Classic Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
This recipe for classic oatmeal chocolate chip cookies is simply the best. Soft and chewy, it is a tried-and-true favorite!
There is truly nothing better any given day than a warm oatmeal chocolate chip cookie.
The hearty chewiness of this classic cookie makes regular chocolate chip cookies look, well, positively wimpy.
A Tried-and-True Recipe
After over a decade, these are still one of the cookie recipes I make the most (I almost always have them baked and ready to go in the freezer).
They really are the best oatmeal chocolate chip cookies ever. Soft and chewy, loaded with chocolate chips (i.e. no raisins in sight…nope, not for me!), and perfectly puffy.
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
The dough for these cookie is super straightforward (and kind of irresistible):
- butter
- brown sugar + granulated sugar
- eggs + vanilla
- basic dry ingredients (oatmeal, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt)
- chocolate chips
You can use either old-fashioned rolled oats or quick oats for the cookies.
Pro Tip: for the best oatmeal chocolate chip cookie texture, use both old-fashioned rolled oats AND quick oats!
Freezable Cookies
I almost always have these cookie waiting in the freezer for just the right craving or moment.
The cookies can be baked, cooled and frozen.
OR, you can freeze the cookie dough balls and bake from frozen.
To bake from frozen, place the cookie dough balls a couple inches apart on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for 12-13 minutes (adding time as needed).
Rave Reviews
I’m not the only one completely head over heels for these cookies.
Kat writes: Mel. These cookies are perfection. Perfection! One bite, and I threw away my family favorite recipe. Seriously. No regrets. They are soft and delicious even the next day. Did I mention they are perfect? This is now the standard, and I doubt it will ever be topped. I can’t think of anything I’d change to make it better. Texture, flavor, saltiness, sweetness, chocolate to cookie ratio, you absolutely nailed it! Thank you Mel!!
Katie B. commented: I have made these several times over the last few months and I absolutely love them!! A perfect cookie in my opinion! Thanks for a great go-to recipe everyone loves!
Leia says: I loved the texture of these cookies and of course the flavor was amazing, even a few days later!
Classic Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (227 g) butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (212 g) packed light brown sugar (see note)
- 1 cup (212 g) granulated sugar (see note)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups (284 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ cups (250 g) old-fashioned rolled oats (see note)
- 2 cups (340 g) chocolate chips or chocolate chunks (butterscotch chips are delicious, too)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, silicone liners or lightly grease with cooking spray.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with a handheld mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until creamy and well-combined, 1-2 minutes. Add baking soda, baking powder, salt and mix well. Add flour, oatmeal and chocolate chips. Mix until no dry streaks remain (don’t go crazy; just mix until evenly combined).
- Scoop the cookies into balls (about 2 tablespoons each) and place a couple inches apart on the baking sheets.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe
Recipe originally posted August 2009; updated with new photos, recipe notes, commentary.
These are excellent. My mother is extremely lactose intolerant, so I used the earth balance spread in place of the butter and chopped up little pieces of “ghirardelli twilight delight 72% cacao” squares for the chocolate chips because they have no lactose.
I made it the “regular” way once when I was up at school, and they came out amazing–I was really excited to see that even after altering the recipe for my mother they were still delicious. Thank you!
Keri – these are some of my favorite cookies as well, so I’m very glad you like them, too! Thanks for letting me know…and it sounds like if your husband keeps sneaking a few here and there he’ll keep you in business to continue making batch after batch!
Are they close to Potbelly’s?
Anonymous, I’m not familiar with Potbelly’s so I’m not sure. Sorry!
i’m baking my second batch as we speak. THESE ARE DELISH!! love them.
my husband keeps sneaking seconds, thirds….
Mme Paulita – thanks for letting me know you liked these cookies! I’m sorry they are stuck at home, hopefully you can enjoy them after work!
These came out great! I only used a little less white sugar in them…but overall perfect
I’m cursing myself this morning at work however because I forgot them at home 🙁
Anonymous – while I’ve never used vegetable spread in the place of butter, I would definitely say that is probably the contributor to the flat, falling apart cookies. I’m glad they still tasted ok but if you are up for it, you’ll have to give them a try with butter to see the difference.
I just baked a batch. They are delicious! However, they came out flat and many are falling apart. I thought I had real butter on hand, but used Blue Bonnet “vegetable spread” instead. Would this have made the difference? Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Ayjay – I love that you are such an impromptu baker and just knew to add molasses to white sugar to adjust the flavor. Impressive! I’m glad you liked these…thanks for letting me know.
Just discovered your site and made these lovely cookies! Didn’t have enough brown sugar so used white and added molasses to adjust the flavor – gave them a wonderful depth of flavor 🙂 Thanks much!
Ok,thanks! Great site by the way:)Cant wait to try some of your other fall recipes =)
Cindy – I’m so glad these cookies were a hit! I can’t believe all the rave reviews you got. I hope you took a lot of the credit for yourself…you are the one that made them after all. Thanks for letting me know!
Anonymous – you can use either quick oats or rolled oats, whatever you have on hand. I usually use quick oats because I have a ton of them and I like the texture a bit better than rolled oats.
It’s Cindy again, I used Quaker Old Fashioned oats and these cookies were spectacular. I sent a bag home with each of the toddlers that I watch and had their parents calling me to rave about them later that night. So, I served them at Bunco last night and if you can believe this, the huge pile of about 50 cookies was nearly devoured by 12 ladies!
These look terrific! Ive been searching for the perfect choc chip oatmeal recipe and this may be it! I was wondering what kind of oatmeal is best to use? I was just going to use the quick oats I have in my pantry. Thanks for the recipe! Cant wait to try these!
It was shocking to see how fantastic these cookies look and taste. I did not think I would have this much success. Amazing, very impressed, and you have been bookmarked on my PC forever. Thank You!
Anonymous – thanks for the note on the recipe. I’m glad they worked out for you. Thanks for letting me know!
Turned out great! Followed recipe exactly and also used old fashined oats. Made about 4 dozen.
Making these RIGHT now!
Hey Megan – glad you liked these, thanks for letting me know!
I just made these with old-fashioned oats. Delicious, easy and quick!
I use a similar recipe but only use brown sugar and rolled oats. Result is quite dark and partly crispy. In Australia we usually use rolled oats for baking. I think oatmeal is thinner?
katherine Dougall – I’ve been playing around with graphics/settings on my blog so thank you for calling this to my attention. It is corrected now.
What a nice classic recipe!!! Love it
These look great! I may try them this weekend. I’ve been wanting a new oatmeal cookie recipe so I may try this 🙂 Thanks 🙂
I just made these – and they are great! My son is a terrible eater, so at least these are “healthy” because of the oatmeal, RIGHT?! Anyway, thanks for posting…delish!
Oh yum. Done right, oatmeal cookies are the tops. And these are done right! Thanks for sharing.
Riley
Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen
Classic oatmeal chocolate chip is my favorite! I can’t wait to try this one!
Also, thanks for adding the “printable version” feature!!! 🙂
I’ve been looking for great oatmeal cookie recipe because mine always turn out flat (maybe because I have to use dairy free margarine). I’ll try this one and let you know!
classic indeed! it appears to have the perfect oatmeal cookie texture. thanks for sharing your favorite with us!
Love that combo!! I like mine with raisins inside of the cookie too. 🙂
Laura – I’m with you…these are health food for sure with all the oatmeal packed in! Glad you liked them, thanks for letting me know.
These are my husband’s favorite kind of cookie, but I’ve yet to find a “great” recipe. Can’t wait to make these for him.
these sound great 🙂
Melanie-First off, you HANDS DOWN have the BEST recipe blog on the internet. Honestly every single thing I have made has been delish and my husband can’t get enough of all of it! I am attempting the naan to go with my curry dish tonight…fingers crossed! Second, I totally miss your “archives” on the side. I knew where a bunch of my favorites were based on the date! Third, I think I may be inspired by that new movie Julie and Julia and may cook my way through your blog from the beginning…I think my hubs would love if I did too. Thanks for sharing so many tips and great dishes, you make so many of us so much happier!!!!
I love chocolate chip oatmeal cookies! I’m always on the prowl to find one that is similar to our favorite ones at Potbelly’s (a yummy deli where we used to live)–I can’t wait to give these a try as I’ve yet to find anything close to their recipe. Can you feel the pressure :-)?
I love oatmeal cookies, they are my favorites…the one that you feature looks delicious…yummie, and nice picture as well!
Yum! I know what I’m going to bake today.
I haven’t read through all your comments to know if anyone else has mentioned it – but your setting has been changed so that in google reader the only thing that shows is the title. I miss seeing the enticing photo and wish you would change the setting back to at least show the first few lines….
I use SO many of your recipes and shouldn’t have my first comment be a complaint – so please consider it a compliment to how it used to be 🙂
A classic delight. These cookies are just one of my dearest childhood memories.
Yum! I have these ingredients, so my little ones will be thanking you when we make these soon.
This is my favorite kind of cookie. As I read down the ingredients I noticed it is the exact same recipe that I use when I make chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. I think I originally got the recipe on the side of Kroger oats container. I have been making them years and love them. I guess great minds think alike! 🙂 -Liz K.
Country Mum – here in the states we have both rolled oats and quick oats (quick oats are rolled oats that have been steamed and ground up a bit so they cook faster). You can use either in this recipe. I’m glad we have similar recipes and that you enjoy this cookie, too!
I substituted dairy free margarine for the butter and 1 1/2 cups raisins for the chocolate chips. They didn’t turn out as pretty as yours, but they were super yummy!
Hey Nicole – thanks for letting me know your alterations to make these dairy-free. Did Scott love them?
I’ve made these twice. The first time, I used Country Crock margarine and white flour. They were tasty, but there was something off about them. They were also flat…which could be due to my expired baking powder, which I remedied in time for the 2nd batch I made last night.
And the 2nd batch — what a batch it was. I used real butter (salted) and two cups wheat flour. And I had non-expired baking powder. They were EXCELLENT. The rose much better, and they had a very good taste to them, which I’m attributing to the real butter. I also prefer less chocolate to the cookie, so I only used 1.5 cups chocolate chips. This batch was perfecto.
Julianne – thanks for the note that margarine maybe isn’t the way to go. I’ve never made cookies with margarine so I’m glad for the tip. I’m very glad to know that a few cups of wheat flour worked in these – because then they can definitely be counted as health food (oatmeal AND wheat!!). Thanks for checking in to let me know.
These are now our families favorite Classic oatmeal cookie. They are perfect!!
I have made them twice now, and my boys keep asking me to make them again. 🙂
You are an amazing cook, thank you for sharing your recipes with us.
Jessica – I’m glad these have made it into your family’s “favorites!” Thanks for your comment, it was so nice. I appreciate you taking the time to check back in.
yummy cookies girl! the dough tasted delightfull!
Anonymous – glad I’m not the only one that likes the cookie dough!