Pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are soft, chewy, and deliciously spiced.
With the start of fall we welcome new routines, cooler temperatures, and the fall baking season—the best baking season! We’re talking cozy fall spices, pumpkin treats, decadent desserts, and pies galore. I always like to kick off the fall baking season with cookies—we’ve done pumpkin snickerdoodles and brown butter pumpkin oatmeal cookies, but let’s get back to basics.
These are pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip cookies in all their soft, chewy, deliciously comforting, pumpkin spice glory. Like chocolate chip cookies and pumpkin pie in one. Fall doesn’t *truly* begin until we crack open that first can of pumpkin, so let’s get started!
These Chewy Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies Are:
- Extra chewy
- Soft-baked
- Quick & easy like these pumpkin donuts
- Perfectly pumpkin spiced (you can use homemade pumpkin pie spice here!)
- A no chill cookies recipe, just like shortbread cookies, snickerdoodles, and giant chocolate chip cookies.
Tricks to Chewy Pumpkin Cookies
These aren’t your average cakey and crumbly pumpkin cookies. My pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are seriously CHEWY. After lots of recipe testing, here are 3 tricks to guarantee dense and chewy pumpkin oatmeal cookies.
1. The Egg Trick
We’ve explored chewy pumpkin cookies at length before. Back in 2013, I discovered that pumpkin can replace eggs in cookies. (See my pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.) This was a game changer for me! When both are used in cookie recipes, the resulting cookie is more cakey and less dense/chewy. By the way, for a cakey cookie, see my soft pumpkin cookies.
Things were a different story when I threw oats into the cookie dough. Testing pumpkin oatmeal cookies proved that an egg—or at least part of an egg—is necessary. Why? Without an egg, they are a little dry and crumbly because of all the oats. So in my pumpkin oatmeal cookies, I add an egg yolk. That little extra fat is perfection and the cookies remain remarkably soft and chewy. Same applies when making these pumpkin oatmeal cream pies.
2. Use Melted Butter
For chewy cookies, melted butter wins.
3. Blot the Pumpkin
Here’s another chewy pumpkin cookie secret. Blot your pumpkin. You see, pumpkin puree is extremely wet and extra moisture in cookie dough results in cakey cookies that spread too much. Take the 15 seconds to blot it before using. Simply measure your pumpkin puree, then squeeze out some moisture with a paper towel.
See a side-by-side cookie comparison of blotted/non-blotted pumpkin cookies in my recipe for pumpkin oatmeal cookies.
A little something extra: Add some maple syrup. I made pumpkin oatmeal cookies a few years ago and used molasses. Delicious, wonderful, superb! But maple syrup tastes even better and it doesn’t take away from the pumpkin flavor.
Baker’s tip: I suggest using a cookie scoop. I always use a cookie scoop when I make oatmeal cookies. Once you scoop each, slightly flatten them down. The cookies don’t spread *too much* but they will spread a little if you flatten it out first. Just like this:
Customize These Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies!
Want to change things up? Instead of chocolate chips, you can use white chocolate chips, cinnamon chips, chopped pecans, dried cranberries, or be a total rebel and leave the pumpkin oatmeal cookies plain. There’s enough pumpkin spice (!!!) in each cookie that you don’t even need add-ins.
But those melty chocolate chips when the cookies are fresh out of the oven? I strongly encourage you to experience that magic firsthand. HAPPY FALL!!!
Chewy Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 13 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 30 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are super soft and CHEWY. These cookies will be your new favorite fall dessert!
Ingredients
- 2 cups + 1 Tablespoon (258g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons store-bought or homemade pumpkin pie spice*
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 and 1/2 cups (128g) old-fashioned whole rolled oats
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 3 Tablespoons (45ml) pure maple syrup
- 3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 3/4 cup (170g) pumpkin puree (see note)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/2 cups (270g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and oats together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Whisk the melted butter, maple syrup, brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg yolk, blotted pumpkin, and vanilla extract together until combined. Pour into dry ingredients and mix everything together until completely combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Scoop cookie dough, about 1.5 Tablespoons of dough per cookie, and place 3 inches apart on the baking sheets. Flatten slightly. Bake for 13-14 minutes or until lightly browned on the sides. The centers will look very soft.
- Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. While the cookies are still warm, I like to press a few more chocolate chips into the tops—this is only for looks!
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week. You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Allow to come to room temperature then continue with step 4. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Rubber Spatula | Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Pumpkin Pie Spice: You can find pumpkin pie spice in the baking aisle of most grocery stores or make your own homemade pumpkin pie spice. If you don’t have either and want to use individual spices, use 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger + 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg + 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice + 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves + (an extra) 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon. This is in addition to the 2 teaspoons of cinnamon—you will still add that.
- Pumpkin: Squeeze as much of the moisture out of the pumpkin puree as you can before adding it to the cookie dough. I simply squeeze the puree with paper towels. See photo in the post for a visual. This will help produce a less cakey cookie. Less moisture is a good thing in these cookies!
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
This was a huge hit just like every other Sally’s recipe I have ever tried. Made it exactly as is with just a bit less sugar. The consistency was perfect! Even my husband who is not a pumpkin fan couldn’t stop eating them! Thank you!
I have a question! I would like to make these cookie bars so that they ship well. Do you have suggestions on modifications to make that change successful (baking time, etc)?
Hi Kim, you definitely can. Use a 9×13 inch baking pan for cookie bars. We’re unsure of the best bake time though.
Instant pumpkin favorite! I made them for a small church gathering and got rave reviews. I made plenty of extras but all were gone. My kids love them too! I’m hooked and about to make another batch.
Don’t know what happened, but these are falling apart on me. I followed the recipe exactly, including weighing ingredients and letting my pumpkin sit in a paper towel for 15 minutes. They taste great but they are so messy it’s not worth it. Super disappointed.
Hi Rachel, thank you for trying these! Do they seem too soft to the point of being too under-baked? That may be why they are completely falling apart, and a couple extra minutes in the oven could help if you ever try the recipe again.
These are some of the best cookies I’ve EVER made!! I made a few small tweaks. I browned the butter instead of just melting it. And I also added craisins and pepitas as with dark chocolate chips
I forgot to five star it definitely a five star!
Made as written, including the homemade pumpkin pie spice with “just a pinch of black pepper “ and doubled, because well, you know,!
Applause, everything you said came true.
I can always count on you, I don’t deviate from your recipes because they are always spot on!
Thank you.
Do you think coconut oil could be used here for a non-dairy version? If so, would it be 1:1 for the butter?
Hi Susan, we haven’t tested so we’re unsure of the results. The cookies may not be as chewy. If you’d like to try it, we’d recommend using a 1:1 amount. Let us know how it goes!
A diff recipe I saw the lady cooked her pumpkin for 10 mins and it removed the liquid and made the taste stronger. I am going to do that with this recipe.
I never have been much of a pumpkin fan, and then I tried your pumpkin pie recipe. I could be hooked here. Now I have so much leftover Hallowe’en pumpkins, the chickens don’t want to see another one for a long time, so what to do? Compost? Throw it in the garden to rot? Process and freeze? Well, let’s see what Sally has to offer! My French friends would say, “Impeccable”!! This has been one of those very rare recipes that has worked out for me!! And I didn’t have any Allspice! Fantastic, super delicious, as I sit here writing this, I am dunking my 3rd cookie into my coffee…..yup truly, ADDICTION!
Hoping for advice, please. Made the dough this morning, decided to brown the butter after reading the comments. The flavor is so delicious. However, I realized after I added and mixed in the pumpkin, that I accidently added 1 cup instead of 3/4 cup. Now the cookies are just too soft. Fall apart, don’t hold their shape soft. I have only baked a handful of the cookies at this point. Is there anything that I can do to improve the texture for the rest of the dough without compromising the flavor? I am chilling the dough now.
Hi Kay, you can try adding a little bit more flour (try a tablespoon or two) to help absorb some of the extra moisture. Chilling the cookies for a bit longer can help with the spread too. Hope this is helpful!
This is really tasty! I used brown butter, inspired by your brownbutter cookie recipe. I’m vegan so I replaced the egg yolk with a little less than a tbls of peanut butter. It’s little cakey, but u can’t taste the pb. Idk what I did, but my cookies burnt a bit on the bottom at 12min. Could this have been caused by me using a convection oven instead of a normal one?
Thank you for this tasty recipe
🙂
I replaced the maple syrup for molasses and browned the butter and they turned out sooooo good. My family loved them. They are my dads favorite!
It was ok. Chocolate and pumpkin spice is a strange combo for me. I may try next time with cinnamon or white chocolate chips next time..
Hi Sally, like always these pumpkin cookies are delicious. This is the third pumpkin cookie recipe of you that I’ve tried, and my family and I have loved every one of them. Thanks for the delicious recipes.
Great recipe, thanks!
This recipe was exactly what I was looking for and they turned out perfectly! To reduce the sugar content I used 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1/4 cup of white sugar and that worked well. I personally would have doubled the salt in the future, but I also like salty deserts 🙂
Followed the recipe as written even though using melted butter in a cookie recipe gave me pause. They were just as you described- slight crisp to the outside and chewy in the middle. So delicious. Thank you SO MUCH for adding the weight measurement.
Hi!
I can’t wait to make these, but I do not need 30. Can I half this recipe and still use the whole egg yolk?
Hi Jess! We would halve the egg yolk – Our general rule for halving an egg is to crack it open, beat the yolk and white together with a fork, measure the volume (should be a few Tbsp), then use half. You can use the same principle to halve just an egg yolk. Enjoy!
Freezing the cookie dough in cookie scoop size is another option, just freeze the individual scoops, put them into a zip lock bag and you can take out and bake as many as you like at a time.
Sally
I made these and they came out way too moist/dense – they almost break in half when I pick them up. What is causing this? Not blotting enough out of the pumpkin (I did blot w paper towel on top – does it need to sit on a paper towel for some amount of time?) or using softened instead of melted butter?
Hi Monica, it sounds like there was too much moisture left in your pumpkin puree. See post for a visual of how we blot ours — you can even squeeze out the excess moisture at the end after it sat for a while. Also, feel free to bake the cookies for a minute or two longer as it’s possible they were slightly under baked which caused them to break as well. Hope this helps for next time, and thanks so much for giving this recipe a try!
I haven’t had any luck finding pumpkin purée. Can I substitute canned pumpkin?
Hi Sue, canned pumpkin should be the same as pumpkin puree if I’m understanding you right!
Really delicious, the house smelled amazing all day after baking these! I realized I was out of brown sugar of all things so I blended up some dates with the butter and they turned out amazing! They are also really tasty with a blend of milk and white chocolate chips!
These cookies look amazing! (All of your recipes are!). I do not want to use the maple syrup. What can be substituted for the syrup?
Hi Marianne, you can use honey in a pinch, but the taste will be slightly different. Hope you enjoy the cookies!
Hello Michelle,
When I measure out my pumpkin purée am I measuring it out in a 3/4 measuring cup first then blotting out the excess moisture or will I want to blot it and then measure it out to equaling 3/4 cup once it’s been blotted?
I want to know if I start by measuring it out in a 3/4 cup measurement then blot it that I will actually be putting less than 3/4cup into the recipe?
This recipe was great! Nice flavor! What do you think about adding sweetened flaked coconut to it?? I make oatmeal raisin and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with the coconut and no one has ever guessed the secret ingredient, but it makes the texture crispy yet chewy.
Hi Michelle, coconut sounds like a delicious addition! You could try swapping some of the chocolate chips for flaked coconut, so you have around the same total amount of add-ins. Let us know how it goes!
Made these tonight. Absolutely fantastic. The maple syrup and pumpkin flavor really shines through. Wonderful.
Hello Sally,
When you say the recipe calls for 3/4 cup pumpkin purée is that how much you’ll end up having after you blot out the excess moisture or will you end up with less than 3/4 cup?
Hi Jessica, Measure your pumpkin puree first, then squeeze out some moisture with a paper towel.
Was hoping for more pumpkin flavor. Maybe I measured incorrectly. Perhaps you can clarify if 3/4 c pumpkin is the puree before or after draining? I think that makes a big difference because my pumpkin was very liquidy.
Hi Theresa! Measure after draining next time. Thank you for giving these a try!
Sally do you think I could lower the amount of butter and sugar in these cookies? I usually do that in baking and haven’t run into a problem. I don’t make huge changes…just enough to make me not feel so bad about eating sweets. Thanks!
Hi Janet, you can certainly give it a try, but keep in mind that both of those ingredients play a role not only in taste but in the structure and texture of baked goods as well. We’re unsure how much you can reduce, but we’d recommend starting small and then adjusting for future batches as needed. Hope you enjoy these cookies!
I have a recipe for pumpkin bread that says to strain the pumpkin puree for at least 30 minutes to get the excess liquid out of it. I line a mesh strainer with large coffee filters, followed by the pumpkin puree. I set this over a large measuring cup or bowl. It’s amazing the amount of liquid that comes out. I then measure the pumpkin puree and use as much as is indicated. I don’t dump the liquid until everything is mixed. I’ve never had to add any liquid back. Just be careful how long you bake the cookies. It might lessen the time.
if the dough is any indication, i will never stop eating these. i browned the butter and replaced about 50g of choc chips with toasted pecans. i cannot wait to try them!
oh, yes, these are the new go-to for pumpkin cookies! for those who think the pumpkin flavor is gone, wait a day and taste them. pumpkin cookies tend to settle into flavor a day after baking, in my experience. i think they are quite pumpkiny even with all the other flavors!
tweaks to remind myself next time:
– brown butter, and slightly (about 2T less butter)
– toasted the oats a bit
– toasted pecans with the chips
– not a tweak but i tend to use darker chips and decided to just do semi. stick with semi.
try not to eat all the dough! it’s soooo good
These cookies were absolutely delicious! I had to stop myself from eating more than 2. I will definitely make them again. Thank you!
Great easy recipe, I added toasted pecans and used less chocolate chips. This is a new go to recipe for me. I always have pumpkin purée on hand, usually in my freezer. Makes the house smell so yummy. Thanks so much.