Carrot Oatmeal Cookies
on Feb 14, 2023, Updated Nov 05, 2025
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Lightened up vegan carrot oatmeal cookies with a soft, chewy texture that taste like carrot cake and are perfect for a healthier sweet treat any time of day.
Featured 5-Star Review
Best carrot cookie ever and so satiating + satisfying after just one. I added in raisins and chocolate chips, so Good!
April
Why You’ll Love Carrot Oatmeal Cookies
If you love carrot cake, these carrot oatmeal cookies a great way to enjoy the classic flavour without baking a cake! Here are a few reasons I think you’ll love them:
- The recipe is vegan – so no eggs or milk needed!
- They can be made gluten-free and nut-free, if needed.
- They’re made with just a handful of simple ingredients in one bowl.
- They have a soft and chewer texture.
- They taste like carrot cake!
- They make a great treat for spring and Easter.
- They’re lower in sugar and butter for a healthier option.
For more carrot cake goodies, don’t miss my Vegan Carrot Cake, Carrot Cake Banana Bread Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal, Carrot Cake Banana Bread or Carrot Cake Energy Balls!
Ingredient Notes
Below is a quick overview of what you’ll need to make the recipe and any substitutions you can make. Use the recipe card with the full list of ingredients and measurements at the bottom of the post when you’re ready to make the recipe.
- Butter: You’ll need any brand of plant-based butter. I like to use salted butter but if you’re using unsalted butter, you can add a pinch of salt to the recipe. You can substitute softened coconut oil for the butter or use regular butter.
- Almond Butter: Any nut or seed butter works here. I feel almond butter works best with the other flavours but you could use peanut butter, cashew butter or sunflower seed butter.
- Brown Sugar: The recipe calls for light brown sugar but you can substitute dark brown sugar or granulated sugar if needed. The brown sugar gives them a more caramelized flavor, like caramelized carrots. Note that the cookies are only lightly sweetened for a healthier treat. For sweeter cookies, add 1-2 tbsp maple syrup. For refined sugar-free, use coconut sugar.
- Spices: Ground cinnamon and nutmeg lend to to the carrot cake flavour. You could also use a little ground ginger if you like.
- Flour: You can use all-purpose flour or gluten-free all purpose-flour. Whole wheat flour or spelt flour would also work
- Oats: You can use rolled oats, large flake oats or quick oats.
- Carrot: The recipe calls for freshly grated carrot. Make sure you finely grate it so you don’t have tough chunks of carrot in your cookies. You want the carrot to easily distribute through the cookies and almost melt into the dough when baked.
Additions
You can add any combinations of add-ins up to about 3/4 cup:
- Nuts and Seeds: Try pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, pecans or slivered almonds.
- Shredded coconut or coconut flakes.
- Chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, chopped dark chocolate.
- Dried Fruit: Chopped dates, cranberries or raisins.
How to Make Carrot Oatmeal Cookies
Step 1. Add the vegan butter, almond butter and brown sugar to a mixing bowl and beat with an electric hand mixer until smooth and homogenous.
Step 2. Add the baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, flour and oats to the bowl. Use the mixer to whisk them in until they’re fully incorporated into the butter-sugar mixture.
Step 3. Gently fold in the grated carrot until it’s evenly distributed throughout the dough. If you’d like to mix in any extras like nuts, seeds or chocolate chips, stir those in now as well.
Step 4. Form balls of dough about 1 ½ inches in diameter and shape them into a disc using your hands. Place them on your baking tray and then bake them for 10 minutes.
Quick Tip: The cookies will not spread much during baking so be sure to shape them into cookie shapes before baking.
Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 5-10 minutes then enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. To make this recipe gluten-free, use gluten-free all-purpose baking flour instead of all-purpose flour.
Yes. To make this recipe nut-free, use sunflower seed butter instead of almond butter.
Yes. You can use whole wheat flour or spelt flour instead of all-purpose flour.
No. If you don’t have an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugar and almond butter vigorously with a wooden spoon to combine. When you add the dry ingredients, mix with a wooden spoon or spatula.
Absolutely. Let them cool completely then frozen in a freezer bag or airtight container for 2-3 months.
Notes from Deryn
- It’s important to measure correctly when baking. For best results, please use a kitchen scale and follow the listed amounts.
- The cookies only have 1/4 cup of sugar so they’re not very sweet. For sweeter cookies, add 1-3 tbsp maple syrup to taste.
- The cookies will be fragile just out of the oven. Let them cool for 5 minutes on the pan then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Storage Instructions
- Cool completely before storing.
- Room Temperature: Airtight container for 3-4 days.
- Fridge: Airtight container for up to 1 week.
- Freezer: Freezer bag or airtight container for 2-3 months. Thaw at room temperature until softened to your liking and enjoy.
If you try these Carrot Oatmeal Cookies or any other recipe on Running on Real Food, don’t forget to leave a comment and a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating in the comment section below. It helps others who are thinking of making the recipe, and I love to hear from you. And don’t forget to tag me on Instagram @runningonrealfood so I can see your creation! Thanks for trying my recipes! – Deryn
More Recipes to Try!
Carrot Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- ¼ cup vegan butter, 65 g
- ½ cup almond butter, 130 g
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, 50 g
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour, 90 g
- 1 cup quick oats, 80 g
- 1 ½ large carrots, finely grated (180 g)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Using an electric hand mixer, combine the vegan butter, almond butter, and brown sugar together in a medium sized mixing bowl until smooth and homogenous.¼ cup vegan butter, ½ cup almond butter, ¼ cup light brown sugar
- Add the baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, flour, and oats to the mixing bowl. Use the hand mixer whisk in the dry ingredients until they are fully incorporated into the mixture. Scrape along the bottom of your mixing bowl to ensure no pockets of flour or oats remain.½ tsp baking powder, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, ½ tsp ground nutmeg, 1 tsp vanilla extract, ¾ cup all-purpose flour, 1 cup quick oats
- Gently fold in the grated carrots until they are evenly distributed throughout the dough. If you're adding any extras like chocolate chips, walnuts, raisins or coconut, add those now.1 ½ large carrots
- Form balls of dough about 1 ½ inches in diameter and press them between your hands to form a disc. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes.
- Allow the cookies to cool for 5-10 minutes before removing them from the tray.
Easy and delish! I was craving a little treat & these were quick to whip up.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed.
Best carrot cookie ever and so satiating + satisfying after just one. I added in raisins and chocolate chips, So Good!
Awesome, April!! I want them with chocolate chips now..haha. Sounds so good! Glad you liked them.
I have just tried these super healthy cookies and they are so delicious. Thank you for sharing, I will definitely make them again 🙂
Yay! So glad you liked them 🙂
I love this recipe! I halved all the ingredients and made 6 cookies. I added walnuts and the cookies were absolutely delicious. Can’t wait to make these again. Thank you for this.
You’re welcome, Vanessa!
Hi ! I’m a vegan from France and I made your cookies yesterday. We all liked to eat them with a glass of plant milk or simply by themselves !
Thanks for sharing this recipe !
À bientôt,
Andréa
Vegan diet is the best..
I am like you, i can’t have any treats in the house. if i do, i go crazy with it! but this recipe looks so good. I do have a question tho. For ground oat, do you measure it before you grind them in flour form? And i think i am going to sub applesauce with more mash banana 🙂
Hi! Yes, measure the ground oats before you grind them. I think extra banana should be fine to replace the applesauce 🙂 enjoy!
Awesome looking oatmeal cookies! I haven’t had one of these in years and would love to try it!