These 4-Ingredient Banana Oatmeal Cookies are the easiest, healthy breakfast cookies or pre-workout snacks ever!
They are packed with plant-based protein, naturally sweetened with mashed banana, and so easy to whip in 15 minutes!
Everyone loves easy healthy recipes, especially the ones that can fit a kid’s lunchbox. These 4-Ingredient Banana Oatmeal Cookies are definitely a keeper and a great way to reuse ripe bananas.
Let me share how to make these peanut butter banana oatmeal cookies.
How To Make 4-Ingredient Banana Oatmeal Cookies
It’s ridiculously easy to make these 4-Ingredients Banana Cookies using basic wholesome ingredients.
Ingredients
All you need to make these healthy banana cookies are:
- Ripe Bananas – the ones with black spots on their skin, the ones that you won’t eat but are actually the most delicious in your baked goods! Naturally sweet with a strong banana flavor.
- Quick Oats – you can use old-fashioned rolled oats, but their texture is rough and much dryer, so I generally prefer the finer texture of quick-cooking oats for these cookies. Use a gluten-free certified oat brand if you are sensitive to gluten.
- Natural Peanut Butter – or sunflower seed butter for a nut-free option. The recipe works well with any other nut butter, including almond butter or cashew butter.
- Dark Chocolate Chips
Mashing The Bananas
First, peel and mash the ripe bananas with a fork or potato masher. I found the cookies to be much better and less dry if you pulse the bananas into a smooth banana puree with very tiny lumps.
Measure the amount of mashed banana using measuring cups. This also prevents disappointment with the texture.
Most problems with banana cookies come from a wrong ratio of dry ingredients to wet ingredients.
This is because bananas have different sizes and weights, so you should always measure them mashed before baking with bananas.
Stirring In Liquid Ingredients
Stir in the peanut butter until it forms a smooth banana peanut butter batter.
Finally, stir in the quick oats and chocolate chips. If the dough is too hard to be stirred with a spoon, use your hands to squeeze and combine ingredients.
The cookie dough should be sticky, and slightly wet but not too dry or runny either.
Fixing The Batter
If your cookie dough is too wet, add more quick oats. Stir in 1 extra tablespoon at a time until the dough is easy to shape into cookie dough balls.
On the other hand, add some more mashed bananas to fix a too-dry batter.
Shaping Banana Cookies
First, grease your hands with coconut oil to prevent the cookie batter from sticking to your fingers.
Next, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper lightly oiled with coconut oil. Set it aside.
Shape cookies with about two tablespoons for each. Scoop out the batter onto a cookie tray, leaving about a thumb space between each cookie.
Press each cookie dough ball with your hands to slightly flatten the cookies.
Baking
Bake the cookies in the center rack of the oven at 350°F (180°C) for 12-15 minutes or until the sides, and the top of the cookies gets golden brown.
Add-Ons
You can tweak these banana cookie recipes by adding some ingredients below:
- For a boost of sweetness, add 2 teaspoons of liquid sweetener or 1 tablespoon of coconut sugar.
- For crunchy bits, add 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts or pecans.
- For a vegetable boost, stir in 1/3 cup of grated carrots or zucchini.
Texture
Banana cookies are always very soft, slightly crispy on the edges by not crunchy.
They are perfect for kids and easy to eat, even for toddlers.
Storage Instructions
These banana oat cookies must be stored in the fridge in a sealed container. They last for up to 3 days.
Another option is to freeze the banana oatmeal cookies in zip-lock bags and thaw them in the fridge the day before.
Have you made these banana oatmeal cookies? Share a comment or review below to connect with me,
4-Ingredient Banana Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- â…” cup Mashed Ripe Banana equivalent to 1 large Ripe Banana
- 1 cup Quick Oats scooped, swept
- ¼ cup Natural Peanut Butter or almond butter
- â…“ cup Dark Chocolate Chips
Optinal
- 2 teaspoons Maple Syrup
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Lightly oil the paper with coconut oil. Set aside.
- Peel, mash the bananas with a fork or potato masher into a liquid puree. If too many lumps, the cookies end up dry, so mash it very well.
- Measure 2/3 cup not less or more to avoid dry cookie and stir in a bowl with peanut butter and maple syrup (if added).
- Stir in the quick-cooking oats (not rolled oats!) and chocolate chips. The cookie batter should be sticky, thick. If too wet, add more quick oats. If too dry, add more mashed banana.
- Scoop one tablespoon of batter, slightly grease your hands with coconut oil and roll into a ball.
- Place the cookie dough ball onto the prepared cookie sheet. Flatten with your hands and repeat until you have formed 10 cookies. Leave half a thumb of space between each cookie – they won't expand in the oven.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown on sides and top. The longer you bake the cookies, the crispier they are on the edges, but the center should stay soft and moist.
- Cool on the cookie rack for 10 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack.
Storage
- Store up to 3 months in the fridge on an airtight cookie jar or freeze in zip lock bags and thaw at room temperature the day before.
Excellent
I will make this today!😋
I cannot wait to get in the kitchen and make these recipes.
Have made this recipe twice so far. Had to add additional oats (1cup) and a little flour. I also added raisins! Hubby absolutely loves them! Thanks for this easy to make delicious cookies. Mine made 6 1/2 dozen! Yeah!!!
I made these for my family yesterday morning and everyone loved it! My family had eaten all of them by the time I went for seconds! I’m going to make them again today or tomorrow, and was wondering if I made a double batch if I could freeze some of the batter? These are definitely a new family favorite. Thank you!
I never tried freezing the batter but I like to bake all the cookies and freeze the baked cookies instead.
These are soooooooo delicious. I just made them and added some walnuts as well. We love them. Thank you!!!
My toddler and I make these cookies pretty often. It’s one of our favorite cookie recipes.Thank you.
These are excellent! They freeze well and are so easy to make without alot of unhealthy sugars and other ingredients. Thank you for this great little recipe!
I’m trying this now. We’ll see in a few minutes….. definitely needs the sweetener, which I didn’t add. Next time I will. But pretty good.
I made these for the first time for my daughter and her friends. They were so good! I follow the exact recipe and did add the mapple syrop. Will be makin more today!