These soft and chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are irresistible and delicious! Infused with a hint of chai, they are vegan and gluten-free. Video.
This oatmeal raisin cookie recipe reminds me of the cookies my grandma used to bake. She had this sweet little oatmeal cookie recipe plaque hanging in her kitchen. Every time we came to visit, oatmeal cookies, among many other treats, would be stacked on the counter. She lived for our visits. Nurturing with food was definitely her love language. Memories of being in my grandma’s kitchen fill me up with all the tenderness and love she generously bestowed.
This recipe is a bit healthier than the recipe on my grandmother’s plaque. They are subtly sweet (add more sugar if you want!) and made vegan. A little molasses deepens the flavor without overpowering. Flax seeds bind them together without eggs and add wholesome nutrition. The chai-soaked raisins add sweet-spicy flavor and contribute to their moist and tender crumb. Just a warning, these cookies are really easy to eat!!
Ingredients in Vegan Oatmeal Cookies
- Rolled oats (medium oats for extra chew) - Provide hearty texture and classic oatmeal cookie chewiness.
- Raisins or currants - Add chewy sweetness and bursts of fruity flavor throughout the cookies.
- Chai tea - Used to soak the dried raisins, adds moisture and infuses warmth and spice; other tea, rum, or hot water can be used instead.
- Flour - Forms the structure and body of the cookies. Or sub GF flour.
- Baking soda - Helps the cookies rise and spread properly while creating a tender texture.
- Warm spices (cinnamon, nutmeg) - Add cozy depth and aromatic warmth that complements the oats and molasses.
- Salt - Balances sweetness and enhances overall flavor.
- Coconut oil - Adds richness and a subtle hint of coconut; vegan butter or regular unsalted butter work well as substitutes.
- Molasses - Brings deep caramel notes and moisture, contributing to a soft, chewy texture.
- Vanilla - Adds sweet aromatic depth and rounds out the flavors.
- Sugar - Lightly sweetens the cookie dough and helps create crisp edges with a chewy center.
- Flax egg - ground flax and water, acts as a plant-based binder, helping hold the cookies together.
Expert Tip
Soak the raisins! Plumping up the raisins (or currants) will make your cookies moister and add a nice hint of flavor. You can use tea, rum, juice or even hot water. The longer you soak them, the more flavor they will soak up. Overnight is great, but 10 minutes works too.
How to make Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Step one. Soak the raisins. Soaking them for an hour or overnight is optimal to absorb flavor, but even 20 minutes with hot liquid is good. Chai gives such a perfect flavor, but hot water works well too.
Step two. Mix together flour, oats, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
Step three. Cream together softened coconut oil, molasses, vanilla, sugar, and flax egg.
Step four. Combine. Mix in oats and flour mixture.
Step five. Drain raisins and add to the dough.
Step six. Form. Scoop onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Step seven. Bake the oatmeal cookies at 350F for 11-13 minutes.
Storage
Store completely cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4-5 days. To keep them soft, add a small piece of bread to the container - the cookies will absorb moisture from the bread and stay chewy. They can be frozen for up to 3 months.
Serving Suggestions
Serve with a mug of masala chai or a London Fog latte.
Variations
- Add toasted nuts or seeds.
- Swap out raisins for currants.
- For a softer cookie, use quick cooking oats.
- Add toasted coconut.
- Add chocolate chips.
More cookie recipes you may enjoy
- Spicy Chai Molasses Cookies
- Chocolate Tahini Cookies
- Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies with Hazelnuts
- Thumbprint Cookies with Walnuts and Apricot Jam
- Chewy Triple Ginger Cookies
- Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- The BEST Vegan Breakfast Cookies
Treat yourself to these wholesome, delicious Oatmeal Raisin Cookies! Perfect for sharing at gatherings or freeze some for later. Enjoy. ~Tonia
Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Video
Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Recipe
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 13 minutes
- Total Time: 33 minutes
- Yield: 22 cookies 1x
- Category: baked goods, cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten-Free, Vegan
Description
Lightly sweetened chewy Vegan Oatmeal Cookies with Chai Soaked Raisins. Irresistible and delicious!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup raisins or currants
- 1 chai tea bag (or see notes)
- 1/2 cup hot water
- 1 cup all-purpose flour or gluten-free flour blend
- 1 1/2 cups quick or medium rolled oats
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 3/4 cup coconut oil (softened not melted) or vegan butter or regular unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/2 cup sugar (add another 1/4 cup if you like a sweeter cookie)
- 1 flax egg (1 tablespoon ground flax seeds mixed with 2 1/2 tablespoons water) or use 1 regular egg
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Soak the raisins. Steep the tea bag in 1/2 cup hot water for 5 minutes, then pour the tea over the raisins in a small bowl. Let it sit for 10 minutes or overnight. See notes.
- Dry ingredeints. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, oats, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, and sea salt. Set aside.
- Wet ingredients. In a small bowl, cream together softened coconut oil, molasses, vanilla, sugar, and flax egg.
- Combine. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Drain the liquid off the raisins and mix them into the dough.
- Form. Scoop out 1-ounce cookies ( ping pong-sized balls) tightly packed, onto a parchment-lined baking tray.
- Bake. Bake on the middle rack at 350F 11-13 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.
Notes
No chai? Feel free to soak raisins in hot water until plump. Or try different flavors of tea- Earl Grey, ginger, and rooibos are nice.
Flax egg: mix together 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds and 2.5 tablespoons water.
For a softer texture, use quick cooking oats. For a little extra chewiness, use medium oats.
Refrigerate the dough 15-30 minutes before baking if your kitchen is warm or if your coconut oil is too soft.
They hold well for 4 days in an air-tight container on the counter. They also freeze great.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 148
- Sugar: 7.5 g
- Sodium: 82.6 mg
- Fat: 7.7 g
- Saturated Fat: 6.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 17.2 g
- Fiber: 1.1 g
- Protein: 1.6 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
I don’t have chai tea bags. Could I just soak the raisins in hot water with chai spice mixed in?
Yes Diane!
Did I miss the temperature to bake them?
Hi Lisa, I can’t believe no one has said anything! I just added it to the instructions. Thanks 🙂
Hi there,
This recipe looks yummy except for the raisins. If I leave them out, are there any other adjustments to make to the recipe? Thank you.
I haven’t tried them without the raisins. You could replace with a different dried fruit? If you give it a try let us know how it turns out!
Made them today so good!
Yay, so glad you enjoyed!!
I had to leave the house! I could not stop eating these fun little cookies! I had them for breakfast with a banana. I used an egg, as I am more concerned with the sugar than vegan. Love these!
Haha Faye- I hear you! I often say I am making them “for my kids”…
Love that you adapted.
I am wondering if quinoa flakes might be substituted for the oats.
I bet that would work!
For some reasons, these came out very differently from yours, with a bit of a cake-like texture.
I did use a whole egg instead of the flax seed one – could the extra yolk be the issue here?
I also used 1/2 the amount of coconut and substituted the other half with regular butter.
I am sure it’s a great recipe though, so will try to make it again once I figure out what went wrong.
Wondering about a few more details, what type of oats did you use? Did you drain the raisins? Did the dough seem wet? Also did you refrigerate before baking?
I did use thin rolled out and dried out the raisins. The dough was quite wet and sticky though but I was afraid of ruining the taste by adding extra flour. Should I add more of the dry ingredients next time? 🙃
I just don’t know why it was so loose. The oil was not melted? Maybe try refrigerating for longer? I would be hesitant to add more oats and flour- maybe a little?
I’ve have been making this recipe a lot in the winter. In fact it’s the only cookie recipe I make. It’s really, really good!
Awesome!
Could I use olive oil instead of coconut oil?
I think it will change the texture and the cookies may turn out more flat. But that said I think it is worth a try! Maybe use a little less oil.
Thank you! I took your advice and used a little over 1/2 cup olive oil and they turned out fabulous ❤️
Oh super Cindy, thanks so much for letting us know!
I had my eye on these for weeks before I got to bake them, my new favorite, they are everything I love about oatmeal cookies. For the record, I did add hemp hearts, cacao nibs, and pumpkin seed, all good embellishments. I didn’t even get my mixer out, did it all by hand with ease. A real winner cookie, thank you!
So happy to hear Cheer! Love all the additions- YUM!
Oh my word such decadent treats. Will make again
And again
🙌🏼 wonderful!
Amazing cookies! I made them gluten free by subbing regular flour for half a cup of chickpea flour and half a cup of buckwheat flour. Will definitely make them again and again!
Your website and the recipes are just the best. Made a Bali bowl for dinner as well tonight and it turned out great.
Thanks so much Tamara!
These cookies were a big hit (I gifted some to a friend and saved some for my husband) – completely yummy without being too sweet. And what a lovely blend of flavors!
I confess that I didn’t use parchment paper for the first batch because the directions didn’t explicitly indicate to line the baking sheet (a rookie mistake on my part). Happily, the baked cookies were easily removed with a spatula. For the second batch, I looked at the pictures and saw that the sheet was lined and it did help.
I’m looking forward to making these cookies again. Thanks, Tonia, for sharing yet another delicious recipe.
So happy you enjoyed these Tara! I will include the note about parchment in the recipe. 🙂
As with all recipes on Feasting At Home, these are tried and true! I’m delighted that I can use an oatmeal based recipe to help with my heart-healthy goals!
I subbed honey for the sugar and added a bit more flour to offset the moisture. Perfect 10 out of 10***
Great to hear Anna!
Best oatmeal raisin cookie ever!!! What a great idea to soften the raisins in chai tea. I have made this cookie several times now, and have deleted all my other oatmeal cookie recipes btw!
I have successfully froze the unbaked cookies and then when kids arrive home can pop some in the oven. This works wonderfully.
Great to hear Anne- thanks for sharing!
Sorry about this Victoria, how frustrating. You are correct about the flour measurement. Did you use the flax egg? And made the recipe as written? Coconut oil should be softened not liquid. Make sure tea is drained off of the raisins. Refrigerating the dough before baking can make a difference too.
I used the flax egg, drained the raisins and my coconut nut oil was softened only. I did not refrigerate before baking (instructions didn’t say to do so). The balls were firm going into the oven. So the flour amount should be 1 cup + 125 grams (or 1 1/2 cups)? I’m going to try again with this amount of flour and an egg.
Hi Victoria, If you are using a cup to measure the flour, use 1 cup. If weighing the flour, the gram measurement is 125g. Refrigeration sometimes helps, I just added that in the recipe notes😉. The only other thing I can think of is if your oven temperature- making sure it is registering accurately.
What a delicious twist on the traditional oatmeal raisin cookie! I wanted my cookies loaded with raisins, so I did alter the recipe to use almost a cup. This will be my go-to oatmeal raisin cookie now!
Thanks Amanda! So happy you enjoyed these.
I have made these cookies twice now for my family – they loved them so much. I didn’t bother mentioning they were vegan and they didn’t ask. This is a fantastic cookie. Super moist and soaking the raisins does make a huge difference. Thanks again for yet another amazing recipe!
Yay Emily! I love these too!
We liked these cookies. I used 2 tsp. of mulling spices instead of chai tea. Also used Lakanto sugar substitute instead of sugar & pumpkin pie spice, as I had run out of nutmeg or cinnamon. They turned out well….
Thanks Arleen!
Hi. Can one substitute a gluten free flour for the regular flour and if so, which one would you suggest? Thanks
I would do a GF blend like Bob’s Redmill or Cup for Cup (note this one is not vegan). Love to know how it works out for you.
Hi Tonia.
I have never used molasses, are not even sure where to buy it.
Is ist necessary? Can it be replaced?
Hi Lisanne, Not sure where you live, but here in the US molasses is available at most grocery stores usually next to the sugars. You can use 1/2 cup packed brown sugar in place of the white sugar and molasses.
Europe…. it’s not common here, but brown sugar is easy to find. Thanks.
Ok great, hope you like them!
Can we use an egg instead of a flax egg, if we don’t need them to be vegan?
absolutely!
Perfect breakfast cookie cookie with my morning tea. Not too sweet. Because of pandemic I used what was in my kitchen. Replaced coconut oil with 1/2 C cocoyo vanilla yogurt and 1/4 C applesauce.
Yummy
Nice Lynne! Glad they worked for you.
Raisins are already soaking in Tazo Decaf Chai — this recipe seems delicious, particularly after combing through so many other oatmeal cookie 🍪 recipes last night, none of which were compelling. Thank you.
Can’t wait to hear how you like them Melanie!