Soft and chewy vegan oatmeal and raisin cookies are sweetened with brown sugar and agave nectar and made without oil! Here is the detailed oatmeal cookie recipe with step-wise pictures.
We baked a few cookies and cakes this holiday season – chocolate crinkle cookies, snowball cookies, tutti frutti cake, and vanilla cake. I love oatmeal cookies, and how can I miss baking them? These are soft, chewy, and moist cookies; I love them with coffee and tea.
Jump to:
I adapted the recipe from the book – “How to be Vegan by Elizabeth Castoria.” I have made these cookies several times with different substitutes and variations, and it has come out well every time. Please check the ingredient section for all the details.
Why you will love these oatmeal cookies
- These nut-free and vegan cookies making perfect for everyone and great for holiday bakes, and these are perfect for sending to schools for snack turns.
- These are oil-free cookies; for this version, I have used agave nectar along with sugar, making it slightly guilt-free.
- You can make these ingredients with readily available ingredients. You can replace agave nectar with old-fashioned syrup or maple syrup.
- Easy to make
Ingredients required
Rolled oats: The key ingredient in these cookies is old-fashioned rolled oats. Do not use instant oats for these cookies.
Dry ingredients: We need all-purpose flour, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon, and salt. Brown sugar yields moist cookies; I have always used brown sugar for these cookies and recommend the same.
Wet ingredients: We need agave nectar and unsweetened apple sauce. For added flavor, we also add vanilla essence along with wet ingredients.
Addons: I kept these cookies nut-free and added raisins. The combination of oatmeal and raisins is unique.
Substitutions
As I mentioned, I have made these cookies several times with different substitutions. Here are the tried and tested ones.
- Instead of apple sauce, I used banana puree. The same ¼ measure of banana puree should work.
- You can replace all-purpose flour with wheat flour or use half and half of all-purpose flour and wheat flour.
- Maple syrup or old-fashioned simple syrup are great alternatives for agave nectar.
- You can replace the raisin with nuts of your choice or with chocolate chips.
Dietary specifications and storing suggestions
These oatmeal cookies are vegan, oil-free, and nut-free cookies. After baking, let the cookies cool and store them in an air-tight container. I typically don’t refrigerate these cookies; actually, most of my cookies keep well for four to five days at room temperature when stored in an air-tight container.
How to make vegan oatmeal cookies with raisins
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and keep two baking trays ready. Either cover them with parchment paper or aluminum foil and grease them lightly with the oil of your choice. I used parchment paper and did not use any oil at all.
- Combine the dry ingredients – Flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon powder, and salt.
- Combine the wet ingredients in a separate bowl – apple sauce, agave nectar, and vanilla essence. Mix well without any lumps.
- Add the wet ingredient mix to the dry ingredient mix.
- Combine well. Make sure there isn’t any dry flour mix.
- Now add the rolled oats and raisins.
- Gently mix, and the eggless oatmeal cookie dough is ready.
- Scoop 1 to 1.5 tbsp of the dough using a cookie scoop or ice cream scoop and place them on the baking tray. Place the cookies 1 to 1.5 inches apart.
- Flatten them slightly with the back of the spoon or grease your palms and pat them.
- Bake these cookies for 12 to 14 minutes at 350 deg F or until the cookies are browned on the bottom.
Recipe Notes
- Please check the ingredient section and substitutions for alternate ingredients.
- You can also roughly pulse the oats before adding them to the cookies.
- Do not use instant oats for these oatmeal cookies. Use only rolled oats.
- The above measure yields 16 to 18 cookies. You will need two baking trays or one large one. Bake them in batches if needed. But do not bake them on different racks at the same time. Baking these cookies in the middle rack yields the best results.
- For crispy cookies, flatten them thin and bake for 15 to 16 minutes.
Explore more rolled oats recipes
PS:Follow me on Instagram or join my Facebook Group for more gardening and recipe updates. If you try these oatmeal cookies, please don’t forget to comment and rate this recipe. If you have any questions, please leave a comment, and I will get to it asap. Make sure to follow me on my Pinterest for more healthy and delicious ideas!
Update Notes – Earlier posted on 2016, now updated with recipe card, ingredient alternatives and new pictures.
📖 Recipe
Vegan Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup brown/cane sugar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup agave nectar
- ¼ cup unsweetened apple sauce
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 1 cup rolled oats
- ¼ cup raisins
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and keep two baking trays ready. Either cover them with parchment paper or aluminum foil and grease them lightly with the oil of your choice. I used parchment paper and did not use any oil at all.
- Combine the dry ingredients – Flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon powder, and salt.
- Combine the wet ingredients in a separate bowl – apple sauce, agave nectar, and vanilla essence. Mix well without any lumps.
- Add the wet ingredient mix to the dry ingredient mix.
- Combine well. Make sure there isn’t any dry flour mix.
- Now add the rolled oats and raisins.
- Gently mix, and the eggless oatmeal cookie dough is ready.
- Scoop 1 to 1.5 tbsp of the dough using a cookie scoop or ice cream scoop and place them on the baking tray. Place the cookies 1 to 1.5 inches apart.
- Flatten them slightly with the back of the spoon or grease your palms and pat them.
- Bake these cookies for 12 to 14 minutes at 350 deg F or until the cookies are browned on the bottom.
Notes
- Please check the ingredient section and substitutions for alternate ingredients.
- You can also roughly pulse the oats before adding them to the cookies.
- Do not use instant oats for these oatmeal cookies. Use only rolled oats.
- The above measure yields 16 to 18 cookies. You will need two baking trays or one large one. Bake them in batches if needed. But do not bake them on different racks at the same time. Baking these cookies in the middle rack yields the best results.
- For crispy cookies, flatten them thin and bake for 15 to 16 minutes.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
Is this oil free cookies? I made these today without oil and they did not spread like yours? I did use apple sauce instead of banana and I used 1 Tbsp chia? Waiting to hear back from you.
Hi Alamelu,
First of all, thanks for trying the recipe. So sorry that I didn’t spread nicely. Here are my answers to your questions. This recipe is oil free. I checked the book again from where I tried. It’s the How to be a vegan book. I used a bit of oil for greasing my palms but other than that, I did not use any.
I am not a baking pro, but I am sharing my thoughts on what could have made not to spread.
1) We rely on baking soda for this recipe and that’s the leavening agent here. If it’s not of good quality, it might have an adverse effect.
2) Each and every brand differs. The APF and oats that you used might require more liquid. If you the dough was dry that might not let the dough to spread.
3) Next comes the chia seeds. Did you sprinkle them in the end or did you mixed it along. If you mixed it along and if the dough was resting, then chia seeds might have pulled all the moisture.
What I learnt was for these oats based cookies, pressing the cookie with a spatula or by hand helps it to spread. Adding chia seeds sounds interesting to me. I will try the cookies again with chia seeds and will update you.
I hope these answers help. Once again thanks a lot for trying and pinging me back.
Vidhya
Very nicely ones..I love cookies with raisin..
Me too. Love those brown ones. Thanks Valli.
mmmm perfect with a cup of milk
Thanks Chef..
Healthy & yummy looking oats & raisin cookies.
Thanks Pavani.
Delicious, Light & healthy cookies, Vidhya :)
Healthy and delicious cookies.
Thanks Harini.
Such healthy cookies..I enjoy oats in cookies as it gives a good crunch to taste..
Thanks Srivalli.
Love your combination of oats and raisins in cookies. So irresistible..
Thanks a lot Gayathri.
Such earthy flavors in the cookies! Love it.
Thanks Sandhya :-)
Healthy and delicious cookies…
Thanks Swapna
looks yummy… will try sometime soon:)
Thanks.. glay you liked it. please do try
This is one such healthy and awesome cookies..
Thanks Nalini.
Healthy cookies
Thanks alka. Welcome here. :-)
Vegan oats cookies looks perfect and healthy too.
Thanks Sapana
I like oats in cookies. It gives and little bit of crispiness to the cookies and more fiber ?
Thanks Usha.
Very delicious yet healthy cookies!!
Thanks Padma.
That’s true…oats is the magic word. These cookies look droolworthy!
Thanks Sowmya. Yup. Oats is the magic word.
Scrumptious cookies, i dont mind munching some rite now.
Thanks Priya
this s awesome.. healthy and tasty cookies
Thanks Vidya. :-)
Oats in cookies makes them hard to resist. Turned out perfect.
Thanks Varada. :-)