These Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookie Bars are about to change your life. They’re gooey on the inside, made with wholesome ingredients, and kid-friendly!
This oatmeal cookie bars recipe uses all-natural sugar (hey, maple syrup!), white whole wheat flour, rolled oats, and all-natural peanut butter to keep these peanut butter oatmeal bars healthy and better-for-you!
It’s Friday and you deserve a COOKIE BAR. But, these aren’t you average peanut butter cookie bars…
They’re Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars.
You guys died over this sneak peek on Instagram stories, so we rejiggered our content calendar to get these up ASAP. We also made them two more times to make sure they’re perfect…and, well, they are! These peanut butter oatmeal bars are a spin-off of our Grain-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars, but we added in some rolled oats and white whole wheat flour for more of a traditional cookie bar texture.
This recipe is gooey, satisfying, and just the best. They’re not too sweet and you don’t have to worry about refined sugars because these peanut butter cookie bars are made with maple syrup and you can use vegan chocolate chips to keep things 100% dairy free. Here’s what else you need:
Peanut Butter Cookie Bars Ingredients
- Rolled Oats
- White Whole Wheat Flour
- Cinnamon
- Mini Chocolate Chips
- All Natural Peanut Butter
- Eggs
- Maple Syrup
- Vanilla Extract
Let’s talk all-natural peanut butter for a second. We get this question all the time, what are your favorite all-natural peanut butters to bake with? What I like to look for in all-natural peanut butter is: 1. no added sugar and 2. the consistency. You want to make sure that your all-natural peanut butter is drippy and smooth. If the oil is separated from the nut butter, no fear, give it a nice stir and you should be good to go. Here are some of my favorite brands to use when it comes to all-natural peanut butter.
Best All-Natural Peanut Butter Brands
- Smuckers (ALL-TIME FAV)
- Whole Foods
- Fresh Thyme
- Costco
- Trader Joe’s
As you can see I’m just a littttttle bit passionate about peanut butter. Sry not sry.
Lastly, before I share the recipe for these oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip bars, I wanted to talk about ingredient swaps. You guys are the swap queens, so I’m hoping to answer all of those questions here!
Peanut Butter Cookie Bar Swaps
- White whole wheat flour –> I recommend swapping with either all-purpose, whole wheat flour, or a gluten-free flour blend. Swap recommendation is 1:1. Note: Do not swap 1:1 for a nut-based flour such as almond flour, coconut flour, etc.
- Peanut butter –> Good news! Any kind of nut butter works for this recipe! My favorite other than peanut butter is cashew butter! Swap recommendation is 1:1.
- Maple syrup –> If you’re hoping to swap the maple syrup for another kind of sugar, make sure you use a liquid sweetener such as honey or agave. Swap recommendation is 1:1.
If you’re wondering what to swap out for the eggs, then this recipe isn’t for you! This is a nut butter and egg-based recipe, so I wouldn’t suggest nixing those!
Storage
Store these delicious peanut butter oatmeal bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Freezer instructions: to freeze, place cooled bars on a cookie sheet. Then, freeze for 1 hour. Transfer bars from cookie sheet to a freezer-safe gallon-size bag. Remove as much air as possible and freeze for up to 3 months.
More Healthy Dessert Recipes
Looking for more healthy dessert recipes just like this? Check out some of our favorites below!
- Pumpkin Almond Butter Freezer Fudge
- Vegan Peanut Butter Banana Cookies
- Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Fresh Cherry Crisp
- Grain-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars
These Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookie Bars are about to change your life. They’re gooey on the inside, made with wholesome ingredients, and kid-friendly! This recipe uses all-natural sugar (hey, maple syrup!), white whole wheat flour, rolled oats, and all-natural peanut butter to keep these peanut butter oatmeal bars healthy and better-for-you!
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1/4 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips
Wet Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and spray an 8×8 baking pan with non-stick cooking spray or line with parchment paper.
- Next, add all of your dry ingredients to a bowl and mix well. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk your eggs. Then add the rest of your wet ingredients to the eggs. Mix well.
- Slowly add your dry ingredients to wet ingredients. When ingredients are well combined, pour dough into your baking pan. Spread evenly.
- Bake at 350ºF for 15-18 minutes (depending on your oven) and how gooey you want your bars).
Tips & Notes
- Option to sub any other drippy nut butter such as cashew or almond for the peanut butter.
- Option to sub the white whole wheat flour for a gluten-free flour blend. We do not recommend subbing for coconut flour.
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 1/9 Calories: 361 Sugar: 19 Sodium: 179 Fat: 21 Carbohydrates: 37 Fiber: 5 Protein: 9Keywords: peanut butter oatmeal bars
Can i use Honey in place of Maple Syrup
★★★★★
Yes, that works!
This is my all time favorite sweet treat to make! Super easy to throw together with ingredients I always keep in my pantry, and sooo delicious!
★★★★★
I love these tooooo! SO GOOD.
Light and fluffie! Used 1/3 c agave since I wanted it let sweet and didn’t have maple syrup. Thanks for the recipe.
So glad you loved these!
My 4 year old said, “yum! Good job mom” when I made these😁
★★★★★
LOL!!! I love this so much.
These came out perfect! I cooked them for 17 minutes at 350 and did not have any issues with goopiness or dryness. They are super chocolatey and peanutbuttery! Will definitely make again soon 🙂
★★★★★
YAY! Glad you loved them!
I had the same issue with the soppy middle after baking for the suggested time! I did end up baking an extra 10 minutes and they solidified for the most part!! If anyone has that issue, I would continue baking (maybe do a foil tent) until set. 🙂
★★★★
I don’t get what went wrong since it seems other people followed the recipe and got a solid product. Mine turned out not gooey, but goupy. There’s no cutting it into bars, it’s just like batter. It was starting to get too brown around the edges, and it rose, but when I pulled it out it was jiggly and it sank in the middle after ten minutes or so. I wonder if there’s supposed to be more than a cup oats, or more than 1/4 cup of flour? The wet ingredients outweigh the dry.
★★
I’ve made this recipe 10+ times and have never had an issue! Did you make any flour swaps? Or maple swaps?
I was excited for these bars. Sadly I found them to be quite a let down. Way too much cinnamon. Overpowers all the peanut and chocolate and vanilla flavors. Came out very fluffy as well. Definitely not gooey.
★
Fit Foodie recipes never disappoint, these were awesome! My husband is a sucker for anything PB & Chocolate (well, so am I) and it’s great to have a healthier option. I subbed honey for the maple syrup and we gobbled these gooey bars right up.
★★★★★
Love!!! I swapped out chocolate chips for a mix of white chocolate and peanut butter chips. Tastes like a warm peanut butter and fluff blonde. SO GOOD!!!
★★★★★
Ugh so good, right?!
Mine turned out dry and I followed instructions through. Any suggestions?
My family and I ate them all in less than 24 hours. We will definitely make again.
★★★★★
I will be making these bars again for sure! I work at a cafe and do all the baking, and these bars have been immensely popular — they look great, taste amazing, and keep really well.
The only problem I had was that I had to bake them almost 30 minutes more than the recipe said, as the batter was really really moist. I substituted wheat for the oat flour, so that may have been part of the reason.
Other than that, top notch!
★★★★★
Dare I say it…this might be my FAVORITE Fit Foodie recipe. It is the perfect amount of gooey deliciousness and I can’t stop eating them. I’ll be making these over and over again.
★★★★★
I make oatmeal jelly bars where the middle has a thin layer of jam. Do you think this batter will work, minus the choc chips? I’ve been looking for a recipe for peanut butter jelly bars that uses oats.
Hello! I’m not exactly sure what kind of oatmeal jelly bars you’re referring to! Do you have a link to the recipe? Just want to make sure I’m following!
I love these! I’ve made them 4 or 5 times now. My family always asks for them. I have changed them up a bit: I use the crunchy pb TJ’s brand, omit the chocolate chips and subbed 1tbsp of cocoa powder instead. It truly feels like a gooey brownie that I can feel good about having! I don’t eat sweets, so I appreciate how mild the sweet is because I don’t add the chips. Exactly what I was looking for 💚 Thank you!!
★★★★★
YASSSS! And TJ’s for the win. They have the best drippy nut butters!
I don’t have any white whole wheat flour on hand, but I have regular whole wheat flour. Would that work?
Hey Kate! That should work!
Can I use PB2 (peanut butter powder) mixed with something to substitute for peanut butter? Looking to lower the calories per bar. Thanks!
Hey Laura! Unfortunately, I don’t recommend swapping that 1:1!
would this work with pb2?
How do you think it will turn out if I use 1/2 cup of protein powder in place of oats?