Peanut Butter Oat Cookies
These peanut butter oatmeal cookies are 100% delicious. Plus, they're gluten free and easy to make in just one bowl. Meet your new favorite cookie recipe!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on September 19, 2024
I’d like to introduce you to my new favorite cookies. This peanut butter oatmeal cookie recipe yields cookies that are tender on the inside, chewy around the middle, and just barely crisp around the edges.
These cookies are loaded with pure peanut butter flavor. They’re sweet, but not cloyingly so. If you’re a fan of my monster cookie recipe, you’ll enjoy these as well. I can vouch that they’ll be a hit with your family, friends, kids and coworkers.
Oats make these cookies more hearty than most. In fact, oats are the only structure this flourless cookie recipe needs. As long as your oats are certified gluten free, these cookies will be, too.
These cookies are easy to make, too. You don’t need to soften your butter first (just melt it). You don’t need to pull out a heavy stand mixer (your hand mixer or some elbow grease will work great). And, you’ll only need one mixing bowl. Winning!
More than any other merit, though, these peanut butter cookies are delicious. They’re cookies and that’s what cookies should be, right?
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie Ingredients
This recipe is quite versatile. You’ll notice that different amounts are offered for some of the alternative options. That’s because they vary by volume (and make my job more difficult, but who can complain about extra cookies?).
Peanut Butter
As it turns out, creamy or chunky peanut butters work. I generally buy “natural” peanut butters, and this recipe has worked with all of them. You can even make your own peanut butter for freshly roasted peanut flavor.
Coconut sugar or brown sugar
Coconut sugar is a less refined sugar with a few trace nutrients, and I always try to work with natural sweeteners when possible. Brown sugar works well if that’s what you have on hand.
Coconut oil or butter
Either way, melt it before using. I can’t really taste the coconut oil, but it does make the cookies taste more interesting in a hard-to-put-your-finger-on kind of way. That’s why I chose to list coconut oil first. If you want your cookies to be dairy free, use coconut oil.
Eggs
Eggs act as a binding ingredient and a leavener, which means that they help the cookies rise. Eggs are essential if you want your cookies to turn out like mine. That said, I’ve shared some notes from readers about using flax eggs as an alternative in the recipe notes.
Baking soda
Baking soda is another leavener that helps your cookies bake up nice and fluffy. Don’t substitute baking powder; they behave differently. Always, always, always use the leavener specified in the recipe.
Quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats
Quick oats disappear more into the cookies, creating a more uniform texture. I prefer quick-cooking oats, so that’s what you’ll see in the photos. Old-fashioned oats offer a more hearty and discernible texture.
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie Variations
Substitute other nut butters.
I love how these cookies turn out with peanut butter, but they’ll also work with almond butter or sunflower seed butter.
Stir in some extras.
You can add up to 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips, chopped nuts, raisins or dried fruit.
Make bigger cookies.
This recipe yields around 27 medium cookies (about 3 inches across). If you double the size of each cookie to use 1/4 cup of dough each, you’ll end up with 13 to 14 large cookies instead (about 4.5 inches wide). The large cookies will require somewhere between 8 to 11 minutes in the oven.
Please let me know how your cookies turn out in the comments! I love hearing from you and appreciate your feedback.
Craving more cookies and treats? Check these out:
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Crispy Bars
- Monster Cookies
- Spiced Oatmeal Cookies
- Coffee Chocolate Chip Blondies
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
These peanut butter oatmeal cookies are 100% delicious. Plus, they’re gluten free and easy to make in just one bowl. Meet your new favorite peanut butter cookie recipe! Recipe yields about 27 cookies.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups creamy or chunky peanut butter (that’s one full 16-ounce jar minus ¼ cup)
- 2 ½ cups packed coconut sugar or 2 cups lightly packed brown sugar
- ⅓ cup melted coconut oil or 5 tablespoons melted butter
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups quick-cooking oats or 2 ¾ cups old-fashioned oats (certified gluten-free if necessary)
- Optional: flaky sea salt, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line tw0 large, rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats for easy clean-up.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the peanut butter with the sugar and coconut oil. Use an electric mixer or a large spoon to mix until well combined. Add the eggs, baking soda and vanilla, and mix well. Add the oats and mix until they’re evenly incorporated.
- Drop 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie onto the prepared baking sheets. These cookies spread while baking, so leave a couple of inches around each one. Gently shape them into a more rounded mound and press down lightly so they’re no taller than 1 inch.
- Bake 8 to 10 minutes, until they’re just starting to turn golden around the edges. Do not overbake. They will flatten more as they cool. Let the cookies cool for 10 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. In the meantime, bake your next round of cookies, and so on.
- If desired, sprinkle the cookies lightly with flaky sea salt. Let them cool completely before storing them in an airtight container. Cookies will keep well for several days at room temperature.
Notes
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Hi, this recipe looks great. I am allergic
to coconut and am on a dairy free diet. Are there any substitutions for the butter or coconut oil?. Would avocado oil work? DThanks
Hi Hayley, I didn’t try it with avocado oil so I’m not sure. Let me know if you give it a try!
This is my 4th batch of these super delicious beauties! Made them with flax egg and replaced 1 cup of brown sugar with 1 cup of finely chopped dates to make them even more nutritious. They came out fantastic! Also I was almost out of coconut oil so made up the difference with extra virgin olive oil…. can’t tell any difference.
Don
I like to use dates as a sweetener too. In this case did you soak your dates first?
Thanks
Cindy
Ps I usually make a date paste for my cookies that is why I am asking
In this recipe I just chopped them very fine. I have soaked and pureed dates in other recipes with good results.
Hi! Your recipes are always so delicious. I am wondering if there is a way to leave the sugar out of this recipe entirely? I am trying to completely eliminate sugar from my diet and wasn’t sure whether they’d be edible without it?
Perhaps try using mashed banana instead of the sugar?
I do this often for a natural sweetener substitute as I don’t like to put lots of sugar into recipes, so will use this method and swap out some or all of the sugar for that instead.
You can do a blend of mashed banana and some apple puree which is pure apples blended, but I would only do a cup worth rather than the amount mentioned above. Good luck! :)
Also dried dates or prunes
Unfortunately, baking is a science and you will not get a good result or even much of a result without the sugar.
A while back, someone living on the KETO diet mentioned that he really likes Lakanto’s Monkfruit sweetener blend. So last month, I purchased a large bag at my local Costco, at a good price of course. I recently substituted this blend for 1/2 the sugar called for in an old recipe I like for “Ginger Pear Cake.” It was delicious, and a fun experiment, since I also substituted some Almond Flour for some of the white flour and upped the amount of pears considerably. So I agree with Bridget that adding some sweet fruit might also be a good idea, or maybe a puree of soaked dates! Good luck.
Can you make these as cookie bars instead?
I haven’t tried it, sorry!
I’m sure you could, its only the shape your changing
Thanks for the recipe! Had everything on hand so I quickly whipped up a half batch. Used the coconut oil and coconut sugar options and added chocolate chips. The inside is soft and chewy and they are lightly crispy on the edges as promised. They were very simple to make and tasted great!
I’m happy you loved them!
Can I use sunflower seed butter instead of peanut butter?
Sure, you can try it! Let me know what you think.
Just tried this recipe with sunflower seed butter and they turned out pretty well! Just a heads up that the insides of the cookies were actually green. The chlorogenic acid in sunflower seed butter turns green when it oxidizes!
I am so excited to try this recipe!! Do these freeze well.
Hi Lisa! They should!
Made these again. Made them vegan with the flax egg, however this time I baked them 13 minutes. They came out great but I think next time I will try 14 minutes for a little more crispiness around the edges. Also they freeze well.
Oohhh! It’s 9:42pm andPeanut Butter Oat is calling my name
I hope you love them!
Hi. I am a uk follower. Cant wait to try the cookies. Is there any chance yiu can start including metruc weights grams/ml in recipes and also degrees Celsius for oven temp. My measuring devices and ovens dont do cups and Fahrenheit..
Hi Richard! Thank you for your comment. Unfortunately, I don’t have any plans at this time to provide metric conversions as there just isn’t a simple solution for doing so. However, I do know some other readers have found conversion charts useful. Or, some who cook from my blog often, actual bought US measuring cups to help.
Hey hun, I’m uk too. Most recipes like this will be on 160 for about 8-10 minutes. Check after 8 mins and use a cocktails stick to check they are done to your liking but most of the time you can tell by looking. Don’t leave the oven open too long while doing so in case you need to put them back in but it should be sufficient. Also the “cups” you can buy them from anywhere. It’s a cooking cup which come in different sizes but it’s all labelled. Hopes this helps
Sorry. Too much fat. I could sub applesauce for the eggs, though. Wonder what to sub for the butter/oil?
Hi Maggie, I haven’t tried this recipe with either of those substitutions. Since this is a dessert, I look at them as a treat. The nut butter is also a contributor so you may just want to avoid this recipe if it doesn’t meet your needs.
These are delicious! I did half the brown sugar and added lots of milk chocolate chips. My boys are gobbling them up!
Thanks for the tip, Nikki! Did this too, and it was plenty sweet.
Thank you for sharing, Nikki.
I just made these- they’re yummy! I used 1 3/4 cups of brown sugar to cut back a little. I didn’t use parchment paper, greasing the sheets with coconut oil worked fine.
By the way, i’m 50 and have never made cookies before, so if i can make these, anyone can :)
Thank you for sharing, T.C.!
The cookies were very good, but not at all crispy on the outside. I left them in for 9 minutes until they looked golden. I love crispy cookies and was excited to try this recipe, but no luck. Still a good cookie and my husband loved them.
Thanks
Patrice
These won’t get too crispy, to still be soft on the inside. Thank you for your review, Patrice!
Thank you.
BTW, they make great ice cream sandwiches!
Patty — thank you for mentioning that! I was looking at recipes specifically for making ice cream sandwiches, and you steered us right. I think I also reduced the sugar to maybe 1.5 cups or 1.75 cups, loosely packed, for that reason. Still turned out delicious. Made each cookie with 1/4 cup dough in that case. I might try 3 tbsp and make sure to flatten them a bit more next time, but there were definitely no complaints from our first results!
I don’t often comment but Kate these are truly Amazing, we love them!!! Thanks!
Thank you, Leanne :)
Dooooode!!
Thank you for your review!
I made these and I followed the direction with coconut oil and coconut sugar. I added a half of a cup of chocolate chips.
These cookies came out great!
Thank you for the recipe!!
Great to hear! Thank you for sharing, Janette.
Do you have a preferred peanut butter? I’ve been been using Whole Foods unsweetened creamy for my kids…just saw that it has palm oil in it. Not sure if that would throw things off.
Hi Erin! I use organic peanut butter, not necessarily brand specific. I try to buy it just with ground peanuts. The whole foods organic should be this way.
Try Trader Joe’s organic creamy no salt added peanut butter. Absolutely delicious and a great price. It is a natural peanut butter, so the oil will pool on top. You have to mix it in, and you could also do what I do, which is to pour off the pooled oil on top and then stir the peanut butter.
Made these during homebound Spring Break for the family, and they loved them! All steps, temp, and times followed as per the recipe with no problem. Made some with and some without chocolate chips, all slightly crispy, chewy, tasty deliciousness. Thank you!
I’ve been happily recreating your cookbook recipes all autumn long!
These are the perfect cookies for a relaxing night when you want a treat that’s low in effort. Thanks, Cookie and Kate- we love your recipes and this one is another keeper.
Going to try it with less sugar next time subbing mashed banana. Good tip with that substitution.
Thank you, Beth! I’m hesitant it will work with less sugar and banana, but I would be interested in what you think!
These are the BEST. Sort of thought I failed at first though. They got so big and flat, they seemed almost eggy when coming out of the oven. Then we tried them and OMG. They are soft, chewy and it’s flat and bendy in the coolest way. I want to add small toffee bits next time too. Thank you for this amazing recipe!
This was a useful Blog very inspiring, I discovered a life changing offer through this website for weight loss – tiny.cc/bsnrgz, it makes me enjoy food more through knowing my limits
Can I use fresh ground peanut butter or almond butter instead of from a jar?
Sure! As long as it is a creamy nut butter, it should still work well.
I made these cookies this afternoon and they have great flavor!And easy and quick! I used butter and brown sugar. I live in Colorado so because of altitude, I baked them for 15 minutes. 10 minutes was not long enough. Yum!
Thank you for sharing, Holly! I’m glad you loved them.
I just made these for Thanksgiving with flax eggs and chocolate chips. I flattened them as recommended in the recipe (when using flax eggs) and baked them for 8 minutes. Crispy on the outside and just a little chewy on the inside. What a hit they are. I don’t know if they’ll make it to Thursday. Thanks, Kate!!!
Thank you for sharing! I’m glad they worked well with flax eggs, Courtney.
Thank you for this! We are big fans of your monster cookie recipe and love this adaptation!
It’s been a snowy day in Boulder, Colorado and we have stayed warm making these cookies, your healthy pumpkin muffins, and the best ever lentil soup! Thanks for helping me keep my pre-Thanksgiving crowd fed.
Not sure what I did wrong, but my first sheet of cookies was very flat; they got better with adding more oats and chilling the dough.
I used what I had re peanut butter — just commercial brand and did half and half re sugars.
I always love your recipes but something went wrong, probably on my end…
Freezing rain day so we baked. I had to skip your apple muffin recipe because we didn’t have greek yogurt, but we made these cookies. Absolutely fantastic, super quick to mix up and quick to bake, crunchy on the outside and super soft on the inside. Yum! Thank you!
You’re welcome! I’m glad you loved them, Nicole
Where is the recipe?
The recipe is at the end of the post, before the comments. I hope this helps!
Sadly, these were disappointing. The texture was great but the peanut butter flavor did not come through and they were overly sweet.
I’m sorry you didn’t love these. What brand of peanut butter did you use, Kam?
Like a hearty nutter butter! Absolutely delicious!!!!
I’m excited you loved them, Sarah!
Yummy, chewy, great flavor, & texture. I used butter & brown sugar (I mis-read so I added a little too much sugar, tightly, rather than lightly packed brown sugar). A little sweet from that. Next time, I’ll measure properly & perhaps add a teaspoon of salt. They did spread, so really give a lot of space.
They’re good, but I think they’d be better if I hadn’t used the oatmeal I did. Will try interpreting the instructions more literally next time, lol!
This makes, of course, a big batch, and there’s only one of me at this house. No way will I get through them in “a couple of days”. Can I refrigerate or freeze the rest?
Also, for folk like me who haven’t baked in a while, let me warm you–swapping out cookie sheets, giving each cookie room to spread, this takes most of an afternoon.
Upside is, my whole house smells WONDERFUL.
Hi! I hope they work better for you next time. What oatmeal did you use? And yes, these should freeze well! Thanks for sharing, Virginia.
I’m embarrassed to say I got whole grain. It gives it a nutty flavor and texture, but it feels and tastes like health food, lol! And when I eat a cookie, by gosh I want a COOKIE.
Best peanut butter cookie recipe ever!!!
Hooray! Thank you, Brenda.
Kate is the nutritional value correct… 203 calories and 21 mg cholesterol for one cookie?
I can’t believe how perfect these turned out! I’m addicted! Thank you
You’re welcome, Rashi!
Hey again! :)
Is there any way to switch the coconut sugar for honey in this recipe?
These are cooling on the counter now. So good. Made with butter and brown sugar plus the 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips. I love that I have another good recipe to use for my friends who are truly gluten free.
A friendly reminder to fellow Cookie and Kate enthusiasts- this is a review format for those who have tried the recipe. We all want to try the recipes and think they all sound delicious but we don’t all have the time to scroll through reviews that have no review content. We need that time to be trying what’s new with Cookie and Kate!
I made these!
My friend is intollerant to wheat, soy, gluten, cocoa and dairy so these cookies were the perfect recipe. I’ve just eaten a couple and they are bloody lovely!
I left them in the oven for a bit longer than stated.
They grow to about 8 times the size of the raw batter, so spread them out or you’ll get cookie squares!
Next time I’ll halve the ingredients as this recipe really does yield around 27 massive cookies!
I made this recipe this weekend (half portion – still ended up with 15 pretty big cookies!) and they were a massive hit! Great recipe, and so easy to make, thanks! I would especially recommend not omitting the light sprinkle of sea salt, really uplifted them even more
Great to hear, Linda! Thanks for sharing.
Made it as written, with coconut oil. The cookies are a hit! I knew they would be good as soon as I read the recipe.
I love these cookies :) Out of habit I made the oats into flour because I make you gluten free waffles so much. They turned out great, but I am also going to try the whole oats that the recipe calls for. Im obesssd with the waffles!!!
Can’t wait to try this recipe! Just wondering if the receipe can be cut in half to make fewer cookies?
Hi Josie! I don’t see why not!
Super delicious! Made them exactly as the recipe says using butter and old fashioned oats. I did reduce the size of the cookie to ~1.5 tablespoons, as 2 seemed to big. Very moist and chewy, my husband and I love them.
Just made these, and they’re fabulous. Was looking for something low-flour, since there’s a shortage right now. These have NO flour, but that makes their flavor even better, in my opinion. Expected them to maybe be crumbly, but they aren’t. They have a great texture and a wonderful flavor – you definitely know it’s a peanut butter cookie. Added bonus is they’re suitable for my gf-eating grandson. You never disappoint, Kate!
I made these with my 3.5 year old yesterday – we used butter and coconut sugar, plus added 1 cup of chocolate chips. They turned out great, everyone loves them! I just had one for breakfast, ssshhhhh…..
Hi, I want to say thank you for your valuable and detailed guidance on starting a food blog. The detail provided helped!! And I love your tips keep sharing! You are an inspiration!!
So I made this recipe and I dont know what happened but they came out flat as a pancake and falling apart when you pick them up. I followed this recipe exactly. I only added dark chocolate chips to the mix. I used coconut oil in place of butter. What went wrong?? :(
Oh no! I’m bummed you got that result. I hope they still tasted great! Did you over mix them by chance or I wonder if your oven was too hot?
I used your recipe to make the cookies with my home-made granola and added walnuts to it. It’s very yummy. Thanks for your recipe.
Nicole
haha, mine didn’t look as gorgeous as yours but they were so delicious and my partner loved them! So Happy about it!!
I am about to attempt making my own oat milk and was wondering if I could use the leftover pulp plus some additional dry oats to make these… might have to lessen the wet ingredients. What do you think?
Hi Laura, I’m not sure as I haven’t tried it. I would be interested! Let me know. I don’t have too much experience using pulp from making non-dairy milk.
Omg what a delight! Just cooled the cookies and they are fantastic : chewy, tasty, simply good! Thank you for this, sure I will make them again
You’re welcome, Monika!
Another yummy recipe! I used almond butter and added chocolate chips.
This recipe is FANTASTIC. Very sweet though. I think I might add less sugar next time. Will that influence the recipe in any way? Apart from making it less sweet.
Peanutbutter cookies are my favourite and oats cookies are my husbands favourite. So this is a perfect snack for our house. Thank you
Hi Chanelle, so glad you like the cookies! You can probably get by with less sugar. Sugar makes baked goods tender, too, so your cookies might be a bit more on the tough side. Please report back!
I have a problem.i followed the instructions and I got something not quite right.
I’ve made this recipe with peanut butter I bought from Fresh Thyme, they make their own. The cookies tasted great, but in the oven became very runny. I think it could be peanut butter as I did everything else exactly to your directions. Next time I’ve used jar peanut butter (nothing but peanuts) and the mix was way firmer. Nevertheless, worried I might have another disaster, I divided the mix in half, added 2 Tsp cocoa powder to one half, and smushed it in the bottom of a square silica baking dish, then topped with the other half, practically turning the cookies into a kind of a two tone brownie slice. It took about 45 minutes to bake – toothpick test – but came out wonderful, and this is how I am planning on making this recipe forever and ever, we both love it!
Hi Anna! I’m sorry the first time didn’t turn out perfect for you. But, I’m happy to hear you found another way you can love this recipe! Thank you for sharing.