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.
Sarah says
these were amazing and my very anti-vegan grandma even asked for the recipe! I subbed walnuts for almond flakes and used date syrup instead of the maple syrup and they were so bloody gorgeous! Recipe saved and bringing these bad boys out more often!
Alison Andrews says
That is so fantastic! Thanks so much for the great review Sarah! 🙂
RCB says
Another winner! Made these for my hubby last night and he was very happy! I subbed oats for coconut 1-1 and added pecans instead of walnuts. Perfection! Thanks for sharing your kitchen magic! ♥
Alison Andrews says
Thanks for sharing your adjustments, sounds awesome! 🙂
Yuki says
Hi, am going to try this recipe, but would like to know if I can use coconut flour instead of dessicated coconut.
Alison Andrews says
Hi Yuki, they are not the same thing, so no you can’t use it as a replacement. If you can’t get dessicated coconut it is possible to leave it out of this recipe. All the best. 🙂
Anna says
These were awesome! I made a few changes and additions (threw in dark chocolate chips and Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, skipped the coconut and swapped cashew milk for soy milk, of which I added slightly more), but the cookies still turned out great. They’re definitely very sweet, even without the additions, but the flavour is great, and they very effectively resolved my sweet tooth.
Alison Andrews says
That is wonderful to hear and I love those additions! Thanks so much for sharing and the great review. 🙂
Tae says
Is there another substitute for the coconut powder?
Alison Andrews says
No, but some people have made our oatmeal cookies without it and it has worked fine. So you can try omitting it, you might just need to add less soy milk. 🙂
Sweetu says
These were great! I used coconut oil instead of butter and used 3/4 sugar since I prefer my cookies a little less sweet, but over all great recipe! They were the good kind of dense and chewy. Perfectly hit my craving! Thanks for the easy recipe!
Oh, and I put cut up crystallized ginger in half, just to try it out, and it went really well!
Alison Andrews says
Sounds awesome, thanks for sharing your adjustments and the great review. 🙂
Willow says
Hello! I’d like to make these, but I’m wondering if you have a suggestion for something to replace the coconut as I’m not a fan of it!
Thanks! So excited to try these!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Willow, you can leave it out. You might be able to add in less (or even no) soy milk at the end though. ?
Desna says
I tried it they’re very delicious. Thank you, my family loves them. I used maple syrup instead no sodas no spices. And they comes out great
Gwenda Woodbury says
Very good if you are looking for something very sweet – and what cookie isn’t! I tried both a wheat flour version with raisins and walnuts and a gluten free version with cranberries and pecans. Excellent results with both. For a less sweet treat, I don’t think simply reducing the sugar would be successful because it’s what holds the cookie together…. I did wonder about the tablespoon of vanilla though…should that be a teaspoon in the recipe? Thanks!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Gwenda! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Yes, it is a Tbsp, it’s not a typo. 🙂
Jackie says
Simply the best cookie recipe. It doesn’t get better than this. Addictive!
Danielle says
Even when I replaced sugar by coconut sugar, way too sweet. A quarter of the sugar would be plenty.
Alison Andrews says
Coconut sugar has the same level of sweetness as regular sugar, and the same sugar content per gram, so I’m not at all surprised it was equally sweet. If you don’t like your cookies to be sweet you can definitely use less sugar but I would not consider your tastes to be universal. I don’t think they are too sweet.
Cielo Teo says
Very crunchy on the outside but soft and chewy on the inside!! This is the best vegan oatmeal raisin cookies I have tried!
Alison Andrews says
Yay! Thanks so much for that awesome review! 🙂
Sheri says
I just took my last tray of these cookies out of the oven and they smell heavenly!! Then I tried one!!! Sooooo yummy crispy on the outside and chewy in the middle!!!! Awesome, awesome cookie! I made mine with GF flour and instead of raisins I put in dried cranberries. I didn’t have coconut so I just added more oats and my husband will even love these!!!!! Thank you for a great recipe!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Sheri! That sounds awesome! Yes, these come out great with gluten-free flour too. Thanks so much for sharing your adjustments and the great review! 🙂
Naya123 says
I substituted vegan butter for coconut oil and brown sugar for coconut sugar. They turned out really nice, but I only needed to bake for 10 minutes.
Keep up the good work! x
Alison Andrews says
Awesome! Thanks for posting! 🙂
Anna Andrews says
Just delightful chewy cookies!
Sandie says
These look and sound delicious. Going to make a batch tomorrow. Thanks for the recipe