Thin and Crispy Oatmeal Cookies
These thin and crispy oatmeal cookies are absolute perfection! Crispy, buttery, and completely addictive – I dare you to eat just one!
I am a soft and chewy cookie fan all the way, but there is something about these thin and crispy oatmeal cookies that is absolutely irresistible.
They are so classic and so delicious!
Key to a Crispy Cookie
The cookie dough for these oatmeal cookies is very straightforward. Nothing fancy about it!
The reason the cookies end up being thin and crispy instead of soft and chewy are due to a couple of reasons:
- higher butter to flour (and eggs) ratio
- more granulated sugar, less brown sugar
- old-fashioned rolled oats, not quick oats
- slightly longer baking time (don’t underbake!)
The dough can be mixed in a stand mixer or in a bowl with a handheld electric mixer.
The key is to not over mix the dough once the dry ingredients are added.
Old-fashioned Oats vs Quick Oats
The recipe for these thin and crispy oatmeal cookies calls for old-fashioned rolled oats.
Subbing in quick oats will change the texture and outcome of the cookies. They’ll likely be thicker and puffier instead of thin and crispy. (It also doesn’t work to sub in steel cut oats.)
It’s important to use old-fashioned rolled oats for the best outcome!
A Tried-and-True Favorite
It goes without saying that these delightful oatmeal cookies are delicious dipped in a glass of cold milk. YUM!
This recipe has over 1,000 5-star reviews for a reason! So many of you have fallen in love with them, too.
Grace says: This is my all time favorite recipe I’ve used for years, after trying this you won’t be able to go back to any other oatmeal cookie recipe and all other oatmeal cookies will taste inferior. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
MM says: Amazing cookies! I’m afraid to make them again because I ate 18 cookies in 4 days. They’d be good with chocolate chips in them too. Maybe I’ll try it when I get better at sharing… ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Sara says: OK. I didn’t think these would be as good as they are. I’ve had oodles and oodles of oatmeal cookies and these are now our favorite. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Linda says: These are wonderful..Buttery, chewy and crisp. I’m eating them with a glass of cold milk. I baked them 16 min. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
FAQs for Thin and Crispy Oatmeal Cookies
Yes, the dough freezes great!
I use salted butter.
I usually store them in a covered container but if you want them to stay extra crispy, you can try storing them uncovered.
In this recipe, you definitely want to use old-fashioned rolled oats. If not, the cookies won’t spread the same and the texture could be completely off.
Thin and Crispy Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (142 g) all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 14 tablespoons (198 g) butter (I use salted), softened but still slightly cool
- 1 cup (212 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (53 g) packed light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups (250 g) old-fashioned rolled oats
Instructions
- Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line large, rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a large bowl (of a stand mixer or with a handheld electric mixer), beat the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar together until just combined, about 20 seconds. Increase the mixer speed to medium and continue to beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute longer. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
- Add the egg and vanilla and beat on medium-low until well mixed, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again. Add the flour mixture and mix until barely incorporated, 10-20 seconds. It's ok if there are a few dry spots.
- Gradually add the oats and mix until well-combined, about 30 seconds to 1 minutes. If needed, give the dough a final stir with a wooden spoon to ensure that no flour pockets remain and that the ingredients are evenly distributed.
- Scoop out about 2 tablespoon-sized mounds of dough and roll them to form balls. Place the cookies about 2 1/2-inches apart on the baking sheet(s) – about 8 cookies per sheet. They will spread quite a bit. Lightly press each cookie to about 3/4-inch thickness (I found after baking one sheet of these that I didn’t need to press them at all so use your best cookie judgment).
- Bake 1 sheet of cookies at a time until the cookies are golden brown, edges are crisp, and centers are still very slightly soft, 13 to 16 minutes. Cooling the cookies completely on the baking sheet will yield crispier, more perfect cookies.
Notes
Recipe Source: adapted ever so slightly from The Cook’s Country Cookbook from America’s Test Kitchen (used salted butter instead of unsalted)
Recipe originally published June 2013; updated November 2022 with new photos, recipe notes, etc.
Crispy is an understatement. They failed to flatten and in fact turned out like little hockey pucks — and I followed the recipe exactly.
OMG So chewy and buttery almost makes Tates cookies take a back seat.
These cookies are so good. I added cinnamon, chocolate chips, walnuts and raisins.
I can’t really add anything more than what’s already been said…will never use any other oatmeal cookie recipe! Followed the recipe exactly as shared, made the perfect batch. Thank you for sharing this gem!
I was looking for a recipe for crisp, flaky oatmeal cookies to try to reproduce a recipe I used in the late 70s. This was the one! I recall using shortening in the old recipe however so I used 4 oz shortening and 3 oz butter instead of the 14 tablespoons of butter. I also cut back on the salt, to just over a half a teaspoon. They turned out beautifully. What a great way to test out my new oven! The highlight of my week – THANK YOU FOR PUBLISHING THIS RECIPE!
Thanks so much, John!
Forgot to rate! Hands down BEST recipe ever!!
My husband loves oatmeal cookies. I wanted to try a new recipe – my husband was a little nervous as he believed the recipe I was using was perfect. However, I just made these cookies – followed directions – absolutely incredible! He couldn’t believe that there was a better recipe. This will be my go to recipe going forward!
Great recipe! I used 1 cup of brown sugar and only 2 cups of oats, and they turned out so delicious.
Awesome! Glad they turned out so well.
These cookies are addictive! I made them exactly according to the recipe. In the future, I might add raisins or chocolate chips or coconut, but they don’t need anything! They are absolutely perfect as is. ❤️
I made these cookies exactly as the recipe states. I also added 8 oz ofchocolate chips and 8oz peanut butter chips. They were amazing!
These were by far the best oatmeal cookies I have ever made. Even my husband who is more of a chocolate fan loved them. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe!
These are simply delicious cookies – very crispy and chewy.
I baked 14 min & let sit on the pan for a few minutes and removed to rack –it will become a favorite — thanks for sharing your recipe .
I made these cookies today and they were absolutely delicious. My children loved them so much. I followed the recipe but increased my baking time by an extra five minutes. This recipe is a win for me. Thanks for sharing I appreciate.
Thank you so much for this amazing recipe. I just made slight variations. I replaced butter with 1/2 cup of peanut butter and 1/2 cup of vegetable oil ,egg replaced with 1/4 of banana purée and increased baking time to 18 mins . I got really crispy cookies. Please advise cooling time before transferring to container
these are truly the perfect oatmeal cookies! every person that tried them immediately asked for the recipe. These are the kind of cookies you cannot put down when you start eating. I love it!
I follow the recipe exactly and they come out perfect each time.
Needs more flavor, cinnamon will make these greater!
Used quick oats and they still turned out great. I love crisp cookies. Only always use salted butter too.
Delish, made no changes & your right no need to press the balls at all.
Thank you for this wonderful recipe.
Made these cookies for my family but they didn’t turn out that great. 2 tablespoons of cookie dough blended together, so I switched to 1 1/2. Don’t forget to use parchment paper, greasing the pan doesn’t work. Still tasted good!
I have always been a fan of crispy cookies, and I have spent a lot of time searching for the perfect one. The rest of my family would be happy just eating the dough. (Yuck!)
However, I made these recently and served them to my family, and they loved them!!!
Thanks so much for the recipe. I can barely keep the cookie jar (Cookie Monster) filled.
Yay!
These cookies are to die for. Chewy yet crisp. Follow recipe exactly. I love oatmeal cookies and these are my all time favorite! Everyone loves them!
I made it last weekend, the most delicious oatmeal cookies I ever had. Thank you !!!
Do you think this recipe would work as the topping for a peach crisp? I’m trying to find something super crispy to go on top and for there to be a lot of it!
Definitely worth a try!
What a great idea! Did you ever try this? How did it turn out?
I usually add roasted pecans to my crisp topping, but I never thought about doing this
I’m going to lie and tell everyone this is my grandmother’s secret recipe!
Added (Washington State company) Chukar cherries and walnuts, and this made the best oatmeal cookie i’ d ever had. I’ve never been a big fan of oatmeal cookies but a friend tried this recipe and I was persuaded to change my mind!
5 stars!! ✨ Perfect
I love this recipe!! The cookies are super crispy as promissed! 5 stars!!
I would really like to try an apple version of this recipe, but I am afraid the cookies get soft and not crispy… How do you recommend doing it?
I read that so people do it with dried apples…
I look forward to your feedback!
Thanks 🙂
I’m not entirely sure, but I do think the idea of dried apples is the way to go – and using freeze dried apples would be even better!
Fantastic. As much as I wanted to make them exactly like the recipe I used what I had on hand which was pancake mix instead of flour and water instead of the egg. I reduced the sugar too based on some of the comments.. Really great and a definite make again!
Got rave reviews from guests. I added chunks of Valrhona bitter sweet chocolate and semisweet Calebaut chocolate. Wonderful in the crisp cookie surroundings.
I’m planning to make a big batch. How long do the cookies last?
A couple days if they are well covered.
I am baking on Ometepe Island in Nicaragua. These cookies have been a hit with locals. We make a five inch version… ‘la galleta grande’. I’m still working on the thickness and baking time to achieve ‘crispy’… mine are still on the chewy side. I use dark rum instead of vanilla.
the rum is why they are chewy
I don’t know if you or any of your readers use baking as a form of stress relief, but I work out a lot of frustration mixing and kneading and frosting things. Today was one of those days where a very difficult time at work and a too long commute sent me straight to the kitchen when I finally got home. After thawing soup for dinner (broccoli and cheese…also thank you for that), I made these perfect, tasty oatmeal cookies. They are perfect and made just enough for dessert tonight, a lunchbox treat for the kids tomorrow, and the cookie balls I didn’t bake for the freezer for another night. I so appreciate you, Mel. You helped me turn this day around. XO
Ah, thanks, Sara. Hang in there. (I bake for stress relief, too, so I get where you’re coming from!)
Did someone say stress relief?! That’s exactly why I have my blog – because I do the same thing. You’re in good company!
Hi! I’m about to try your oatmeal cookies (crispy version). Can I chilled them for overnight for even size? I will tweaked your recipe in my first try by lessening the white sugar to 3/4 cup.
Yes, I think you can chill them.
I did something wrong..cookies tasted great, BUT…not crispy at a all. Cooked them for 16min, nice color, cooled completely…still chewy. Could I have not cooked them long enough or made the size too big. Have been cooking for 60 years but I’m at a loss of what I did or did not do to make these very tasty cookies soft and chewy ? Any suggestions from all you good cooks out there ?
Hi Norah – I’d just try adding a few minutes to the baking time. That should do the trick.
These cookies are awesome!!!
About how many cookies does this make? Sorry if I’ve overlooked it. I can’t wait to make these!
The yield is right above the recipe title – it makes about 2 dozen. 🙂
After years of making oatmeal cookie and tasting too healthy or not crispy enough–I finally found the recipe!!!
I didn’t have all purpose flour so I subbed with 1/2 cup almond, 1/4 coconut, 1/4 quinoa. I didn’t want to use all butter, so I used Nutiva red palm oil shortening. I added walnuts and dried cranberries, subtracted a 1/4 cup oats and 1/2 cup sugar.
Ok, so that really isn’t her recipe at all! LOL! 🙂
The basic foundation of ingredient measures; egg, flour to butter, etc is the core of the recipe, I just used what I had available!!
Love love love this recipe!! Easy to follow instructions .. easy to make!! I found this recipe and your blog yesterday. Have had fun reading things on your site and looking forward to making more recipes of yours. Mel, you’re the next Pioneer Woman! Seriously!! I hope Food Network finds you and makes you an offer and star! Keep doing what you do. You’re an inspiration!
(from St. Louis, MO)
Haha, you are so cute, Laura. Thank you!
Oh My! These cookies are delicious! I love oatmeal cookies and I love crispy cookies so when I found this recipe I was in heaven! I’ve made them several times now but last week I wanted to make them and realized I only had 1 stick of butter so I used the butter I had and filled in the rest with coconut oil. Then, since I was changing the recipe anyway I thought, why not add in some other goodies? So I added 12 oz dark choc chips, 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 cup dried cranberries and 1 cup chopped toasted almonds. OMG! I think those turned out to be the BEST cookies I’ve ever tasted! EVERYONE who ate them thought they were amazing and a couple of people actually said I’d stumbled upon the worlds best cookie recipe ever. I will continue to make the basic cookies because I truly do love them but I’m going to also continue to experiment with additional ingredients because the basic recipe is so good it can easily be adjusted to fit anyone’s tastes. Thank you so much for posting!
I just made them again tonight and used 1/2 cup almond flour, 1/2 cup gluten free flour, a combo of walnut oil, plant shortening and coconut oil. I added gogi berries and dried cranberries, along with walnuts. Yep, best cookie ever. Forgot to add some cinnamon
This is my FAVORITE Cookie recipe! I love a crunchy cookie and after searching for so long, I came across your recipe and it is PERFECTION! I made them at Christmas this year, and plan to make them throughout the year! As someone who is more of a novice at baking and does not bake often, this recipe was easy to follow, but dead on when it came to crunch and taste – I wouldn’t change a thing! Look forward to making many more batches!
These truly were perfect. I followed the recipe and instructions as written except that I added raisins and walnuts. The crispiness is divine. This is the oatmeal cookie recipe I’ve been looking for forever.
I made these cookies and they are so crunchy. I don’t like the soft sugary-sweet ones, so these are perfect for me.
These were delicious! I love crispy cookies, and recently bought some at a Japanese shop that were very small, crisp and delicate, with baby chocolate chips and finally ground oatmeal. I used this recipe as a base, but put the oatmeal in the food processor and ground it up fairly fine, and added tiny semi-sweet chocolate chips. I made two cylinders of dough about 1 1/2″ in diameter and frozen them in parchment paper, then sliced them about 3/8″ thick. I baked them on parchment paper at 350 for 11-12 minutes. They were crispy, fine, delicate and delicious!!! Not exactly like the cookies I was imitating, but pretty darn close!
Have been searching for the cookie of my childhood, founded it finally. Did not disappoint and I’m happy, happy, happy. Easy and fun, good to involve kids with. I sprinkled cinnamon sugar on cookies for that something extra.
I’m guessing if I use instant oats it should look finer right? I’ll try and keep you posted!!!
Instant oats will NOT provide the same results.
i like it
Absolutely deeelish…thanks for posting.
(i also reduced the size of the cookies. used a rounded tablespoon, got 36 cookies, perfect size)
Oh LORD! I made these cookies this weekend (moderate changes — added raisins and walnuts, cinnamon…) and they are FANTASTIC. I love crisp oatmeal cookies. Don’t like soft ones! The texture and flavor was fantastic. THANK YOU!
Best tasting (and smelling!) recipe ever! I added cranberries and walnuts. I pre soaked the cranberries in the egg and vanilla mixture. Plumps them up. Soooo good! Thank you.
Soooo good!