A delicious cookie that’s both vegan and packed with wholesome ingredients? Yep! These vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies combine the heartiness of oats with rich, melty chocolate for the perfect guilt-free treat. Whether you’re vegan or just love a good cookie, this recipe become a favorite in no time!
Why You’ll Love This Vegan Oatmeal Cookies
I love being able to share recipes that are delicious, easy, and just so happen to be good for you recipes. Take these vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, for example. Using a base of walnuts, maple syrup, and a touch of coconut oil in place of butter and regular eggs, these are just darn tasty and not-so-shabby, nutritionally speaking.
Like many cookie recipes, you can make the dough several days in advance and keep it covered in the refrigerator. Take it out when you’re ready to bake and scoop it onto your cookie sheets.
They are full of fiber and contain no refined sugar. No animal products either, if that’s important to you. You can even make them gluten-free by using gluten-free oats. Serve them with a glass of your favorite non-dairy milk and enjoy every last bite!
Ingredient Notes
These really are the best vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. With simple ingredients and 15 minutes of baking time, these vegan cookies have the perfect texture and are full of ooey gooey goodness.
- oat flour: You can easily make your own oat flour. See step 2 in the recipe card.
- baking soda
- fine grain sea salt
- ground cinnamon
- raw walnuts or walnut meal: You can also use raw cashews/cashew meal or raw pecans/pecan meal.
- melted coconut oil or olive oil or avocado oil
- 100% pure maple syrup
- vanilla extract
- rolled oats: To make this recipe gluten-free, make sure to use gluten-free rolled oats. For best results, use old-fashioned rolled oats, though quick oats will work in a pinch.
- vegan chocolate chips
See the recipe card below for exact ingredient amounts.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Step 2: *If you need to make oat flour, place 1 ¾ cups rolled oats in a food processor and process until powdery.
Step 3: Place the dry ingredients: oat flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl and whisk together.
Step 4: Place walnuts in a food processor and blend into a fine meal. Add oil, maple syrup, and vanilla and process until the mixture has the consistency of natural nut butter (this serves as our egg replacer!)
Step 5: Stir walnut mixture into flour mixture. Fold in 2 cups of rolled oats and chocolate chips.
Step 6: Use a 1 ¾ -inch ice cream scooper (or cookie scoop) to form dough into balls, and place the cookie dough balls on the parchment lined baking sheet. You can fit 12 on a sheet. Flatten cookies slightly with a damp hand. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until cookies begin to turn golden brown and the tops look dry.
Step 7: Cool for a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Recipe Tips & Substitutions
- Mix-ins: Feel free to add other mix-ins such as shredded coconut, chopped nuts, or additional chocolate chunks or chips.
- Oil: I prefer oil in this recipe, but you can use vegan butter if that’s what you have on hand.
- Make your own Oat Flour: If you need to make oat flour, place 1 ¾ cups of rolled oats in a food processor and process until powdery.
Storage Tips
Store baked leftover cookies in an airtight container for up to a week at room temperature. For longer storage, let the cookies cool completely on the cooling rack. Then, store the cooled and baked cookies in a freezer-safe container or freezer bag for up to 3 months.
If you have leftover dough, store it in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 3-4 days.
To freeze the cookies unbaked: Arrange them in a single layer on the baking sheet and place the pan in the freezer. Once the cookies are frozen solid, transfer them to an airtight container and keep them frozen until you’re ready to bake. Then just place them on a prepared baking sheet directly from the freezer and add another minute or two to the baking time.
More Vegan Cookie Recipes
- Vegan Thumbprint Cookies
- Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies
- Cranberry Orange Oatmeal Cookies
- Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookies
- Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal Cookies
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Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups oat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 cups raw walnuts or walnut meal, or cashews/cashew meal or pecan/pecan meal
- 3 Tablespoons melted coconut oil or olive oil or avocado oil
- 1 cup 100% pure maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 12 ounces or 1 ½ cups chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- *If you need to make oat flour, place 1 ¾ cups rolled oats in a food processor and process until powdery.
- Place oat flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a mixing bowl and whisk together.
- Place walnuts in a food processor and blend into a fine meal. Add oil, maple syrup and vanilla and process until mixture has the consistency of natural nut butter.
- Stir walnut mixture into flour mixture. Fold in 2 cups rolled oats and chocolate chips.
- Use a 1 ¾ -inch ice cream scooper to form dough into balls, and place on baking sheets. You can fit 12 on a sheet. Flatten cookies slightly with a damp hand. Bake 13-15 minutes or until cookies begin to brown and tops look dry.
- Cool a few minutes and then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Store baked leftover cookies in an airtight container for up to a week at room temperature. For longer storage, let the cookies cool completely on the cooling rack. Then, store the cooled and baked cookies in a freezer-safe container or freezer bag for up to 3 months.
- If you have leftover dough, store it in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 3-4 days.
- To freeze the cookies unbaked: Arrange them in a single layer on the baking sheet and place the pan in the freezer. Once the cookies are frozen solid, transfer them to an airtight container and keep them frozen until you're ready to bake. Then just place them on a prepared baking sheet directly from the freezer and add another minute or two to the baking time.
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!This post may contain affiliate links
Can I substitute coconut oil with another oil?
Thx
Yes! You can use an equal amount of olive oil or avocado oil. I’ve been using more olive oil in baking recipes with great success.
Just before you baked them, were you adding salt to the top of each one?
Sometimes I add a small pinch of flaky sea salt to the top of chocolate chip cookies before I bake them. Completely optional, but adds an extra flavor boost.
If I want to replace the walnuts what do you suggest? Would peanut butter work?
In my new book, Quicker Than Quick, I created a version of this recipe with peanut butter, but’s it’s not a 1-to-1 swap. If you have cashews or pecans at home, you can try either of those or a combo.
These and your peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies from QTQ sound amazing! I’ll be making both but want to add brewers yeast because I’m nursing and want to boost my milk supply. Do you recommend adding additional wet ingredients to balance it out?
I think it depends on how much you want to add. You might even be able to replace some of the flour with BY, but I have no idea how that would turn out. When you bake the cookies, check on them earlier than the recipe indicates since they may be drier.
Just made these and they are AMAZING!!!! Substituted chocolate for sultanas and they are sooo tasty. Thank you for bringing us this joy!!!
Oatmeal-raisin (sultana) is a winner in my book!
These were fantastic! The texture, taste, convenience of freezing a roll and slicing/baking… absolutely loved it and is my new go-to recipe 🙂 I split the batch in 2, making half as chocolate chip and half as oatmeal raisin (for my husband – die-hard fan). He’s pretty quick to question anything remotely healthy but said these were incredible and couldn’t get enough! A super easy and convenient option for both of us to enjoy!
So glad they are hubby-approved!
Love these cookies! Can you refrigerate dough overnight before baking? And if so, is it best to refrigerate in a log or in balls? Thanks!
Yes, you can! Either way, but when you refrigerate as a log, then you slice and bake and the appearance is a little different.