These are the BEST Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (Gluten-free) of your dreams! These are oil-free, 1 bowl and made with just 8 easy ingredients and nobody will be asking where is the butter or oil!
VEGAN OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Nothing beats childhood classic cookies like oatmeal cookies, right? I made a ton of oatmeal cookies back in the day and even baked them as a kid. I still have a recipe written from when I was really young making those cookies. Of course, they were not vegan or gluten-free, or butter/oil-free for that matter.
I love oatmeal cookies of all kinds, too. Like these Chai Coconut Oatmeal Cookies. Those are simply incredible.
I’ve received many requests for Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. Bonus that these are gluten-free and oil-free. While I do have some oatmeal raisin ones here on the blog, those are made with oat flour and starch. Also, the cookies that get the MOST remakes here are always the ones made with almond flour. You all have simply shown me how much you dig cookies made with almond flour, so this was the perfect opportunity to make these cookies with them.
INGREDIENTS NEED
You will need the following 8 ingredients for these vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (+salt) and 1 bowl:
- almond flour
- rolled oats (NOT instant)
- baking powder
- roasted super creamy almond butter
- 6 tablespoons (120g) pure maple syrup (agave would work too)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (8g) vanilla extract
- dairy-free semi-sweet chocolate chips
- milk or coffee or water
HOW TO MAKE VEGAN OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Step 1: First, to a large bowl, add the almond flour, oats, baking powder and salt and whisk well. To the same bowl, add the almond butter, syrup, vanilla and chocolate chips.
Step 2: Mix all of the ingredients until a very thick and sticky, cohesive batter forms. Just keep stirring and pressing the batter together with the back of a spoon. Now, taste the batter. Yeah, I know.
Step 3: Using about 2 tablespoons worth of dough, form smooth round balls with your hands. The batter will be sticky but you should be able to roll into balls.
Place them on the pan 2 inches apart. I did 8 on each sheet. Press each cookie down to about 1/4 inch thick, making sure to press and seal the edges into a round shape so they bake up uniform.
Step 4: Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes.
SUBSTITUTIONS
These Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies are made with just 1 flour, but here are some other substitutions suggested if they don’t fit into your diet.
- Can’t do almond flour? Make these Oatmeal Raisin Cookies instead and add chocolate chips in place of the raisins. OR, you can try grinding up raw sunflower seeds into a fine powder and use the same weight amount as the almond flour.
- Can you sub all-purpose flour for the almond flour? No. If you do, they will be dry as dirt. The almond flour (and almond butter) help to make these so moist and buttery. Remember, they are oil-free, so the almond flour is amazing here.
- Can’t eat oats? Make these Grain-free Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies or these Chocolate Chip Cookies made with brown rice flour instead!
MORE VEGAN COOKIE RECIPES
- Old-fashioned Iced Oatmeal Cookies
- Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
- Vegan Snickerdoodles
- Grain-free Chocolate Coconut Cookies
- Vegan Thin Mints
- 4 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
- Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Cashew Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Almond Butter Blossoms
- Vegan Lemon Cookies
- Vegan Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Coconut Butter Gingersnaps
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If you make this recipe, be sure to leave feedback below and share your pic on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @thevegan8 #thevegan8!
Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (Gluten-free)
Ingredients
- 1 cup (112g) blanched almond flour
- 1 cup (100g) rolled oats (NOT instant)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (160g) roasted super creamy almond butter (make sure it is salt-free)
- 6 tablespoons (120g) pure maple syrup (agave would work too)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (8g) vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons (30g) plant milk or cold coffee or water (Any will work, all tested. Coffee will give a delicious robust flavor)
- 2/3 cup (140g) dairy-free semi-sweet chocolate chips
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.
- To a large bowl, add the almond flour, oats, baking powder and salt and whisk well.
- To the same bowl, add the almond butter, syrup, vanilla, milk or cold coffee and chocolate chips. Mix all of the ingredients until a very thick and sticky, cohesive batter forms. Just keep stirring and pressing the batter together with the back of a spoon. Now, taste the batter. Yeah, I know.
- Using about 2 tablespoons worth of dough, form smooth round balls with your hands. The batter should be sticky but you should be able to roll into balls.
- Place them on the pan 2 inches apart. I did 8 on each sheet. Either dip your fingertips in water or use a small piece of parchment paper to press each cookie down to about 1/4 inch thick, making sure to press evenly and seal the edges into a round shape so they bake up uniform.
- Bake the 1st pan for 10-12 minutes. Ovens can greatly vary, but mine were perfect at close to 12 minutes. You are looking for them to puff up and starting to get golden edges.
- Remove from the oven and cool on the pan just 5 minutes. Transfer them to a cooling rack and let cool completely. As they cool they will crisp up perfectly around the edges and into the perfect cookie texture with crispy edges and moist, chewy centers.
Notes
- Can't do almond flour? Make these Oatmeal Raisin Cookies instead and add chocolate chips in place of the raisins. OR, you can try grinding up raw sunflower seeds into a fine powder and use the same weight amount as the almond flour.
- Can you sub all-purpose flour for the almond flour? No. If you do, they will be dry as dirt. The almond flour (and almond butter) help to make these so moist and buttery. Remember, they are oil-free, so the almond flour is amazing here.
- Can't eat oats? Make these Grain-free Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies or these Chocolate Chip Cookies made with brown rice flour instead!
Hi Brandi, I have written to you before. I have your book which I love and I bought the food processor from amazon you have. My question is what speed do you use your food processor at to make almond butter? It just came yesterday and I haven’t opened the box yet. I’m getting there. I also have not found dairy free chocolate chips.. Any stores you get them from? Thank you, Ellen Fife
Hi Ellen! So happy you love the book! The food processor doesn’t have different speed settings, it just has an on button and a pulse button. You just hit the on button and let it run until a runny, drippy almond butter forms. I have instructions for how to make it on page 234 in my book. For the dairy-free chocolate chips, most stores carry brands these days, Enjoy Life is sold at many main store chain stores…Kroger, Sprouts, Whole Foods and many others. There are other brands though, Sprouts and Trader Joes both have their own store brands, just always double check the label ingredients to make sure milk, milk fat isn’t an added ingredient. Then you will know it’s dairy-free. The bags themselves may not technically say vegan or dairy-free, but just read the ingredients to be sure. Hope that helps!
I’m diabetic so don’t get treats too often. I’ve been craving these since the day you posted the recipe! I just made these today ~ oh wow! For some reason I was intimidated to make them, but they were so easy! Thanks for another GREAT recipe! Oh and my non-vegan family loves them!!
I’m so so happy you loved these Julie, thank you for making them!
I’m OBSESSED with these. Oh man my mouth is watering just thinking about them. I’ve made them a few times now, and they’ve become my go-to when I’m craving that super homey, sweet, hearty flavor that is oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Fresh out of the oven is when they’re the best.
You are so kind Brandy, thank you so much for making these and I’m so happy you loved them!
My husband and I are vegans.We don’t have desert often but it’s so wonderful to know that we can have a cookie with so much flavor . I loved that few ingredients were required and that I always have these items in my pantry. This is the second recipe I have used from your website. I am excited to try others.
I’m so happy to hear how much you loved these cookies, thank you Jan for the lovely review!
Hi!
I know you don’t recommend bob red mill almond flour for a lot of recipies but would it be ok to use in this one? I didn’t see anywhere in your notes that this one didn’t work and I have a bag to use up!
Hi Molly, yes, it’s totally fine for these! It is more important for cakes or muffins, but cookies is better. Does it say superfine? I believe he has a superfine, truly superfine, almond flour that works great now. As long as your batter is thick and not wet and gloppy, it should be fine!
Ahh, if only there was smell-ternet. The Internet would never be the same because we could entice other readers with the GLORIOUS scents wafting from our ovens while baking these SCRUMPTIOUS cookies! That’s right, it’s 10 a.m. and I’m snacking on these gems for breakfast. No judgement, please. 😉 The way I see it, they’re essentially a bowl of oatmeal in cookie form. 😋 Thanks so much for sharing this recipe, Brandi! With a girls weekend away coming up I doubled the recipe so I can toss half in the freezer and treat my friends. I just love proving to the naysayers that GFV recipes can be just as good as (or better, in my opinion) traditional recipes! Of course, there will be multiple items from your cookbook coming too. BEST purchase in a very long time!
Thank you so much Colleen for making them, I’m so thrilled you loved these!! And yes, I like the way you think calling this oatmeal, haha!
These are sooo sooo good!!!! I’ve made these twice so far & will make more later today! I heated up the small amount of almond milk it called for and added some instant coffee. Sooo good! They are much better after they have cooled 100%. 😻
So thrilled you loved them! Thank you Jennifer! Yes, isn’t the coffee version amazing?! Yes, exactly, that’s why I state to let them cool before eating because they reach their perfect texture then, although those melty chocolate chips are pretty darn delicious too, haha!
Hi Brandi — I’ve made many of your recipes, including various cookie ones, but this one is the BEST! I made these cookies today and wow, they taste & look like the chocolate chip cookies I loved before going vegan & oil free.
Great tip about using a piece of parchment to flatten them — this helped the edges get nice and crisp. The only alteration I made was using half agave, half maple syrup just because we like a little bit less of the strong maple flavor.
Honestly, this is the perfect cookie! Yahoo! It now goes into my permanent file — a hand-made book where I collect recipes that are tried, tested, and family approved.
Thanks for all the hard work you do testing recipes (especially baking without oil & dairy) — we appreciate it very much 🙂
This makes me so happy to hear, thank you so much for the amazing review!! You are very sweet!
I made this last night and I just have to say – WOW!!! I (used to) hate baking. Nothing ever turned out, especially the gluten free and vegan or “healthy” cookies I have tried to make in the past. I just came to the conclusion that I can’t bake. Your cookies are honestly the first and only “healthy” vegan/GF cookies that are actually the BEST and what you say they are! So many recipes I have tried boast they are amazing and you won’t miss the old thing – well let me tell you, until now, I have missed the old thing. My boyfriend ate 6! (he claims he only ate 2… but I counted, it was 6) – and my boyfriend is a meat loving, dairy loving, egg loving, anti-vegan guy. He said to me “just don’t tell me what’s in them” when I said they were healthy and minimal ingredients (he assumed I put kale in them). I showed him the ingredients and he was also amazed! I just can’t say enough how this actually tasted like a real cookie that you would get from a bakery! When you said they were crisp on the outside and soft on the inside they were in fact that! And not the gross soft where it is almost like glue mush (speaking from too much experience of trying healthy baking). I now want to try all of your baking (and yesterday I cooked lunch from your cookbook and supper from your website – also a hit) – thanks so much for sharing this deliciousness!
Sincerely, your new Canadian friend
Aww this review made me so happy!! So glad these finally were the one and that you both loved them so much!! Thank you so much for buying my book too, means so much to me!
Followed recipe exactly. Delicious!
Yay! I’m so glad!!
Wow! These are incredible. I’ve definitely eaten way too many today… I followed the recipe and my mom and fiancé really enjoyed them too. This will be my go to chocolate chip cookie recipe. I love that there’s no oil or refined sugar. There’s nothing better than oats in cookies!
I made them! I made them!
They worked perfectly! My wife even liked them. They are just my style! I like that you can taste every ingredient and nothing is dominating the cookies!
So wonderful to hear that Chase, thank you for the review!
Made these cookies for our Super Bowl meal—what a hit! Many thanks.
So glad to hear that Janis, yay!
I made these. I didn’t have any almond flour so I used sorghum flour. I don’t even know what that is but it’s what I had besides wheat and spelt. They turned out really good! Thank you!!
These look great and I love almond. I just started a new, bank breaking diabetic medicine today. I wondered if you have any insight on using sugar free syrup?
Forgive the ask because I get really annoyed at people who change recipes and leave all the ways they made it better.
I cannot wait to share your site with my mostly vegan young son and his family.
Hi Virginia! I don’t use sugar-free syrups so I honestly am not sure how they react, so sorry. They tend to be highly processed and leave an aftertaste so I prefer to use natural sweeteners, so I don’t really know.
Can I grind almonds instead of buying almond flour? I would hate to buy a bag of the almond flour and have it sit unused in the pantry.
Thank you for your great recipes
Hi Stephanie! Blanched almond flour behaves differently than just ground up almonds. They add more moisture and fluffiness to baked goods. Plus, I use it a TON in my recipes, which I linked to several in the post, so it would definitely not be a wasted ingredient!😊
Brandi. These are fantastic. I followed your recipe to a T and wow, even husband loved them! And he is only vegan about half the time with me and our oldest and youngest sons! A huge hit here! During the po,or fires and soon to be Super Bowl night!
Thank you so much Carollynne for actually following the recipe and seeing just how amazing they are as written! So glad they were a hit!
Hi,
Can regular almond butter be used instead of the roasted one mentioned on your recipe?
Definitely!
They taste great! Eating one right now with some hazelnut teechino 🙂
Brandi, these are sooooo good!!! The texture and flavor is amazing!!! My son asked me to make it with vegan white chocolate and they turned out delicious! I’m making more with dark chocolate ASAP! Thank you for these divine cookies and your hard work! 👍👍👍
These were great! Okay (hides in shame), I admit I had to sub liberally because there are few things important enough to make me leave the comfort of home on a rainy, grey, Saturday to brave Trader Joe’s. I used spelt flour in place of almond flour and dates and a couple extra TBSP of soy milk in place of the maple syrup and threw in some cinnamon. They totally hit the spot! I will definitely try again when I have the normal stuff on hand again but my children didn’t complain a bit ;).
Great! Sounds like s completely different result, haha, but glad you enjoyed them. Definitely try it as written next time because the almond flour and syrup give much more moisture and buttery taste than Spelt will!
What brand for roasted super creamy almond butter did you use?
I either make my homemade or the Trader Joe’s brand or the Simple truth brand from Kroger. Just make sure it’s just almonds and no added sugar or oil or salt.
Do you think it would work to use raw almond butter? I make my own.
Yes! Raw typically tends to be much thicker/stiffer though, so your cookies may not spread as much. Not a big deal, just make sure you press them down to 1/4 inch and they will have a less distinct almond flour, but still should be delicious!
Maybe I just missed it but I never saw where you used the coffee, milk, or water. I was hoping the coffee and milk were for dunking! I love cookies dunked in coffee. As a child we never had coffee except when Mother made tea cakes and she let us have coffee for dunking. So good!
Hi! I added it after I realized I forgot it so it’s there now in step 3, jut refresh your browser and you’ll see it! And I TOTALLY dunked one of these in coffee today, so funny you mentioned that!
What kind of milk did you use for this recipe?
Hi Maria, I used lite canned coconut milk but any milk should work!
If I make my own almond butter using your recipe for the cookies, how much does the 2 cups of almonds make? I have no self control with almond butter so I would like to make just about enough for the cookies without a lot of leftover. Ha! Can’t wait to make them!
Oatmeal cookies are a big time childhood cookie memory for me too, although actually I think remember eating the dough more than the cookies themselves ha. Maybe because that is the best part of course, although frozen oatmeal cookies are quite an underrated treat too if you ask me. Almond flour really does just make the best dang cookies (even though my audience does not tend to agree unfortunately lol😆) I guess because of the OATmeal part I never thought to make an oatmeal cookie without oat flour too, but I bet this combo is amazing–texture, flavor, moisture, all of it😋😋 And I’m not mad about the 1/2 cup of almond butter in there either YUM. Even if those were raisins instead of chocolate chips, still one good looking decadent cookie!
Right?! Something about cookie batter involving oats is just the best! Yes, I know, these are very similar to my oatmeal raisin recipe with the same amount of almond butter and syrup, but just by replacing the oat flour and starch with all almond flour, they are even better! Like, I can’t stop eating them. And funny enough, all the cookies that have become so crazy popular have all been with almond flour, so I’m going with it! 🤣🤣