Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Baking without eggs doesn’t mean sacrificing texture or flavor. In fact, vegan oatmeal raisin cookies can be just as chewy and delicious as their non-vegan counterparts—with the right vegan egg substitute for cookies. In this recipe, we’ll show you how aquafaba works as a natural binder, giving your cookies the perfect structure without any animal products. Plus, we’ll dive into other pro tips to ensure your cookies stay soft, flavorful, and bakery-quality.

Vegan oatmeal raisin cookies (and vegan cookies in general) have a bad reputation, but I’ve got the perfect recipe that will turn it around. I’ve revised this classic and nostalgic treat that were always a favorite at my grandparents house, into the perfect plant based version. This recipe includes the best vegan egg substitute for cookies, along with two optional professional bakery ingredients to deliver unforgettable taste and texture. Together, they deliver the perfect vegan oatmeal raisin cookies.

Ingredient Tip For The Best Vegan Cookies

Your cookie is only going to be as good as the ingredients that you make it with. Make sure to use fresh oats for this recipe. Even older oats that aren’t all the way stale yet will throw the moisture content off and the cookies will come out too dry. This fact alone is why oatmeal cookies have such a bad reputation. The average can of whole oats gets opened in the modern pantry and put back on the shelf and forgot about. Making oatmeal raisin cookies is usually that last ditch effort to use up the ingredients but then they just don’t come out fresh, chewy, and delicious.

Xanthan Gum: The Secret Ingredient for Perfect Vegan Cookies

Ever wonder why store-bought cookies stay soft, chewy, and perfectly shaped for days? The answer often lies in xanthan gum—a powerful binder and stabilizer used in commercial baking to improve texture and shelf life. But guess what? It’s just as useful in the home kitchen, especially for vegan baking.

Why Use Xanthan Gum?

Xanthan gum acts as a structural support in cookies, mimicking the elasticity that eggs provide in traditional baking. Without it, vegan cookies can sometimes spread too much or become crumbly. But with just a tiny amount (we’re talking ½ teaspoon per batch), you get:

✔️ Thicker cookies that don’t flatten too much
✔️ A chewier texture that holds up beautifully
✔️ Improved dough elasticity for a better bite

Xanthan Gum + Aquafaba = Next-Level Vegan Baking

For this recipe, I take it one step further—by whisking xanthan gum into aquafaba (the liquid from canned chickpeas) to create a foamy, egg-like substitute. This helps the cookies rise taller and chunkier, just like their non-vegan counterparts. 

Last update on 2025-07-17 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

If you don’t have xanthan gum, cornstarch works as a substitute, though it’s not quite as perfect. But trust me, once you try the aquafaba-xanthan gum method, you’ll never look back.

The Secret to Bakery Style Vegan Cookies

So, what makes these vegan oatmeal raisin cookies different from the rest? It’s all in the details. Here are the game changing techniques I use to make bakery-worthy vegan cookies at home:

1. Use Vegan Butter Sticks – I swear by vegan butter sticks over all other options for the perfect fat-to-water ratio that mimics the makeup of dairy butter.
2. Bread Flour for Structure – Higher protein makes cookies chewier and thicker. If you don’t have bread flour, supplement your all-purpose flour with vital wheat gluten or unflavored protein powder. For a gluten-free version of this cookie, use a gluten-free baking mix or use finely ground oat flour.
3. Cream Butter & Sugar Correctly – Creaming vegan butter and sugar together properly aerates the dough, creating that perfect light-but-chewy texture.
4. Refrigerate the Dough – Chilling for at least an hour keeps the fats solid, preventing overspreading and ensuring thick, puffy cookies.

Other Recipes You Might Enjoy:

• Good Eats Copycat Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Milk Bar Copycat Vegan Cornflake Crunch Cookies
• Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies with Pistachios
• Vegan White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies

Ingredients For the Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

• Old fashioned rolled oats – this is the best type of oatmeal to use in a recipe for cookies
• Bread flour – bread flour helps cookies stay a little more thick with a distinct bakery style texture
• Plant based butter – using a plant based butter here is essential for making this recipe vegan
• Light brown sugar – gives cookies a chewy bite and a brown cookie color
• Organic white sugar – some white sugars are processed with bone char, choosing an organic labeled sugar ensures that it’s vegan
• Raisins – what’s an oatmeal cookie without raisins?
• Aquafaba – the liquid in a can of chickpeas
• Baking powder – the leavening agent that will give the cookies rise
• Pea protein powder – holds together the cookies as a replacement for eggs
• Vanilla extract – a good natural vanilla extract is best
• Cinnamon – a small amount gives that distinct oatmeal cookie flavor
• Salt – a pinch helps the other flavors shine
• Xanthan gum – optional for a stronger holding professional bakery texture

Instructions For Making Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1. Sift the flour, protein powder or optional cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the oats and set aside.

Making Egg Replacement For The Cookies

2. Whisk the xanthan gum or cornstarch into the aquafaba and set aside.

Creaming Plant Based Butter and Sugar

3. The ultimate key to making great vegan and plant based cookies is to cream the butter and sugar together well. Usually, butter is left to come to room temperature for creaming in a cookie recipe. The fat and moisture in plant based butters don’t handle the same. I found that the plant based butter creams best cold, and if you take the extra step of blending the sugar fine beforehand it creams even quicker and easier. 

Assembling The Cookie Dough

4. Being careful to not overwork the dough, add the dry ingredients and egg replacement to the mixing bowl and bring together just enough to barely combine.
5. Fold in the raisins the raisins by hand so they don’t get mangled by the mixer.

6. Cover dough and refrigerate for one hour.

Baking The Cookies

7. Preheat oven to 350F.
8. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and space out 2oz scoops at least a couple of inches apart.

9. Bake in the upper rack of the oven for 15-17 minutes.
10. Allow to cool an additional 10 minutes on hot baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.

Pro Tips For Making Vegan Oatmeal Cookies

Creaming the butter and sugar to the correct consistency is the key technique to the success of any cookie recipe. Vegan butter substitutes tend to break down more than dairy butter, making getting great vegan cookies more of a challenge. Regular cookie recipes call for softening the butter to make them easier to work with. Setting the butter out for only a few minutes while making the vegan egg substitute for cookies will be sufficient here. 

The best option is to use a stand mixer to cream the butter and sugar. Take about five minutes on this step, scraping down the sides periodically to incorporate all ingredients thoroughly. This works best if the stand mixer blade has been adjusted to the correct spacing from the bowl. If the butter breaks while creaming, cover it and put it back in the refrigerator for half an hour before continuing. 

Bake the cookies on the upper rack of the oven for best baking results.

Storage and Serving Suggestions

To store your vegan oatmeal raisin cookies, allow them to cool completely before transferring them to an airtight container. This will help maintain their chewy texture and prevent them from becoming stale. If you want to keep them extra fresh, you can also wrap each cookie individually in plastic wrap before placing them in the container.

FAQs

Special Ingredients for Amazing Cookies

You’ll see xanthan gum as an ingredient in many of my vegan recipes, especially for baked goods. It is a versatile and useful ingredient for any plant based or vegan kitchen. It’s a staple for gluten free baked goods, and I use it in most of my vegan baked goods recipes also. It gives an added amount of hold to your eggless baked goods, and it also helps with the moisture retention which extends the shelf life of any baked goods. Combined with the protein in this vegan cookie recipe, they deliver a cookie that you would expect from a professional bakery.

Last update on 2025-07-17 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

These chewy, classic cookies are proof that raisins still have a place in the modern cookie canon. If you want to elevate your egg-free baking game even further, check out Chocolate Chip Cookies with Pistachios for a nutty twist, Milk Bar Copycat Vegan Cornflake Crunch Cookies for a crunchy nostalgia bomb, and the indulgent Vegan White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies. And if you’re still unsure about baking without eggs, the blueprint is all there in Good Eats Copycat Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies.