You need to add these soft and chewy peanut butter banana oatmeal cookies to your weekend baking plans. They come together in 20 minutes with simple ingredients including rolled oats (no flour needed), and naturally sweetened with ripe bananas and a touch of maple syrup. These healthy banana cookies are a great meal prep breakfast or satisfying snackable treat.  

A close-up of a chewy chocolate chip peanut butter banana oatmeal cookie topped with sea salt flakes, resting on a light pink surface. The cookie is packed with oats, small chocolate chips, and hints of sweet banana flavor.

Ok, we’re friends here, so I’m gonna let you in on a little secret. The snacking cookie.

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If you’re tried my soft & chewy Greek yogurt chocolate chip cookies or my double chocolate tahini breakfast cookies, you know what I’m talking about. Delicious enough to have you craving them during your 3pm meeting, and nourishing enough to actually boost your energy and keep those blood sugars stable throughout the afternoon. 

These peanut butter banana oatmeal cookies are truly what dreams are made of. And yes, they’re a perfectly acceptable breakfast too. They’re basically like a more balanced version of your morning oatmeal, with 2 cookies packing a solid 10g of protein (no protein powder) and over 5g fiber so you’ll actually feel full and satisfied after eating them! 

But let me be clear, even though I’m a dietitian, I will never sacrifice flavour for nutrition alone. 

Like a lot of other pb banana cookies out there, I initially tried to keep these super simple with just bananas, oats and peanut butter, but they were kind of just meh. While I wanted these cookies to be worthy of a meal prep breakfast or lunchbox snack, I didn’t want them tasting too “healthy” if you know what I mean. 

With a few small but transformative tweaks, 7 rounds of testing later I finally landed on the ultimate cookie. 

A flat lay of labeled baking ingredients: salt, flaky sea salt, rolled oats, peanut butter, salted butter, large egg, ripe bananas, maple syrup, vanilla, and mini chocolate chips on a light pink surface.

The Key to Making These Cookies Both Nourishing AND Incredibly Satisfying

Oats do the heavy lifting for a naturally high fiber base. I initially tested these with whole oats only, but they were too chewy (not the good kind of chewy). I decided to try blending half of the oats for the next batch (essentially making a flour) and this made all the difference in getting that true cookie texture I was after!

Do not skip the 2 Tbsp of butter! Ok I know this might seem insignificant, but trust me, it makes a big difference! After six rounds of testing we were sooo close but they just felt like they were missing that satiety factor that only a bit of fat can bring! Yes, we get some from the peanut butter, but butter gives a smooth richness that can’t be replicated. While I highly recommend using salted butter, unsalted will work in a pinch (you might just want to add a tiny pinch more of salt!) 

Naturally sweetened
Ripe bananas and a touch of maple syrup add just the right amount of sweetness without making these overly sugary. I’ve made these with varying degrees of ripeness for the bananas and my favourite is a lightly spotted banana, but pretty much any stage will work.

More balanced than your average cookie
With complex carbs from the oats and banana, and nourishing fats and protein from the peanut butter and egg, these cookies contain my signature PFF combo (protein, fiber, fat) to help you feel more full and support balanced blood sugar (aka energy, mood, and cravings!).  

And chocolate chips, duh. 

Let’s Bake Up These Perfectly Snackable Cookies!

A close-up of a white spatula holding finely ground oat flour over a blender bowl filled with more oat flour. The background is soft pink, and the texture of the blended oats is visible.
Blend half the oats into a coarse flour (not too fine!), then dump them into a mixing bowl.
A close-up view of a creamy, light brown batter with small bubbles, seen inside a blender container.
Blend the wet ingredients until mostly smooth., leaving some banana chunks in there
A glass bowl containing a mixture of oats, chocolate chips, and a light brown batter. A hand is holding the side of the bowl, preparing to mix the ingredients together.
Pour the blended mixture into the “oat flour” along with the rest of the dry ingredients
Two unbaked oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with visible chocolate chips sit on a parchment-lined baking sheet, ready to go into the oven.
Your “dough” will look more like a wet batter. Reshape them after scooping if needed.
Five oatmeal chocolate chip cookies on a light pink surface, with one cookie missing a bite. The cookies are topped with chocolate chips and a sprinkle of flaky sea salt.
Bake, cool, and enjoy!
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A close-up of a chewy chocolate chip peanut butter banana oatmeal cookie topped with sea salt flakes, resting on a light pink surface. The cookie is packed with oats, small chocolate chips, and hints of sweet banana flavor.

Chewy Flourless Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Cookies

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  • Author: Lindsay Pleskot, RD
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10-13 minutes
  • Total Time: 23 minutes
  • Yield: 10–12 cookies 1x
  • Category: Baking, Dessert, Meal Prep, Snacks
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: American
  • Diet: Vegetarian
Print Recipe

Description

You need to add these soft and chewy peanut butter banana oatmeal cookies to your weekend baking plans. They come together in 20 minutes with my quick blender method and just 11-13 minutes in the oven for perfect chewy centers and golden edges. Made with simple ingredients including rolled oats (no flour needed), and naturally sweetened with ripe bananas and a touch of maple syrup, these healthy banana cookies are a great meal prep breakfast or satisfying snackable treat. 

Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 cups rolled oats 
  • 2 ripe bananas (just under 1 cup)
  • ½ cup creamy natural peanut butter, well stirred
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 Tbsp salted butter, melted and slightly cooled
  • ¼ cup pure maple syrup
  • 1 tsp vanilla 
  • ½ cup mini chocolate chips, plus more for topping
  • ¾ tsp salt
  • Flaky salt, for topping (optional)

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside
  2. To a blender, add 1 cup of the oats, pulse until a coarse flour consistency is reached (you don’t want a super fine flour). Pour the flour into a large bowl and set aside 
  3. To the empty blender, add the banana, peanut butter, egg, melted butter, maple syrup, and vanilla. Pulse just a few seconds until mostly smooth, with a few banana chunks remaining. Pour the mixture into the bowl with the blended oats. 
  4. To the same bowl, add the remaining 1 cup of oats, chocolate chips, and salt. Stir to combine. Let the mixture sit for about 5 minutes before scooping to allow it to thicken up a bit (it will still be quite wet). 
  5. Scoop the cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheets, using about 2 tablespoons per cookie. Reshape the cookies into circles if needed, and flatten the tops slightly with the back of a spoon to around ¼ and ½ inch thick.  Sprinkle with more chocolate chips if desired. 
  6. Bake for 11–13 minutes, until the edges are golden and the centers look just set (they should look slightly undercooked in the middle).
  7. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with flaky sea salt if using. Let them cool on the cookie sheets for about 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely. 

Notes

A note on baking time:  for slightly crispier edges, bake closer to 13 minutes. For softer chewy centers, pull at 11 minutes.

*A note on banana ripeness:   I’ve made these with varying degrees of ripeness for the bananas and my favourite is a lightly spotted banana, but pretty much any stage will work. The bananas used for the cookies in these photos were actually a bit more ripe than I prefer. They still make great cookies, but your dough will be quite wet, and the cookies will be extra soft and chewy. Not necessarily a bad thing! Haha 

Butter: while I do highly recommend including the butter, if you don’t have it or prefer to leave it out, these will still turn out great!