These vegan oatmeal raisin cookies are crisp on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, rich and delicious with a hint of molasses.
There is always time for another vegan oatmeal cookie recipe. These vegan oatmeal raisin cookies are so good, you’ll love them even if you don’t love raisins. Seriously.
I’m not a massive fan of raisins, in that you won’t generally find me eating a handful of raisins ever, but I’ll eat them when they come mixed up with salted peanuts or when they’re in a dessert (like this vegan tiffin, then they’re awesome!).
And in these cookies, they are so good and mix in so well with the other flavors, it will pretty much make a raisin convert out of anyone. They are just ultimately good.
We’ve already done a bunch of oatmeal cookie recipes on this blog but there is always space for more. Have you tried our simple vegan oatmeal cookies, vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies or vegan peanut butter oatmeal cookies yet?
If you have, then you know how good they are and how good this one is going to be too!
What sets these oatmeal cookies apart from other oatmeal cookie recipes is well, raisins of course, but also the addition of molasses.
You just use a small amount but nonetheless you will notice the difference in flavor, and that blends so well with the cinnamon and brown sugar, and raisins of course.
You’ll also love our vegan anzac biscuits, vegan cowboy cookies and vegan oatmeal cranberry cookies.
Ingredients For Oatmeal Raisin Cookies:
Ingredient Notes
- Raisins – should be small and seedless. When I first tested these cookies, I could only find jumbo raisins in the store, and they did not work out well at all. They are just too big to go easily into the cookie dough and even when the cookies were baking, it was like these giant raisins were just falling out of the cookies onto the baking tray! So don’t use jumbo raisins! You want the nice and small seedless variety.
- Dessicated coconut – is also called finely shredded coconut.
- Walnuts – these are optional but highly recommended.
- Maple syrup – can be switched for golden syrup or agave nectar or any syrup you may have on hand.
- Molasses – you can really use any molasses here since it’s only a small amount. Our favorite brand is Grandma’s.
- Soy milk – can be replaced with any non-dairy milk.
How To Make Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Add vegan butter and light brown sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer and cream them together until smooth.
- Add maple syrup, molasses and vanilla extract and mix in.
- In a separate bowl add rolled oats, all purpose flour, dessicated coconut, baking soda, salt and cinnamon and mix together.
- Add the dry ingredients in with the wet and mix with a spoon into a crumbly cookie dough.
- Add soy milk and mix again. Your dough should be very thick but you should be able to roll it into a ball and have it stick together perfectly at this stage. If not, add a little more soy milk.
- Add raisins and chopped walnuts and mix in.
- Roll the cookie dough into balls and place them evenly onto a parchment lined baking tray. Aim to get 20 cookies from the batch.
- Place into the oven and bake at 350°F for 12 minutes. The tops will be golden brown and the edges will be firm, but the cookies will still be very soft in the middle.
- Let the cookies cool and firm up directly on the tray.
Quick and Easy
These vegan oatmeal raisin cookies are super quick and easy. There’s no chilling of the dough or any delays in this recipe.
If you have a serious oatmeal cookie craving and have the ingredients on hand then in 30 minutes time you could have a batch of freshly baked cookies coming out of the oven!
You’ll have to wait for them to cool down, but you’ll be enjoying some of this cookie goodness in a very short amount of time.
When they come out of the oven, the cookies are quite soft in the middle. You might even wonder if they’re cooked. As long as they’re nicely browned on top, they’re good. Let them cool directly on the tray and they’ll firm up beautifully.
Recipe Tips
Try and get an even amount of raisins and walnuts into each cookie. There’s no need to be too precise of course, but you just want to keep a general eye on it as you’re rolling the cookie dough into balls. You don’t want some cookies to have a ton of raisins/walnuts and others to have none.
Baking time. For a softer cookie bake for 12 minutes. If you’d like them to have more crunch then you can increase the baking time to 15 minutes.
If your cookies don’t flatten. These cookies will usually flatten on their own in the oven. But if they don’t, you can increase the baking time by a couple of minutes. If they still haven’t flattened then just flatten them gently with a fork as soon as they come out the oven still warm and soft.
Make them gluten-free. These cookies work really well as gluten-free. All you have to do is switch the regular flour for a gluten-free all purpose baking blend. Also make sure your rolled oats are gluten-free.
Storing and Freezing
Keep them stored in an airtight container at room temperature and they’ll stay good for up to a week. You can also store them in an airtight container in the fridge.
You can freeze the baked cookies for up to 3 months.
You can even freeze the unbaked cookie balls for up to 3 months and then bake them directly from frozen (allow an extra couple of minutes baking time).
More Delicious Vegan Cookie Recipes
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
- Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Cookies
- Vegan Sugar Cookies
- Vegan Snickerdoodles
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup Vegan Butter (112g)
- 1 cup Light Brown Sugar (200g)
- 1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup or Golden Syrup
- 1 Tablespoon Molasses
- 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 ½ cups Rolled Oats (150g)
- 1 cup All Purpose Flour (125g)
- 1 cup Dessicated Coconut (80g) Finely Shredded Coconut
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 2 Tablespoons Soy Milk or other non-dairy milk
- ¾ cup Raisins (105g) small and seedless
- ½ cup Chopped Walnuts (64g) Optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Add vegan butter and light brown sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer and cream them together until smooth.
- Add maple syrup, molasses and vanilla extract and mix in.
- In a separate bowl add rolled oats, all purpose flour, dessicated coconut, baking soda, salt and cinnamon and mix together.
- Add the dry ingredients in with the wet and mix with a spoon into a crumbly cookie dough.
- Add in the soy milk and mix again. Your dough should be very thick, but you should be able to roll it into a ball and have it stick together perfectly at this stage. If not, add a tiny bit more soy milk.
- Add in the raisins and chopped walnuts and mix in.
- Roll the dough into balls and place them evenly onto a parchment lined baking tray. Aim to get around 20 cookies. Try to ensure the raisins are spread out in the cookie dough so that you don't end up with some cookies having no raisins and some cookies having a lot of raisins.
- Place into the oven and bake for 12 minutes. The tops will be golden brown and the edges will be firm, but the cookies will still be very soft in the middle.
- Let the cookies cool and firm up directly on the tray.
Video
Notes
- Baking time. For a softer cookie bake for 12 minutes. If you’d like them to have more crunch then you can increase the baking time to 15 minutes.
- If your cookies don’t flatten. These cookies will usually flatten on their own in the oven. But if they don’t, you can increase the baking time by a couple of minutes. If they still haven’t flattened then just flatten them gently with a fork as soon as they come out the oven still warm and soft.
- Make them gluten-free. These cookies work really well as gluten-free. All you have to do is switch the regular flour for a gluten-free all purpose baking blend. Also make sure your rolled oats are gluten-free.
- Storing: Keep them stored in an airtight container at room temperature and they’ll stay good for up to a week. You can also store them in an airtight container in the fridge.
- Freezing: You can freeze the baked cookies for up to 3 months. You can even freeze the unbaked cookie balls for up to 3 months and then bake them directly from frozen (allow an extra couple of minutes baking time).
- This recipe has been updated with new photos and extra tips but the recipe itself is the same.
I was wondering, should the butter be cold or room temperature? Also, can sweetened coconut be used? My first batch came out too flat.
Hi there! Your butter can be cold, but room temp works best.
WOW!!!! These are, hands down, the BEST cookies I have EVER had ANYWHERE! Made them to bring on a hike and wanted to cancel the hike and just spend the day eating them, enjoying the intoxicating aroma in my kitchen! Thank you so very very much for all of the phenomenal recipes on your blog! I always check your site first when I am looking for a recipe – your recipes are so reliably outstanding & truly superior. Love your style and what you choose to prioritize in cooking as well. Thank you ❤️
Thank you so much for your kind words Beth! So glad you love our recipes! 🙂
Oh my goodness these are too good! I followed the recipe to the letter except halving the sugar and using spelt flour instead of all purpose. But let me tell you something that others may sympathise with/find helpful…. I lost the will to carry on whilst rolling the mixture into balls as the raisins had other ideas and kept escaping. Then the walnuts fancied a bit of that action too 🤦🏻♀️ I almost gave up then thought … I know… let’s make the mixture into what we call in England “flapjacks”… basically oat bars or a traybake. So I lined a rectangular traybake dish then threw the mixture in, patted it down, cooked slightly longer, let it cool completely then sliced up into squares! It worked a treat! This is another 5 star keeper Alison! You are literally a genius 😇. Next time I’ll reduce the sugar a little bit more to just less than half I think. Thank you Alison 🙏🏼 💕
Thanks for your review and for sharing Satin! And thanks for your kind words too! 🙂
I wasn’t a fan of oatmeal cookies until I made these cookies–today. So darn good. Moist, chewy, sweet. Easy to mix up, roll into golf ball-sized dough balls, and bake quickly. I subbed out the raisins for dried cranberries and added the optional walnuts. Instead of 20 cookies, I got 26. Bonus!
That sound delicious Kaitlyn! Thank you so much for sharing and for your great review!
I will plan to add 3 Tablespoons of soy milk next time I make these. At altitude, it seems I need more liquid. They are a huge hit for everyone – vegan or not!
If I can only find regular coconut flakes do I need to grind them?
Yes you can grind them or pulse them in the food processor.
All I have to say is WOW! I made these for my bf and we both loved them. I did replace molasses with a little extra maple syrup and agave because I was out of molasses. These are perfect for eating by the fire in your pjs and watching sappy Xmas rom coms. One important tip. Cook all the cookies and freeze the remaining right away. I ate half of the batter raw! So amazingly good! Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for the awesome review Frank!
My husband said these were the best oatmeal cookies I ever made him. I do have to fess up I changed the vegan butter for the 76grams of coconut oil/19 grams of water (as suggested by previous review), coconut sugar for brown sugar and date syrup for molasses, only because I did not have the other items. Saving this recipe for sure.
That so awesome Sherri! Thanks so much for sharing!