Vegan gluten-free oatmeal cookies with raisins! Soft and chewy, with crisp edges, spiced with a touch of cinnamon, and filled with toasted oats and plump raisins. This recipe is sure to become a family favourite!
Oatmeal cookies are a classic for a reason, and just because you’re on a gluten-free, vegan, dairy-free or egg-free diet, doesn’t mean you have to miss out! Everyone should have the joy of biting into a warm and comforting freshly baked oatmeal cookie!
Even though this recipe has been designed to meet various dietary restrictions, these vegan gluten-free oatmeal raisin cookies still have the same great timeless and comforting taste as a classic oatmeal cookie. Trust me, no one will be able to tell the difference! They’re soft and chewy, with crisp edges, spiced with a touch of cinnamon, and loaded with oats and raisins. So good!
Not only delicious, they’re also really simple to make! This recipe is sure to become a family favourite in no time!
If you love these gluten-free vegan oatmeal raisin cookies, be sure to also try my recipe for gluten-free vegan oatmeal cookies with dried cranberries, slivered almonds and shredded coconut. They’re healthy and delicious and sure to satisfy those cookie cravings.
Looking for other easy vegan and gluten-free cookie recipes? Try my recipe for vegan gluten-free fiddle diddles. They’re easy, no-bake cookies packed with oatmeal, coconut and chocolaty goodness!
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Why You'll Love this Recipe
- Taste great – they’re soft and chewy, with crisp edges, perfectly spiced with a touch of cinnamon and dotted with juicy raisins. They’re everything a good oatmeal raisin cookie should be, whether allergy friendly or not!
- Easy to make – this is a simple, one-bowl recipe. No fancy equipment or special techniques are needed!
- Simple ingredients – if you regularly bake gluten free, you’re likely to have all of these ingredients stocked in your pantry. No special or unique ingredients are required!
Ingredients
- non-dairy butter
- granulated sugar
- brown sugar
- flax egg (ground flaxseed and water)
- water
- vanilla extract
- gluten-free flour, all-purpose blend
- cinnamon
- baking powder
- baking soda
- salt
- old-fashioned rolled oats, certified gluten free
- raisins
See the recipe card for quantities.
Ingredient Notes
Dairy-free butter substitute: This recipe is pretty flexible in terms of which brand/type of non-dairy butter substitute you use. You can use a butter stick-type substitute or a margarine-type substitute. I use Becel Vegan.
Flax egg: To make the flax egg, combine the ground flaxseed and water and stir to combine. Let sit for 5 minutes before using. For flax eggs, I like to use finely ground flaxseed. I like and use Smooth, Whole Milled Flaxseed by Manitoba Milling Co.
Old-fashioned rolled oats: If you want your cookies to be gluten free, make sure you use certified gluten-free oats. During processing, oats are often contaminated with gluten-containing grains (wheat, barley, rye); therefore, it’s important to make sure you’re only using certified gluten-free oats. Certified gluten-free oats are harvested, stored, transported and processed in dedicated gluten-free facilities and tested for purity. For more information on adding oats to your gluten-free diet, please refer to the Canadian Celiac Association’s Oats Statement. I use Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Rolled Oats.
Gluten-free flour blend: Use a gluten-free all-purpose flour blend that contains xanthan gum. This ensures your cookies will have enough structure and stability to not spread too thin when baking. Make sure your blend doesn’t contain any ingredients with strong flavours, such as bean flour. Refer to baking with gluten-free flour for more information on the different types of gluten-free flour blends, and tips on how to bake with them to get the best results. I use Robin Hood Gluten Free All Purpose Flour Blend or Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour.
Instructions
- In a large bowl, cream the non-dairy butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the flax egg, water and vanilla extract.
- Add the gluten-free flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and stir until combined.
- Stir in the rolled oats.
- Stir in the raisins.
- Cover and chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls, about 2” apart, onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, using a cookie scoop or rounded tablespoon. I usually use 2 cookie sheets, with 12 on each to make 24 cookies total.
- Bake for about 12 minutes or until edges are golden and centres are slightly underbaked. Remove from oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Variations
Vegan gluten-free oatmeal cookies: Leave out the raisins from the recipe to make plain, classic oatmeal cookies.
Vegan gluten-free oatmeal chocolate chip cookies: Replace the cup of raisins with a cup of chocolate chips and leave out the cinnamon to make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Make sure your chocolate chips are gluten free/vegan/dairy free as required. If your recipe doesn’t need to be vegan, just gluten free, try my gluten-free oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe.
Vegan gluten-free fruit and nut oatmeal cookies: Replace the cup of raisins with ½ cup of assorted dried fruits, such as raisins, chopped dates and dried cranberries, and ½ cup of chopped toasted nuts, such as walnuts or pecans to make fruit and nut oatmeal cookies. For additional flavour, add ½ teaspoon of orange zest. The orange zest nicely complements the other flavours in the cookies.
Top Tips for Perfect Cookies
- Soak your raisins – to make your raisins plumper, juicer and softer, soak in tepid water for 30 minutes before using.
- Use a cookie scoop – use a cookie scoop to help ensure all the cookies are uniform in size and therefore bake evenly.
- Don’t overbake – if you want cookies that are crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside, make sure the centres of the cookies are slightly underbaked when you remove them from the oven.
Troubleshooting
Why are my cookies dry and hard? Two reasons could cause this: you overbaked your cookies and/or you used too much gluten-free flour. Make sure that you don’t overbake your cookies. For cookies with a soft and chewy centre, remove them from the oven when the edges are done and golden, but the centres of the cookies are slightly underbaked (but not raw). If you’re measuring your gluten-free flour with measuring cups, use the spoonful method. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup until the flour is mounded over the rim, but don’t pack it down, and then scrape off the excess with the back of a knife. If you dip your measuring cup into the flour and then scrape off the excess, you’ll compact the fine grains and starches found in gluten-free flour blends and overmeasure.
Why did my cookies spread too much when baking: If you find that your cookies spread too much while baking, and are too flat and thin, double check that your gluten-free flour blend contains a binder (xanthan gum or guar gum), and that you chilled your dough for at least 30 minutes before baking. The 30-minute chill time is important to allow the gluten-free flour time to absorb the liquid ingredients.
Storage
Baked cookies: Freshly baked cookies will keep for 2 – 3 days in an air-tight container stored at room temperature.
Unbaked cookies: You can store the unbaked dough in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 2 days or in the freezer for 1 – 2 months. If freezing, it’s best to portion the cookie dough out as usual and freeze the cookie dough in individual balls. You can freeze the cookie dough balls on a cookie sheet in the freezer until frozen, and once frozen, pack the frozen cookie dough balls in an air-tight container/freezer bag to store in the freezer. To bake, bake the same as normal, but add 1 – 2 minutes to your baking time. Bake straight from the fridge or freezer.
Frequently Asked Questions
While oats themselves are naturally gluten free, most oats are contaminated with gluten-containing grains (wheat, barley, rye) during harvesting and processing. Therefore, it’s important to only use oats that are certified gluten free if on a gluten-free diet. Certified gluten-free oats are harvested, stored, transported and processed in dedicated gluten-free facilities and tested for purity.
No, traditional oatmeal cookies are NOT gluten free. Traditional oatmeal cookie recipes generally contain all-purpose wheat flour and use regular oats, not certified gluten-free oats. Therefore, if you need your cookies to be gluten free, it’s important to use a recipe specifically designed to be gluten free.
Replacing the old-fashioned rolled oats with quick oats will change the overall texture of your cookies. Your cookies will be less chewy and slightly softer, and cakey. Quick oats also absorb more moisture than old-fashioned rolled oats, so if you are going to use quick oats, add an extra tablespoon of water to the dough to avoid dry cookies.
Yes! This dough freezes well. Using a cookie scoop or rounded tablespoon, portion the cookie dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet as usual, but instead of baking, place the cookie sheet in the freezer and freeze the dough balls. Once the dough is frozen, place the frozen dough balls in an air-tight container or freezer bag and freeze for up to 2 months. You can bake straight from frozen, just add 1 – 2 minutes to the baking time.
Gluten-free cookies can sometimes be crumblier than traditional cookies. In traditional wheat-based cookies, the gluten helps hold in the melted fat and sugar as a cookie bakes (so it doesn’t spread out too much) and also holds water. This creates soft and chewy cookies. To recreate that texture in gluten-free cookies, you need a binder, such as xanthan gum or guar gum, to help with structure. Chilling the dough can also help with spread. You also need to adjust the ratio of wet to dry ingredients. Gluten-free cookie recipes generally require more liquid/wet ingredients. That’s why it’s so important to use recipes that are designed to be gluten free, like this recipe, rather than just substituting gluten-free flour for all-purpose flour on a one-to-one basis.
Have you tried this recipe? Please leave a 5-star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating on the recipe card and consider leaving a comment as well! I would love to hear about how your cookies turned out, and your feedback also helps other readers!
Recipe Card
Vegan Gluten-Free Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Equipment
- Measuring cups and spoons
Ingredients
- ½ cup non-dairy butter
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 flax egg, note 1
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup gluten-free flour, all-purpose blend (see note 2)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats, certified gluten free
- 1 cup raisins
Flax Egg
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
- 3 tablespoon water
Instructions
- In a large bowl, cream the non-dairy butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the flax egg, water and vanilla extract.
- Add the gluten-free flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and stir until combined.
- Stir in the rolled oats.
- Stir in the raisins.
- Cover and chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls, about 2” apart, onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, using a cookie scoop or rounded tablespoon. I usually use 2 cookie sheets, with 12 on each to make 24 cookies total.
- Bake for about 12 minutes or until edges are golden and centres are slightly underbaked. Remove from oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Vegan gluten-free oatmeal cookies: Leave out the raisins from the recipe to make plain, classic oatmeal cookies.
- Vegan gluten-free oatmeal chocolate chip cookies: Replace the cup of raisins with a cup of chocolate chips and leave out the cinnamon to make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Make sure your chocolate chips are gluten free/vegan/dairy free as required. If your recipe doesn’t need to be vegan, just gluten free, try my gluten-free oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe.
- Vegan gluten-free fruit and nut oatmeal cookies: Replace the cup of raisins with ½ cup of assorted dried fruits, such as raisins, chopped dates and dried cranberries, and ½ cup of chopped toasted nuts, such as walnuts or pecans to make fruit and nut oatmeal cookies. For additional flavour, add ½ teaspoon of orange zest. The orange zest nicely complements the other flavours in the cookies.
- Soak your raisins: To make your raisins plumper, juicer and softer, soak in tepid water for 30 minutes before using.
- Use a cookie scoop: Use a cookie scoop to help ensure all the cookies are uniform in size and therefore bake evenly.
- Don’t overbake: If you want cookies that are crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside, make sure the centres of the cookies are slightly underbaked when you remove them from the oven.
- Baked cookies: Freshly baked cookies will keep for 2 – 3 days in an air-tight container stored at room temperature.
- Unbaked cookies (cookie dough): You can store the unbaked dough in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 2 days or in the freezer for 1 – 2 months. If freezing, it’s best to portion the cookie dough out as usual and freeze the cookie dough in individual balls. You can freeze the cookie dough balls on a cookie sheet in the freezer until frozen, and once frozen, pack the frozen cookie dough balls in an air-tight container/freezer bag to store in the freezer. To bake, bake the same as normal, but add 1 – 2 minutes to your baking time. Bake straight from the fridge or freezer.
Nutrition
Nutritional information shown is an estimate only.
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