These Sugar Free Oatmeal Cookies are chewy thanks to oats and flaxseed, and have a sweet pop of nuts and dried fruit. They prove that it is possible to avoid sugar and still bake cookies!
Other oatmeal cookies we love are these healthy oatmeal cookies and healthy banana oatmeal cookies.
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Here is a giant healthy cookie recipe with no added sugar and whole food ingredients!
I started making these sugar free oatmeal cookies back in 2018 when we hiked with small kids and I was extremely passionate about healthy eating. Not that I am not anymore, but as kids grew I became more understanding with “balance and moderation”.:)
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- No added sugar: No maple syrup, honey, coconut sugar or low glycemic sugar substitutes. Fruit is the only sweetener!
- Easy to make: Minimal ingredients and mostly pantry staples, these cookies come together in only 40 minutes.
- Special diet approved: No eggs, dairy or wheat and when using gluten free oats, these are both vegan and gluten-free oatmeal cookies.
- Eat any time of the day: Made with wholesome ingredients these are perfect for a healthy breakfast, snack or even dessert!
- Freezer friendly: Make a big batch and store in the freezer when you need a healthy snack on the go!
Ingredients for Sugar Free Oatmeal Cookies
To make sugar free oatmeal cookies recipe you will need common pantry staples plus bananas.
- Bananas: Make sure you use very ripe bananas with many black spots to ensure sweet cookies.
- Flaxseed and water: Flax eggs keep this recipe vegan, add extra healthy fats and help to eat less animal products.
- Oats: I prefer to use rolled oats or also known as old-fashioned oats. You can use quick oats but cookies will have less chewy texture.
- Oat flour: You can use store-bought oat flour or here is a quick tutorial on DIY oat flour. Don’t use just ground up oats, they have to be sifted.
- Coconut oil: I tried this recipe with both coconut oil and Nutiva buttery flavored coconut oil. Both worked great! I think vegan butter like Earth Balance will be fine too but I am not sure how recipe will work with oil that you can’t melt.
- Nuts: Use whichever nuts you love. I use peanuts, almonds and cashews. I think sunflower seeds, Brazilian nuts, pecans and hazelnuts will go well.
- Dates: You can use regular dates or Medjool dates.
- Baking essentials: Vanilla extract, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
How to Make Sugar Free Oatmeal Cookies
These sugar free oatmeal cookies are so simple to make! There is also a full recipe card below.
- Prep wet ingredients: In a small bowl, whisk together flaxseed and water, and let the mixture sit for 10 minutes. In another large bowl, mash bananas and add melted coconut oil, vanilla, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Add in the flaxseed mixture and whisk well.
- Add dry ingredients: Add oats and oat flour and mix well. Don’t be surprised that cookie dough will come out pretty thick. Throw in chopped nuts and dried fruit, stir.
- Form cookies: Scoop cookie batter onto baking sheet using a large ice cream scoop or a cookie scoop (a large tablespoon works too!). Flatten with the back of the scoop or a large spoon. Don’t worry, these cookies will not spread out more during baking.
- Bake: Bake cookies for 20 minutes. Then remove from the oven and let the cookies cool for a minute before transferring to a wire rack. Let them cool completely.
Tips for Best Results
- Follow the recipe: For best results, I recommend to follow this cookie recipe as written. Baking is truly a science!
- Chop dried fruit: If using larger dried fruit like apricots, dates or even prunes, chop them into dried raisin sized pieces. Also raisins or dried cranberries will work, no need to chop them. Just make sure you are not using sweetened dried fruit.
- Do not substitute flour: Oat flour is lighter than wheat flours and if you substitute it, your cookies will turn out dry or crumbly.
- Flatten the cookies: These cookies need some help to spread out. Flatten them slightly to ensure they bake all the way through.
- Cool for only 1 minute on the pan: After baking, cool for 1 minute on the pan to ensure the cookie holds shape, then move to a baking rack. Leaving them longer on the pan, might “bake” them longer and your cookies might be dry!
Additions and Variations
No matter what mix-ins you use, either as written or with add-in variations, be sure to use only 1 cup total.
- Mix-ins: Mini chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips (just remember this will change the sugar amount), unsweetened dried cranberries, chopped dried apricots, dried cherries, blueberries or even crystalized ginger will work.
- Shredded coconut: Unsweetened dried coconut flakes.
- Nuts and seeds: Pumpkin seeds, chopped walnuts or pecans, pistachios, chia seeds, flax seeds or sunflower seeds. Unsalted is best!
- Warm spices: Swap cinnamon for gingerbread spice, pumpkin pie spice or a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger or allspice.
- Lemon or orange zest: Just a 1/4-1/2 teaspoon will add a delicious flavor.
- Extract: Swap vanilla extract for pure almond extract for a nutty taste.
- Peanut butter: Add just 1-2 tablespoons otherwise you will upset the balance of wet to dry ratio of ingredients. You could also use a small amount of peanut butter powder.
How to Store
Store: It is best to place sugar free oatmeal cookies in a cool, dry ventilated or partially closed container. I don’t recommend storing in an airtight container or the cookies will get soggy.
Freeze: Place in a freezer in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw on the counter for a few hours.
Shipping? I would ship cookies only to a short destination where a receiver can pick up parcel immediately. For 5 days in transit maximum.
I recommend to place cookies in a ventilated container big enough to fit all cookies but so they don’t tumble in it and break.
FAQs
I have not tried this swap, so can’t vouch for results. You will need to skip flaxseed and water and try to add 2 large eggs. That’s what seems to work out for some readers. Please let me know how cookies turn out.
I don’t recommend it. Bananas are quite unique, binding and make the base of this recipe. Maybe pumpkin puree or applesauce will work.
I have not tested this recipe with any oil that you can’t melt like avocado oil, olive oil etc. A reader made these cookies with grapeseed oil and they turned out well.
Dried fruit makes cookies sweeter. If you are OK with not sweet cookies, you can omit dates.
Sugar free cookies will not be chewy because it is sugar that causes cookies to be soft as it melts while baking. These cookies will be soft, but not chewy.
More Healthy Cookies Recipes to Try
- Healthy oatmeal cranberry cookies
- Protein cookies
- Oat flour cookies
- Oat flour monster cookies
- Healthy pumpkin cookies
Sugar Free Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons flaxseed ground
- 9 tablespoons water
- 2 large over ripen bananas
- 1/2 cup coconut oil melted
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 3/4 cups rolled oats
- 1/2 cup oat flour
- 1 cup mixed nuts & seeds chopped, if too large
- 10 Medjool dates pitted & chopped, or 1 cup raisins
- Cooking spray I use Misto
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, line large baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.
- In a small bowl, whisk flaxseed and water. Let sit for about 10 minutes while you are getting other ingredients ready.
- In a large bowl, mash bananas. Add coconut oil, vanilla extract, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Add flaxseed mixture and whisk really well.
- Add oats and oat flour; stir to combine. Add nuts and dried fruit; mix well. Dough will be very thick.
- Using large ice cream scoop, place batter on previously prepared sheet and flatten with the back of a scoop into large size cookies. Cookies do not spread. I had about 6 cookies per sheet. Bake in batches for 20 minutes or until nuts start to brown a bit.
- Remove from the oven and let cookies cool for a minute, then transfer onto a cooling rack to cool off completely. Enjoy for breakfast, snack or a healthy dessert!
Notes
- Store: Store in a cool dry place open. Do not wrap or place cookies in a jar. The more air, the better. That way cookies do not get soggy. Remember there is no sugar.
- Freeze: In an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw on the counter for a few hours.
I just pulled the last pan from the oven! These are delicious cookies, though I’m not a fan of bananas (they grow in our yard). Do you recommend a substitute for bananas?
Following the recipe exactly, I wound up with 18 cookies! That’s a good thing.
I have a question regarding storage. As we live in a tropical climate, right on the beach and do not use A/C, it is very humid, and leaving a container open would invite moisture. Shall I store them in the refrigerator? I prefer not to eat “cold” cookies, but will adhere to your suggestion.
Thanks!
I tried only with bananas. Maybe applesauce will work but I have no idea. Maybe store them in the fridge in a ventilated container sort of.
A fantastic, sugar-free cookie, with a great nutty fruity flavor. 5/5!
That is so amazing to hear! Glad you enjoyed my recipe!
I actually did a date paste before adding the rest (I also added macadamia and sugar free 100% cacao chocolate), worked great can’t stop eating these cookies lol thanks for the recipe!
best cookie I’ve ever made since going vegan, gluten and sugar free. AMAZING. DELICIOUS.
So good! My picky, oatmeal-raisin cookie loving husband loved them too:-). Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipe!
You are very welcome! Husbands are kids too.:)
First time to your blog to make these cookies and we LOVED them. I love healthy eating for myself and my family so I’m looking forward to trying more of your recipes. Thank you!
You are very welcome, Jo Anne!:) Tx for making an effort to find a Comment tab.
These cookies are so good!
Hey, Olena. I was just wondering, what is the flax seed for?
It acts as a binder instead of eggs.
Hi Olena, Just like you I’m an expat – a Swede living in the UK. I also have two children, two girls of 5 years and 15 months, and I can identify with so much of what you write about as being a mum! I also share your interest in healthy eating, so your blog is a great inspiration. I just made these cookies and they are great! I wanted to use them as grab-and-go snacks for the girls so made them with finely chopped hazelnuts and pumpkin seeds in place of the nuts you had, so that my youngest wouldn’t choke on them. They came out absolutely delicious – the girls loved them :)! I also can’t believe how light they are, not at all dense like I had imagined. Thanks so much for this brilliant recipe, and for a really entertaining and funny blog! Cecilia x.
Hi Cecilia. I can bet every mom’s life is pretty similar.:) My boys have the same age difference. They are very good friends now. It helps that kids are same sex so they share same interests. In my case it is crazy loud lol.
My kids love these cookies too. I already forgot about the details feeding babies.:) Great creativity. Well, you are a mom. You know how to work around things. All the best to you. I will try to think of similar healthy cookie recipe on the go. Get tired of muffins.
These cookies look absolutely wonderful!! I can’t believe they’re sugar free!