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 breakfast cookies, 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
- Healthy no bake cookies
- Cottage cheese 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.
Very good! And I don’t have to feel guilty about eating them….very filling. Can be used as a healthy quick pick me up if you get hungry during the day.
Awesome Ren!
Hey I am going to try this . Can someone tell if per serving calories means one cookie? Does one cookie have 280 calories?
Thanks
For this recipe, 1 serving = 1 cookie. So yes, 280 calories per cookie.
Delicious, easy to make and I’m very picky.
Hi Linda! So glad that you enjoyed the cookies!
Hi Olena, I’m thrilled with this recipe!!! My husband is devouring these cookies. I used sugar free chocolate chips, walnuts, and raisins for the add ins. I substituted the oat flour for bleached white flour (that’s all I had on hand) and I used butter since I didn’t have coconut oil. I look forward to trying other variations. Thank you for inspiring me to think outside the box and believe that that “delicious” is possible even w/o the sugar!!!!
Licking my lips,
Carrie
I’m so happy to read this! Thanks for your positive feedback, Carrie! So happy hubby approved.:)
Yay. A recipe that doesn’t replace sugar with honey or loads of cream and fat. No expensive sweetner either. This worked out perfectly. I replaced the coconut oil with butter because coconut makes me feel ill. Cut everything quite small, so that did take a bit of time. Also added sugar free choc chips, cause that makes everything better. Overall I’m thrilled with this recipe. Ended up making 20 cookies that cooked for 25 mins.
Awesome and those are great ideas!
This is a keeper! I decided to go sugar-free for the first few months of 2020 as part of my New Year “clean up the diet” resolve.
I’ve tried lots of mashed banana and GF desserts. Very few beg repeating, lots end up in the bin, and of the “survivors” most I’d be embarrassed to give to a friend. I was pleasantly surprised that these were so yummy I proudly gave some to a friend. I’m working on batch two already!
I too used a mix of nuts, but I might try a batch with salted peanuts and raisins. Batch one, I only had apricots and dates. I’m going to try the next batch with raisins and after reading Esther used dried cranberry, I might try a tangy dried fruit like dried tart cherry.
Thank you so much Olena. I’m going to try more of your recipes
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Margery! Thank you for the wonderful review! You should try these muffins.
Great recipe! Loved the convenience of everything mixed in one bowl. And I did what you recommended, I added lots more nuts including chopped Brazil nuts, sunflower seeds, unsweetened shaved coconut and dried cranberries! All that practically doubled the recipe.
I was pretty excited it came out to my liking but then I shared them with friends and several asked for the recipe. That’s good enough for my 5 star rating!
Yay, so happy to hear, Esther!
As always I modified this recipe with my own twist(s)
I’m quite sure it would be wonderful as it was
I added Sm amounts of stevia vanilla and Bob’s red Mill egg replacer (had no ground flack on hand)
Delicious! I’m sharing with my siblings who are gluten free!
Glad you enjoyed the cookies and thanks so much for sharing!
Hi Olena
Greeting from Singapore
Thank you for your generosity in sharing your recipes and goodness.
I enjoyed reading this so much, tho as yet to try them I am sure it will taste great.
cheers
Aw, you are so welcome! So happy to hear you are enjoying my blog! Please don’t be shy to leave me a comment with a star review once you make any recipe. Have a great weekend!