face! So so good. My cookies turned out a pretty flat, I think due to overmixing the butter and sugar. I’m definitely trying these again with less mixing, a smaller cookie scoop, and more chill time.
This is a great recipe… I did make a few adjustments, soaked my raisins in white wine, added nutmeg and all spice
Another wonderful recipe from Sally!! My husband is a cookie connoisseur and these got his stamp of approval. One pan spread a bit more than the first two. But still tasted great.
My first time ever making oatmeal raisin cookies! My 3 year old son has been requesting them (he saw them on the back of the raisin bag!) so today was finally the day! I used your recipe but halved it and they turned out great! Slightly puffier than we like so next time I may chill them less time or maybe not at all! THANK YOU!!!!
Flavor is amazing – but I seemed to follow all the instructions and they spread way too thin! Any ideas on making these thicker?
Hi Sarah, For help troubleshooting cookies that spread, visit the post 10 Guaranteed Tips to Prevent Cookies from Spreading.
What would be a good substitution for molasses? Or would the oatmeal cookies be okay without it.
Hi Evangelina, you can simply omit the molasses if you don’t have any on hand.
Substitute maple syrup for molasses, works perfectly.
I’m rating the recipe high because all the recipes I’ve made from this website have been fabulous and this one was well reviewed by others. I must have done something wrong but am unsure where I went astray. My eggs and butter were both room temperature, my quantities were right, I left nothing out except the walnuts which were optional. I chilled the dough for about 3 hours and was a little worried before I popped the cookies in the oven because the oatmeal seemed to have absorbed a lot of the moisture and I thought they might come out dry. I made sure not to bake them too long and they came out soft enough but not really yummy. I can only give myself one star.
Maybe you chilled the dough too long. The dough needs to be chilled only 30 minutes, not 3 hours.
Made them ! As usual I always seem to pick Sally’s recipe when I look one up and I’m always pleased. These went so fast , my husband , neighbor and I ate them all . I have dough chilling in fridge right now. A lady at my neighbors wants to pay me to bake more!! Thank you Sally, the best !
I’m baking these cookies now. They are so good. I used Karo syrup dark . I baked for 12 mins but I believe 10.00 mins would be long enough.in my oven that is . Thanks for recipes will do them again. Oh yes I didn’t put in fridge just made. And baked.
I seldom write reviews. I have a gf & df diet. I used gluten free flour, dairy and soy free “butter”, and gluten free quick oats. The amount of raisins and cinnamon is perfect. These have to be the best cookies that I have ever made! The outside was mildly crisp and inside moist….absolutely delicious, I am glad I discovered your recipe!
Hi Nancy, thank you so much for sharing! So glad you loved these.