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Dessert recipes

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel Cookies baked to share

Stack of three oatmeal chocolate chip salted caramel cookies on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

These Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel Cookies are soft and chewy on the inside, packed with old-fashioned oats, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and caramel bits, and finished with a light golden-brown, crispy shell topped with flaky sea salt. They're the perfect sweet and salty treat!

What goes in

You'll need the following ingredients to make these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Items noted in the bulleted list are key ingredients that need a bit more explanation.

Ingredients in various size bowls labeled as light brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, granulated sugar, caramel bits, vanilla extract, eggs, all purpose flour, semi sweet chocolate chips, rolled oats, flaky sea salt, and unsalted butter on a white marbled background.
  • All-Purpose Flour. You can swap out the all-purpose flour for half all-purpose flour and half almond flour, or use all almond flour. Using all almond flour will make your cookies spread out a lot. Just fyi!
  • Unsalted Butter. It's best if the butter is at room temperature. You can use salted butter as a substitute if you don't plan to use flaky sea salt.
  • Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats. The rolled oats give the cookies a nice, chewy texture. You can use quick oats, which will give you the same flavor, but they may end up mushier because they tend to bake or cook faster.
  • Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips. You can also use bars of semi-sweet chocolate broken into small pieces.
  • Caramel Bits. I used Kraft's brand, which I found at Walmart. They remind me of chickpeas.
  • Malden Flaky Sea Salt. This is an optional ingredient, but I highly recommend it. It brings a nice bit of salt to the overall sweetness of the oatmeal chocolate caramel cookies.

For quantities and instructions, please see the method card below.

Half eaten oatmeal chocolate chip salted caramel cookie resting on top of another oatmeal cookie on a white parchment paper background.

How it comes together

Below is a quick overview of how to make this easy oatmeal chocolate chip salted caramel cookies recipe. For the full printable recipe, with US customary or metric measurements, visit the method card below.

Whisked all purpose flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a glass mixing bowl on a white and grey marbled background.

Step 1. Whisk the dry ingredients together. This includes all-purpose flour, baking powder, and baking soda.

Wet ingredients blended together in a glass mixing bowl with egg yolks and vanilla extract on top.

Step 2. Mix the wet ingredients. Start with the unsalted butter, granulated sugar, and light brown sugar. Add in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Blend together.

Rolled oats added to the top of oatmeal cookie dough mixture in a glass mixing bowl on a white grey marbled background.

Step 3. Add the whisked dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Once well blended, add the old-fashioned oats.

Chocolate chips and caramel bits stirred into oatmeal chocolate chip salted caramel cookie dough in a large glass mixing bowl.

Step 4. Stir in the chocolate chips and caramel bits. Try avoiding a mixer for this step, as the cookie dough will be thick and may cause your mixer to jump around.

Step 5. Scoop, place on the baking sheet, then bake! Bake for 12-14 minutes at 350ºF. Don't forget to top the cookies with some flaky sea salt!

Step 6. Cool, then enjoy. The oatmeal chocolate chip salted caramel cookies will be super soft, so allow them to cool almost completely before you enjoy them.

Storage

To store the oatmeal chocolate chip salted caramel cookies, keep them in a well-sealed container with a slice of bread to prevent them from drying out and becoming crumbly.

Questions on this bake

Old-fashioned oats vs. quick oats—which one is better for oatmeal cookies?

I used old-fashioned oats from Quaker Oats, which give your oatmeal chocolate chip salted caramel cookies a nice, chewy texture. By using quick oats, you'll get the same flavor, but your cookies may end up mushier because they can bake or cook faster. Personally, I have always used old-fashioned oats when making oatmeal cookies, but when it comes down to it, it's truly just a matter of preference.

What size cookie scoop should Use?

You can use any size cookie scoop for these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I've used a 1 1/2-tablespoon, a 2-tablespoon, and a 3-tablespoon cookie scoop.

How much space should I allow between the cookies?

Try 2-3 inches of space between each cookie. Any substitutions you make to the flour (such as almond flour) will cause the cookies to spread, so you'll want to give them a little space.

How do you get the cookies so round?

A round cookie cutter! Use this stainless steel set from Ateco for all different cookie sizes. They also come in handy if you don't have a donut cutter to make house-made donuts.

  • Yield 36 cookies
  • Prep 15 minutes
  • Cook 14 minutes
  • Total 29 minutes
  • Calories 161

Ingredients

  • 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 tsp Baking Powder
  • 1 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1 cup Unsalted Butter, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
  • 3/4 cup Light Brown Sugar
  • 1 Large Egg
  • 1 Large Egg Yolk
  • 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
  • 1 1/2 cups Old-Fashioned Oats
  • 1 1/2 cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
  • 1 1/2 cups Caramel Bits
  • Flaky Sea Salt, optional

Method

  1. Adjust your oven rack to the 2nd level position (just above center) and preheat your oven to 350ºF. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper and hold to the side.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Hold to the side.
  3. Using your hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the unsalted butter, granulated sugar, and light brown sugar until it's well blended and creamy.
  4. Add in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract.
  5. Switch the mixer to low speed and add the whisked dry mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
  6. Keeping the mixer speed on low, add in the old-fashioned oats. The cookie dough will be very thick and creamy at this stage.
  7. Stir in the semi-sweet chocolate chips and caramel bits with a spatula until fully combined.
  8. Using a cookie scoop (1 1/2 - 3 tablespoon size will work fine), scoop the cookie dough onto the baking sheet. Because these will spread a little, I would suggest spacing these cookies at least 2-3 inches apart. Depending on the size of your cookie sheets too, you may only be able to get 4-6 cookies on there.
  9. Sprinkle with a little flaky sea salt and place in the oven. Bake for 12-14 minutes (mine baked well at 13 minutes).
  10. Remove from oven and top with some more chocolate chips (if desired). Allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring (carefully) to a cooling rack.
  11. Keep cookies stored in an airtight container with a slice of bread to keep them soft for up to 1 week.

Baker notes

You can use almond flour in place of the all-purpose flour (1:1 substitution) or half almond flour, half all-purpose flour, but the cookies will spread a lot more.

You can use quick oats in place of old-fashioned oats, but the cookies might come out mushier in texture.

You can substitute the unsalted butter for salted butter if you don't plan to use the flaky sea salt topping.

You can use chopped-up bars of semi-sweet chocolate in place of the chocolate chips.

I used a bag of Kraft Caramel Bits for this cookie recipe. When I first published this I had used salted caramel chips, but I can't find them anymore.

More cookies

Other bakes from the same part of the case, each with its own method.