5 Ingredients or Fewer

3-Ingredient Oatmeal Cookies

by:
September  6, 2019
59 Ratings
3-Ingredient Oatmeal Cookies
Photo by Bobbi Lin. Prop stylist: Brooke Deonarine. Food stylist: Anna Billingskog.
Author Notes

Search for “Three-Ingredient Oatmeal Cookies” on the internet and you’ll get millions of results. The problem is, a lot of these recipes don’t quite taste like the classic oatmeal cookies we know and love, with crispy edges, chewy centers, and buttery, sugary flavor. In this Big Little Recipe, we call in brown sugar and tahini, which give these cookies an A+ chewy texture and buttery, nutty flavor. All you have to do is combine the three ingredients in a bowl—plus, a little water, which helps create a cohesive dough—then scoop, smush, and bake. By smush, I mean, use your palm to gently flatten each dough blob into a 2-inch disc; the cookies don’t spread on their own in the oven, so this gives them an encouraging head start. Note: Because brown sugar can be stubbornly lumpy, I like to rub it and the oats together between my hands before adding the tahini and water. Make sure to not overbake these cookies, since they’ll crisp significantly as they cool. Whenever I’m making a new cookie recipe, if I have the time, I like to bake one cookie first, to get a sense of how the recipe jives with my oven (every oven is different!). Then I follow suit with the rest of the cookies. Just like classic oatmeal cookies, these are great with hot coffee or tea, or cold milk. If you want to get doubly oaty, you can serve them with oat milk—DIY recipe here (bonus points if you make the chocolate variety). —Emma Laperruque

Watch This Recipe
3-Ingredient Oatmeal Cookies
  • Prep time 10 minutes
  • Cook time 24 minutes
  • Makes about 16 cookies
Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 cups (149 grams) rolled oats
  • 3/4 cup (160 grams) packed light brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 3/4 cup (188 grams) well-stirred tahini
  • 2 tablespoons cold water
In This Recipe
Tools
Set a Timer
Directions
  1. Heat the oven to 350°F. Line two sheet pans with parchment or silicone mats.
  2. Add the oats, brown sugar, and salt to a medium bowl. Use your hands to combine, rubbing the mixture between your palms to break up any sugar lumps, until everything is as homogenous as possible. Add the tahini and water, and use a spoon to stir until a sticky, cohesive dough forms.
  3. Scoop the dough in heaping tablespoons onto the sheet tray. You should get 16 cookies, so 8 on each sheet tray. Use your palm to gently smush each blob into a disc (about 2 inches in diameter).
  4. Bake the cookies for about 12 minutes, rotating halfway through, until the edges just start to brown. The cookies will look almost underbaked, but they’ll crisp as they cool. Remove the cookies from the oven, but leave them on the sheet pans for at least 10 minutes, or until they’re sturdy enough to transfer with a spatula to a cooling rack. If you peek at their bottoms, they should be lightly golden-brown.
  5. Cool completely before serving and store any leftovers in an airtight container. I love these with milky tea or coffee.
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Emma Laperruque
Emma is the food editor at Food52. Before this, she worked a lot of odd jobs, all at the same time. Think: stir-frying noodles on the fly, baking dozens of pastries at 3 a.m., and writing about the history of pie in North Carolina. Now she lives in New Jersey with her husband and their cat, Butter. Stay tuned every Tuesday for Emma's award-winning column, Big Little Recipes (also the cookbook in October 2021!). And see what she's up to on Instagram at @emmalaperruque.

Popular on Food52

    85 Reviews

    Jona S.
    Jona S. February 24, 2021
    I have made these cookies and they are delicious and a quick fix for something sweet. I made a few alterations though: changed the sugar with natural date syrop and used the chocolate tahini (from "the tahini goddess") instead of the regular tahini. Their tahini is so rich and smooth abd the chocolate flavour is my go to on about everything, strawberries, ice cream, pancakes it is just perfect snd still healthy. Thanks for your recipe.
     
    Cindy
    Cindy November 2, 2020
    This cookie needs an experienced hand!
    I suggest allowing the liquid (water) to soak into the oats and add more as needed. I used bourbon and then added water as needed. Plus adding raisins really makes it an oatmeal cookie 🍪
     
    Jamie P.
    Jamie P. September 20, 2020
    Amazing slightly under cooked AND easy to adapt to be sugar free with brown sugar substitute (or Monkfruit sweetener and molasses!)
     
    aiwanski
    aiwanski September 18, 2020
    Love these! If you like the flavor of tahini, these are perfect. Made them twice already and will be keeping this recipe on deck. So easy to make too.
     
    Chap M.
    Chap M. September 11, 2020
    I swapped one ingredient namely the refined brown sugar and swapped it for Turkish Pekmez ( grape molasses ). So dark/whole tahini, pekmez and oats, wow I think it's a game changer of a cookie for me. So simple yet so brilliant. No need to add any chocolate chips, vanilla or cinnamon, just a perfect 3 ingredient cookie......
     
    bonnie R.
    bonnie R. September 18, 2020
    how much molasses did you use. i want to try this! and what is dark/whole tahini? anxiously awaiting reply!
     
    Chap M.
    Chap M. September 18, 2020
    I used 125grams of GRAPE molasses and 125grams of tahini, dark tahini is tahini that is unhulled. It's far more neutrisous than regular hulled tahini.
     
    bonnie R.
    bonnie R. September 18, 2020
    awesome. can't wait to try this! i love them as they are but this sounds even more unctuous!
     
    Stacy A.
    Stacy A. May 10, 2020
    These are perfect! Used dark brown sugar and a placed few milk chocolate chips on top.
     
    Kelly
    Kelly May 4, 2020
    This was not a winner to our family of five, will not be making this again.
     
    Jessica P.
    Jessica P. April 29, 2020
    Made these, they taste like oats, sugar, and tahini. If that is your jam, go for it. Tried adding chocolate chips to second try (in oven now). With so many delicious baked goods out there, and oodles of time during quarantine, would not make these again.
     
    Mathieu G.
    Mathieu G. April 28, 2020
    Super easy and quick. Used some "black" tahini and reduced sugar quantity a little bit. They came out great and super crunchy!
     
    beth
    beth April 14, 2020
    We wanted to love these. And we did! I wrote the recipe and taped it inside a cabinet door so me and the kids can make these on the fly! Of course, we'll be adding chocolate, maybe some chia, a splash of vanilla... What joy this recipe has sparked. Thank you!
     
    beth
    beth April 14, 2020
    We wanted to love these. And we did! I wrote the recipe and taped it inside a cabinet door so me and the kids can make these on the fly! Of course, we'll be adding chocolate, maybe some chia, a splash of vanilla... What joy this recipe has sparked. Thank you.
     
    slberger
    slberger March 29, 2020
    I love these cookies! I made them according to the recipe but already imagining the next batch with chocolate or dried fruit. I used Whole Foods 365 brand of tahini (all that was left on the shelf) and thought it worked well.
     
    CocoJuju
    CocoJuju March 16, 2020
    I was so excited to see this recipe, especially since I already had all the ingredients in my pantry. As much as I really wanted to like this recipe, it was an epic fail. The cookies were way too cloying. No one in my family wanted these (and I have two growing boys who loves sweets). Way too sweet and one dimensional.
     
    Jessica P.
    Jessica P. April 29, 2020
    I agree, disappointed big time. Tastes like oats, tahini, and sugar.
     
    CheffieEmily
    CheffieEmily March 15, 2020
    So, on their own these are very bland. I also added a bit more water. And honey. And chocolate chips.I also refrigerated the dough. I think a dash of vanilla and cinnamon would be lovely, too. Its a great start but very one dimensional
     
    Cindy D.
    Cindy D. February 4, 2020
    I must be slow because the recipe is a "3 ingredient" oatmeal cookie. I read 5 ingredients. Am I miscounting?
     
    Halli
    Halli March 14, 2020
    Usually the most basic things like water and salt don't "count" as ingredients. It does make the name silly though.
     
    Mary
    Mary January 26, 2020
    I've now made these cookies twice. The second time I added a bit more water and packed the dough into a 1/4 cup measure. Then I "plopped" it out upside down on the parchment lined cookie sheet. Topped each one with a bit of leftover dark chocolate. Everyone, including me, loved them! I sent a photo of them to my Italian cousin (very accomplished cook!) and she immediately asked for the recipe! They are so easy and good. The hardest part is stirring the tahini in the jar.
     
    Makena C.
    Makena C. January 15, 2020
    I just made these using sunbutter instead of tahini and they were great - not bitter at all or in any way tasting of sunbutter (the brand I had tasted similar to tahini). Added some dark chocolate chips and probably needed an extra tablespoon of water to get the dough going. I would definitely make these again.
     
    bonnie R.
    bonnie R. January 6, 2020
    so i misread your comments and thought you meant that you got double points for making a chocolate version of these cookies (rather than oatmilk!). i should have realized that would make them 4 ingredient cookies! anyway, i did plain ones then added some cocoa powder to a small amount of the dough. both are delicious! in fact, i'd be happy to eat the raw dough, and i typically HATE raw cookie dough. these cookies are too easy and too good to be true.
     
    Chris O.
    Chris O. February 4, 2020
    One...Two...FIVE!!!
    Three, sir!
    THREE!
     
    Mary
    Mary December 6, 2019
    Well, I finally tried these yesterday. They were incredibly hard to "roll". Like trying to form dry sand into a ball. So, I added more milk and that did not work either. Then, I packed the "dough" into a 1/4 cup measuring cup, not quite full. Pressed it down and then upended it onto the parchment paper. Held my breath. Baked. Could not wait to taste so grabbed a hot one right out of the oven. Fell into 100 pieces! Ate with a spoon. Delicious! Waited for the rest to cool. They hold together if you Handle With Care. Will make again and add vanilla. Loved them. Guests liked them too. I guess if they really fall apart, you can put the pieces over plain yogurt (I only use full fat!) as Andrea mentioned. I had found myself with two big jars of tahini and needed to get using them. These are by far the best use of tahini ever! Faint taste of tahini that some folks might not like. I loved them!
     
    Andrea D.
    Andrea D. November 19, 2019
    These were SO good! They also make a nice addition of sweetness to plain greek yogurt when crushed up. I made these to use up my jar of tahini and now it looks like I'll have to buy more! Can't wait to make them again.