These Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are golden brown on the edges and chewy in the center. No one would guess these indulgent, buttery cookies are vegan. Have these ready to bake in just minutes!
I absolutely love a good cookie recipe. They are my secret indulgence. These are one of my favorites, along side my biscoff butter cookies.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Perfect for food allergies - If your friends and family have an egg or dairy allergy, these vegan oatmeal cookies will be a hit! They taste exactly like the traditional cookies, yet are allergen friendly and can even be made gluten-free if needed.
- Made with simple ingredients - No need to worry about having to track down expensive, hard to find ingredients. The best vegan oatmeal raisin cookies are made with just 10 easy ingredients plus plump raisins and salt. You may even have everything you need to whip these up already stocked in your home pantry to make this vegan spin!
- Can be prepped ahead - If you'd like to prep your cookie dough in advance or even freeze cookies in batches, I've included everything you'll need to do so. You won't regret having a batch ready to go when a cookie craving hits.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Flax egg - My go to vegan egg replacer. It's simple to make, affordable and can be used in several other recipes, including my flax seed pudding and other vegan baked goods. You may use either golden flaxseed meal or brown flaxseed meal - just make sure it is ground. Whole seeds will not work.
- Vegan butter - For the best chewy vegan oatmeal raisin cookies, use vegan butter sticks, not vegan buttery spreads. Buttery spreads have air whipped into them, making them lighter and ideal for spreading on things like toast, bagels, and more. Vegan block butter on the other hand is closest to dairy butter and will yield the best baked goods. I have not tested these cookies with melted coconut oil, but it may work. If you choose to give it a try, please leave a comment and let me know how it worked!
- Sugar - You'll need both white sugar and soft brown sugar. I have not tested this recipe using liquid sweeteners such as maple syrup or agave. These swaps will make the cookie batter too wet and is not recommended.
- Oats - For the best chewy texture, use rolled oats. In a pinch, you can use quick oats - just note that this will make a less textured, less chewy cookie. If you have left over oats, try my baked oats with no banana, frozen fruit overnight oats, my protein overnight oats, and my overnight oats without water. My oat flour protein brownies are also a great decadent dessert!
- All purpose flour - Classic all purpose wheat flour will make the lightest, soft cookies. If gluten free, substitute gluten free all purpose flour.
- Raisins - I used the classic sweet raisins, but if desired, feel free to use golden raisins or even swap the raisins for vegan chocolate chips for a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie.
Step by Step Instructions
- Make the flax egg. In a small bowl, whisk together the ground flaxseed and water and set aside for 10 minutes, or until thickened.
- Cream the butter and sugar. In a large mixing bowl with electric hand mixers or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the brown sugar, cane sugar, butter, and vanilla. Beat together until light and fluffy, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Beat in the flax egg in. Beat again to combine.
- Mix in the dry ingredients. Add in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Mix well until combined.
- Add in the oats. Mix until combined, scraping the edges down as needed.
- Add in the raisins. Mix again to combine.
- Roll the cookie dough balls. Using a tablespoon cookie scoop or spoon, scoop about 2 tablespoons of oatmeal raisin cookie dough and roll it into a ball. Place the rolled cookie dough onto a baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
- Repeat with remaining dough.
- Bake. Bake the oatmeal raisin cookies for 13-14 minutes, or until lightly crispy on the edges and still soft in the center.
- Cool. Allow the cookies to cool for 10 minutes. They will continue to firm up as they sit and will be perfectly soft and chewy. Enjoy!
Storing and Reheating Instructions
These soft and chewy vegan cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months. If freezing, these cookies can be frozen before or after baking.
To freeze before baking, follow the recipe through step 8. Space the dough balls apart on a baking sheet, then place the baking sheet directly in the freezer to flash freeze the cookie dough. Once frozen solid, about 2-3 hours, transfer the cookie dough balls to an airtight container or freezer safe bag and freeze for up to 2 months. When ready to bake, allow the cookie dough balls to come to room temperature before baking as usual. This method is best for baking small batches of cookies when a craving hits!
To freeze after baking, flash freeze the cookies on a baking sheet, then transfer to a freezer safe bag or container once solid. To help prevent sticking, you can place a piece of parchment paper or wax paper in between each cookie layer. Allow the cookies to come to room temperature before eating.
If desired, these cookies can be reheated in the microwave in 10 second bursts until warm again!
Time Saving Hacks
If you'd like to prep ahead, make the oatmeal raisin cookie dough ahead of time (following the recipe through step 7), then tightly cover with plastic wrap or transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Then when you are ready to bake, set the cookie dough on the counter to warm up to room temperature before resuming the recipe with step 8.
FAQs
If your oatmeal raisin cookies are hard straight out of the oven, a couple of things may have happened. For one, it is possible they were baked for too long. As a general rule of thumb, it is best to slightly underbake cookies because they will continue to firm up as they cool and this keeps them soft and chewy.
If the baking time was correct, it is possible the fat to flour ratio was off or the dough was over mixed. For best results, use the spoon and level technique when measuring flour. Digging the measuring cup into the flour bag, for example, can pack up to 30% too much flour in the measuring cup, yielding dry, hard cookies.
Some recommend soaking raisins before adding them to oatmeal raisin cookies to rehydrate them and make them softer and more plump. I typically skip this step as I don't mind chewy raisins, but feel free to soak them ahead of time if you wish!
Vegan cookies are not always gluten-free and vice versa. As written, these cookies are made with all purpose flour, but you can substitute a gluten-free all purpose flour blend. For best results, use a blend made for baking and is meant to substitute flour 1:1.
Single gluten-free flours such as oat flour, almond flour, or coconut flour will not work on their own. These flours typically absorb more liquid than wheat flours and would need significant ratio adjustments.
In order for cookies to be considered vegan, they must be free from animal by-products. This means vegan cookies are made without eggs, dairy, or animal based ingredients such as gelatin, lard, or non organic sugars (these are often processed through bone char in the bleaching process).
Instead, vegan baking utilizes egg substitutes like flax eggs and non-dairy butters and milks. These cookies as written are vegan-friendly.
Tips for Success
- Plan to soften the butter 1-2 hours before baking. In order to sufficiently cream the butter and sugar together, the butter must be softened to room temperature. This means that the butter is soft enough to make a dent in with your finger, but not so soft that is melting into a liquid. Depending on the temperature of your kitchen, this will take 1-2 hours. If you are in a rush, try this trick to soften butter quickly.
- Check that your baking powder is active and fresh to leaven your cookies. Baking powder can lose it's leavening powers after a few months, yielding flat cookies. Use this simple test to help you check if your baking powder is still active.
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If you make this recipe, I would absolutely love for you to leave a rating and review. I absolutely love connecting with you!
Chewy Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- 1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp water)
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup vegan butter block form, softened
Dry ingredients
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 cups old fashion rolled oats
- 1 cup all purpose flour or gluten free 1-1
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp salt
- ¾ cup raisins
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and grease two baking sheets.
- Begin by making your flax egg. Combine 1 tbsp of ground flax with 3 tbsp of water. Mix and let sit for ten minutes.
- Beat together the butter, vanilla and sugars (both brown and granulated) until they are fluffy and soft.
- Scrape the edges using a spatula then add in flax egg and mix.
- Next, scrape the edges again + add in the baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt + flour and mix until they are well combined. Be careful not to overmix.
- Add in the oats and continue to mix. It will be thick and not easy to mix but eventually will become softer.
- Once the oats are mixed with the other ingredients, scrape the edges and add in the raisins and mix again.
- Scoop approx. 2 tbsp of dough and roll it into a ball. Place it on the baking tray and continue to do so with the rest of the dough, spacing each dough ball approx 2 inches from one another.
- Bake for 13-14 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes.
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