These no bake lemon oatmeal cookies are an easy cookie to make. The cookies are just 3 ingredients and don’t require any flour, eggs or butter. They are soft, chewy and full of zesty lemon flavor. The cookies can be made ahead of time and store well.
The weather has been too warm for baking during the day so I’ve been making no bake cookies instead. I love how easy these are to prepare. I keep mine stored in the fridge for whenever I’m in the mood for a cookie.
Ingredients
- Quick Oats
- Lemon
- White Chocolate Chips
Quick Oats: Quick oats are old fashioned rolled oats that have been further processed so that they are smaller and thinner. I think quick oats works best for these cookies because they will soften quicker and easier than rolled oats. If you only have rolled oats, you can pulse them in the food processor a few times until they resemble the consistency of quick oats. If you need a substitute for oats, I’ve also made similar cookies with unsweetened coconut.
Lemon: This recipe uses freshly squeezed lemon juice and zest. You should only need one large lemon for this recipe.
White Chocolate Chips: White chocolate is melted down and mixed in to provide sweetness and to bind the cookie together.
How to Make No Bake Lemon Oatmeal Cookies
The white chocolate chips are first melted until smooth. The lemon juice is then whisked in. The quick oats and lemon zest are stirred in until you have a thick batter. Your mixture will look like batter rather than cookie dough.
Use a cookie scoop to scoop up the cookie batter and place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Then use the back of a spoon to flatten and shape the cookies. The cookies are then placed into the fridge until set.
Cookie Texture
These cookies are soft and chewy. When the chocolate is mixed with the lemon juice, it softens the chocolate to a texture that is more like a ganache. The cookies will feel firm on the outside but will be soft when you bite in. The oats add chewiness to the cookies.
Tips
- For sweeter cookies, you can reduce the oats by 2 tablespoons.
- If you want your cookies to have more oat flavor, add 2 extra tablespoons of quick oats.
- You can make your own quick oats by pulsing rolled oats in a food processor until they resemble the consistency and size of quick oats.
More No Bake Oatmeal Cookie Recipes
- 3 Ingredient No Bake Chewy Oatmeal Cookies
- 3 Ingredient No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
- 3 Ingredient No Bake Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
3 Ingredient No Bake Lemon Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (164 g) white chocolate chips
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) lemon juice + 2 tsp lemon zest
- 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp (57 g) quick oats
Instructions
- Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Add white chocolate chips to a large microwave-safe mixing bowl. Heat chocolate in 15-30 second intervals, stirring in between with a spatula until chocolate is completely melted and smooth. You can also melt the chocolate on the stove using the double boiler method.
- Using a whisk, add in lemon juice and whisk until lemon juice is fully incorporated and the mixture becomes uniform in color and smooth.
- Switch to a spatula and stir in the zest and quick oats until they are evenly mixed in. The batter should be thick.
- Use a 1 tbsp cookie scoop to scoop up cookie batter and place onto the prepared cookie sheet, spacing cookies 2 inches apart. The batter may spread out a little but it should not spread much. Use the back of a spoon to flatten cookies into a thick round disk (about 1/4 inch thick), smoothing edges and top as needed. You can also use your fingers to help shape the edges of the cookies. Cookies will not change shape so shape them to how you would like your final cookies to look like.
- If desired, garnish the top of cookies with additional zest. It will add more lemon flavor and add some color to the cookies. Place cookies into fridge to set. This can take about 30 minutes to one hour. When cookies are set they should feel firm and you should be able to peel the cookies off of the parchment paper. Let cookies sit at room temperature for about 10-15 minutes before eating. You can also eat them straight out of the fridge but the chocolate will be a little more firm when it's cold. Store uneaten cookies in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer.
Notes
- You will need approximately 1 large lemon for this recipe. You likely won't need all of the juice and zest it produces.
- To measure the lemon zest, make sure your zest is mostly dry and then loosely add it to the measuring spoon. Do not pack it in.
- When measuring out the lemon juice, make sure you strain out any pulp so you have 2 full tbsp of just lemon juice.
- There is some flexibility with the amount of quick oats that can be added. If you prefer a sweeter cookie, you can reduce the oats by 2 tbsp.
- If you want more oat flavor in your cookies, you can increase the quick oats by 2 tbsp.
- You can make the cookies larger (or smaller) if you wish. I made them smaller than your average cookie because they are very rich.
- I use this oxo 1 tbsp cookie scoop.*
- *This product link is an affiliate link. This means I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
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I made the 3 ingredient No Bake Lemon Oatmeal Cookies and was disappointed. Â I believe the recipe should 1. Indicate to use a quality white chocolate chip. Others do not melt as needed to complete the recipe. 2. I also think that more oatmeal would make it more of a tender cookie and not like the texture of a candy.Â
The cookies should be soft and chewy – if they are hard like candy, something went wrong. Without knowing more it’s hard to say what happened.
Lemon juice separated chocolate, the way water does, to texture ended up being weird…
I like the combo of flavour though…. will make again, but omit lemon juice…. thanks!
That shouldn’t happen – did you whisk in the lemon juice?
Quick, easy and delicious once I found dairy free white chocolate chips Icould use!Â
I’m so glad it worked for you!
Thank you for this recipe and I got 30 cookies , x3 with the ingredients and did not include the 2 tablespoons of oats so I omitted (6 tablespoons of the oats) which makes the cookies xtra sweet and I added 1/2 cup of finely chopped walnuts and and diced 1/2 of fresh cherries w/no pit and turned this recipe into a 5 ingredient no bake cookies 🙂 awesome discovery and recipe!!
thanks for sharing
What brand of chocolate chips do you use? The chocolate chips don’t melt.
I used Nestle chocolate chips. Make sure your chocolate chips are not old or expired. White chocolate does not melt well if it is old.
Hello Kirbie
Thank you for sharing this awesome recipe. My oven broke and I’ve been craving something sweet thanks again for sharing i will try your recipe
We hope you like it!
Hello Kirbie
Thank you for sharing this awesome recipe. My oven broke and I’ve been craving something sweet thanks again for sharing i will try your recipe
We hope you love it!
That looks delicious only if I had the proper utensils and pans in order to make it but if possible may you please send me the recipe for none baked foods please I’ll appreciate it very much so
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Nice
Good Show I wanted to make something for needy times. I think that this is the best solution
Thanks
?? You
These looks like something I would eat.
We hope you try them soon!
Thank you for sharing. I love easy recipes!
You’re welcome!