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
If you give this applesauce coffee cake recipe a try, snap a pic and tag @pamelasalzman so I can see your beautiful creations. I also really appreciate readers taking the time to leave a star rating and review! I have started a weekly Monday newsletter with tips, musings, new recipes not published here, fun new finds, and more. Subscribe for free here.
For more delicious recipes and to learn how to be a better cook, check out my monthly online cooking classes. I have been teaching people for 15 years how to cook healthy food that their families love! Join me!
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
I just tried these with a few substitutions – butter for coconut oil, honey for maple syrup (since that is all I had on hand). I made 1:1 substitution for both. But my batter was too wet. It looked nothing like in the pictures above. Even the final cookies were too gooey, sort of like half baked dough. I baked them for around 16 min and didn’t want to go any longer since the top on some of them was starting to burn a little. Any idea what went wrong?
They did taste very good though.
Well, since you didn’t follow the recipe exactly, I have to assume those substitutions do not work here. I have not always been able to substitute butter for coconut oil, so I think that’s to blame. I can guarantee if you follow the recipe as written, you will not have any trouble. The good news is that the batter is vegan so you can eat the cookies even if they are underdone (or raw for that matter.)
Loved these! I didn’t have walnuts so I used 1 cup of pecans and 1 cup of mixed almonds and cashews. Worked perfectly! For those who were asking for an oil-free version I also tried making them a second time and instead of coconut oil I used 1/4 cup of apple sauce. They worked well but I prefer the coconut oil version.
Love hearing adaptations of recipes, so thank you, Rebecca! Your comment is helpful for people with a walnut allergy or if folks don’t have walnuts in the pantry. And yes, fat usually works much better in cookie recipes than applesauce for the crispy exterior factor. Thanks for sharing!
Hi! I’ve heard great things about these cookies and can’t wait to make them. Do you have any suggestions for replacing the coconut oil? I try to stay away from oil when cooking but I’m not sure of a good substitute when baking.
Thank you!
I think these would be so dry without the oil. Are you opposed to all fat? I think melted butter would work. Otherwise, maybe substituting almond butter….but I have no idea if that would work.
Wow! Just wow! These cookies are CRAZY good! Like another commentor mentioned, I had come to the conclusion I was never going to have a good cookie again fter going vegan and trying what seems like a million recipes.. Not anymore! You are a cookie genius! Plus, the dough tastes amazing on it’s own.
I’m not even vegan and these are my favorite! So happy this cookie recipe can make you happy 🙂
I am a sucker for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and will most definitely be trying this recipe!
Thanks Pamela
They’re a favorite around here!
Just made them and they turned out great! I think I’ll also break them up and use as granola in my greek yogurt! Thanks again:)
Sounds decadent!
Just made these tonight! So delicious! Thank you for helping me get my sweet fix with a little less guilt. Hubby likes them, too!
Yay, success!
This is hands down the best batter I have ever tasted. All four of my family members are in love with the batter – and cookies – we all fight for the batter right out of the bowl and I have to keep them away in order to make any actual cookies. And I feel good about letting them have the cookies at any time of the day – even for breakfast – as they are so healthy and chock full of protein. Yum 🙂
I have actually refrigerated raw balls of these — raw cookie dough bites!
These are my go-to allergy-friendly cookies. I use Enjoy Life chocolate chips and the cookies are so good. I keep a stash in my freezer at all times and they go with me to every potluck meal! Thank you!!
And I love that I can eat the dough without worrying about getting sick!
Haha! I make this dough to keep in the freezer for my teenage daughters and their friends to eat. They think they’re eating “cookie dough” and they have no idea it’s healthy!
Love to hear this, thank you! I often use Enjoy Life, as well. 🙂
These are the best cookies I have ever had!! I am not even vegan- I love them my husband and all his friends can’t believe they don’t have refined sugar, eggs or butter!!
Thank you for that, Chelsea. I’m not vegan either, but I agree — they’re so good regardless!
These are stone hard, I have to dip them in the tea to soften….. I still have more dough in the fridge, can I “doctor’ it in some way to make them softer?
(I did follow the recipe exactly…)
Hmmm, sounds like they were baked too long. Perhaps your oven runs hotter than mine. Try timing them for less time in the oven and transfer them from the baking sheet to a cooling rack after they have sat for a minute or two. Hope that helps!
Yes, I agree. I baked them again today only 10 min, they are delicious! Thank you!
Perfect, so glad they turned out well!