Gluten-Free & Vegan Almond Flour Oatmeal Cookies
These vegan and gluten-free almond flour oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips have a soft and chewy texture and easy to make with just a few ingredients.
About the Recipe
These almond flour oat cookies are easy to make one bowl and have crispy exterior with a soft and chewy centre.
They’re also naturally gluten-free and vegan without making substitutions, so there’s no eggs, dairy or white flour needed.
You’ll need just a handful of simple ingredients to make these, so if you’ve got a bag of almond flour you’re wondering what to do with, give these yummy, chewy oatmeal cookies try!
For more almond flour cookies, don’t miss these Almond Flour Peanut Butter Cookies and Easy Vegan Tahini Sesame Cookies. They’re both super easy to make and so yummy.
Other ways to use almond flour include Vegan & Gluten-Free Healthy Zucchini Brownies, Edible Peanut Butter Cookie Dough and Vegan Thin Mints Cookies.
Ingredients
- Almond Flour: This recipe is for fine almond flour, not almond meal. You can use store-bought almond flour or make your own from blanched finely ground almonds.
- Oats: Rolled oats (old-fashioned oats) are suggested for this recipe though you could use quick cooking oats if that’s what you have available. Do not use steel cut oats. If needed, use certified gluten-free oats.
- Vegan Butter: You can use any brand of plant-based butter such as Miyoko’s, Country Crock or Melt Organic. I like the butter sticks for convenience. You can substitute softened coconut oil.
- Brown Sugar: Light brown sugar or dark brown sugar is suitable. You can substitute coconut sugar. I like the flavour of both.
- Sugar: Use any white granulated sugar. For vegan-safe, choose organic sugar.
- Flax: Be sure to use ground flax and not whole flax seeds. This acts as the “egg” in the recipe and is needed for binding and structure.
- Chocolate Chips: You can use dairy-free chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate. Substitute raisins or use half and half.
Please see the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post for the full list of ingredients with measurements.
Variations & Add-Ins
- Swap the chocolate chips for raisins for almond flour oatmeal raisin cookies.
- Sprinkle the cookies with coarse sea salt after baking.
- Add up to 1/2 cup shredded coconut.
- Add spices like cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.
- Add 1/2 cup cranberries or swap the chocolate for cranberries for cranberry cookies.
- Add 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, almonds or pecans.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Make the flax “egg”.
Mix together the ground flax and water in a small bowl and let it sit for 5-10 minutes while you prepare the rest of the dough.
After 5-10 minutes, the flax “egg” should be thick and somewhat slimy – like an egg!
Step 2: Beat together wet ingredients.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well combined and the sugar is all broken up. Beat in the flax egg and vanilla as well.
Step 3: Combine wet and dry ingredients.
Add the almond flour, oats, baking soda and salt and mix until you have a uniform dough, then mix in the chocolate chips.
Step 4: Bake the cookies.
Use a cookie scoop to portion and the dough into approximately 2 tbsp balls and place them at least 2-inches apart on a cookie sheet.
Bake them for 13-15 minutes until they’re golden brown.
While the first batch of cookies bake, prepare the second batch and place them in back in the fridge until you’re ready to bake them.
Step 5: Cool the cookies.
Once the cookies have finished baking, let them sit on the pan for about 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
The cookies will be fragile straight out of the oven but will firm up as they cool.
Recipe FAQs
This recipe was developed specifically for almond flour and has not been tested with alternative gluten-free flour like coconut flour or oat flour.
If you’re confident making swaps for almond flour, go for it. If not, note that almond flour does not substitute 1:1 with other flours so the recipe will need additional adjustments.
For oat flour recipes, you can try these Vegan Chocolate Chip Zucchini Oatmeal Cookies or Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies.
You can omit the chilling time if you’re in a rush, just note that the cookie will spread more and be less chewy.
Be sure to place the cookie dough balls at least 3-inches apart if you do not chill the dough.
Yes. To make this recipe sugar-free, use a sugar-free granulated sweetener such as monk fruit and use sugar-free chocolate chips.
You could but the texture will be different, they won’t bind as well and they’ll be darker in colour. I haven’t tested these with almond meal so for best results, I suggest using almond flour.
This can happen if the flax is old or just a bad batch. Try to use fresh ground flax that’s been stored in a cool, dry place.
I like to purchase whole flax seeds and ground them myself in a Vitamix as needed. I store the ground flax in the fridge or freezer to help keep it fresh.
Let the cookies cool completely before storing then store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Yes. The cookies can be frozen in a freezer-safe container or freezer bag for up to 4 months. Enjoy straight from the freezer or thaw at room temperature before serving.
Baking Tips
- Do not over bake the cookies. They will finish baking as they cool so remove them from the oven when they’re slightly underdone.
- Chill the dough. It’s recommended to chill the dough for at least 30 minutes before baking. Though not required, this prevents the cookies from over spreading.
- Measuring. Use a kitchen scale to measure your ingredients for accuracy, following the listed weights, for best results. If you do not have a scale, spoon the almond flour into the measuring cup and level the top off with a knife.
- Substitutions. Other than swapping out the chocolate chips or adding things like nuts or coconut, I do not recommend substituting the other ingredients as this recipe was developed specifically for almond flour and requires the ingredient ratios listed.
Gluten-Free Cookie Recipes
Did you try this recipe? I’d love to hear about it! Scroll down to the comment section to leave a star rating and review.
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Almond Flour Oatmeal Cookies
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 20
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Perfectly soft and chewy almond flour oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with a crisp exterior and sweet, buttery flavour.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp flaxseed meal + 3 tbsp water
- ½ cup vegan butter, softened (113 g)
- ¼ cup brown sugar (38 g)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar (50 g)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¾ cup packed almond flour (90 g)
- 1 ½ cups rolled oats (171 g)
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ cup mini or regular chocolate chips (45 g)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F (177˚C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, mix together the flaxseed meal and water and let sit for 5-10 minutes while you prepare the rest of the dough.
- In a large bowl, cream together the softened butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until well combined and no large sugar chunks remain. Beat in the flax “egg” and vanilla extract until well combined.
- Add the almond flour, rolled oats, baking soda, and salt to the bowl. Mix until the dough is uniform. Then, mix in the chocolate chips until just combined.
- Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Chilling the dough helps prevent the cookies from overspreading.
- Roll the dough into ~2 tbsp balls and place at least 2 inches apart on the first baking sheet. Place the first baking sheet in the oven and bake at 350˚F (177˚C) for 13-15 minutes, until the cookies are a nice golden brown. While the cookies bake, you can roll the dough for the second baking sheet.
- Cool cookies on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. The cookies will finish up baking as they sit. You can also start baking your other tray of cookies in the meantime.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 128
- Sugar: 5 g
- Sodium: 126 mg
- Fat: 5 g
- Carbohydrates: 14 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 3 g
My batter seemed a bit wet even though i measured everything as suggested. Not sure if the flax egg was thick enough maybe? Stiffened up a bit with chilling. Love the flavor of the cookies! Thanks for the recipe
That could be. If the flax isn’t the best batch or stale, it may not absorb moisture and become gel-like. It should be the consistency of an egg yolk. Did you use a scale to measure or just measuring cups? Glad you liked the flavour!
These are amazing! Super crispy and just what I was looking for. I will be making these often 🙂