Soft, chewy, and bursting with spices, these vegan oatmeal raisin cookies taste just like the ones you grew up eating, but without any eggs or dairy! They're super easy to make and perfect for dunking.
It's that time of year! I'm really enjoying the cooler temperatures and being able to fire up the oven (comfortably) once again. Lately it seems like it's been a parade of sweets coming out of my kitchen, and fall flavors are prominently featured.
Are you guys craving some sweet fall flavors? Because vegan oatmeal raisin cookies are just about the easiest way to satisfy that. (Although I love these cookies any time of year.)
I grew up making the vanishing oatmeal raisin cookie recipe that's under the lid of Quaker Oats, so I adapted that recipe in order to create this vegan oatmeal raisin cookie recipe. It turned out absolutely delicious!
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Ingredients You'll Need
- Vegan butter. This is normally sold near the regular butter in supermarkets. Earth Balance and Miyoko's are a couple of popular brands to look for.
- Sugar. Use organic sugar to keep the recipe vegan.
- Brown sugar. This needs to be organic as well.
- Unsweetened applesauce. Did you know that applesauce works as a vegan egg substitute? It does! And as an added bonus, it allows us to use less vegan butter in the recipe, which, believe it or not, results in a better cookie. These cookies have excellent texture and they actually hold together better that versions that use more butter.
- Vanilla extract.
- Rolled oats. Quick cooking oats should work as a substitute, though the texture of your cookies will be slightly different.
- Flour. We're using regular old all-purpose wheat flour. I can't promise that the recipe will work with any other varieties.
- Baking soda.
- Spices. We're using cinnamon, ginger and cloves.
- Salt.
- Raisins.
- Walnuts. Leave these out if you're not a fan, or substitute another type of nut, such as pecans.
Tip: Not into raisins? Use vegan chocolate chips instead!
How They're Made
The following is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
- Start with your butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl. Your butter needs to be at room temperature, so it should be slightly soft. Grab an electric mixer and beat them together until thoroughly mixed and cream.
- Beat it the applesauce and vanilla.
Note: Use a hand mixer or stand mixer. Whichever you prefer is fine!
- Dry ingredients go in next. Start by stirring in your oats.
- Once the oats are incorporated, you can add the rest. I kept this as a one-bowl recipe and here's the trick: add your flour to the bowl, and then sprinkle everything else on top of your flour before stirring — baking soda, spices and salt. Make sure to sprinkle the baking soda around a bit so it doesn't all hit the liquid at once when you begin stirring.
- Fold in your walnuts and raisins last.
- Roll your cookie dough into balls and arrange them on a couple of cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Because these cookies don't contain as much butter as others versions, they won't spread out as much, so be sure to flatten them out just a bit before popping them into the oven.
Tip: A cookie scoop is a great tool for ensuring that your cookies are evenly sized and uniformly shaped.
- Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, keeping the time near the lower end of this range for softer cookies, and towards the higher end for more crisp cookies.
Shelf Life & Storage
Vegan oatmeal raisin cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for about 2 weeks or in the freezer for about 3 months.
Frequently Asked Questions
Possibly! An all-purpose gluten-free flour blend like Bob's Red Mill or King Arthur's might work, but I haven't tested the recipe with either, so no promises. You'll also need to make sure your oats are certified gluten-free.
Most sugar in the United States is processed using animal bones. Organic is processed differently, so it's considered vegan.
Yes, but be sure to use it within two days and bring it up to room temperature before baking.
More Vegan Cookie Recipes
Like this recipe? If so, please stop back and leave me a review and rating below if you try it! Also be sure to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram, or subscribe to my newsletter for more recipes like this one!
Classic Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Soft, chewy, and bursting with spices, these vegan oatmeal raisin cookies taste just like the ones you grew up eating, but without any eggs or dairy! They're super easy to make and perfect for dunking.
Ingredients
- 1 cup vegan butter, at room temperature
- ¾ cup organic brown sugar
- ⅓ cup organic granulated sugar
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups rolled oats
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup raisins
- ½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper.
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Use an electric mixer to beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat for about 1 minute, until fully blended and creamy.
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Beat in the applesauce and vanilla.
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Stir the oats into the mixture by hand.
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Add the flour to the bowl, then sprinkle the baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt on top of the flour.
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Stir the ingredients together until they're fully blended and form a dough.
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Fold in the raisins and walnuts.
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Roll the dough into balls, using about 3 tablespoons of dough per ball.
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Arrange the dough balls on the baking sheets, with at least 2 inches of space between them. Flatten out each dough ball slightly with your hands or the back of a spoon. (Note 1)
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Bake the cookies until soft and slightly browned, for about 10 to 12 minutes.
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Transfer the baking sheets to a cooling rack and allow the cookies to cool slightly before removing the from the baking sheets.
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Serve the cookies immediately, or store them in a sealed container for up to 2 weeks.
Recipe Notes
- These cookies don't spread out as much as many other cookies do, so they'll be a bit domed if you don't flatten them.
- Adapted from Quaker Oats Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.
Why so much sugar?
They're not intended to be healthy or low sugar cookies. :)
Can you substitute apple sauce for the butter for oil free cookies?
I'm not sure, although I did try to make a reduced oil version and I found them to be pretty dry and overly sweet. I'd definitely reduce the sugar a bit if you try!
Oatmeal cookies are my favorite cookies! Neither chocolate, nor any other ones can compare with it. Oatmeal cookies are the taste of my childhood. At first I cooked them with my mother and added various dried fruits, such as raisins, dried apricots, prunes and others, and then I began to cook these cookies myself almost every weekend, my family also loves them. I like that your recipe is not as simple as anyone else, and contains spices and nuts. Thank you for your blog!
Thanks so much Ann! I'm glad you're enjoying the blog. :) I LOVED oatmeal cookies growing up as well!
I have made that vanishing oatmeal recipe many times using the alternative baking method for a bar cookie. Will it work with your vegan version?
I haven't tried it, but I can't see why not! I'd love to hear how it works out if you try.
Bang on--what a perfect cookie! I had a trail mix I needed to use up, so I chopped up a cup of that instead of straight raisins. I can't stop eating them.
Thank you for this recipe! I’ve attempted these twice, and both times they turned out flat, dark, and crispy, almost crystallized. I’ve checked my baking soda with vinegar; it fizzes well so I don’t think it’s that. And checked, and doubled checked, the recipe and oven temp. Any suggestions?
Sorry to hear that! If you've checked everything else, my only other thought is to try a different baking surface, since some conduct heat differently from others. For reference, I used a couple of metal cookie sheets made by Wilton, lined with Reynolds parchment paper. You could also try chilling the dough for a bit - 30 minutes or so, before shaping the cookies and baking.
Can't believe these only have two reviews. Oatmeal raisin cookies are my husband's favorite. This was his first vegan version and he LOVED them. Very easy. Perfectly spiced. I tried to underbake just in case but the recommended 12 minutes was perfect.
I typically use Spectrum organic shortening in my oatmeal cookie recipe. If so, I have read to add a little water. Have you ever tried organic shortening instead of vegan butter? Did it need water?
I haven't tried making these with shortening, but my understanding is that vegan butter has some water added, so you probably would need to add some. I'm afraid I'm not sure how much though! I'm thinking a couple of tablespoons, but can't say for sure.
These are absolutely wonderful. I am so thankful for this site. My daughter and I have been making all kinds of recipes (blueberry muffins, vanilla cupcakes, and now these) during the quarantine.
I just made these last night and they were soo so good!!! I served them to my non-vegan family and they all loved them! I will say though that I didn't have applesauce so I replaced it with 1/2 a cup of chia egg and the cookies still came out perfectly. thank you for this recipe!!!
Amazing! I'm overflowing with sourdough discard, so I left out about 3 Tbsp of butter to add 1/2 cup discard, and it turned out delicious! This is exactly the kind of oatmeal cookie I was looking for.
Superb recipe. I did not have applesauce so I substituted 2 mashed bananas. Thanks so much. I make these cookies often.
this is the BEST VEGAN COOKIE RECIPE I've ever tried. Couldn't recommend it enough. So so gooey and delicious. Have made it at least 5 times over the last month!!
I used 3/4 cup of vegan butter and added more applesauce because that’s all I had and they came out delicious. Also added some sugar free dried cranberries
These are delicious! I crank up the spices, and use dried cherries, chopped apricots, dates, cranberries (and occasionally dark chocolate chips...yum!)
Could I substitute honey, mashed ripe banana, and/or maple syrup for the sugar for a more arthritis-friendly cookie? And how about some almond flour for some of the flour?
I'm glad you enjoyed them! I'm not sure about any of the sugar substitutes you mentioned - your safest bet would be to stick with other granulated sugars, like coconut or turbinado. You might be able to get away with subbing a small amount of almond flour - I'm thinking a third or so, but I can't say without some experimenting!
These are awesome. I wanted a bit more health in them and to experiment with other flours. I used 1/2 cup oat flour, 1/2 cup all purpose flour, and 1/2 cup cashew flour. I also added a scoop of vanilla plant-based protein powder (KOS brand). I split the dough in half and made half with chocolate chips and half with raisins. These were PHENOMENAL!!!! I also used all-spice instead of ground ginger since I didn’t have the ground ginger. I may experiment to add saffron and nutmeg somehow next time.
These are great. Like the flavor. Oatmeal raisin walnut cookies are my go to. Sometimes I had a few chocolate chips. Next batch with add more spice for a wow affect. I made 6 to begin with to check the taste. Yum I ate them all.
I put 1/4 c of maple syrup instead of white sugar no apple sauce. 1 Tblspn flax meal with3 Tblspns of water, 1/2 banana, 1/2 cup of yogurt to replace 1/2 of butter. The dough was a bit stick so I put in refrig to stiffen.
Will make again and again.
Grateful for your sharing. : )
Hi, Just found your recipe and can't wait to bake my first batch. How did you measure the brown sugar? Most recipes say to pack it lightly or firmly. Thanks : )
Pack it lightly. Enjoy!
Thank you. I'm baking a batch today.
Sooood goood! I chose your recipe because of the spice mix and the applesauce - I had some leftover that I wanted to use.
Made some modifications though...
- used whole grain flour instead of all purpose
- used 3/4 teaspoon vanilla sugar instead of extract
- used only 3/4 cup of cane sugar (instead of both sugars)
- subbed the walnuts for (vegan) chocolate chips
Will definitely recommend :)
Omggg just made theseeee!!! (At midnight!) Immediately saved them in my bookmarks! So yummy!
hi - i loved these cookies growing up and look forward to trying this recipe. However, i have a question in that you said in the post that the applesauce allowed you to use less butter than the original but in looking at the original it is more butter. Is the amount listed for the butter incorrect? Or is it perhaps the sugar that was less as it seems to be a little lower in yours.
thanks.
jacquie