Super soft and chewy Oatmeal M&M Cookies with vanilla pudding mix to make them super soft! Chocolate chips or M&Ms are perfect in them!
Kids LOVE these soft oatmeal cookies. It's fun to make with them, and they love to help put the M&M's on top (and eat them).
This easy soft baked oatmeal cookie recipe or the sourdough oatmeal cookie version is one of my FAVORITES to have on a lazy Sunday, or when I feel like sharing. If you like to keep it simple, Chocolate Chip Vanilla Pudding Cookies, which ruined my husband's life. Pudding mix just makes cookies better!
I love love love oatmeal cookies with pudding because of the soft texture, but also because they're so easy to store and freeze!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Most of the ingredients are pantry staples, which you may already have!
- This recipe has the perfect ratio of flour to oats, making it so that the cookies aren't too flat or puffy when baked.
- Vanilla pudding mix in the cookies helps to add both flavor and stabilize the dough without adding more flour, which can make the cookies too puffy and round.
- These are EASY oatmeal pudding cookies. This recipe teaches you how to make them in just a few simple steps, and are super kid-friendly cookies!
🛒 Ingredients
- Butter - salted is best for the flavor.
- Brown Sugar - light or dark works, it helps to keep the cookies nice and chewy.
- Eggs - keeps the cookies chewy and moist for longer, eggs act as a binder in cookies.
- Baking Soda - helps the cookies spread rather than puff.
- Vanilla Pudding Mix -instant is best for this recipe, make sure it's a 3.4 oz box and not a family size!
- Flour - all purpose
- Old Fashioned Regular Oats - I like these over the instant oatmeal or quick oats because they absorb less moisture and give the best texture to the cookies (just like in my white chocolate coconut oatmeal cookies!).
- Mini M&M's - you can use large m&m's if you want, but more mini m&m's fit into each cookie dough ball than larger ones.
See the recipe card below for full list of ingredients and quantities.
✏️ Substitutions & Variations
- Different M&M's! The options are endless. Caramel, peanut butter, and mint (around the holidays), are some of the basics. I've heard tell of pretzel or brownie-filled ones as well.
- Chocolate! You can use any type of chocolate chips you want to make delicious oatmeal chocolate chip cookies Mini, dark chocolate, butterscotch, white chocolate, or peanut butter would be amazing!
- Don't overbake! And also NO IT IS NOT TOO MUCH SALT. It is what makes these cookies amazing, along with the pudding mix.
- Pudding mix! You could use vanilla, french vanilla, white chocolate, cheesecake, or even butterscotch flavored. I've tried them all and love each of them.
🧑🍳 Instructions
Make sure to preheat the oven to 350℉ and line some baking sheets with either baking paper for easy cleanup, silicone baking mats for more even baking, or spray with baking spray.
Step 1. Combine the butter, white sugar and brown sugar and beat with an electric mixer (a stand mixer would use a paddle attachment) until mixture is light and fluffy, approximately 3 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally.
Step 2. Add in the eggs and vanilla and mix on medium speed until fluffy, 1-2 minutes until the mixture isn't splitting anymore.
Step 3. Add in salt, baking soda and pudding mix and mix slowly until just combined.
Step 4. Add in the oats and flour, and mix SLOWLY for 1-2 minutes until everything is mixed together very well and any flour pockets are gone.
Step 5. Add the mini m&m's last so they don't all get crushed. Mix on low speed until they're all incorporated.
Step 6. Scoop onto a baking sheet and press a few m&m's to the tops of the cookies if desired, then bake for 10-12 minutes. It's okay if they look a little underbaked, they firm up as they cool.
📌 Top Tips
- Baking Soda "spreads" and baking powder "puffs" in cookies. These cookies use baking soda only since the oats tend to absorb a lot of moisture.
- Don't overbake! Overbaking makes these cookies crunchy and dry rather than soft and chewy. Test your oven temperature with an inexpensive oven thermometer to be sure. If recipes never quite bake right, it might be your oven!
- It is NOT too much salt. It is what makes these cookies amazing, along with the pudding mix.
- If you freeze the cookie dough, form the dough into balls and flash freeze on a cookie sheet or flat surface until the outsides are firm and then transfer to a container to freeze so they don't stick together.
- If baking from frozen dough, make sure the oven is fully preheated before you bake the cookies, otherwise the color of the M&M's could bleed off a little.
- Add the m&m's LAST so they don't get crushed up during the mixing process.
❓Frequently Asked Questions
The pudding mix has 2 important things: flavor and cornstarch. The cornstarch helps to firm up the cookie dough without thickening the dough too much like flour can, which is really important since the oats absorb moisture in the dough the longer they sit together.
Room Temp: Up to 3 days before they start to dry out.
To Freeze: Make the dough as directed, then scoop it into balls. Freeze on a flat surface separately about 30 minutes until the outsides are firm, then transfer the raw cookie dough balls into an airtight container.
Freezing them separately first will prevent the cookie dough balls from sticking together.
Bake from Frozen: Preheat the oven to 350 F, then place frozen cookie dough balls on prepared baking sheets. Place directly into the oven and bake for 12-14 minutes. They may turn a little darker golden brown but should still be nice and chewy on the inside!
Compared to a regular chocolate chip cookie, adding the oats in makes it marginally healthier because of the fiber and protein in the oats. There is still a lot of sugar and butter, which makes moderation important when eating them.
You could, but the texture would be less chewy which is not the point of oatmeal cookies. The texture is everything! Use old fashioned oats to make sure they are the right texture.
🍪 More Fun Cookie Recipes
I put pudding mix in cookies a lot, we love our Double Chocolate Pudding Mix Cookies for sharing and cozy nights in. If you need a few more ideas for cookies, I have you covered!
Did You Try This Recipe? ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Make sure to leave a star rating and a comment below the recipe card. I love hearing from you, and it is so helpful to other readers! Better yet, share it with family and friends. Thank you!!
📝 Printable Recipe
M&M Oatmeal Pudding Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 sticks (1.5 Cups) salted butter
- 1 cup granulated white sugar
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 (3.4 oz) box vanilla instant pudding mix
- 3 cup old fashioned regular oats
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup mini M&M's
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet a silicon baking mat or spray with baking spray.
- Combine the butter, white sugar and brown sugar and beat with an electric mixer until mixture is light and fluffy, approximately 3 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally.
- Add in eggs and vanilla and mix on medium speed until fluffy.
- Add in salt, baking soda and pudding mix and mix slowly until just combined.
- Add in the oats and flour, mixing well on low speed. Add in mini M&M's last and mix until just combined.
- Scoop cookie dough into 1.5 inch balls onto prepared baking sheets. I do rows of 3 and 2 so I can bake 13 at a time instead of 12.
- Bake for 10 to 11 minutes, do not over bake. The bottoms/edges of the cookies should be barely golden brown and tops just beginning to crack. Cool and enjoy!
Ann T. Hartley says
These cookies are soooooo good!!!! My grandchildren love them, Phil loves them! They are the best! Thank you!
Sara says
That's the real test to see if Grandpa loves them too! Glad you love them as much as we do! So good to hear from you Ann.