Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
Published 3/5/2021 • Updated 3/16/2021
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These are truly the best peanut butter oatmeal cookies on the internet and all you need are 8 ingredients!
Best Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
These are seriously the best peanut butter oatmeal cookies you’ll ever eat. They’re soft on the inside with a little crisp on the outside. Plus, they’re BIG cookies. Here’s why you should make them:
- No flour: that’s right, there’s no flour involved in these peanut butter oatmeal cookies! The only grain you need is quick-cooking oats.
- Soft & chewy: have I mentioned how perfectly soft and chewy these are? A hint of maple syrup helps with this.
- Easily gluten-free: hoping to make these gluten-free? All you have to do is use certified gluten-free oats and you’re good to go!
- 8 ingredients: 8 simple ingredients is all you need! Nothing crazy or out of the ordinary, either.
- Healthier: we tried to make these a healthy peanut butter oatmeal cookies by making them “flourless” and cutting the amount of sugar used.
What You Need
Are you ready to make the most delicious peanut butter oatmeal cookie recipe you’ve ever tasted? Check out these simple ingredients:
- quick-cooking oats: we’ve made this recipe with both quick-cooking oats and rolled oats. We prefer quick-cooking oats, but either works!
- butter: we haven’t tested this with any other fat, but let me tell you, butter makes these extra delish!
- brown sugar: make sure to pack your light brown sugar when measuring.
- maple syrup: a little bit of maple syrup helps these peanut butter oatmeal cookies become nice and chewy. It also adds a hint of warmth.
- egg: don’t skip the egg! We haven’t tested this without it.
- peanut butter: we used normal creamy peanut butter in this recipe, but I’ve also made them with drippy, all-natural peanut butter. Either should work.
- vanilla: a little goes a long way!
- baking soda: baking soda is used to help these cookies flatten a bit, but not too much!
How to Make Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
How do you make peanut butter oatmeal cookies from scratch? Easy! Follow the simple steps below for cookies in less than 30 minutes!
- Preheat: preheat oven to 350ºF and spray 2 baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray.
- Combine Dough: combine all ingredients together in a large bowl and mix to form your cookie dough.
- Roll Balls: scoop out 2 tablespoons of cookie dough and roll it into a ball. Then slightly pat it down to create a cookie shape. Space out 6 cookies on each baking sheet.
- Bake: bake cookies at 350ºF for 11-14 minutes, or until they begin to turn golden brown.
- Let Cool: let cookies cool for a few minutes before transferring to a metal rack to finish cooling.
Baking Tips & Tricks
These are our top 3 tips to make the most perfect peanut butter oatmeal recipe of all time.
Roll & Pat: Rolling and slightly patting is the most important part of baking perfectly round peanut butter oatmeal cookies.
Scoop 2 tablespoons of cookie dough (yes these are big cookies!) into your palms and roll it into a ball. Then, slightly pat it down to form a cookie shape. Don’t worry about patting it down too much, you just want to help get it started!
Bake until golden: All ovens are different and that’s a fact. The cook time should be anywhere between 11 and 14 minutes, but the real way to get perfectly baked peanut butter oatmeal cookies is by baking until they start to turn golden brown.
Let cool: Once your cookies are done baking, they will seem pretty soft and fragile. You MUST let them cool for at least 15 minutes to firm up before eating.
Variations
- Chocolate Chips: mix in around 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips to the batter before rolling into cookie dough balls.
- Use almond butter: can’t do peanut butter? Swap the peanut butter for a drippy almond butter.
- Brown butter: instead of using regular melted butter, make brown butter and mix that into your cookies.
Storage
Let cookies cool completely. Then, transfer cookies into an airtight container and store them in a cool, dark place for up to 5 days.
Freezer Instructions
Let cookies cool completely. Then, transfer cookies into a freezer-safe gallon-size bag or container. Remove as much air as possible and then seal. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch salt
- 2.5 cups quick-cooking oats, gluten-free if desired
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- optional: 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- First, preheat the oven to 350ºF and spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.
- Next, combine melted butter and brown sugar until there are no lumps. Then, add maple syrup, egg, peanut butter, and vanilla and mix again.
- Add salt, quick-cooking oats, and baking soda and mix until everything is combined. Add in optional chocolate chips and mix again.
- Refrigerate dough for 20 minutes to set.
- Scoop 2 tablespoons of batter into your hands and form it into a ball. Place it onto the cookie sheet and slightly press down to form a cookie shape. The batter will feel a bit wet, but they will be so soft and chewy when done baking!*
- Repeat the process above until you've fit 12 cookies on the baking sheet.
- Bake cookies at 350ºF for 11-14 minutes or until they begin to turn golden brown.
- Remove cookies and let cool for a couple of minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to continue cooling for at least 20 minutes to firm up.
Tips & Notes
- Cookie dough – the cookies will spread just a little bit when baking. If you don’t press them down, you will get dome-shaped cookies.
- If you use less than 2 tablespoons of dough, consider reducing your bake time by 1-2 minutes as your cookies will be smaller.
- It might help to slightly moisten your hands before rolling the cookie dough and washing your hands in-between balls because the dough is pretty sticky.
- Nutrition information does not include chocolate chips.
Watch It
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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These were delicious! I ended up doing a 1/4 cup peanut butter and adding coconut. I’ll be making these again!