Salted Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies — 🍪 Soft, chewy, loaded with chocolate, and the flaky sea salt adds the PERFECT touch! If you’re an oatmeal cookie fan, these will become your new FAVORITES and they’re so EASY to make!
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These salted oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are so easy to make and taste like a million bucks. The combination of the chewy oats, with the abundance of chocolate, and an ample amount of flaky sea salt is perfection.
If you like lots of texture in your cookies, but still want them uber soft, this is the perfect cookie for you!
They’re just like your favorite oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, but the addition of sea salt on top balances out the sweetness of the dough and makes them taste even better!
Ingredients Needed
For these chewy salted oatmeal cookies, you’ll need:
- Unsalted butter
- Egg
- Light brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Old-fashioned oats
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Kosher salt
- Semi-sweet chocolate chunks
- Flaky sea salt
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
Tip for Bringing Ingredients to Room Temperature
Room temperature ingredients, like butter and eggs, are always preferred for baking. Didn’t plan ahead for room temp ingredients? No problem. Pop your butter in the microwave for 10 seconds or until it’s just barely showing signs of melting. Add the egg to a bowl of very hot water for a couple minutes. A warm egg emulsifies easier than a cold one.
How to Make Oatmeal Cookies
Making oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with sea salt is so easy. Here are the basic steps:
- Beat butter together with an egg, sugars, and vanilla.
- Mix in the dry ingredients, then fold in the chocolate chunks.
- Scoop the cookie dough and chill the scooped dough balls in the fridge for a few hours (or a shortcut in the freezer for an hour).
- Place the chilled dough on a baking sheet and evenly sprinkle each dough mound with a pinch of flaky sea salt. Since I love the salted-chocolate combination, I use generous pinches of sea salt but you can less if that’s what you prefer.
- Bake for about 10 1o 13 minutes.
How to Prevent Cookies From Spreading
I highly recommend using a cookie scoop. The dough is soft, warm, and the domed shape a scoop produces is essential to preventing excess spreading. Same goes for a Silpat, use one.
FAQs About This Recipe
Nope! I used chocolate chunks because I wanted the chocolate to ooze and disperse more into the dough but you can always use chocolate chips instead. They will stay more intact and don’t melt as much while baking.
No, quick oats have a much different texture than rolled oats and would act more like a flour in these cookies. Your homemade oatmeal cookies would wind up being too dry.
Yes, you can freeze both the cookie dough (after it’s been rolled into balls) or the baked cookies. Frozen cookie dough doesn’t need to be thawed before being baked, but it’ll need an extra minute or two in the oven to cook through. And if you freeze the baked cookies, you can reheat them in the oven or the microwave when you’re ready to enjoy them.
Yes! Chilling the cookie dough helps prevent the dough from spreading in the oven.
As it pertains to chilling the dough, don’t just place the whole bowl in the fridge (or freezer as a shortcut). It’s important to scoop the dough into balls first, then chill the dough. Otherwise trying to chisel out rock hard cold dough from a mixing bowl and form it into neat balls is nearly impossible. Place the balls right next to each other (touching is ok) on a dinner plate, plastic wrap it, and pop the plate into the fridge.
Yes go right ahead if you know you want to yield more cookies!
Storage Instructions
Baked cookies: Store airtight on your counter for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
Raw cookie dough: You can keep chilled, unbaked dough in your fridge for up to 5 days and bake only as many cookies as you need at once. Raw cookie dough can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
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Salted Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup unsalted butter, 1 stick
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 to 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups old-fashioned whole rolled oats, not instant or quick cook
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon, added to taste
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt, or taste
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks, chips may be substituted
- flaky sea salt, as desired
Instructions
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large mixing bowl and electric mixer) add the butter and beat on high power to cream it. (For novice bakers – you are not adding any cream, you are beating butter.)
- Add the egg, sugars, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until creamed and well combined, about 3 minutes.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the oats, flour, cinnamon, baking soda, kosher salt, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 1 minute.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the chocolate chunks, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds.
- Using a medium cookie scoop, form approximately 14 equal-sized mounds of dough, roll into balls, and flatten slightly. Tip – Strategically place a few chocolate chunks on top of each mound of dough by taking chips from the underside and adding them on top.
- Place mounds on a large plate or tray, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to 5 days. Do not bake with unchilled dough because cookies will bake thinner, flatter, and be more prone to spreading.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray. Place dough mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet). Evenly sprinkle the top of each dough mound with flaky sea salt, to taste. I use generous pinches.
- Bake for about 10 to 13 minutes (less time for super soft cookies, longer for more well-done cookies), or until edges have set and tops are just set, even if slightly undercooked, pale, and glossy in the center; don’t overbake. All ovens, cookie sizes, and climates vary, and baking times listed are only guidelines. Cookies firm up as they cool. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes before serving. I let them cool on the baking sheet and don’t use a rack.
- Cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 6 months. Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 4 months, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.
- Adapted from The Best Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Originally posted October 25, 2019 and reposted April 26, 2024 with updated text.
I made these with chocolate chips and they were great. However I would like to try as written – just not sure what you mean by “Chocolate Chunks”. Do you mean you buy Hershey bars and chop them in chunks? Or do you mean semi-sweet bakers chocolate bars chopped in chunks?
Chunks are like this https://amzn.to/3Kicrnm A chunkier chocolate chip. No, not chopped baking chocolate. That melts too much. Buy the actual chunks which are designed to retain some shape. Trader Joe’s is great if you have one in your area, check there. Otherwise the baking aisle of any groc store.
I’m glad you loved them and will make them again!
Thank you so much for the additional information. I used the appropriate chunks the second time I made them and they were fantastic. This recipe will certainly stay in frequent rotation. They were perfect and so so easy to make.
Awesome! I am so glad you found chunks and that the cookies turned out fantastic and will stay in frequent rotation!
Absolutely delicious cookies!
I quickly made these this afternoon and had now have only half left! You are so bad! Lol Thank you for a great cookie recipe that is going in my keeper book!
Thanks for the 5 star review, Christine, and I am so glad they are such a hit that you only have half left :) well, it’s okay! I am glad the recipe is going in your keeper book!
great
Hi, I’m brand new with baking but want to bake these for my boyfriend. I was just curious to know if the cookies are at all crispy on the outside? I prefer cookies crisp on the outside but soft on the inside? Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!
No not really unless you bake them longer than recommended but that could dry them out. I would give them a try as written and see how you like them!
Just made these last night and they are delicious!! Everyone at worked loved them too!! Highly recommend! The cinnamon adds such a nice depth to the cookies!
Thank you for always having such amazing recipes, Averie! I’ve made so many of them and you are always my go to!!
Just made these last night and they are delicious!! Everyone at worked loved them too!! Highly recommend! The cinnamon adds such a nice depth to the cookies!
Thank you for always having such amazing recipes, Averie! I’ve made so many of them and you are always my go to!!
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad these were great and thanks for saying that my recipes are amazing and that I am your go to! I realllly appreciate that, thank you!
If I’m freezing the dough do I add the salt flakes before freezing or after? I’m thinking it won’t stick to frozen dough.
I would do it after thawing because during the freezing/thawing process, with a bit of condensation on the dough, it could dissolve the salt. So after.
When do you add the egg?
With the sugars in step 2.
I have put all these cookies in my Pinterest File! They all look so yummy and perfect for the holidays coming up. My family will love them! Thank you for these wonderful recipes!
Excellent and hope you enjoy your holiday (baking) season!