These Healthy Oatmeal Cookies are soft, chewy, and are loaded with oats and dark chocolate chips!
We also love these healthy oatmeal cranberry cookies, healthy banana oatmeal cookies and sugar free oatmeal cookies.
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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 these 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 for Healthy Oatmeal Cookies
- Sugar: Either cane sugar or coconut sugar will do. No liquid sweetener like maple syrup please because recipe won’t work.
- Flour: I use whole wheat flour but you can use spelt flour. For a gluten free version, the only one I can vouch for is 1:1 all-purpose gluten free 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.
- Other dry ingredients: Baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Dark chocolate chips or you could use mini chocolate chips for more chocolate in each bite.
- Coconut oil or butter: Butter yields more traditional chewy oatmeal cookies. Coconut oil results in more crunchy cookies.
- Other wet ingredients: Eggs. Pure vanilla extract.
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.
Recipe 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 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.
- Shipping the cookies: 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.
How to Store
Store: Keep them 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.
Reheat: Thaw them on the counter for a few hours. They will be fine to eat like that but if you want to reheat them, you can soften them up a bit in the microwave or place in the oven to warm through.
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.
FAQs
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.
Yes. Any dry sweetener including brown sugar can be used.
Yes. You can use erythritol with monk fruit extract to make cookies sugar free.
To make vegan oatmeal cookies you will have to use vegan butter like Earth Balance, which I think will work great. I think if you learn how to make a flax egg or chia egg instead of eggs, the recipe will work but cookies will turn on a softer side.
More Healthy Cookies Recipes to Try
- Breakfast cookies
- Healthy chocolate chip cookies
- Protein cookies
- Healthy no bake cookies
- Oat flour chocolate chip cookies
- Healthy pumpkin cookies
- Oat flour monster 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.
I have found that weighing my flour produces consistent good results as opposed to measuring the flour in a cup even when done properly I have had different results. This may help people. Also whisking the flour in the container may help those measuring with a cup.
These are yummy! I followed the recipe (used butter and coconut sugar) but it seems that the cookies came out a bit dry. Any ideas or suggestions? Thank you!
So glad you liked these cookies. I would cook for shorter amount of time, cookies dry out as you bake them longer. Should help! Also make sure to measure flour using scoop and level method.
I made them they’re very chewy maybe I should have blended the oats a little ? Not like chewy on paper. Have to find something to bake for my work bake sale I’ll put these in my freezer
What type of oats did you use? If you would like more crunchy than chew, feel free to sub butter for coconut oil.
Yummoo!
So glad you enjoyed!
I don’t have Wheat flour. Can I just use All-purpose flour? I know this is healthy but I might be allergic to whole.
Thanks for all the tips and reasons behind it.
You could try, you may need to use just a bit more AP flour as whole wheat is more dense. The recipe has not been tested with AP though.
Looking forward to making these with my daughter! Have tried many of your recipes and really enjoyed them all! I have a canister of quick cooking oats at home. Will they work okay?
They should work but will have a slightly different texture.
Hi, mine didn’t flatten out, are domed shaped. I put them in the oven in balls, should I have flattened them out first?? Haven’t tried one yet, they’re still cooling down. Can’t wait to try!!
(sorry I put this comment incorrectly against your chocolate chip cookie recipe but it should have been on these oatmeal ones)
Did you melt butter first and then chilled dough for 30 minutes only and not more after as per recipe? Answer lies in here. 🙂
I only have brown sugar and white sugar on hand and would like to make these now. Would one of those work and which would you recommend? Thank you! Love your recipes.
I would suggest the white sugar.
Olena, what a great recipe and a fantastic twist to a traditional oatmeal raisin cookies! I love oatmeal, my husband loves chocolate, and my 3 year old daughter had fun helping me make these cookies the night before Christmas. They turned out terrific and everyone loved them including Santa 😉 I will be sure to keep this recipe handy. Thank you!
You are so welcome Tatyana. I am so happy to hear this!
My cookies came out dry and crumbly. I followed the recipe and not sure why.
What did you change? Even little thing matters in baking. I just did 3 tests of this recipe last week.
I didn’t make any changes to the recipe.