These Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are soft, chewy, and just as delicious as the classic version... but made with no eggs, butter, oil, or refined sugar! Easy to assemble in one bowl with 10 simple ingredients. (Vegan, gluten-free, refined oil-free.)
These healthier Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are soft, chewy, and easy to prepare! They're just as delicious as the traditional version, but made with no eggs, butter, oil, or refined sugar. (Plus they're gluten-free.)
Even my daughter who says "it should be illegal to put raisins in cookies because they look like chocolate chips" enjoys these cookies.
Best of all, they come together in 1 bowl with 10 simple ingredients. I find they're wholesome enough for a breakfast cookie, energizing snack, grabbing for on-the-go, lunchboxes, or light dessert.
Ingredients for Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
For this recipe, you'll stir together in a large bowl, then bake in the oven:
- Applesauce: I use plain, organic, unsweetened applesauce.
- Pure maple syrup
- Peanut butter: I use creamy and natural for this recipe. You can try replacing this with almond butter, sun butter, or other nut butter or seed butter. I haven't tested these, but they should work. Just be aware it will slightly alter the flavor.
- Pure vanilla extract
- Old-fashioned rolled oats: Be sure to use gluten-free if needed.
- All-purpose flour: I use Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flour, but you can substitute regular all-purpose flour.
- Ground cinnamon: I use two teaspoons, but you can easily adjust this to your taste.
- Baking soda
- Salt: I use fine grain salt.
- Raisins: I use one cup for fairly raisin-heavy cookies, but you can decrease if you prefer. Try 3/4 cup for a bit less. (Or if you're not a fan of raisins, dried cranberries or cherries might work too, but I haven't tested these.)
Customizing
Sweetness: These oatmeal cookies are lightly sweet. So if you prefer more sweetness, stir in 2-3 Tbsp. coconut sugar, cane sugar, or brown sugar to the batter. Avoid adding more liquid sweetener (like the maple syrup) so it doesn't throw off the balance. Or you can sprinkle the top of each cookie with coarse coconut sugar before they go in the oven.
Flour: Stick with all-purpose flour for this recipe, either gluten-free or regular. I find substituting oat flour or almond flour makes the cookies more crumbly and fragile.
Chilling the dough: Feel free to prepare the cookie dough up to several hours in advance. Store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator until you're ready to bake.
Flavors: Fine-tune these cookies to your taste! Add a pinch of nutmeg, tiny splash of almond extract, or swap in other spices that sound good. A small handful of crushed pecans or walnuts could be added for crunchy texture as well.
Storing
Allow the cookies to cool completely. Then transfer to an airtight container, and store in the refrigerator. I find they keep for about 4-5 days in the fridge. Be aware they do firm up more in the fridge. So if you want them softer, let them sit out at room temperature for 10-15 minutes first or gently heat in the microwave for about 10 seconds.
Freezing: I haven't tried freezing these cookies, but I'm guessing they'd do well for 2-3 months in the freezer. (Just be sure to cool them completely first and store in a sealed container or freezer bag.)
For more inspiration, also browse vegan dessert recipes.
Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (Easy!)
Ingredients
For the wet ingredients:
- 1/3 cup applesauce
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/4 cup peanut butter (creamy, natural)
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
For the dry ingredients:
- 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (GF if needed)
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour (GF if needed)
- 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
Stir-in:
- 1 cup raisins
Instructions
- Oven: Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Wet ingredients: In a large mixing bowl, add all wet ingredients. (If your peanut butter is extra-dry and thick, slightly warm it to soften so it combines better.) Whisk wet ingredients until smooth and combined.
- Dry ingredients: Then add the dry ingredients to the bowl. (Check my precise metric measurements by weight for the oats and flour for better accuracy.) Stir with a spatula until fully combined.
- Add raisins: Stir in the raisins. Then set aside and let the mixture sit for about 10 minutes.
- Scoop & form: Using a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop, begin scooping out dough balls. (I get about 18 cookies using a 2-Tbsp. cookie scoop with tightly packed dough.) Then gently pat down and flatten out the cookies with damp fingers until they're about 2" wide. The cookies only slightly expand during baking (to about 2.5" wide) so I'm able to fit all 18 on a single large baking sheet. Or you can leave them in balls for dome-shaped cookies.
- Bake: Place in the oven and bake for about 14-17 minutes* or until the bottoms are lightly golden. Take care not to overbake. They'll be soft when they come out of the oven, but firm up as they cool.
- Cool: Carefully transfer the cookies to a wire rack. Then let them cool about 10-15 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving (Estimate)
Sodium content: This is omitted as I cannot provide an accurate number. I encourage you to calculate your own to provide a much more precise reading based on the exact ingredients, brands, and amounts you're using.
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