Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies have the perfect chewy texture, caramelized edges, and warming spice. Made in one bowl and ready in 20 minutes!

A pumpkin oatmeal cookie broken in half with melted chocolate chips.

These pumpkin oatmeal cookies have been on repeat in our house! Is is because they only need one bowl? Or that they are ready in a shockingly quick 20 minutes to satisfy the intensest of cookie cravings? Could it be the warming spice, chewy edges, and deep pumpkin flavor?

If I were a betting woman, I would put money on ALL those reasons!

Reasons to love this recipe!

A one bowl, 20 minute cookie recipe! Aka, cookies whenever you need them!
We use pumpkin butter, not pumpkin puree, to make these cookies dense and chewy rather than fluffy and cakey.
They are vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, and naturally sweetened!

Pumpkin oatmeal cookies with flaky salt on a warm background.

Ingredients and Substitutions:

Oat flour – check that your oat flour is certified gluten free, or grind oats in a food processor until they turn into flour!
Rolled oats – check that they’re certifies gluten free. Choose regular rolled oats for the best texture, not thick cut or quick cooking oats.
Baking soda – helps achieve those irresistible browned and chewy edges.
Cinnamon - adds nice warmth.
Salt - brings out the flavors of the cookies!
Coconut sugar – can sub brown sugar.
Avocado oil – or another neutral oil that is liquid at room temperature – grapeseed, light olive oil, etc.
Pumpkin Butter - not pumpkin puree. Pumpkin butter has a more intense flavor and a lower moisture content giving these cookies bigger pumpkin flavor and the perfect chewy, not cakey, texture!
Vanilla extract – use pure vanilla extract for the best flavor!
Dark chocolate chips – or milk, white, chunks, chopped chocolate bar, etc. However you get the chocolate in there!
Flaky sea salt – optional, but use flakes or omit. Regular salt is too salty.

How to make Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies:

Wet ingredients: In a large bowl, stir together the coconut sugar, pumpkin butter, avocado oil, and vanilla extract until smooth.

Dry ingredients: Add in the cinnamon, baking soda, and whisk until there are no clumps. Stir in the oat flour, rolled oats, and salt until well combined. The dough will be thick and sticky, but keep stirring! Fold in the chocolate chips.

Bake: Using a 1 ½-2 tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop the dough onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Press in a few more chocolate chips to the top of each cookie and bake until golden brown and fragrant. Sprinkle with flaky salt and cool before serving.

Cookie dough on a sheet pan with chocolate chips and flakey salt.

Storage:

Store leftover cookies in a lidded container or zip top bag on the counter for 2-3 days.

For longer storage, individually wrap each cookie, place it in a lidded container or zip top bag and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw on the counter or in the microwave.

How to bake chewy, not fluffy, pumpkin cookies!

Pumpkin cookies, though delicious, have a tendency to be cakey and fluffy. That's a great quality for cake, but when it comes to cookies, I like them to be chewy with browned caramelized centers and almost underdone, doughy centers.

To make these oatmeal pumpkin cookies chewy, we need to reduce the moisture content. We do so by swapping pumpkin puree, which contains TONS of water, for pumpkin butter.

Pumpkin butter is essentially pumpkin puree cooked down into a much thicker consistancy, like apple butter. It is flavored with spices and sweetened with sugar. Not only does it greatly improve the texture of these cookies, it adds more concentrated pumpkin flavor! Win-win!

You can find pumpkin butter in some grocery and specialty stores during the Fall, but I usually order mine online.

Are these cookies gluten free?

Yes! Just make sure to use certified gluten free oats and oat flour.

Are these cookies vegan?

They sure are. Just follow the recipe as written.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies