Nine ingredients and less than 30 minutes to incredible healthy peanut butter banana oatmeal cookies. Crispy edge and melt in your mouth middle, perfect for breakfast or a healthy snack!
Cookies are a food group. At least in our house. So coming up with healthier versions that taste amazing is a non negotiable item. I'm all about balance but when you're scarfing cookies down at the rate you should be eating veggies, it's time to step up your nutrients in the cookie game.
What cookies are the healthiest?
Using mostly whole foods is a great way to get a lot of nutrients in your recipes. These peanut butter banana cookies are made with some legit ingredients:
- oats
- peanut butter
- banana
- date paste
- pecans
- chocolate chips
All of those, minus the chocolate chips, are pretty nutrient dense. You can even sub cacao nibs for the chocolate chips for ultra healthy breakfast cookies (but hey, I'm all about a touch of chocolate in my life).
You not only need to look at the ingredients in a recipes, but when you are buying those ingredients, you need to look at the labels themselves. Let's take peanut butter for instance, there should be 1-2 things on the ingredient list: peanuts and maybe salt.
Many jars out there include added sugar, oil and other add ins that are simply not necessary! Do you need help understanding the ingredients on a food label? I have an awesome information guide. Click here to get it for free!
Are cookies good for breakfast?
Is the sky blue? Of course they are good for breakfast, especially when they are healthy peanut butter banana oatmeal cookies.
But really though, I can't stress this enough. Read the labels if you are buying them. If the ingredients are mostly whole foods, then you're probably good.
Are homemade cookies healthier?
Some of the time the answer is yes. And for these peanut butter banana oatmeal cookies, definitely yes. But again you need to read labels.
I mean, we all know that freshly baked cookies are best right out of the oven. So it makes sense. Not that it isn't ok to have unhealthy cookies sometimes. Or any time. Balance is key, I talk more about this in my podcast episode about finding that perfect balance!
But these healthy vegan cookies are done and cleaned up in under 30 minutes so really, why would you buy cookies anyway?
Are vegan cookies healthier?
Not necessarily. I'm going back to what I have hammered into your head, read the labels! Most cookies that are not vegan are filled with butter and sugar, so I wouldn't call them healthy. But nothing wrong with it once in a while.
What is the healthiest alternative to added sugar?
Since the only natural sugars come from milk and fruit, I love using date paste to sweeten my healthy sweet treats. It's so simple to make, basically dates and water, and it keeps for a long time in the fridge. Plus it gives the perfect texture to these peanut butter banana cookies!
I make it every few weeks, and store it in a glass jar. You can even freeze it if you wanted.
When I am not using date paste, my second go to is maple syrup. While it is not a natural sugar, it's glycemic index isn't as high as other added sugars and I love the flavor.
How do you make healthy peanut butter banana oatmeal cookies?
If I told you it took me shorter time to make these cookies than it did to get my son to eat a bite of lasagna would you believe me? Well it did. Because these babies are "don't look away long enough for your 3 year old to try riding the cat" fast.
- Mix the wet ingredients.
- Add the dry ingredients.
- Add the chocolate chips and pecans.
- Bake.
- Shove into mouth before the kids see.
If you liked this healthy treat, check out some of the others!
- Apple Cinnamon Date Scuffins
- No Bake Chocolate Peppermint Balls
- Caramel Peanut Protein Truffles
- Churro "Unfried" Ice cream
- Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
Healthy Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup peanut butter , see note
- ½ cup mashed ripe banana , about 1 small banana
- ¼ cup maple syrup (can sub with ½ cup date paste)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup rolled oats , gluten-free if needed
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup dairy free chocolate chips (can sub with dark chocolate chips or cacao nibs for an ultra healthy version)
- ½ cup chopped pecans , omit and use more chocolate chips for nut free
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F/ 180°C
- Mix the peanut butter, banana, maple syrup and vanilla extract in a bowl until combined, I used a whisk. It's okay if there are some banana chunks.
- Add the oats, baking soda and salt to the bowl and mix well with a spoon.
- Fold in the chocolate chips and pecans.
- You can put the mixture in the fridge to firm up a bit while you clean up if you want it to be a touch easier to scoop.
- Using a spoon or small ice cream scooper, drop balls of dough on parchment lined cookie sheets. These retain shape and don't spread much.
- Bake 17-20 minutes or until brown on edges. Cookies will harden a bit more as they cool.
Notes
- You can use almond butter too, or try sunflower seed butter for a nut free option.
- These are very forgiving and adaptable. Use add ins of your choice, just remember to keep the total to around 1 cup (the amount of chocolate chips and pecans) because if you add to much the dough won't stay together.
- Serving size is one cookie.
Recipe by Veggies Don’t Bite, visit our site for more great plant-based recipes.
Nutrition
Nutrition and metric information should be considered an estimate.
Deryn from Running on Real Food
Yes! I love these! I make simple oat and banana cookies all the time and love switching up the add-ins. These sound delicious, the date paste in there sounds perfect.
veggiesdontbite
Thank you!! I love the simple and healthy cookies! Date paste is my go to sweetener. It doesn't always work best but I always try it first. My most recent brownies use the dates too and they are insane!!
Monica
This was a huge waste of ingredients. I went to go put in the flour because my batter was super runny and there was no flour (almond or oats) listed! I just ended up with a gloopy mess even after putting it in the fridge. Just burnt and was raw in the middle.
veggiesdontbite
Hi Monica, if you take a look at the recipe, there are oats. It's almost impossible for these to be runny if you follow the directions step by step since peanut butter, mashed banana, and date paste are all thick. Not quite sure where it went wrong for you. Did you use all the ingredients listed in the order the directions say?
Jolene
Yummy, these cookies look so good! My kids love chocolate cookies but I always look for healthier alternatives to the supermarket variety. Love these with such wholesome ingredients!
veggiesdontbite
Thanks so much Jolene! Yes, these are a perfect way to let your kids have cookies without the junk. Let me know if you try them!
Katie
Would I be able to sub quinoa for the oats? If so, do you think cooked or uncooked is best??
veggiesdontbite
Hi there! Not sure how well quinoa would work to get the right texture but you could give it a try! I'd use cooked because uncooked quinoa won't cook in the time you bake these. Let me know if you try it and how it worked!
Lauren
Do you have any nutritional information for this recipe? Would be nice to see the healthfulness displayed on a nutrition facts label of some sort.
veggiesdontbite
Hi Lauren! I am updating this reply to say I now have a nutrition label. It is automatically counted through my recipe card program so always test yourself if you need 100% accuracy, but this one has good general numbers!
Marie
It's pretty easy to do yourself, and it would be more accurate as you may add different ingredients or make the cookies a different size. Just look up the nutritional value of each ingredient and then break it down by how many cookies you wind up making. I do it for just about everything, even if the recipe has one because I switch things out sometimes.
And these cookies are awesome!
veggiesdontbite
Glad you liked them! And yes, they are very customizable!
Pamela
These are so delicious! Thank you so much for sharing. I make my own almond milk and added the left over almond pulp instead of the diced almonds and they still turned out! I'm trying to get my family away from refined sugars and unnatural sweeteners. This is perfect for that minus the vanilla. I'm going to eliminate it next time and see how they taste. Thanks again x
veggiesdontbite
Thank you Pamela! And you are so welcome. The almond pulp sounds great! Perhaps try adding the seeds from one vanilla bean next time instead of the vanilla extract. I sometimes do that when I can find vanilla beans at a decent price.
Pamela
Love the idea of the beans from the pod, I try to find it at a decent price too. They can be so expensive! I usually use a vanilla bean paste which has a lot more vanilla bean but still contains the sugar alcohols. At least it's not a lot in this recipe and even with the vanilla, the cookies are super healthy. My children had some after school and LOVED them! Need to try your other date paste recipe now. Thanks again!
veggiesdontbite
Glad you and the kids enjoyed them! The vanilla I use isn't bad, doesn't have all the additives, etc and since it's such a small amount I usually use that but when I find vanilla beans at a good price I stock up!! I'll be making many more date paste recipes so keep in touch!
Allison @ Clean Wellness
I just found your blog on Finding Vegan. I LOVE the name! So cute. I will never refuse a healthy oatmeal chocolate chip cookie -these look perfect and chewy and mouthwatering!
veggiesdontbite
Thank you so much for all the sweet complements! Stay tuned for more cookie recipes using only date paste as a sweetener. I'm working on both a chocolate chip and an oatmeal raisin cookie one!
Lavender
Those look absolutely delicious! I can't wait to try the recipe!
veggiesdontbite
Thank you! I hope you enjoy it!
Dina
They look so Yummy! Can't wait to try them.
veggiesdontbite
Thank you! I'll make you some soon.
Erica
YUM! I made them today and I love them. I love the rich flavor of the date paste. I used almond butter and walnuts because I didn't have pecans in my pantry. Thanks for inspiring me with your blog that is full of so many delicious recipes.
veggiesdontbite
You are so welcome! And thank you for your continued support. Those are both awesome subs! I bet the girls will love them...if you share 😉
Andrea Ritchie
I love these and so do my kids. I am making them right now for when they get home from school!
veggiesdontbite
Thank you friend! Glad you can be a trusted taste tester, and your board looks fab in my pictures 🙂
thomasvinicombe
These look great! I love the idea of using date paste to make them a healthier but just as tasty option! 🙂
veggiesdontbite
Thank you! The date paste is great. Worked really well. I'm working on a chocolate chip cookie using only date paste too!
thomasvinicombe
I am looking forward to reading about the chocolate chip cookies, they sound great!
Meredith @ Peachy Clean Eats
These are gorgeous- I cant wait to make them tonight to supply my cookie breaks with at work 😀
veggiesdontbite
Thank you!! You'll love them and it makes cookie breaks much healthier so you can have more of them 😉
Laura
This was my sister's favorite ice cream flavor growing up, but I think I like these cookies better! Sounds delicious!
veggiesdontbite
Thank you!! Yes, I love all things Chunky Monkey flavored too! Hope you enjoy them!
Aruna Panangipally
I love the name and the cookies look delicious!
veggiesdontbite
Thank you so much! My son loves anything with banana in it so I wanted to make something that I knew he would love but was also healthy!