Creating a delicious and perfect-from-the-oven Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bar has never been easier! I love all things chocolate chips and bars and put together a list of my top 50 Cookie Recipes just for you!
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars
Sometimes life just calls for ooey-gooey-falls-apart-in-your-mouth chocolate bars. I may be in the minority, but I tend to prefer a slightly under-done bar… one that is best eaten with a spoon. One that is amazing on its own but even better when friends and family can join together around the baking pan with a fork in hand. Have you ever done that? Just let the kids dig in with a fork? It is a bonified memory-maker… one of those things that the kids never forget and will definitely ask for again!
To achieve this ooey-gooey bar, bake for a few minutes less than the recipe suggests. Top with some vanilla ice cream and you have created a magical bar that everyone will love!
Rolled Oats vs. Quick Oats
I used Old-Fashioned oats in my recipe but you can certainly use Quick Oats. We love oatmeal so love the consistency, texture, and flavor that an old-fashioned rolled oat adds. Most people use quick oats and never notice the difference, though!
PRO TIP: Make sure your pan is prepared really well. I like to use baking spray for this specific recipe, but you can also use GOOP, or homemade pan release. If you are using GOOP, make sure to coat the sides of the pan as well.
Homemade Chocolate Oatmeal Bars
This recipe comes together really quickly and is a super fun treat for after school, bake sale, or special event. I like to use good quality ingredients when I can, but I also like to clean out my pantry! 😂 I have made these with different chocolate morsels, quick oats, whole wheat flour, even all granulated sugar instead of brown sugar. They are a hit EVERY time no matter how we modify the recipe!
This is one of those classic recipes that you can modify to fit your tastes. Add raisins or walnuts or white chocolate… even caramel or toffee! Make up a batch now, let the family dig in, then send the leftovers to school with the kids. I promise this will be one of the best things you will do today!
Whoops. I might have slightly undercooked this batch. #sorrynotsorry
Last time I made these bars they went for $5 each at the bake sale and SOLD OUT!
UPDATE: I made these for another charity event and packaged them the exact same way I did in this post for Fancy Christmas Cakes. (Except that I used white ribbon) They sold out FIRST!! One trick when packaging is to use very chilled bars. I simply cut the bars while they are still in the pan and then chilled them in the pan for about 2 hours in the refrigerator.
Another thing you can do is display them on a cake stand. Get them up higher than all the rest of the treats! Here are my tips for how to find and buy the PERFECT Cake Stand as well as where I store my cake stands! These tips work like a charm and who doesn’t love raising money for charity?
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks / 227 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup (200 g) light brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1½ cups (187.5 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 cups (180 g) rolled oats
- 1 cup (168 g) milk chocolate chips
- 1 cup (168 g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175 degrees C). Prepare a 9×13-inch baking pan with baking spray, parchment, or the butter/flour method.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer (can also use hand-held mixer) beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until well mixed, about 3 minutes.
- Add in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
- With mixer on low, add in the vanilla extract.
- Remove bowl from stand mixer and add in salt, baking soda, baking powder, flour, rolled oats, plus semi-sweet chocolate chips. Stir by hand to moisten all ingredients.
- Spread ½ mixture into the prepared baking pan. Pour milk chocolate chips on top of mixture. Carefully press the remaining cookie mixture on top of chocolate.
- Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes. (It shouldn't jiggle too much)
- Let cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before cutting into bars.
Did you make this recipe?
Thank you for making my recipe! You took pictures, right? Well go ahead and post them on Instagram! Be sure to mention me @iambaker and use the hashtag #YouAreBaker.
Want to see how I organize my pantry to accommodate all these staples? Here is my Kitchen Pantry Before & After.
Made these today with milk chocolate and peanut butter chips, all I can say is yummy delicious! Ooey gooey scrumptious! And maybe I should never make them again, LOL. Thanks for the fabulous recipe.
Listen I hate when people leave comments on recipes and then state what they changed, but here I am. I made three adjustments – used only semi sweet cc (2 cups), mixed it all together vs separating, & finished by sprinkling with Maldon flaky sea salt which sent these over the edge. These bars are a go to, amazing, easy, and everyone raves about them. I generally double the recipe and put in a half sheet pan. Thanks Amanda for this delish recipe!! 5/5
Hi Amanda. Well I know its been to late for replying now. Its been 4 years since you wrote this recipe 😀
Well I wanna say huge thanks. The funny thing, My obgyn said I have to rest after my surgery last week. But when I saw your chocolatechip bar, I can’t just sit and relax. My body move magically lol. And now I have bake this yummy gummy bar! 😀
I bake only for 20 minutes. And it taste like heaven. Yum. I can’t stop saying yum! Lol. Sooo good. Not so sweet that perfect for my tastebud.
Maybe I will bake it longer at next baking session just to make it more set to serve.
Thank you so much. Love. Olivia. Indonesia
SO glad you enjoyed them, Olivia! Hopefully, you are feeling better after the surgery!
Do you spray the dish first or placed the parchment first?
If you are spraying you don’t have to use parchment. If you are using parchment and spray you can spray before AND after if you want. But one of the other will work fine.
you don’t specify old fashion or quick cooking oats.Also you don’t answer questions that are asked like.. can crisco or margarine be used in place of butter? can salted butter be used ? Thank you
Love your recipes!
Thank you, Brenda!
These bars are delicious!
Easy to follow recipe, and wow they are delicious.I made with my favourite milk chocolate. I will have to turn the willpower on to resist eating all at once. Thank you!!
So, I’ve made some version of these three times now. The only thing I’ve changed thus far is the mix-ins, which I always mix in and never spread between layers of batter. The first time I added regular semi-sweet chocolate chips and pecans. The next time–which I think was the most successful–I added butterscotch chips, coconut and pecans, and the final time I added toffee chips and pecans. I wanted to do a peanut butter chocolate chip version, but was afraid of adding peanut butter to a batter that is perfect without it, so I looked up another recipe that called for peanut butter and chocolate chips and it was far too dense and rich, so I’ll be coming back to this one and will probably try it adding peanut butter at some point–possibly cutting back slightly on the butter to account for the oil in peanut butter. And today, I’m going to do a version using half butter and half vegetable oil because I’m running short of butter and not ready for groceries. In the midst of Covid there is no more just running out for one or two items. At least for us.
Great feedback, Agatha! Love how you are perfecting the recipe to fit your tastes! 🙂
So, the half vegetable oil, half butter version turned out fine. I think they are a little more crumbly but only slight and it’s possible that some variation in baking time or temp affected that. Or just a faulty memory about the other batches. Hard to compare things that you baked weeks apart.