NATIONAL DAYFOOD & DRINK

National Oatmeal Cookie Day

National Oatmeal Cookie Day on April 30 honors America's most unapologetically wholesome cookie — the one that always looks a little rustic, tastes like it came from a farmhouse, and is still absolutely worth the calories. Oatmeal raisin, oatmeal chocolate chip, oatmeal butterscotch, oatmeal-with-everything. Invented by Quaker Oats, perfected by every American grandmother who ever had a box in her pantry.

APR30

Friday, April 30Every year on April 30

days to go

Vibe: Homemade & Warm
Also on Apr 30: International Jazz Day · Military Brats Day · Prepareathon! Day
Hashtag: #NationalOatmealCookieDay

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Ways to celebrate

Oatmeal cookies reward baking:

🍪 Bake a batch from scratch. 30 minutes total. Old-fashioned rolled oats (NOT instant), butter, brown sugar, eggs, cinnamon, raisins or chocolate chips.
📦 Share with a neighbor. A plate of warm oatmeal cookies delivered next door is the single most neighborly gesture in America.
🥛 Eat one with cold milk. Full-fat dairy milk. Soy doesn't work; oat milk is funny; just go classic.
📖 Read the Quaker canister. The recipe's been printed on every Quaker Oats container since 1908. Historical artifact on your pantry shelf.
🧪 Bake two versions. Raisin vs. chocolate chip. A/B test. Report results.

Make it your kind of celebration

Family
Beginner baking project. Kids ages 4+ can scoop dough. Easy cleanup.
Kids
Customize: chocolate chips OR raisins OR butterscotch OR coconut. Let each kid pick their mix-in. Personalized cookies are magic.
Couples
Saturday afternoon baking + warm cookies + coffee + one good book. Low-effort cozy.
Office
Break-room cookies. Oatmeal cookies travel better than chocolate chip (less melty). Bring a plate on Monday; win the week.
School
Classic bake-sale cookie. Reliable, photogenic, fast-selling.
Community
Church coffee-hour standard. Never fails.
Just me
One batch = 24 cookies = you eat 3, freeze 20, neighbor gets 1. Math works perfectly every time.

Plan ahead

National Oatmeal Cookie Day is observed on April 30 every year. Here is where it lands for the next ten years, handy for planners, marketers and party people.

2026Thu, Apr 30this year

2027Fri, Apr 30

2028Sun, Apr 30

2029Mon, Apr 30

2030Tue, Apr 30

2031Wed, Apr 30

2032Fri, Apr 30

2033Sat, Apr 30

2034Sun, Apr 30

2035Mon, Apr 30

2036Wed, Apr 30

Add to my calendar (repeats yearly)

Fast facts

1908(Quaker Oats)

Old-fashioned rolled oats

The story

Oats are one of humanity's oldest cultivated grains, eaten in Scotland since at least 1000 BCE, brought to America by Scottish settlers in the 1600s. For three centuries in America, oats were mostly livestock feed and thick breakfast porridge. It took the Industrial Revolution, and a canister of quick-rolled oats, to turn them into a cookie.

Read the full story

Ferdinand Schumacher started milling oats in Akron, Ohio, in 1854. His American Cereal Company was an early industrial oat mill. In 1901, it merged with other oat mills to become Quaker Oats. The iconic cylindrical canister was introduced in 1915. By then, oatmeal was a breakfast staple; the leap to baking was inevitable.

In 1908, Quaker printed a recipe for "Famous Oatmeal Cookies" on the canister. The formula was simple: butter, brown sugar, flour, rolled oats, cinnamon, raisins. That recipe, virtually unchanged in 117 years, is still printed on every Quaker canister in American grocery stores today. Entire generations learned to bake from that single printed recipe.

The oatmeal cookie evolved in typical American fashion, endlessly remixed. Oatmeal raisin stayed the classic; oatmeal chocolate chip rose to prominence in the 1950s; oatmeal butterscotch, oatmeal coconut ('ranger cookies'), oatmeal M&M, oatmeal craisin, and oatmeal-everything followed. Each neighborhood has its signature. National Oatmeal Cookie Day (April 30) is an excuse to taste whichever version your mom made.

Four fundamentals that separate a chewy, golden cookie from a dry, crumbly disaster:

Six beloved regional or classic American variations, each worth a batch:

Did you know?

The Quaker canister is 110+ years old.

The iconic cylindrical Quaker Oats canister was introduced in 1915. The image of the Quaker man on the front has been trademarked since 1877, making it one of America's oldest continuously-used food logos.

The oatmeal raisin cookie has a rival.

The classic joke: you pick up what you think is a chocolate chip cookie, and it's an oatmeal raisin, the 'betrayal cookie.' It's such a widespread cultural moment there are dozens of memes about it.

Oats are technically a superfood.

Oats are the only grain with beta-glucan, a soluble fiber that lowers cholesterol. The FDA allows oats to bear a heart-health claim on packaging. The oatmeal cookie, alas, does not qualify.

America eats 150 million oatmeal cookies a year.

Per NPD Group consumer data. Oatmeal cookies are the #2 most-baked homemade cookie in America (behind chocolate chip). #1 most-eaten grocery-store oatmeal cookie: Mother's iced oatmeal cookies, sold since 1914.