Oatmeal Cookie Bars
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These oatmeal cookie bars are a heartier, chewier version of my chocolate chip cookie bars! Buttery, thick, chewy, and chock full of oats and (optional) chocolate pieces, these are easy to make with no mixer required!
Be sure to check out my step-by-step video just below the recipe!
Cookie bars are the ultimate sweet treat for when you really want cookies but are just too lazy to spend an hour scooping cookie dough.
Alright, so they’re really good anytime, but I’ve been there before too many times to count. Some of my favorite recipes were born of sheer laziness and cookie dough scooping fatigue (I’m looking at you, sugar cookie bars).
And while the lazy factor is a big plus for me, the best part is that we sacrifice nothing in terms of taste. These oatmeal cookie bars are like one of my big soft oatmeal cookies, only even thicker and chewier and loaded with a variety of (optional) chocolate chips. Oh and let’s not forget the best part: no chilling and no scooping required!
While you can make these cookie bars “plain” with no add-ins, I love adding chocolate chips or even chopped nuts to mine. For today’s oatmeal cookie bars I used a blend of milk and semisweet chocolate and butterscotch chips.
Occasionally I’ll toss in chopped walnuts as well. My last batch was a mix of walnuts, dark chocolate and caramel chips (here’s where I’d insert the drooling emoji if I could find it on my keyboard).
You can add your favorite add-ins, but I recommend only using about a cup and a half.
If you’re feeling a little lazy yourself this morning (or evening, or whenever you’re reading this) but also hear your sweet tooth calling, this is the dessert for you.
Let me know what you think of it! My sister-in-law loved these and if you like them half as much as she did they’ll be well worth your time.
Enjoy!
Looking for more lazy-day bar cookie recipes?
Oatmeal Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) butter, melted
- 1 cup (200 g) light brown sugar, tightly packed
- ½ cup (100 g) sugar
- 2 large eggs + 1 large egg yolk
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cup (157 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch, cornflour in UK
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼-½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, optional
- 3 cups (285 g) old fashioned rolled oats
- 1 ½ cups (255 g) chocolate chips, optional, I did a mix of semisweet chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, and butterscotch chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line a 9x9 metal baking pan with parchment paper or grease and flour the sides and bottom of the pan.*
- Combine butter and sugars in a large bowl and stir until well-combined.1 cup (226 g) butter, 1 cup (200 g) light brown sugar, ½ cup (100 g) sugar
- Add eggs and vanilla extract and stir well.2 large eggs + 1 large egg yolk, 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon (if using).1 ¼ cup (157 g) all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons cornstarch, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ¾ teaspoon salt, ¼-½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Gradually add dry ingredients to wet until completely combined.
- Add oats and chocolate chips and stir until well combined.3 cups (285 g) old fashioned rolled oats, 1 ½ cups (255 g) chocolate chips
- Spread cookie dough evenly into prepared baking pan and bake on 350F (175C) for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
Thank you for this yummy recipe! I have an abundance of oatmeal thanks to a trip to Costco and I needed a good recipe to use up some of those rolled oats! With the amount of ingredients, I was surprised this recipe called for a 9 x 9″ pan, so I checked the comments to see what others tried, thinking it was a mistake. I took a chance, and ended up following the recipe exactly except I used a 9″ x 13″ rectangle leCruset ceramic baking dish and omitted the cinnamon. Thank you to the commentor who suggested that size and the 35 min. baking time because it worked perfect for me, too! (I will add that my oven is spot-on temperature-wise, FYI.) I got nice, 1 1/4″ thick buttery, sweet oat bars… plenty thick, I think! I can’t imagine these only taking 35 minutes in a 9 x 9 pan because they would be quite a bit thicker, but then again, if that pan was metal, that makes sense because it would bake faster than a ceramic pan like what I used, which is basically considered “glass.”
Anyway, they were great, my husband loved them, and I’ll be making more and trying different variations to use up that oatmeal! There are all kinds of add-ins you could use to make this recipe fit whatever you’re craving! I love adaptable recipes like that! Thank you again! I’m seeing all kinds of recipes I’d like to try on your website! 😋
Thank you so much for trying my recipe, Bonnie! I’m so glad you enjoyed them! I hope you enjoy everything you try. I look forward to hearing from you again soon. 🙂
had to throw out whole bowl. will try again with half the butter and half shortening…
Hi Jeanne! What happened that you had to throw it out? Did you use the entire cup of melted butter?
I made these once and followed the recipe exactly and they were delicious! One question – I would like to try making it with gluten free flour for my gluten free friends. do you think that would work?
Hi Sharon! I haven’t personally tried gluten free flour so I can’t say for sure how it would work, but I would imagine a 1:1 gluten free flour substitute could work. 🙂
Made these for the Super Bowl today. I used a 9×11 glass baking dish. They’re exactly what I was looking for in an oatmeal cookie bar. Chewy, buttery, and *perfectly* oaty.
I made this recipe tonight and was looking forward to it because it was something different. However, I didn’t enjoy the texture, the bars are just too “oatey”. I used semisweet & milk chocolate chips, no butterscotch in the house. Otherwise, they were made as written.
I’m not sure what you expected.
I made these tonight with the exact recipe and they turned out great! thank you for the yummy idea.
To me, the oats were too big and didnt give this product a texture that i liked. I tried this recipe bcs it sounded good but i’d prbbly use quick oats or pulse reg oats that it calls for in a cuisinart to break down a bit.
These worked out handily as a postpartum snack for a friend.
I ended up using a chaotic combination of white, dark brown, and coconut sugar which might’ve not been ideal but didn’t have a real negative effect.
Including some butterscotch chips made it a touch too sweet for what I was aiming for in this situation. I’m very tempted to try this again and take some inspiration from speculoos cookies by adding nutmeg and clove (while of course keeping the chocolate)
Hearty and delicious! Will definitely make again.
These are so good. I add 1/2 cup of crushed nuts (combo of pecans, almonds, whatever I have) to give them some protein. My kids don’t love the crunch of nuts but if they’re crushed to almost a powder you can’t tell.
Yum! We’re so happy you like them, Leena. Enjoy 😊
Absolutely phenomenal oatmeal cookie bars!
In the past, I have often tried to adapt cookie recipes to make bars instead of cookies. This has always yielded mixed and generally underwhelming results especially when it comes to oatmeal cookie bars.
I doubled this recipe, added butterscotch chips, and used a 9 x 13 pan. These were, without a doubt, the best oatmeal cookie bars me and my parents have ever had!
The instructions and introductory explanations are always extremely clear and concise with your recipes and make it a cinch to use and follow. This one is no different. Thank you so much for sharing!
Thank you so much for the kind review, Phil! We are so pleased our recipe was a winner for you. Enjoy! ☺️
Great recipe! I made them for work, they were gone in two hours!! I do have a question, can you. Substitute almond flour for the four?
Hi Sherry! Unfortunately I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure it would turn out. My guess is that it wouldn’t turn out really well. 🙁
I have made this twice. These are so good. The first time I made it by the recipe and the second time I substituted Reeses peanut butter chips for the chocolate chips. Both equally good. Next I will mix the pb & chocolate chips….
I made these with white chocolate chips and craisins and YUMMMM!!! This is the best recipe for oatmeal cookie bars I’ve ever tried! (I also cooked them in a 13×9 pan, by the way. It was perfect.)
P.S. I love the way you list the ingredients/measurements under the associated steps. Makes for a lot less back and forth scrolling! Genius!
Hmmm…I followed this recipe pretty closely, though I reduced the sugar slightly and added in unsweetened coconut flakes, and it turned out a bit dry. Not sure what went wrong–I used old fashioned whole grain oats, mixed in the right amount of dry ingredients, and reduced the amount of sugar a little, and added in unsweetened coconut flakes. Perhaps I baked it a few minutes too long, but they’re still far from chewy and definitely not delicious, though not horrible.
Hi Lindsey! All of the factors you mentioned caused the results you experienced, unfortunately. Sugar is super important for moisture in the cookie bars, it’s actually considered a wet ingredient because of the way it melts into the batter and reducing it will absolutely make the bars dry. The coconut add-ins were not accounted for in the original recipe, and since they were unsweetened they especially worked against you there and made the bars more dry. Lastly, one of the fastest ways to make any cookie bar, even one where the recipe was followed exactly, too dry is to overbake it by even a few minutes. I hope that helps!
can this recipe be doubled for a 13×9 baking pan? I don’t have a 9×9 pan. TIA.
Hi Luann! You would need to increase the recipe by 50% to fill a 13×9. 🙂
Increasing by 50% doesn’t really answer my question. How exactly do I measure that? what happens if I doubled the recipe? Or do you have a different recipe I can use instead?
I haven’t actually written out the amounts to increase it by 50%. You would just have to do the math to increase every ingredient by 50%. If you double it your cookie bars will be pretty thick. You could certainly try that if you’d like. 🙂
Another amazing recipe!
Hi again. The first batch of these wonders is gone, so I had to make more. Your followers sometimes comment that a recipe is too sweet, so I decided to try something. I made these with half the sugar this time (1/2 cup brown, 1/4 cup granulated), and 1 cup of golden raisins in place of the chocolate chips. Not surprisingly, they’re still great, but, since the recipe as written is tested and perfected, this batch is nowhere near the amazing results I got last week. So, if you have a reader who needs reduced sugar, the recipe will work, but the results will be just great, not overwhelming.
Thank you for your feedback, Bruce! 🙂
I just made them with chocolate chips, because I’m sharing them this time, and people generally prefer chocolate to raisins. They are amazing, of course, but I will always like them better with raisins.
I think you should remove the “optional” from the cinnamon, and set the amount at 1/2 tsp, because that is exactly the right amount. As I said before, it just contributes to the overall wonderful flavor, rather than making it a cinnamon cookie bar.
I’m so glad you enjoy them, Bruce, thank you for the feedback! 🙂
No, you have to give these a new name, because they are so high above an oatmeal cookie and a cookie bar, that Oatmeal Cookie Bars just doesn’t come anywhere near describing them. First, there are the textures – chewy, crisp corners, toasted oats on the crackly top, feeling like they’re made with sweetened condensed milk. I’m really glad that I used golden raisins instead of chocolate chips, because the chocolate would mask some of the subtle flavors in these confections. They are very rich, so even I can stop at just one. That little bit of cinnamon (and I used 1/2 tsp) just gently contributes to the overall flavor, as your seasonings always do. These have definitely passed your Snickerdoodle Blondies for first place in my favorite bars. Next time, I’ll add toasted pecans, because some crunch, along with all the other textures, will be even better.
Thank you so much, Bruce! I love your explanation of the textures. It’s spot on. 🙂
Just made these with a few alterations. Omitted the egg yolk (I only had 2 eggs) Cut back on the oatmeal by about 1/4 cup & added about 1/2 cup each of coconut & pecans. Subbed caramel chips instead of chocolate chips.