Healthy Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies are gluten-free and made with no flour, less sugar, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and natural peanut butter. A cookie recipe that’s perfect for year-round baking whether it be for the holidays or a weekly staple for lunchboxes and afternoon treats.
This post was originally published on October 30,2017. Updated on November 18th, 2020
These Healthy Peanut Butter Cookies with Chocolate Chips are made with only one-half cup of added sugar.
These peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are made with less sugar but without sacrificing the delicious factor.
There is only one-half cup of sugar in this entire recipe which makes about 2 dozen cookies give or take. When you break it down per cookie, that means only 5 g of sugar per serving. That means that these cookies make for a sensible treat when you’re craving something a little sweet.
These cookies have been tested with both coconut sugar and cane sugar, so feel free to use what you have on hand.
Healthy Peanut Butter Cookies are naturally gluten-free, and options for dairy-free
Unlike traditional cookie recipes, there’s no flour (all purpose or other varieties!) to be found in these cookies. Instead, these delicious treats use oats to provide some chew and structure to the cookie.
Pure oats are naturally gluten-free. However, oats are can be contaminated with gluten if they are processed in the same facilities as grains like wheat, rye, and barley. If you follow a gluten-free diet, make sure to choose certified gluten-free oats!
We chose to use butter in this recipe, but you can always substitute coconut oil for a dairy-free cookie recipe.
The combination of chewy oats, nutty peanut butter, and gooey chocolate chips makes these cookies so irresistible, you won’t even think of them as “healthy”!
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Ingredients you’ll need for these peanut butter cookies
- Oats – old fashioned or regular rolled oats will work for this recipe, use gluten-free if needed.
- Sugar – cane sugar or coconut sugar , both have been tested in our kitchens and work but we do feel can sugar works best!
- Baking soda
- Sea salt
- Eggs
- Butter – unsalted butter or a substitute of coconut oil for a dairy-free cookie option.
- Vanilla extract – look for pure vanilla extract with no added corn syrup.
- Peanut butter – use natural creamy peanut butter at room temperature or heated slightly to have a pourable consistency.
- Chocolate chips – use dark or semi-sweet chocolate chip. Use dairy-free chocolate chips if needed.
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How to make Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
First step: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Second step: Combine the ingredients in a medium bowl, except for the chocolate chips. You can also use s standup mixer. Mix until well combined.
Third step: Fold in the chocolate chips.
Fourth step: If the dough is really sticky, let it sit for 10 minutes or place in the fridge until the dough has firmed up enough.
Fifth step: With a small cookie scoop, scoop the dough onto the prepared sheets to make about 2 dozen cookies (give or take). With your hands, slightly flatten each cookie dough mound to form a round cookie shape.
Lastly: Bake for 10-15 minutes or until cookie centers are done and the outsides are golden. Baking time will depend on the size of the cookies.
How to store these soft and chewy cookies
To store these cookies, you’ll want to keep them in an airtight container. You can keep them fresh for up to 5 days.
These irresistible healthy peanut butter cookies are also freezer-friendly! When you make a batch, feel free to double it and stash away half of them to enjoy later. Simply let the cookies cool completely then place them in a freezer-friendly container/bag and freeze for up to 2 months.
To thaw, simply take out the desired amount of cookies and let thaw on the counter until soft. Alternatively, you can defrost in the microwave for that fresh-baked cookie taste with melty chocolate chips!
What is the best kind of peanut butter to use in these Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies?
In these Healthy Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies, the kind peanut butter you use does make a pretty significant difference. You want to use peanut butter that has a nice drizzly, pourable consistency. I like to use natural peanut butter where the only ingredients are peanuts and maybe a little salt.
Now, if the peanut butter you are using is pretty solid at room temperature, no worries. Simply heat it up in a small saucepan over low heat or in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds just until it is drizzly. You don’t want the peanut butter to get too hot, as it will melt the chocolate chips.
Are you ready to give these soft & chewy healthy cookies a try?!
You simply can’t beat a freshly baked cookie right from the oven! Especially one rich with peanut butter, dark chocolate chips, less sugar, and only clean ingredients!
Other cookie recipes to try
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Healthy Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Chips
Healthy Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies are gluten-free and made with no flour, less sugar, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and natural peanut butter.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 20 mins
- Yield: 30 small Cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert | Snack
Ingredients
- 2 cups old-fashioned or regular rolled oats
- ½ cup cane sugar* (may sub coconut sugar)
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- ¼ tsp. sea salt
- 2 whole eggs
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened (may substitute coconut oil for dairy-free)
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup natural peanut butter, room temperature or heated slightly to achieve pourable consistency** (please read note below)
- ¾ cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Combine the ingredients in a medium bowl, except for the chocolate chips. You can also use a standup mixer. Mix until well combined.
- Fold in the chocolate chips.
- If the dough is real sticky, let it sit for 5 minutes or place in the fridge.
- With a small cookie scoop, scoop dough onto pans to make about 2 dozen cookies give or take. With hands, slightly flatten each cookie dough mound to form a round cookie shape.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes or until cookie centers are done and outsides are golden. Baking time will depend on the size of the cookies. Start with 10 minutes and add time as needed.
- After removing from the oven, let the cookies set on pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Notes
*Cane sugar works best but coconut sugar is an option.
**Note: Peanut butter must be a drizzly consistency, not solid. If it’s solid, warm it over low heat or in the microwave until drizzly consistency is achieved. Depending on the consistency of peanut butter, you may need to add 2-4 Tbsp. of water or milk of choice if the dough is too thick.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 135
- Sugar: 5g
- Sodium: 65mg
- Fat: 9g
- Carbohydrates: 13g
- Fiber: 2g
- Protein: 4g
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Liz says
Shouldn’t you be using a sugar substitute to actually make them “healthy?” Like Erythritol or something similar?
Stacie Hassing says
Hi Liz, we consider this a healthy cookie recipe because it calls for much less sugar than typical cookie recipes. We don’t use too many sugar subs in our recipes but you could sure try them with Erythritol or stevia. If you do, we’d love to hear how they turn out. Thanks!
Sandra says
Liz, the sugar alcohols are not “healthy”. There are many people who experience significant GI distress when ingesting them. I learned the hard way that just a few “sugar-free” gummies meant 24 hours of distress, causing me to lose a day of work and be completely miserable until the stuff was out of my system. I wonder if they cause problems in all people but the worst symptoms only manifest in a portion of the population. Like what if they cause inflammation in you too but not to the extent that you can really feel it?
Stacie is right, 1/2 c sugar is less than typical recipes. And it’s not like a person is eating the entire batch of cookies in one serving anyway (we hope!). The 1/2 c. is distributed among the 30 cookies which results in less than 1 teaspoon per cookie .
I’m going to use brown sugar because I love the taste. 🙂
Tammy says
My husband didn’t care for the chewy ness of the oats so next time I will try to chop the oats up a little in food processor first. Overall this cookie has great flavor.
Holly says
Could you use maple syrup in place of the sugar?
Jessica Beacom says
Hi Holly,
Since we haven’t tested this recipe with a liquid sweetener such as maple syrup we can’t say with 100% certainty that they’ll work as well as they do with cane sugar. However, you could try using maple syrup and adding more gluten-free flour blend to get the right consistency/texture. Alternatively, you could sub maple sugar 1:1 for the cane sugar and have great results.
If you try it with the maple syrup, we’d love to hear how they turn out!
Melissa Pikulin says
I tried to make these cookies but they came out incredibly dry. I didn’t have gluten free oats so I used regular Quaker Oats. I was a little short of a cup on the pb- could that have been it??
Jessica Beacom says
Hi Melissa,
I’m sorry to hear that your cookies came out dry. I doubt it had anything to do with the oats but it may be related to your PB shortage and possibly the texture of your PB as some are runnier than others.
Donna Rae says
Hi there… maybe this is a silly question: I want to follow your recipe as closely as possible so that I can come close to matching the nutritional breakdown that you’ve included. I don’t have a “small cookie scoop” – can you please tell me the equivalent measurement in tablespoons or cups? Thanks! 🙂
Stacie Hassing says
Probably about 2 1/2 Tablespoons.
Nancy Mccardell says
The dough was dry so I added about 2 table spoons of water. perfect.
Mark R. says
For the sugars, I went with a 1/4 cup of Coconut Sugar and a 1/4 cup of Monkfruit sweetener. When the mix came together it did not look like the oats had hydrated enough. I took Nancy McCardelle’s advice and added water. I actually added 3 Tbsp of water. I also let the dough hang out for about 10 minutes to let the oats soak up some of that added moisture. The dough was slightly sticky but felt more like the consistency of a traditional oatmeal chocolate chip cookie dough.
When I distributed the dough on the cookie sheet I gave each mound a squish to flatten them. After 8 minutes in the oven the cookies came out looking perfect. I like the taste! I love that it’s not too sweet. They do taste slightly dry (a tad more water next time?) but the outside has a slight crisp and the inside is soft. Stacie, I’m a fellow Minnesotan and as they say around here…”Oh ya, dat’s a darn gudt cookie, don’t-cha-know!”
★★★
Stacie Hassing says
Thanks for the the feedback. I added a note to recipe about the consistency of the peanut butter which can make a difference in the dough being too thick. Some peanut butter are smoother than others.
Glad they turned out for you!
Roxie S. says
Made these today! I used white sugar and Jiffy peanut butter (what I had on hand) and added 4 T of 2% milk to thin out the consistency a little. Most baking recipes need a little more moisture here at 7,000 ft anyway. Mine turned out considerably flatter than your photo, but still really yummy and great with coffee!
★★★★★
Jessica Beacom says
Yeah, baking at altitude can be so hard sometimes.
Deborah says
I made these tonight. I used half the sugar (1/4 cup) and I used unsweetened applesauce in place of the butter. I used Organic just peanuts peanut butter. They took about 15 minutes to bake, but they are delicious!
Roxie S. says
Update… made these a second time today without the high-altitude modifications and used coconut palm sugar. (Side question: What’s the difference between coconut sugar and coconut palm sugar?) Unfortunately, the cookies were pretty dry and crumbly this round. Next time, I’ll add more PB or butter… or both. 😉
Stacie Hassing says
Coconut palm sugar is coconut sugar. And the amount of PB needed is dependent on the consistency of it. I use a PB that is of a thinner consistency. You could also add a little liquid to this recipe.
Katrina says
These are amazing cookies! My whole family loves them!! I am just wondering if the dough will freeze well and if there is a good alternative for the coconut sugar? I have a friend I want to make them for but she is allergic to all things coconut.
Jessica Beacom says
Thank you, Katrina!
The dough should freeze fine. We haven’t tried baking them from frozen though. You can replace the coconut sugar with brown sugar.
Diana says
Hi, if I want to use stevia how much sugar should I use. Thank you
Stacie Hassing says
Hi Diana! That’s a good question. I personally have never baked with stevia but do know it’s much sweeter than sugar. Maybe try a couple of tablespoons.
Would love to know if you give this recipe a try!
Teresa says
These came out great! Not too sweet, and consistency was good. Per other reviews I decided to add 2 tbsp of milk. I used Peter Pan all natural PB with semi-sweet chocolate chips, followed all other ingredients! 10 minutes was perfect! Thank you for the recipe!
★★★★
Hanna says
Delicious!! Saving these to be a go to! Quick, easy healthy and yummy!!
★★★★★
Kristen says
These turned out great! Brought them to my brother and sister-in-law’s for Thanksgiving and they were a hit. My brother appreciated the “healthy” rationale for adding another sweet to the table. 🙂
Jessica Beacom says
We like the way your brother thinks. Glad that you all enjoyed them!
Jazzmin says
I wasn’t a fan of these cookies. They’re not bad but they’re not great. They felt like they were lacking in something but I couldn’t identify what. There’s so many recipes online if the results not great it’s not worth making.
Jessica Beacom says
Thanks for your honest feedback, Jazzmin. We’re sorry to hear that they didn’t float your boat. They do contain significantly less sugar than your average cookie so perhaps that’s what they were lacking for you.