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.
These are absolutely the best ever vegan cookies. I have made them several times, today after starting realized that I was out of raisins so threw in chocolate chips…OMG they will not last long. Thank you for such a superb recipe.
So happy to hear this Mary! Thanks a million!
Hi Alison, I made these cookies but substituted orange zest for the coconut (zest of just one orange) and used candied ginger cut into small pieces in place of the raisins. I also used oat milk in place of soy milk. The base ingredients were perfect and the cookies turned out delicious!
I don’t have a stand mixer. It’s on my list! Would using a food processor work? I’m so excited to try these! Oatmeal raisin are my spouse’s favorite.
Hi Denise, yes I think that would work!
Hi Alison,
Thank you for the wonderful recipe!! I am making this for my sister-in-law soon! She is not a fan of coconut in her desserts and I wondered if omitting it would require alternation to any other ingredients’ measurements?
Thank you!!
Hi there, I have heard from other readers that they omitted the coconut without any other changes. If the recipe seems too ‘wet’ though, then add some more oats or flour. All the best!
Your cookies were the best cookies I’ve ever tasted, I made them with my dad.
Awesome! So happy to hear that Lola!
Delicious cookies, remind me of flapjack but ‘moister’ …..I didn’t have walnuts so I used chopped macadamia nuts with raisins. Thank you Alison a great recipe!!!
Sounds delish with macadamias! Thanks for the great review David!
Excellent cookie. Substituting pecans for walnuts made for an increased buttery flavor profile.
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed them!
This is hands down the best oatmeal raisin cookie I have ever made. Everyone loves them, including my adult children who manage to drop in whenever I have them on hand! Perfect and delicious every time. Thanks so much!
Yay! So happy to hear that. Thanks for the amazing review!
These cookies are INCREDIBLY delicious. I have made them many times and it’s hard not to eat them all within two days. It’s my dream oatmeal raisin cookie. Thank you Alison! My adjustments to suit our cookie desires are… cook them for an extra two minutes (17 mins total and rotating half way through) until the tops are just barley brown- leave them on the sheet to cool down so they get crispy on the outside. I use a silpat baking mat for all my cookies and I love the way they turn out and measuring cookies out with a #30 cookie scoop. I also used 30g less coconut flakes and subbed in maple syrup for the golden syrup. Used 2/3 cup sugar with 1 TBL molasses to make my brown sugar. Instead of butter I use 76g coconut oil with 19g of water. Once again YUM! 🙂
Awesome! Thanks so much for sharing and the wonderful review Meggie!
My vegan daughter is visiting and I am now onto making my 2nd batch! So delicious even the non-vegans in the family wolf them down.
Yay! Thanks Becky!
Do you think this could be made into a cake? If so, could you share some tips?
Hi Mox, I don’t think so, the ingredients/method would have to change quite a lot to make this into a cake. Now one large cookie? That could be done!
Oh wow these were SO GOOD. I never make comments (never have before actually) but I’ve never tasted oatmeal cookies this good. I didn’t have the right syrup so I subbed sugar free regular syrup. I also added a tsp of pumpkin spice seasoning. Then I added almonds instead of walnuts. So so delicious.
Wonderful! Thanks so much for the wonderful comment and review Jade!
I made a double batch of these, one with raisins, one with vegan chocolate chips. So good! Thanks for sharing.
Wonderful! Thanks so much Lisa!
When making the cookie dough into balls, the batter stuck terribly to my hands. What do I use to keep from sticking to hands?
You could lightly flour your hands.
I just made these at 10:45pm and they are DELICIOUS!!! I am so excited to have them in the morning with a cup of coffee! Very very pleased with this recipe, it wil be my go to! I did not have the coconut ingredients nor the molasses and did not substitute, they came our splendid!!!
Thank you for such a wonderfully delicious recipe!!
Fantastic! Thanks for the awesome review Sharita!
I’m not even a huge fan of oatmeal raisin cookies. I made these for my hubby and now I can’t stop eating them myself. Truly a 5-star recipe. I did not deviate from your recipe. I even sought out the golden syrup and desiccated coconut and I’m so glad because they really make this recipe special. I also used just regular supermarket dark brown sugar. Thank you — this is a keeper.
Awesome! Thanks so much Destiny!