These Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies are the softest, chewiest oatmeal cookies, and they’re perfect as a base for add-ins like nuts, raisins, or dried cranberries! They are made with rolled oats, almond flour, maple, dates, and of course chocolate chips.

Side view of of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

As far as cookies go, this Easy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe is on the healthier side! It’s definitely still a treat, but without refined sugar or refined flour. They are chewy from the oats and the dates, a combination that we find highly addictive! These really are the best oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and we cannot wait for you to try them and love them as much as we do.

Ingredients for Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Chips

Old Fashioned Oats: also called rolled oats. Quick oats will not work well in this recipe, old fashioned oats provide the right texture for these oat cookies
Almond Flour: besides keeping this recipe gluten-free, they add a beautiful chewy texture to these chocolate chip cookies.
Coconut Oil: provides a hint of coconut flavor and a wonderful cookie texture. Use refined coconut oil if you prefer no coconut flavor at all or vegan butter.
Maple Syrup: we love the flavor and texture that maple syrup provides cookies and it's a non-refined sugar
Dates: provide flavor and extra chewy texture for this oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
Chocolate chips: we love the intense chocolate flavor that dark chocolate chips offer. We try to use chocolate chips that are at least 70% cocoa. Feel free to use semi-sweet of you prefer.

Ingredients for Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies labeled. oats, almond flour, maple syrup, coconut oil, dates and baking powder

Naturally Sweetened Cookies

We kept this oatmeal cookie recipe free of refined sugar (except for the chocolate chips). If you prefer not to use chocolate chips you can use cocoa nib instead. We like to use dark chocolate chips for a more intense chocolate flavor.

Instead, of the traditional mix of brown sugar and white sugar, we chose to sweeten them with dates and maple syrup. Dates add fiber, and moisture, and 100% maple syrup is made only from tree sap that’s been boiled down. Use fresh, soft dates for the best results! We always go for Medjool dates at the grocery store. They are our favorites.

Are Oatmeal Cookies Chocolate Chip Cookies Guten-Free?

Yes, this chocolate chip cookie recipe is gluten-free, but not all the recipes are. Just check the ingredients. You don’t need any fancy or gourmet ingredients to make delicious, gluten-free oatmeal chocolate chip cookies! We used gluten-free old-fashioned oats and almond flour. You can even make almond flour (sometimes also referred to as almond meal) at home by pulsing almonds in the food processor until finely ground. Almond flour is now a common ingredient that can easily be found in regular supermarkets.

Oatmeal chocolate chip cookie ingredients in a food processor

Oatmeal Chocolate chip cookie dough half processed in a food processor

How to Make These Easy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe for vegan oatmeal cookies is couldn’t be easier to make, no stand mixer required! Simply place everything except the chocolate chips in a food processor and pulse it until a cookie dough forms! Then we fold in the chocolate chips.

While these cookies don’t have eggs, the oats bake together and hold their shape really well! Use an ice cream scoop or cookie scoop for even and perfectly shaped cookies. Flatten the cookie dough balls slightly with the palms of our hands once they’re scooped onto the baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Create the best-looking cookies by saving a handful of chocolate chips to press into the top of the cookies after they’re flattened.

Variations On These Oatmeal Cookies

You can customize these cookies in many different ways depending on what you like. Just add your favorite mix-ins. Nuts would be delicious here, pecans, walnuts, or hazelnuts especially. You can do peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, or a combination! Make these easy oatmeal cookies even healthier by adding in chopped dates, raisins, or dried cranberries. Finally, spices! We love spices. Try adding cinnamon or cardamom for a warmer, spiced flavor and even a little espresso powder.

Freezing Instructions

You may freeze the Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies baked or raw. If freezing raw place the cookie dough already portioned into individual cookies on a baking sheet and place in the freezer. Once the cookie dough balls are frozen, place them in a freezer bag. When baking frozen cookie dough add 5 more minutes to the baking time. These chocolate chip cookies can also be frozen once baked by placing them in an air-tight container or freezer bag. We recommend freezing for no more than a month.

How Do You Make Cookies Chewy?

The quick answer is moisture and baking time. In this case, the dates and the almond flour made these oat cookies extra chewy. Other more traditional recipes rely on brown sugar and eggs to make chewy cookies. Baking cookies for too long will result in crunchier cookies. Follow the recipe instructions, and take into consideration that the cookies will look very soft when fresh out of the oven, but they will firm up once they cool.

So just be patient, we know it's hard to resist fresh out-of-the-oven cookies...

overhead view of of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

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