Today I’m bringing you a true classic. One of those cookies that have a warming, nostalgic flavor that just tastes like home.
These brown butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are the twin sister of my famous brown butter chocolate chip cookies, but you know I had to add a couple of surprises to make them extra special.
I took the wonderful flavor of old-fashioned oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and went next level with gorgeous brown butter, dark chocolate chunks to create puddles of chocolate in every bite, and a hint of coffee to make each flavor even bolder.
The result is that chewy oatmeal chocolate chunk cookie you crave with an even more crave-able taste. Bring on the nostalgia, and maybe a glass of almond milk on the side.
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What you’ll need to make these oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies
If you couldn’t tell, these aren’t your average oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. We’re taking them to the next level with a few secret ingredients that make them absolutely drool-worthy. Here’s what you’ll need to make them:
- Butter: we’re adding a rich, nutty flavor to the cookies by adding brown butter!
- Sugar: brown sugar gives these cookies a wonderful molasses flavor. Learn how to make your own brown sugar here!
- Egg: you’ll need one egg to give them the right consistency.
- Flour: we’re using regular, all purpose flour to bake them up.
- Rolled oats: because they’re oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies we can’t forget the old fashioned rolled oats! Do not use steel cut oats as the texture will be much different.
- Baking staples: you’ll also need vanilla extract, baking soda and salt.
- Coffee flavor: this is optional, but I’m truly obsessed with the addition of instant coffee or espresso powder. It brings out the richness of the brown butter and the dark chocolate.
- Chocolate: I like to chop up a 70% dark chocolate bar to give the cookies nice puddles of dark chocolate, but feel free to use chocolate chips.
- Sea salt: sprinkle a little fancy sea salt on top right when they come out of the oven for an extra sweet and salty treat!
Looking for vegan or gluten free options?
I haven’t tested these chewy brown butter oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies with a gluten free flour or a flax egg, so I suggest trying my:
- Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (V, GF) that uses gluten free oat flour, gluten free rolled oats and a flax egg.
- Blow Ya Mind Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies (V, GF) that use almond flour, gluten free oat flour and a flax egg.
- Flourless Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (GF) that just use gluten free rolled oats.
Make them extra thick & delicious
Try adding 1/2 cup more rolled oats to the recipe! The oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies will come out oat-ier, heartier and deliciously thick while still having a nice chew to them.
How to brown butter
Brown butter is truly my love language. Use it in these oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies for the best flavor ever! Learn exactly how to brown butter with our tutorial here.
How to make the best oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
- Brown your butter. You’ll start by browning your butter until it’s golden and fragrant. Set it aside to cool, preheat your oven and line your baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Mix the wet ingredients. In a stand mixer (or with a whisk) mix together all of your wet ingredients until smooth.
- Add the dry. Slowly add the dry ingredients to your stand mixer, or mix them in with a wooden spoon. Fold in the chocolate chunks as well.
- Scoop & bake. Use a medium cookie scoop to grab the dough and roll it into balls. Place it on your cookie sheet and bake until the cookies are just barely golden brown
- Cool & eat. Let the coffee oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies cool on your baking sheet for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. This is when you can sprinkle them with sea salt and then devour!
Tips for perfect oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
You’ll find all of my best tips & tricks for making perfect cookies in the Ultimate Guide to Cookie Baking e-book! A few key takeaways for these cookies:
- Do not use substitutes. Please be sure to follow the recipe as written unless substitutes are noted in the notes section of the recipe. Changing the flour or using steel cut oats, etc. will greatly affect the taste and texture of these cookies as will leaving ingredients out.
- Make sure your ingredients are room temp. After you brown your butter you’ll want to make sure that it is cool so that it doesn’t coagulate the other ingredients. Be sure. your egg is at room temperature as well so that it doesn’t coagulate with the butter. Simply run it under warm water for about a minute or place it in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes before adding it to your dough.
- Use fresh baking soda. Make sure your baking soda is fresh to ensure that these cookies bake up properly.
- Measure your ingredients correctly. Do you know the best way to measure flour without a scale? Get my tips & tricks in this video! Be sure to also pack the brown sugar.
Make them ahead of time
If you’d like to save a bit of time, feel free to make the oatmeal chocolate chunk cookie dough the day before! You can refrigerate the dough (well-covered so it doesn’t dry out) for up to 24 hours. Set out dough for 30 minutes at room temp before baking.
Freezer-friendly oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
These brown butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are perfect for baking up a big batch and freezing the dough OR the baked cookies for later. Check out our full post here to see exactly how to freeze them two different ways.
More amazing cookies to try
- Truly Exceptional Salted Banana Chocolate Chunk Cookies
- Vanilla Brown Sugar Oatmeal Latte Cookies with Espresso Icing
- Peanut Butter Cup S’mores Chocolate Cookies
- Soft Brown Butter Ginger Cookies with Lovely Lemon Icing
- Coffee Tahini Date Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies
Get all of our delicious cookie recipes here!
I hope you love these salted brown butter oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies! If you make them be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked them. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Salted Brown Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Ingredients
- Wet ingredients:
- ¾ cup (170g) salted butter (1 ½ sticks), cut into pieces
- 1 cup (213g) packed brown sugar
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- For the dry ingredients:
- 1 ¼ cup (150g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (95g) old fashioned rolled oats
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Optional: 1 tablespoon instant coffee granules or espresso powder
- 1 (3.5oz) 70% dark chocolate bar, coarsely chopped (or ¾ cup (135g) chocolate chips)
- Maldon sea salt, for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- First, brown your butter: add butter to a medium saucepan or skillet and place over medium heat. The butter will begin to melt, crackle, and then eventually foam. Make sure you whisk constantly during this process. After a couple of minutes, the butter will begin to brown and turn a nice golden amber color on the bottom of the saucepan, this usually happens once it foams. Continue to whisk and remove from heat as soon as the butter begins to brown and give off a nutty aroma. Immediately transfer the butter to a medium bowl to prevent burning, making sure you scrape all the yummy brown bits from the pan with a rubber spatula; this is where the flavor is!
- Set aside the brown butter to cool for 10-15 minutes, do not skip cooling the brown butter. Feel free to clean up your kitchen a bit here too if you want to pass the time.
- Next add every last bit of brown butter to the bowl of an electric mixer, then add in brown sugar, egg and vanilla extract; mix on medium-high speed until well combined, about 1 minute. You can also mix these by hand using a whisk and wooden spoon -- no problem!
- Add the dry ingredients: flour, oats, baking soda, salt, and espresso powder/instant coffee (if using). Beat on medium speed until just combined, about 1 minute. Next, fold the chocolate chunks into the dough.
- Chill the dough for at least 1 hour. While the dough is chilling, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Once chilled, use a medium cookie scoop to grab a large heaping tablespoon or two of dough. Roll dough into balls and place on the prepared cookie sheet, leaving at least 2 inches of space between each cookie. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until just BARELY golden brown on the edges. Do not overbake!
- Allow cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling completely. Sprinkle cookies with a little fancy sea salt and serve. Makes about 14-16 big cookies. Feel free to double the recipe to serve more!
Recipe Notes
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on December 9th, 2021, and republished on February 10th, 2025.
While these cookies have a light and nutty taste, they were not what I was expecting. The picture suggests that these cookies would flatten out while baking to produce a crispy edge and a soft and chewy centre (which is my preferred cookie texture). However, these cookies did not flatten out as expected. The first batch I left in the round balls as the recipe suggested- they were quite thick like a classic oatmeal cookie. The second batch I gently pressed the balls down hoping that would encourage a larger spread, but no such luck.
Best cookie I’ve ever had. Multiple flavor notes, textures, and balanced sweet and saltiness make this one an 11/10.
Honestly the best cookies I’ve ever made. I chilled the dough overnight which I think helped the flavors really come together. So good this will be my staple cookie from now on.
So happy to hear that!
Hi, I see the recipe calls for SALTED butter and also salt. Can I use UNsalted butter and add salt?
OR, does this recipe really require salted butter and salt?
Yes, feel free to use unsalted butter and add a pinch more salt!
Made this recipe ahead of time (2 days before baking) and it was soooo good! I used good quality butter and measured everything using a scale. The only downside I found was that it was personally a little bit too sweet, even after using salted butter, adding 1 tsp of salt to the dough, and topping it off with flaky salt after baking. Would suggest using maybe 150-180g of brown sugar instead of 213g. Otherwise this was perfect! Would use this recipe again to give out to family and friends this holiday season.
So glad you enjoyed! These are meant to be a sweeter, more indulgent cookie, but let me know how it goes with reducing the sugar 🙂
Just made these for a cookie exchange in two days. Unfortunately, I’ll need to make another batch, because we are eating them and took them to several neighbors tonight while they were warm. Sharing! I usually add espresso powder to brownies and such, so I was optimistic, but this recipe exceeds my expectations!
So good! Glad these were a hit!
So delicious!! Our new favorite. I used Coconut Sugar instead of Brown Sugar.
Perfect! Glad you loved them!
These are my new go-to oatmeal chocolate chip cookie!! Slightly crispy on the outside & soft on the inside – delicious! It was all I could do to not eat all the dough before I baked them 🙂
Same! So glad you loved them!
It says not to sub unless in the notes, but what about subbing raisins for the chocolate? We absolutely LOVE the brown butter chocolate chip cookies, and it is the brown butter and sea salt that make them, but my son loves raisins in his oatmeal cookies and chocolate chip in chocolate chip. Any thoughts on subbing raisins in this recipe? Thanks so much!!
Yes raisins should work!
I love these cookies and I’ve made them multiple times!!
My only criticism is I’ll say that you do not need to preheat the oven while the brown butter cools. This dough sits in the fridge for an hour so it just seems silly to leave the oven on for that long!
Otherwise I love all of your recipes, especially this one 🙂
So glad you love them! And great point – updated 🙂
I made these plain without chocolate and upped the oats a bit. They were good but too sweet – I’d reduce the sugar next time.
Tip: tap the tops of the cookies with a spoon when they come out of the oven so they stay flat and gooey instead of puffy.
Great tips! Let me know how it goes reducing the sugar!
So delicious! I added the espessso/instant coffee granules and it was tasty but didn’t really blend into the dough as well as I’d hoped. Next time I think I’ll put them into the browned butter after it comes off the flame. Will definitely make again. Oatmeal chocolate chip is my favorite cookie to make.
Let me know how that method goes instead! Glad you enjoyed regardless!
One of the best cookies I’ve ever eaten, hands down! And the use of the espresso powder, devine! I used a little less than a tbsp and next time I might use a tiny bit less than that, maybe go for half a tbsp – just for my taste buds. But man, Monique always killing it!
Ummm these cookies should be illegal they are scrumptious!!! I couldn’t stop snakong bites of the batter either. Don’t let the brown butter scare you because it’s a must to elevate the flavor profile of the cookies, and don’t leave out the espresso powder either!
So good!! Glad you loved them!
These have become our most fave cookie! I add a 1/2 cup of toasted sunflower seeds (I toast them while I’m browning the butter) and about 1/2 a tsp of cinnamon, and I can’t stop eating them.
Love that!!
I come back to this recipe multiple times a year. Full proof and always a hit! There is nothing like browned butter
Browned butter in everything! So glad you love these 🙂
Hi! Excited to make these, but wondering if I should change anything based on my high altitude (6,831′) ?
Hi! Hmm the recipe should be okay as is, but let me know if you run into issues!
Made dough as directed, rolled into balls and then left in the fridge overnight. In the morning I left the dough out while the oven was heating up and then baked for around 14 min. I found that they did not spread at all in the oven and came out rather thick and dense. So lesson learned, if you refrigerate the dough try and flatten the dough balls out a bit before you bake them. They were still tasty but the texture and thickness was very different than what I was expecting.
Good to know for the chilled dough! About how long did you leave it out before baking? Do you think the dough came to room temp?
Amazing flavor and, texture! These were very easy to make. I didn’t change anything.
Love that!!
Holyyyy they are in the oven now and by gosh! The taste of the dough alone is to die for.
Please help me understand my own brain. I’ve never cooked with brown butter before but the smell of it unlocked something in my brain. Maybe a Christmas cookie or some kind of other holiday sweet?
Please help me know what it is that smelling brown butter and brown sugar makes me crave!
I hope you love these! Brown butter is such a comforting, nostalgic smell 🙂 it could be so many delicious recipes!
I substituted with a gluten free flour (gfjules) and they still turned out perfect👌
Beautiful website! Everything looks amazing & can’t wait to try your recipes! Thank you! xo
I really enjoyed this cookie it might become my go to. I used a bag dark chocolate chip and it seemed to be fine I could see where a really good dark chocolate would be excellent. You really have to watch browning the butter and I would definitely use a white Corning or similar sauce pan to do that. You might think it’s not browning and then bam it’s done. I did add pecan and it was delicious. Definitely add the salt right out of the oven.
Haha yes, the butter suddenly browns and can catch you off guard! So glad they came out great, though. Love the addition of pecans!
Best cookies I’ve made if my life. Everyone who’s tried them agrees. Browning the butter is worth it.
I just made these (waiting for them to cool) and I know they’ll be delicious like your other cookie recipes.
Mine didn’t spread when baking. Any idea why?
Delicious cookies! I love all the brown butter cookie recipes, especially with oats. Such a tasty combination! The coffee adds another layer of flavor. Will definitely be making these again!