These Healthy Oatmeal Cookies are soft, chewy, and are loaded with oats and dark chocolate chips! Perfect for healthy dessert or snack.
We also love these healthy oatmeal cranberry cookies, healthy banana oatmeal cookies and sugar free oatmeal cookies.
Reader’s Review
These are wonderful! I did sub raisins and a few walnuts for the chocolate chips because I didn’t have the chips. But I will try them next time for sure. Thanks so much!
Donna Flynn
Homemade healthy oatmeal cookies are delicious and uncomplicated!
I am a strong believer in healthy eating and swapping out ingredients for healthy alternatives without sacrificing taste and texture. However, I also do not shy away from real butter and cane sugar. And that’s what this healthy oatmeal cookies recipe cookies use for the best results!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Control over the ingredients: Unlike store-bought oatmeal cookies, your homemade oatmeal cookies will have no additives, preservatives or ingredients you can’t pronounce.
- Easy recipe: This cookie recipe uses pantry staples you, more likely, already have in your kitchen.
- Real food ingredients: When it comes to making classic oatmeal cookies that have melt in your mouth texture, I know there is really no way around using things like butter and sugar. We also use whole grain flour for more health benefits.
- Not sacrificing the flavor: We use only 1/2 cup butter and sugar, and dark chocolate chips to keep these cookies taste like a real deal.
Ingredients and Substitutions for Healthy Oatmeal Cookies
- Sugar: Either cane sugar, coconut sugar, brown sugar, white sugar or erythritol will do. The texture of cookies will change slightly with each sugar. Please avoid using liquid sweetener like pure maple syrup or honey please because recipe won’t work.
- Flour: I have tested this recipe with spelt flour and whole wheat flour. You can also use same amount of white whole wheat flour or 1 cup of all-purpose flour. For a gluten-free version, the only one I can vouch for is 1:1 all-purpose gluten free flour or 1 1/4 cups of oat flour.
- Rolled oats: Or quick oats. If you prefer steel cut oats, I don’t recommend regular ones, but if you can get your hands on quick cooking steel cut oats, go ahead and use those. Even so, they may not blend as well because of their coarse texture, resulting in a heavier tasting cookie.
- Butter or coconut oil: Butter yields more traditional chewy oatmeal cookies. Coconut oil results in more crunchy cookies. You could use vegan butter like Earth Balance for dairy-free cookies.
- Eggs: Necessary for binding. I think flax eggs or chia eggs will work but cookies will turn on a softer side.
- Lifting agent: Baking soda.
- Flavorings: Pure vanilla extract, cinnamon and salt.
- Chocolate chips: Dark chocolate chips or you could use mini chocolate chips for more chocolate in each bite.
Other Add-Ins
Add up to 1 cup total (including chocolate chips mentioned in the recipe) of raisins, chopped nuts or dried cranberries.
How to Make Healthy Oatmeal Cookies
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line large baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or unbleached parchment paper.
This recipe makes enough dough for 2 sheets of cookies, so you can either prep 2 sheets at a time or bake back to back batches.
- Combine wet ingredients: Mix the eggs and sugar in a large bowl until foamy. Then add melted butter, vanilla, cinnamon, baking soda and salt, and beat until combined.
- Add dry ingredients: Then add in flour, combining with a spatula until it is all incorporated. Do this with the oats as well. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Chill the dough: Place the bowl of dough in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
- Bake the cookies: Using a small cookie scoop, roll the dough balls and place a few inches apart on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 13 minutes or until your house smells amazing and cookies are a lovely golden brown color. Transfer to a cooling rack before serving.
Serving Tip
Indulge a bit and save the rest for later! Freeze some healthy oatmeal cookies or package them up as gifts. Make sandwich cookies with healthy buttercream or healthy chocolate frosting. They are the perfect addition to your holiday baking tray.
Tips for Best Results
- Don’t skip chilling the dough: This is super important! Ironically, even though you melted your butter ahead of time, now that it’s incorporated into the dough, you want it to solidify again. This way, when you put your cookies in the oven, it’ll take longer time for the butter to melt and the cookies won’t spread as quickly or as far out.
- Bake right after chilling: Bake right after the cookie dough has chilled, don’t let it sit on the counter. Because there is a purpose behind putting it in the fridge. If you allow it to warm back up again, that defeats the purpose.
- If you don’t have an electric mixer: Feel free to whisk by hand, it will just take more effort.
- Fold in dry ingredients gently: It means gently combining and not over mixing so not too much of the air escapes in the process. This helps with getting that light and fluffy cookie we’re all aiming for.
- Don’t use applesauce or mashed banana: As someone who understands the temptation to substitute for healthier versions, sometimes it just doesn’t work. Adding applesauce will result in a cakey cookie. Check out my sugar free oatmeal cookies for a mashed banana version.
How to Store and Freeze
Store: Keep leftover cookies in a cool dry area, uncovered. Have a couple first because if you don’t you may miss your chance! They will be gone in minutes.
Freezing the cookies: If you have happened to make a double batch and want to freeze one of them, or you happen to have leftovers (what’s that like?), you can definitely store cookies in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw oatmeal cookies on the counter for a few hours.
Freezing the dough: You can freeze the dough for up to 3 months. Roll the dough into balls and freeze them on a baking sheet for 1 hour. Then transfer to a Ziploc bag. This way you can take out individual balls and bake as many as you need at a time. Thaw the dough in the fridge for a few hours before baking.
Shipping Tip
I would let cookies sit for a day to dry out a bit and to hold their shape better. Then wrap 2 cookies back to back with plastic wrap, place in an airtight container where they won’t tumble around much and throw in a slice of bread to absorb moisture. Ship to anywhere that has a maximum 5 day travel distance. Any longer and you run the risk of losing freshness.
More Healthy Cookies Recipes to Try
- Breakfast cookies
- Protein cookies
- Dubai chocolate oatmeal cookies
- Healthy chocolate chip cookies
- Blueberry oatmeal cookies
- Healthy zucchini cookies
- Oatmeal pistachio cookies
Healthy Oatmeal Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup cane or coconut sugar
- 1/2 cup butter or coconut oil, measured melted and cooled off a bit
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, add eggs and sugar. Beat with a mixer until foamy. You can also use a whisk for entire cookie making process, just beat well. Add butter and beat with a mixer again. Add vanilla, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and beat until combined.
- Add flour and mix with spatula until incorporated. Do same thing with oats. And at the end fold in chocolate chips. Chill dough for 30 minutes.
- In the meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line large baking sheet with silicone baking mat or unbleached parchment paper. You can prep 2 sheets and bake cookies at once or do so in 2 batches with 1 sheet.
- Using small cookie scoop, roll dough balls and place on a baking sheet leaving a few inches for cookies to spread, about 12 per sheet (they don’t spread a lot). Bake for 13 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, transfer onto cooling rack to cool off a bit and enjoy.
Notes
- Store: Keep cookies in a dry place uncovered otherwise they get too soft. If they last this long in your house.
- Freeze: In storage container for up to 3 months. Thaw on a counter for a few hours.
- Make ahead: Refrigerate cookie dough for up to 2 days and bake when ready. You can also freeze shaped dough balls on a sheet for an hour, transfer to a zip top bag, freeze for up to 3 months. Then place frozen balls on a cookie sheet, defrost in the fridge for a few hours and bake.
- Butter vs. coconut oil: Butter yields more traditional chewy cookies. Coconut oil results in more crunchy cookies.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Delicious! I used brown sugar and regular flour and they came out perfect!
So happy to hear that! Love how flexible the recipe is — thanks for sharing!
Great recipe! I’m trying to watch my blood sugars after pregnancy but nursing a newborn has me craving sweets all the time. I did use regular flour but also added 1/2 cup old school peanut butter and used Lilly’s semisweet baking chocolate bar instead of chips. Turned out wonderful. Truly a guilt free snack!
Made these today. They are OK but I’ll keep looking, and I wouldn’t call any recipe that uses 1/2 cup of butter and 1/2 cup of sugar for 20 cookies “healthy”. When making them, you’ll want to shape and flatten them to the size you want because they don’t spread much at all.
Hi Susan. No problem. Well, everyone has their own understanding of “healthy”. If you divide 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup sugar by 20, it’s about 1/3 tablespoon of each per a cookie! So, even if I eat 5 cookies per day, I have consumed less than 2 tablespoons of each. Well, that is reasonable to me. If I am afraid to eat 2 tablespoons of butter a day on occasion, it means I do not have healthy relationship with food. But to each their own. Some eat cookies made with applesauce only and enjoy them. Thanks but it’s not for me.
These are wonderful! I did sub raisins and a few walnuts for the chocolate chips because I didn’t have the chips. But I will try them next time for sure. Thanks so much!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this healthy oatmeal cookies, Donna!