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 is the 2nd time I baked these but the 1st time I made bar cookies and they turned out cakey which is probably to be expected. Today I made regular cookies and they are way to fragile and break up so easy….I followed the recipe exactly. Flavor is good. I did add sliced almond pieces to them. I won’t be baking them again when they crumble so easy. Disappointed.
Hi Deborah! Thank you so much for the comment. If the cookies are breaking apart easily, I wonder if the cookies were baked long enough. An extra minute or 2 should help. Thanks for trying the recipe though!
Hi Sally! I made these cookies a few weeks ago and they were a HUGE hit! So great, in fact, that I was tasked with making them for Thanksgiving this year!
I wanted to ask and see if you knew whether chilling the dough overnight in the fridge (so that I don’t need to worry about batter day of) will change the texture from chewy to cakey?
I’m so glad they were a hit! 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. Enjoy!
Omg. Made these for my mom’s special treat day at her work and they were a huge hit!! Such deliciousness! Thanks for creating them!
Hi Sally – Looking forward to baking these! I have loved every recipe I have tried from your books and blog!! A question for you about the butter in this recipe – can these cookies be made with butter softened to room temperature instead of melted butter? Thanks!!
Hi Vanessa! Yes, they can. However, the texture will be completely different. The pumpkin oatmeal cookies won’t spread as much, they’ll lose most of their chew, and they’ll taste pretty cakey.
These are all I hoped for and more! Thanks Sally! I have a question . . . I have a pumpkin bread recipe that I LOVE LOVE LOVE . . . but . . . it is a touch too moist and the slices tend to fall apart. I love the recipe so much I don’t want to mess with it but I thought your tips might help. Have you ever blotting or tried your egg yoke trick with bread? Which should I try?
Hi Tabi! I haven’t, but you should try my pumpkin bread recipe. It’s a reader favorite and while it’s definitely moist, it isn’t “wet.” I know you’ll love it.
Dear Sally, I just made these cookies and they ROCK!! My husband has been sneaking them even though supper is soon. 🙂 They are just as described. The batter is wet but bakes up beautifully to a scrumptious soft cookie. I love your blog and recipes! Thank you for all you do! (I used craisins and white chocolate chips).
These look great. I’m thinking of converting them to bars – any words of wisdom? Think the recipe will work a 13 x 9 pan? Thanks!
Hi Lizzy! A 9×13 pan is a good size, yes. I’m unsure of the exact bake time though.
Unbelievable! Mine were still a *little* cakey, but I didn’t mind. Great flavor & so easy to make without hauling out the mixer. I made them to use up a little bit of pumpkin leftover from another recipe & they were just the thing I needed. Thanks!
Big hit!
These cookies were delicious — possibly my new favorite! There was so much flavor from the spices and maple syrup, and the texture came out perfectly chewy. I made and froze cookie dough balls to be able to bake these fresh any time, which has also worked out great!
These cookies are SO delicious! I made them to bring into work on Halloween and they were a huge hit. I used Butter Crisco instead of butter and mini chocolate chips because that’s all I had. I also used the pumpkin pie spice substitutions because I didn’t have Pumpkin Pie Spice-the spices really make the cookies! These will be a new fall favorite for sure!
Made and loveeee!! I made both the original and a variation with reduced sugar and raisins; both tasted incredible! I used homemade pumpkin puree and quick oats; seemed to work fine 🙂
These are sooo yummy! Didn’t have pumpkin pie spice or ginger or allspice but cinnamon and nutmeg were great by themselves!
Hey Sally, here in Australia it’s difficult to source canned pumpkin, can I substitute steamed/boiled and mashed fresh pumpkin or would that be too wet? These look too good not to make!
Canned is definitely best here, but homemade puree works as well– make sure you blot out a lot of moisture before adding to the cookie dough 🙂 Enjoy!
Just made these! They were very good. I’m not a huge fan of maple syrup though. Any suggestions on substituting?
Molasses works instead 🙂
So so so good! I am making my second batch right now. These were a big hit with the family yesterday 🙂
Good morning! Can I substitute molasses for the maple syrup? Similar to your “Favorite Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies”? Thanks Sally 🙂
Sure can!
These are delicious! I was a little nervous about how wet the dough seemed, but they baked up beautifully! Thank you for another bomb recipe! Xo
I love, love, love most things pumpkin so I decided to make these today. Absolutely fabulous!!! Better than regular chocolate chip cookies!!
These cookies are so good that my 16 month old son just pilfered a second one off the cooling rack on the kitchen table while I wasn’t looking! I didn’t squeeze enough of the water out of my cookie and I came out slightly cakey, but I don’t mind the texture at all! The ratio of cookie to chocolate chips is perfect (ie: LOTS of chocolate!) This will be a fall regular in our house!
These cookies are the bomb! My husband who is not a fan of pumpkin, has nearly devoured them. Thank you for a wonderful recipe!
Delicious! Made them this morning. The house smells great. These are wonderful Fall cookies.
I made this recipe this past weekend to welcome fall and they were nothing short of amazing!! I made 36 and mistakenly gave some away to family and friends…wish I had more left for me. YUM!!
Made these last night. My boyfriend thinks they should be called pumpkin muffin cookies since they are so fluffy! 🙂
I made these cookies tonight and they were delicious!! My batter made 36 and betweenness 10 adults and 4 children, they were totally devoured. Thank you for an awesome recipe.
Sally these cookies look delicious! I’m very excited to bake these! Thank you for your tips to get the best cookies and for the shipping update on your book! I cannot wait to read and bake from it!
Hi Sally!
Question about blotting the pumpkin and measuring…should the amount of pumpkin be 3/4 after the blotting or before? I’m thinking that once I do that, the amount will be less than 3/4 of a cup. Thanks!
The measurement is usually the same. But I measure before blotting!