Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookie Bars

4.51 from 61 votes
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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! Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookie Bars 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:

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. Cookie bars 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!
  • 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. Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Bars

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4.51 from 61 votes

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!
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes
Total: 30 minutes
Servings: 9
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Ingredients 

Dry Ingredients

Wet Ingredients

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

Calories: 361 kcal, Carbohydrates: 37 g, Protein: 9 g, Fat: 21 g, Fiber: 5 g, Sugar: 19 g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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About Lee Funke

Lee is the founder of Fit Foodie Finds and based in Minneapolis, MN. She started this website in 2010 as a way to share her love for real food and wellness. The internet has changed so much since then and so has Fit Foodie Finds. Today we're a female-run recipe website publishing hundreds of tried and true recipes developed and tested by our team.

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Sylvia
Sylvia
June 29, 2023 8:38 am

5 stars
These are perfect for the mindful eater!! Great for that little dessert craving after a meal. I baked mine for 27 minutes and it turned out perfectly for me. More cake like then fudge like , Thank you!!

Maureen
Maureen
February 21, 2023 1:36 pm

4 stars
I just got a new oven a few days ago and this recipe is the first thing I’ve baked. After 15 minutes they weren’t set in the middle at all. I baked another 3 minutes and still very mushy so I baked another 10 minutes and they were great. Next time I’ll try baking them for 20-22 minutes. I also think I’ll halve the cinnamon so I taste more peanut butter. Super easy so I’ll definitely make again. I used chocolate chip morsels not mini.

Maureen
Maureen
February 22, 2023 2:29 pm
Reply to  Maureen

I ended up making another batch of these today because everyone loved them yesterday! I baked them 22 minutes and let them sit on rack on counter for 30 minutes before cutting into squares. The middle pieces were still pretty gooey. Maybe that’s how they’re supposed to be?? They looked beautiful when I first removed them from the oven but the middle did sink after 20 minutes or so. I haven’t tried this new batch yet. Since I baked yesterday’s batch 28 minutes total they weren’t gooey at all. My son loved them and said they tasted just like brownies. I’ll let him be the judge of today’s batch. I did use 1/2 tsp cinnamon today. Thanks for such an easy, yummy recipe!

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Marisa
Marisa
September 2, 2022 11:40 pm

5 stars
We were looking fo something healthy for dessert. We had all the ingredients, so I said why not. My husband said wow this is better than cookies. Then he said MORE PLEASE! We love it

Emily Richter
September 6, 2022 11:13 am
Reply to  Marisa

So happy to hear it!

Jeanette
July 27, 2022 7:02 am
Recipe Rating :
     

5 stars
Delicious! Love the healthy ingredients.

Sarah M
Sarah M
February 13, 2022 5:39 pm
Recipe Rating :
     

5 stars
Super easy and very delicious! I used GF cup for cup flour and they turned out really well- may have cooked a few min longer than needed so they were closer to cake, less fudgey. Not super sweet but a perfect sweet treat fix!

Sarah
Sarah
September 14, 2021 6:32 pm
Recipe Rating :
     

2 stars
There was way too much baking soda in this recipe – really ruined the flavor and texture, though no one else seems to have had a problem with it? Is it supposed to be 1 whole teaspoon for the smallest portion size?

Natasha
Natasha
February 12, 2021 12:53 am
Recipe Rating :
     

5 stars
These were SOOOOOOO good!

I added walnuts, flax seeds, protein powder and brewers yeast to make them a little extra healthy. I poured in a little oat milk to offset those additions.

These were gone within 24 hours in our home of three.

Will definitely be making again!

They fulfill the need for something sweet and carby, next time will freeze so they last longer.

Natasha
Natasha
February 12, 2021 12:55 am
Reply to  Natasha

I also omitted the cinnamon and used white flour. Thinking of substituting with coconut or oat flour next time. I used regular size chocolate chips as well.

Olga
Olga
January 11, 2021 10:10 pm
Recipe Rating :
     

5 stars
Made these several times and they truly are amazing -healthy but doesn’t taste too healthy perfect medium. I was happy to find something with more peanut butter in it most recipes use too little and way more flour!

Gabby
Gabby
December 31, 2020 2:01 pm
Recipe Rating :
     

5 stars
This recipe is great! I made a few adjustments: for starters instead of mini chocolate chips i used cocoa nips which is like a super dark unprocessed chocolate which was too bitter to eat i used regular white flour and baking powder as well for the wet ingredients i used soy butter with monk fruit and milk instead of maple syrup i also omitted the cinnamon. The bars were great!

Saba Shaikh
Saba Shaikh
September 11, 2020 2:03 am
Recipe Rating :
     

5 stars
Can i use Honey in place of Maple Syrup