When I first made these Chocolate Oat Bars 15 years ago, I raved about them - gooey fudge made with sweetened condensed milk, sandwiched between layers of oatmeal cookie. The heartiness of the oatmeal cuts through the richness of the fudge. The top cookie crisps up, while the bottom layer stays chewy.
Hearty yet decadent, these bar cookies are still one of my absolute favorite things to eat. I've loved them since I first tried one, at the Lafayette Square farmer's market in St. Louis, almost 20 years ago.
Since they're bar cookies, they're very simple to make! You make a big batch of dough and just press it into a pan. Then you top it with a layer of sweetened condensed milk fudge, and bake. No scooping cookies. So easy! So quick! So unfussy!
Plus, this also makes a huge pan worth of cookies, so it's perfect for sharing with a crowd, eating a ton of bars with your family, or both!
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I first made this as recipe #116 for my 365 Recipe Challenge back in 2010. Taste of Home, who I adapted the recipe from, called them chocolate oat squares, but you might know them as chocolate revel bars, or even something else.
The oat layers cut through the sweetness of the chocolate a little bit, so your stomach doesn't get as much of a shock from the richness. If you really want a lot of sugar, though, you should try my blondie version of these - Fudgy Butterscotch Bars!
Ingredients and Equipment
This takes ingredients for oatmeal cookie dough and a sweetened condensed milk fudge.
- Butter
- Brown sugar
- Eggs and vanilla
- Oats
- Flour, salt, and baking soda
- Sweetened condensed milk
- Chocolate chips
We use brown sugar instead of granulated sugar for a little extra flavor. Both dark and light brown sugars work. We use baking soda to interact with the acid in the brown sugar to provide lift.
Use rolled oats in the cookie dough. Both quick oats and old-fashioned oats work fine. Do not use instant oats, which won't have the right texture, or steel-cut oats, which won't cook through.
Sweetened condensed milk is the secret to an easy chocolate fudge. Sweetened condensed milk is shelf-stable, pre-sweetened, thickened milk that I've always seen in a 14-ounce can. It is not the same as evaporated milk, which is much thinner and unsweetened and comes in a different sized and shaped can. I usually buy the full-fat, store-brand.
I prefer semisweet chocolate chips, but milk chocolate chips should work if you prefer. I've used both name-brand and store-brand chocolate chips in these bars, and both are delicious.
Since this recipe is made in a larger 15x10x1-inch jelly roll pan (affiliate link), it's the perfect dessert to feed a crowd. You can try a 9x13-inch pan (affiliate link), but the baking time will be longer. Once you have a jelly roll pan, though, you'll be set for making my Chocolate Sheet Cake or Saltine Toffee!
Instructions
You'll make an oatmeal cookie dough, and then a sweetened condensed milk fudge.
- With an electric or stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Stir in the eggs and vanilla.
- It's a lot of dough, so add the oats, flour, salt, and baking soda in 3 stages, mixing and scraping the bottom after each addition.
- Scrape ⅔ of the dough into a greased, 15x10x1-inch jelly roll pan (affiliate link).
- Combine the sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, butter, and ½ teaspoon salt in a saucepan. Stir constantly on low heat until melted and smooth, then stir in vanilla.
- Spread the chocolate fudge over the dough in the pan, spreading as close as possible to the edges without it touching the sides. (It might stick if it touches the sides.)
- Top with the remaining cookie dough.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes.
They'll be golden brown when done. Trust me - don't overbake! Bake for the lesser time if you like softer cookies.
Serving and Storage
Let cool a little bit before cutting. You can cut the pan into 24 large squares, or 48 smaller bars. They're still rich and chocolatey, so no one will be sad with half-sized bars.
Store in an airtight container. The chocolate oat bars are best within the best few days, as they start to dry out a small amount. However, they do still taste good on Days 3 and 4.
Recipe FAQ
Instant oats will be powdery and stodgy, and won't give the cookie dough the right texture. You'd also have to open quite a few packets of instant oatmeal to get the right amount! Steel-cut oats take much longer to cook than rolled oats - around 20 minutes of cooking time as opposed to 5. As such, steel-cut oats won't soften in the dough and would make the cookie unpleasantly chewy.
Sweetened condensed milk is thick and sweet, while evaporated milk is much thinner and unsweetened. You cannot substitute evaporated milk for the sweetened condensed milk in this recipe, as it won't be thick enough or sweet enough, and it would take a lot of time and effort to get it to the right consistency.
I haven't tested this recipe to be egg-free or gluten-free. Eggs bind the cookie dough together; without them, the cookie dough would be extremely crumbly. This would likely be the case even with an egg-substitute.
I have not tried to make this recipe gluten-free. Oats are naturally gluten-free, but are processed on the same equipment as wheat, so you would need to find oats that are certified gluten-free. A cup-for-cup gluten-free flour blend with xanthan gum may work in place of the wheat flour; the bar cookies may be a bit more crumbly.
Other Chocolatey Recipes
Here's more of my favorite fudgy, chocolatey, sweet recipes!
Interested in other recipes? I save and share recipes I like or want to try on my Pinterest page - follow me there! You can also check out my Facebook page for more recipes and helpful tips. I'm also happy to try to help troubleshoot my recipes there.
Have you tried this recipe? Or have a question about it? Rate it or leave a comment below! (PS: rating my recipes helps other people find them, too!)
📖 Recipe
Chocolate Oat Bars
Equipment
Ingredients
Oatmeal Cookie Dough
- 16 tablespoons butter (215 grams) (softened)
- 2 cups brown sugar (400 grams)
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla (10 grams)
- 3 cups rolled oats (240 grams) (old-fashioned or quick oats)
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour (300 grams)
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Chocolate Fudge
- 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk (1 can)
- 2 cups chocolate chips (12 ounces)
- 2 tablespoons butter (28 grams)
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla (10 grams)
- 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Instructions
Oatmeal Cookie Dough
- With an electric mixer or stand mixer, cream together butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the eggs and vanilla to combine.
- Add the oats, flour, salt, and baking soda in 2-3 stages. (It's a large amount of dough, so this helps it mix in.) Mix until just combined.
- Pat ⅔ of the cookie dough into a greased 15x10x1-inch jelly roll pan (affiliate link). Set aside.
Chocolate Fudge
- In a large saucepan, combine the sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, salt, and 2 tablespoons butter. Stir constantly over low heat until everything is melted and smooth. (You don't want it to burn on bottom.)
- Remove it from heat and add the 2 teaspoons vanilla.
- Spread the chocolate fudge over the cookie dough in the pan, getting it as close to the edges as you can without it touching.
- Top the fudge with the remaining cookie dough.
- Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. (Check on the early side if you want them softer.)
- Cool some before cutting. Store in an airtight container. Bars are best within the first three days.
Notes
[Originally published May 15, 2010 and updated September 2019. Revised August 2025.]
Leona Konkel says
I adore these Chocolate Oat Bars. I love the sweet creaminess of the sweetened condensed milk fudge, and the heartiness of the oatmeal cookie layer. I love how many bars I get out of them, and how many I get to eat! I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!
josephine says
My mom and I made these together and they fun, easy, delicious, and perfectly sweet.
Leona Konkel says
I'm so glad to hear that. Thank you for trying it! These are one of my absolute favorites.