I lived in the dorms during my freshman year of college, and with only a small fridge the size of a microwave and no kitchen, I purchased a meal plan and ate most of my lunches and dinners in the dining hall. Although usually somewhat skeptical of the entrées, I could always count on the salad bar for healthier options before stopping by the dessert station for sweet treats. Even then, I needed my daily fix!
Sometimes I felt adventurous and sampled their latest raw vegan carrot cake or tofu chocolate cupcakes, but their cookies were always the best. Chocolate chip, peanut butter, snickerdoodle, tuxedo… Those were the softest and chewiest you’d ever imagine. It was like biting into little circles of heaven!
But with the extra chewy factor and ample amounts of cinnamon, the oatmeal raisin cookies were always the first I’d reach for. I often headed down to dinner with my next door neighbor, who enrolled in many of the same classes and quickly turned into my study buddy. Since oatmeal raisin were his favorite too, we’d grab a plate to nibble on while quizzing each other about mechanisms and equations for our next chemistry and physics midterms.
Thank goodness the rest of the freshmen seemed to avoid that flavor!
So now, quite a few years later, I decided that it was finally time to develop a recipe of my own that rivaled—if not surpassed—those oatmeal raisin cookies. Something incredibly soft, unbelievably chewy, and absolutely irresistible… Exactly the opposite of the boring, bland, or dry reputations oatmeal cookies sometimes attract. And of course, being me and my blog, I wanted to make them healthier.
So… These are it! They’re the Ultimate Healthy Soft & Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. They’re chock full of hearty oats, sweet raisins, and lots of warm cinnamon. They’re also just 100 calories with no refined flour or sugar. Trust me, you’ll never need another recipe ever again!
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST HEALTHY OATMEAL RAISIN COOKIES
Now let’s go over how to make these ultimate healthy oatmeal raisin cookies! I’m going to walk you through some important ingredients you’ll need and a few keys steps to help you avoid some of the more common issues. I cover many of these things in the video beneath the recipe too. If you’d rather skip straight to the recipe and start baking, go right ahead!
To start, you’ll need whole wheat flour or gluten-free flour. No refined all-purpose flour in these cookies! You’ll also need instant oats (also called “quick cooking” or “one minute” oats). Instant oats are smaller and thinner than traditional old-fashioned rolled oats. This means they soften faster, which keeps your ultimate healthy oatmeal raisin cookies supremely soft and chewy! You can usually find instant oats in canisters right next to the old-fashioned oats at the grocery store. (And no, they’re NOT the same thing as in those flavored individual brown paper packets!)
It’s extremely important to measure both the oats and flour correctly. Use this method or a kitchen scale if you own one. (I highly recommend the latter! This is the one I own.)
If your cookies turned out dry or failed to spread on the baking sheet, it’s mostly likely because there was too much of either of those dry ingredients, especially the oats. They act like little sponges and soak up moisture, so adding too many will quickly turn the cookies crumbly.
I promise these ultimate healthy oatmeal raisin cookies are worth taking the extra 10 seconds to measure your flour and oats correctly!
Whereas traditional recipes usually call for a full stick (or more!) of butter, you just need 2 tablespoons of coconut oil or butter. That really helps keep your ultimate healthy oatmeal raisin cookies low calorie and low fat, and if you use coconut oil, they’re also dairy-free!
Also unlike traditional recipes that use refined granulated sugar, you’ll actually sweeten your ultimate healthy oatmeal raisin cookies with honey, agave, or pure maple syrup. These are unrefined sweeteners, and they all work equally well!
Then here’s one of my favorite tips for making the best ever healthy oatmeal raisin cookies…
Don’t add your raisins into the cookie dough straight from the package! Instead, hydrate your raisins first. This is super simple to do! Add them to a microwave-safe bowl, cover them with water, and place a lid or plastic wrap on top. Microwave them on high for 1 minute. Let them sit for at least 5 minutes (or while you measure and mix together the rest of the ingredients!). By the time you’re ready to drain them and stir them into the cookie dough, they’ll be exceptionally plump and juicy… Which definitely creates the best healthy oatmeal raisin cookies imaginable!
Now that your cookie dough is all mixed together, chilling is mandatory. Most of the time. If you added the correct amount of oats and flour, the dough should be wet and look more like thick muffin batter. Chilling will help stiffen the dough so it doesn’t spread as much while baking. If your cookie dough is already stiff, skip the chilling and bake it right away.
(The video just above the recipe shows what the textures before and after chilling should look like!)
However, your ultimate healthy oatmeal raisin cookies will only spread some after chilling (not excessively!), so if you want wider, somewhat thinner cookies, make sure you flatten them slightly before baking. Just give them a little pat with a spatula. If you prefer thicker cookies, skip that and bake them right after scooping them onto the baking tray.
Finally, do not overbake these cookies! I always pull mine out slightly early, then let them sit on the warm baking sheet longer. This allows the centers to continue to set without turning the outsides crisp and crunchy. Your ultimate healthy oatmeal raisin cookies will stay soft and chewy for an entire week that way!
These Ultimate Healthy Soft & Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies didn’t stand a chance at my house. Even with just me eating (and sneaking) them, they only lasted four days. I hope you enjoy them just as much!
And when you make your own oatmeal raisin cookies, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! 🙂 ) I’d love to see your ultimate healthy oatmeal raisin cookies!
(My Healthier Chocolate Treats cookbook is full of sweet and healthy recipes like these oatmeal cookies! You can see a sneak preview of all of the recipes inside here!)
The Ultimate Healthy Soft & Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (100g) instant oats (measured like this & gluten-free if necessary)
- ¾ cup (90g) whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp (28g) coconut oil or unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup (120mL) honey or agave
- ¼ cup (40g) raisins (see Notes!)
Instructions
- Whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, egg, and vanilla. Stir in the honey or agave. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Fold in the raisins. Chill the cookie dough for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Drop the cookie dough into 15 rounded scoops onto the prepared sheet, and flatten slightly. Bake at 325°F for 11-14 minutes (see Notes!). Cool on the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
Notes
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
Here is what the cookie dough should look like just before chilling. It resembles thick muffin batter more than cookie dough!
Here is what the cookies look like before and after baking. They some, but not too much, so be sure to flatten them slightly with a spatula just before popping the baking sheet in the oven.
You may also like Amy’s Other Recipes…
♡ Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
♡ Healthy Almond Joy Oatmeal Cookies
♡ Healthy Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookies
♡ Healthy Raspberry Oatmeal Cookies
♡ Healthy Apple Pie Oatmeal Cookies
♡ …and the rest of Amy’s healthy oatmeal cookie recipes!
These hit the spot! So moist and chewy. I made these with less sweetness (about 60-70 mL maple syrup) and used crushed walnuts and freshly ground cardamom instead. So aromatic and perfectly sweet! Thank you! 🙂
I’m thrilled to hear that you loved these cookies, Shelly! Your cardamom addition sounds amazing. I’d like to try that; it’s an often underrated spice that adds such a lovely flavor! Thank you for taking the time to share your fun tweaks and rate the recipe too. It truly means a lot! 🙂
I am not sure where i did it wrong but it came out not chewy and not sweet.
I used Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats and used a kitchen scale to measure 100g, and whole wheat flour i actually only used 80g. The difference i made would be using the I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! plant based oil instead of using coconut oil or regular butter. Also i didnt add in raisins instead i added walnuts and chocolate chips. Not sure where I went wrong it turned out to have only subtle to almost none sweet taste and not chewy. The texture is more between chewy and cakey, a very weird texture.
Would you happen to know what I can change to make it taste better?
We’re honored that you decided to try these cookies, Jess! I’m sorry to hear that the texture and flavor weren’t quite right. Since you already shared some details with us about how you measured your ingredients and substitutions (thank you!), I have an idea of what could have happened and how we can fix that for next time!
Did you also use your kitchen scale to measure 120mL of honey or agave, by any chance? If so, that would be the culprit! Kitchen scales are only accurate for measuring mL of liquids with a density of exactly 1.0g/mL (like water!). Honey and agave have a density of about 1.4g/mL. If you used your kitchen scale to measure 120mL of either of these, then you added 30% less than what our recipe calls for. That throws off the ratio of wet and dry ingredients, which yields a cakier and less chewy texture. It also yields cookies that don’t taste as sweet!
So if you’d like to use your kitchen scale to measure the honey or agave, switch to grams and use 168g instead. Your cookies should turn out much better with the full amount of sweetener!
Also, using instant oats will yield a better soft and chewy texture, rather than old-fashioned rolled oats. We’ve shared how to make your own “DIY” instant oats from old-fashioned rolled oats in the Notes section! Did you happen to see that bit? I know it can be easy to miss! 😉
If you did use the full ½ cup (120mL or 168g) of honey or agave, then we’re happy to continue sleuthing to determine other potential causes of these issues! I have some questions that would help us narrow it down, but I wanted to mention measuring with a kitchen scale first since it tends to be the most common one!
Thanks for finding the culprit! I just rebaked them with more syrup and also blended the rolled oats! They turned out to be much better!
That’s great news, Jess! I’m so happy they turned out better! 🙂
I’m in Australia and 1 cup = 250 grams so this is confusing for me! ☺️
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe, Sherry! Converting between imperial and metric measurements can definitely be confusing. It’d certainly be easier if everyone used the same thing! 😉
Regardless of your location, 1 cup will be 250g — but only for ingredients whose density is 1g/mL (like water!). There isn’t a “one size fits all” conversion chart or “one size fits all” measurement for cups to grams. This is because cups are a volume measurement. Volumes will always be the same, regardless of the ingredient’s density, because they refer to how much space something occupies.
However, in measuring any ingredient in grams, the amount of volume (space) it occupies does depend on its density, which means each ingredient typically has a different gram measurement per cup.
For example, if you measured out 1 cup of cotton balls versus 1 cup of sand, they’d take up the same amount of space (volume)… But the cup cotton balls would definitely weigh less than the cup of sand! Or if you measured out 1 pound of cotton balls versus 1 pound of sand, you’d end up with a small handful of sand… And a pillowcase or two full of cotton balls! Same weight, different volume. Does that make sense?
The same thing applies to different ingredients. 1 cup of flour weighs 120g, 1 cup of oats weighs 100g, 1 cup of cocoa powder weighs 80g, and 1 cup of butter weighs 224g. So although these ingredients take up the same amount of space (volume), they’ll have different weights (grams) because of their different densities.
Does that make more sense? 🙂
If you’re more comfortable with metric measurements, then use the ones provided in parentheses in the Ingredients list. They’ll produce the same results as the imperial ones shared in cups! (Just remember to measure mL with regular measuring cups, not a kitchen scale… Kitchen scales can’t measure volumes, so regular measuring cups are more accurate!)
The best ever
Hi Diane! We’re so happy to hear that you’ve been loving these cookies! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment and rate this recipe, it really means a lot! We can’t wait to see what you decide to try next! 😉
Hi I made these cookies for the first time today. I was interested in the recipe because it uses honey instead of sugar. The smell and taste amazing! However, the texture of mine came out jelly like. I did use regular all purpose flour instead of wheat flour. And I used a kitchen scale to measure the flour and quick oats. Does this mean that the cookies need more oats and flour if they are extremely soft and jelly like? More cooking time? Thoughts.
It means a lot that you tried my recipe, Kelly! I’m glad you at least enjoyed their flavor and aroma. That sounds disappointing and not like how the texture of these cookies is supposed to turn out though, so I’m happy to help figure out what happened with that part!
Would you mind elaborating a bit more about their texture? I just want to make sure I fully understand what you mean by “jelly like.” 🙂 Were they really flimsy and falling apart? Or were they congealed, wiggly, and wobbly — like jell-o? Or something else?
Once I have a good mental image of your cookies’ consistency, I’ll have a better idea of how we can pinpoint the culprit and fix it!
Also, did you make any other substitutions or modifications to the recipe — other than the all-purpose flour? (Thank you for including that information. It’s helpful to know!)
Did you use the kitchen scale to measure any of the other ingredients? (I really appreciate you sharing this tidbit as well — it’s helpful too!)
The only substitution was the all purpose flour. I used a kitchen scale to measure the flour, and oats. The cookies fall apart easily, and are wobbly and squishy. Tasted great however. The only thing I did do was accidentally add the oats after mixing the first wet ingredients. Then mixed in the honey. Then added the rest of the dry ingredient mixture.
Thanks for sharing this additional info, Kelly! It’s really helpful. I have a few follow-up questions based on your answers!
It sounds like the oats weren’t mixed into the bowl of dry ingredients in the beginning of Step 1. Were the rest of the dry ingredients mixed together prior to adding them to the bowl of wet ingredients — or did you use more of a “one-bowl” method and just add them individually to the wet ingredients?
Did you use a regular measuring cup or a liquid/glass measuring cup for the honey?
Did you hydrate your raisins, by any chance?
How long did you chill the cookie dough?
Approximately how tall were your rounded scoops of cookie dough prior to baking?
How long did you bake your cookies?
How much did they spread?
Thanks so much for your patience and answers to these questions as well — we’re nearly there! 🙂
Just learning to use coconut oil in recipes. Do you use liquid or solid?
As many are converting from seed oils, I hope writers will be more clear on healthy alternatives for oils and other ingredients
Thank you. I hope to make these today.
Linda
Hey! I’m not the author of this recipe but have used several of her recipes. It’s the solid coconut oil! You typically get it in the jar. It becomes liquid in hot temperatures.
So you use it like butter -solid not melted in microwave?
Thank you for your response.
I believe the recipe says to warm it and let it cool a bit!
Thanks so much for chiming in and helping, Ashley! You’re so sweet to do that. I really appreciate it!
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe, Linda! Ashley is exactly right. For my recipes, use solid-state coconut oil. (It’s often sold in glass jars!) Measure it as a solid, and if my recipe calls for it to be melted, like for these oatmeal cookies, then pop it in the microwave or into a pot on the stove to turn it into a liquid.
I’d love to hear what you think of these cookies if you end up making them!
Made as written, delicious. Definitely a chewy texture maybe slightly cake like. Frozen half and will definitely make again!
I’m so happy you enjoyed these oatmeal cookies, Doris! That’s the best kind of compliment, if you already think you’ll make them again. Thank you for taking the time to share and rate the recipe too — it truly means a lot! 🙂
Hi!
I’m looking forward to making these cookies. I’m curious what effect you think using maple syrup versus agave or honey would be. I want to add walnuts and chocolate chips, too. Do I need to adapt the recipe in any way to triple the quantity of additives? Thanks for your help!
It means a lot that you’d like to try my recipe, Margaret! I love using pure maple syrup as the sweetener for these cookies. Substituting it in place of the honey or agave will yield the same texture. That’s why I included it as an alternative in the Notes section! (I know it can be really easy to miss that detail though! 😉 ) If you planned on using sugar-free maple syrup, then you’ll notice a more cakey or muffin-like texture instead. Just something to keep in mind!
That trio also sounds like a fun flavor combination! You can add up to ½ cup total of mix-ins without modifying any of the instructions, so as long as your combination of raisins, walnuts, and chocolate chips is ½ cup or less, you should be able to follow the recipe without any other adaptations.
I’m excited to hear what you think of these oatmeal cookies! 🙂
Thanks for your response! I really appreciate all your Notes (and guidance here) and you helped me make the best batch of oatmeal-raisin-walnut-chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made. I did use maple syrup, and also used all-purp unbleached flour (organic at least 🙄). The suggestion to process old fashioned oats REALLY made a difference! I also soaked the raisins (and also chopped them a bit, because I don’t like a single ingredient to over-power any single bite lol).
Thank you again, they are wonderful!
That’s such high praise, Margaret!! I’m thrilled that you loved the way your cookies turned out! Thank you for taking the time to share and let me know. It truly means a lot! ♡
That’s really smart to chop the raisins so the flavors are balanced too. I love the way you think — you have a natural baker’s intuition!
Recipe worked out great, these taste amazing
I’m so glad you enjoyed these cookies, Indi! Thank you for taking the time to share and rate the recipe. It really means a lot! 🙂