These easy oatmeal cookies without butter are made using oil and are delicious, chewy and just as tasty as traditional oatmeal cookies.
The nice thing about these is that you can even customize these oatmeal cookies with your favorite add-ins like nuts, chocolate chips, cranberries, raisins and more.
I made mine ‘no butter’ oatmeal raisin cookies, but you can go with what you like best.
Table of Contents:
Making oatmeal cookies with oil instead of butter is a great option when you either don’t have butter and don’t want to go to the store and get any, you cannot eat butter or prefer not to eat butter.
For this recipe, you don’t even need to have margarine!
With the right recipe and ingredient swaps, you can still get super tasty oatmeal cookies without using butter. And if you love chewy oatmeal cookies, then these are perfect for you.
Ingredient Notes:
Now let’s talk a little about just some of the ingredients that are in these no butter oatmeal cookies. (The printable list of all ingredients are in the recipe card below.)
All-purpose flour: You’ll need flour as this is what provides the base of the cookies along with the oats.
Cinnamon: Definitely don’t skip the cinnamon as that pairs perfectly with the oatmeal and gives these cookies that classic oatmeal taste.
Vegetable oil: You’ll be using vegetable oil instead of butter for these cookies. You’ll want to check out the FAQ section in this post for questions on using other types of oils.
Old-fashioned rolled oats: You can’t have oatmeal cookies without oats, right? You’ll just use regular old-fashioned oats for these. It’s easy to find and a lot of people already have it in their pantries.
Mix-ins: These are completely optional, but I find that adding raisins, chocolate chips, cranberries or even nuts to oatmeal cookies really takes them to the insanely delicious category.
(Make sure to check out the FAQ section below in this post for ingredient and substitution questions.)
How to make these cookies:
Let’s talk about how to make oatmeal cookies without butter. (The printable instructions are in the recipe card below.)
Step 1:
Normally, you’d preheat the oven as a first step, but there’s no need to worry about that just yet as the cookie dough will need to chill for at least an hour.
So, the first thing to do is to add the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt to a medium-sized mixing bowl and whisk well. Set that bowl to the side.
Step 2:
In another larger bowl, add the oil, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs and extract and mix with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for about 1 minute.
Step 3:
Now, add in half the dry mixture to the liquid mixture and mix with an electric mixer on medium speed only until just combined, then add the second half of the dry mixture and mix well.
Step 4:
Add the oats in and mix in with a large spoon.
Step 5:
At this point, you can add in any mix-ins you want, like raisins, cranberries, chocolate chips, nuts etc. Mix them in with a large spoon.
Step 6:
Cover the cookie dough with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
It’s really necessary to chill the dough because it will help keep the cookies from spreading out as much and will make it easier to scoop out the cookie dough.
Step 7:
Once the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Step 8:
Now use a medium-sized cookie scoop or a tablespoon and add cookie dough mounds to the prepared pans. Make sure to leave about 2 inches between each cookie because they will spread out.
You also want to make sure not to mash down the cookie dough mounds because they will spread on their own during the baking process.
Next, bake the cookies at 375 degrees F for approximately 12-15 minutes.
Step 9:
Once baked, set the baking sheets onto a cooling rack. The cookies will be very delicate at this point, so don’t try to move them. Just leave them on the pans to firm up for about 7-10 minutes.
Step 10:
After about 10 minutes, take the cookies off the baking sheet and set them directly onto the cooling rack to cool completely. The cookies will firm up a little once they cool, but will remain chewy.
(Remember that the instructions will also be in the recipe card below.)
Oatmeal Cookies Without Butter
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup vegetable oil *see notes
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats (*see notes)
- 1 1/2 cups mix-ins like raisins, cranberries, chocolate chips, nuts or a combination (optional)
Instructions
- In a medium-sized bowl, add the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt and whisk well. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, add the oil, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs and extract and mix with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for about 1 minute.
- Add half the dry mixture to the liquid mixture and mix with an electric mixer on medium speed only until just combined.
- Add the second half of the dry mixture to the liquid mixture, mixing only until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again on medium-high speed for only about 10 more seconds.
- Add the oats and mix in with a large spoon.
- If desired, add in any mix-ins like raisins, cranberries, chocolate chips, nuts etc. Mix them in with a large spoon.
- Cover the cookie dough with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. (Chilling the dough is necessary because it will make the dough easier to scoop out and will help keep the cookies from spreading out as much when they bake.)
- Once the dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Use a medium-sized cookie scoop or a tablespoon to add cookie dough mounds to the prepared pans. Leave about 2 inches between each cookie. Do not mash the cookie dough mounds down. They will spread on their own during the baking process.
- Bake at 375 degrees F for approximately 12-15 minutes. The cookies will spread out and will be golden brown with a darker brown coloring around the edges of the cookies.
- Set the baking sheets onto a cooling rack. The cookies will be delicate at this point, so leave them on the pans to firm up for about 7-10 minutes, then take the cookies off the baking sheet and set them directly onto the cooling rack to cool completely. The cookies will firm up a little once they cool, but will remain chewy.
Notes
These cookies will remain chewy as long as they’re kept in an airtight container. *For other questions: Make sure to check out the TIPS & FAQs for this recipe in the blog post, which should answer questions you may have about ingredients, substitutions, etc. Nutritional values are an estimate. *This recipe card may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Nutrition
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Tips & FAQs:
Absolutely. You just need the right recipe and you can get chewy and delicious oatmeal cookies that taste just as good as classic oatmeal cookies but without having to use butter.
I have not tried this recipe using coconut oil, but it should be okay. Just use the same amount and melt the coconut oil before you add it to the batter.
No, I don’t recommend using olive oil as it has a distinct taste and for this recipe, you really need to use a no-taste oil.
Maybe. I haven’t tried this recipe using 5-minute oats, but I think it would work fine.
No, don’t use steel cut oats. They won’t cook enough and will be left hard and crunchy.
The cookies will spread out and will be golden brown with a darker brown coloring around the edges of the cookies.
I have not tried freezing these cookies myself, but I see no reason that they could not be frozen. You can either bake the cookies and freeze them in freezer bags, or freeze the cookie dough.
These cookies should be stored in an airtight container at room temperature and can last for about a week.
These cookies will remain chewy as long as they’re kept in an airtight container.
Yes, these cookies will stay chewy if stored in an airtight container. You can add a piece of bread to the container to help them stay chewy, but I found that I didn’t need to do that.
Video:
Supplies used for this recipe:
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
- Large mixing bowl
- Electric hand mixer or stand mixer
- Silicone spatula
- Wooden spoon
- Cookie sheets
- Cookie scoop
- Oven mitts
- Cooling rack
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