These peanut butter oatmeal cookies are just 3 ingredients and easy to make. The cookies only take about five minutes to prepare. They don’t contain any flour, refined sugar, eggs or dairy butter. These cookies are crunchy, lightly sweet, and are an easy snack or dessert.
I am continuing to make healthier versions of my favorite sweets this week. Usually, the oatmeal cookies I make are soft and chewy. What I like about these is that they are firmer with a crispy, crunchy texture.
Ingredients
- Peanut Butter
- Maple Syrup
- Quick Oats
Peanut Butter: Make sure to use natural unsweetened peanut butter to make these cookies. This is the kind of peanut butter that doesn’t contain any added oils. It’s just peanuts and salt in the ingredient list. Your dough will not thicken if you use regular peanut butter.
Maple Syrup: I used pure maple syrup to make these cookies. The syrup provides sweetness but also thickens the dough.
Quick Oats: The quick oats help bind the cookie dough and also adds to the texture of these cookies
Cookie Texture
These cookies have a slightly crunchy texture without being hard. They are also lightly sweetened. They remind me of a biscuit cookie.
How to Make Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
- Add the peanut butter, maple syrup, and the oats. Stir until everything is combined and oats are fully coated and your mixture becomes a thick cookie dough.
- Divide dough into 1 tbsp portions. Roll each into a ball and then flatten into a round disk on your prepared cookie sheet.
- Bake cookies for about 10 minutes. Let them cool and then they are ready to eat!
More Oatmeal Cookies
- 3 Ingredient No Bake Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
- 3 Ingredient No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
- 3 Ingredient Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 3 Ingredient Healthy Crispy Oatmeal Cookies
3 Ingredient Healthy Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (128 g) unsweetened natural peanut butter
- 1/4 cup (59 ml) pure maple syrup
- 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp (50 g) quick oats
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
- Add peanut butter, syrup and oats into a large mixing bowl. Stir until maple syrup is completely incorporated into the peanut butter and oats are fully coated. Your mixture should resemble a thick cookie dough.
- Portion the dough into 1 tbsp pieces (I packed the dough into my tablespoon). Take one piece of dough and roll between palms until it forms a round ball. Place it onto your prepared cookie sheet and then flatten the dough ball until it becomes a round disk (about 1/4 inch thick). You can do this with the back of a metal spoon or the palm of your hand. Space cookies about 1/2 inch apart. The cookies don't spread during baking so you don't need to space them out as much.
- Bake cookies for about 9-10 minutes (I baked mine 10 minutes) or until the surfaces look cooked. Let cookies cool completely on the cookie sheet before removing.
Notes
- Make sure to use natural peanut butter. This recipe will not work with regular peanut butter.
- This recipe works best with pure maple syrup. Other syrups may work but they will likely need a watery consistency like maple syrup. I've tried it with honey and the dough does not thicken the same way.
- These cookies are only lightly sweetened. They are similar to biscuit cookies though not quite as firm.
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
I’d like to make your peanut butter oatmeal cookies, but I have a question. I’ve made my own peanut butter, using Planters roasted peanuts, as I wanted nothing added to it. Being smooth, completely natural peanut butter, it’s thinner than commercial peanut butter. Would my peanut butter, which can be poured) work in this recipe or be too thin?
Thank you for your advice!
Hello! It should work just fine as long as there are no added oils.
Thank you! It’s as natural as natural can possibly be…roasted Planters Peanuts only. 🙂
I just made this recipe, and I found this cookies really good.
Thank you! We’re so glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Yummy love love these cookies!
Thank you Karen! We’re so happy to hear that!
I made these cookies and found them overly peanut buttery….. wouldn’t make them again.
These are peanut butter cookies so may not be for you if you do not like a strong peanut butter flavor!
Can the cookies be frozen
Yes they can be frozen!
Can you use regular oats instead of quick oats?
If you only have regular oats, you can pulse them in a food processor a few times to break them down!
I am allowed to share your recipes with Facebook groups that are on a healthy living quest.
Yes you can! Just make sure you share our link and credit the site where you can! Thank you Marilyn!
Tasty little treat. I used Agave nectar instead of syrup. However my batch only made 9 very small cookie.
Glad you enjoyed them! Did you use a tablespoon to measure the dough? We’re able to get 15 cookies that way.
Have I missed how long they stay fresh for or if they are best refrigerated please
Just thought I’d ask… Kind Thoughts
Thank you – Carolyn
You can store them at room temperature or in the refrigerator. They might keep longer in the fridge. Just use an airtight container.
Can you use applesauce in place of bananas in your healthy 3 ingredient chocolate cake?
Grandson cannot have bananas ??
Do you mean this recipe: https://kirbiecravings.com/3-ingredient-healthy-chocolate-cake/
If so, we haven’t tried it with applesauce instead of bananas. If it’s another recipe you’re asking about, let us know.
Im about to make them here let you know how it turned out
We hope you love them!
Love this recipe. Keep wondering if it can be made with almond butter. Yes, all natural. Oil separates after a while, just like peanut butter. Thanks for your tip on pulsing oats to turn regular into quick cooking. Is it better to use a darker maple syrup or is a lighter one okay? Both are real. One’s from Vermont, the other Wisconsin. What size is your food processor? All I have is a small one.
Natural almond butter should work fine, but the cookie flavor will be different. For the maple syrup, as long as it’s pure maple syrup and the consistency is thinner (not thick like honey), it should work. As far as the food processor, we use a large one but you can use a smaller one to process the oats (if you don’t have quick oats). Just blend them in smaller batches. Hope that helps!
Thank you for these recipes they’ll be a great help as my grandchildren are allergic to egg and cow’s milk
You’re welcome! We hope you try some of the recipes soon.
Cookies fell apart, very ? disappointing
We’re sorry you had trouble with the recipe – what kind of maple syrup did you use?
Good recipes
Thank you!
I made thumbprint cookies using your recipe. I only had crunchy peanut butter, came out great. For the top I used homemade blueberry and cherry fruit spread. No sugar added. Delicious and healthy peanut butter and jelly cookies. I baked for an extra 4-5 minutes.
What a great idea!
Thank you! Awesome recipe! Grateful!
We’re glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you SO much! I wrote you earlier today, but decided to make them w my crunchy peanut butter! Absolutely ? delish! @ 1st i thought the extra 2 T of quick oatmeal was for the top of the cookies & wondered why my batter was too soft. I must of looked at another one of your recipes that kept the oatmeal to the side. It was perfect after I added it in! Perfect sweetness as well. Just told a dear friend about your website! & hubby & I had tea w the cookies after he returned back home! Tks again ??
Mine took 12 min ?
Thanks for sharing the site with your friends! We’re so glad you love the recipe.
I just found your website! So looking forward to cooking & utilizing so many of your recipes! ? I have a great peanut butter called Nuttzo but mine is crunchy. Would that work, also no extra added oils, just the nuts! I viewed so many of your recipes & can’t wait to dive in, thanks again! ?
Crunchy should work fine!
Have made a number of your recipes and the family loves them. So much healthier for us all ! Do you by any chance have a recipient of this type using fresh rhubarb? It’s that season in MN.
We don’t have any rhubarb cookie recipes, but you could try using rhubarb in our strawberry oatmeal cookies. Let us know how it works!
I like your easy oat meal banana cookies, three ingredients very quick
We’re glad you enjoyed them!
I understand you are saying the maple syrup makes the cookies crispy, but I only have honey, maple syrup is so so expensive here in africa
We’ve tried it with honey and did not get the same results – it doesn’t give the dough the right consistency.
Super easy to make. The kids and family all like them. We added dark chocolate drops on top. So good when you don’t have to worry about any nasty additives!
We’re happy you liked the recipe!
I didn’t see any portion sizes on the ingredients
All ingredient amounts are in the recipe card at the end of the post. You scrolled past it to leave your comment.
Pls also show videos when you r cooking somerhing like when you make biscuits thn made videos pls so i can also fallow your recipieces pls thank u so much
Can you use sugar free maple syrup? Just watching the extra sugar. Thanks for your feedback!
Yes but you need to choose one with a watery consistency like Lakanto. The Choczero one is too thick, like honey, and won’t work.
Thank you,
You’re welcome!
Thank you for this quick, delish and healthy snack! I made these cookies today for me and my boyfriend and omg they are so good and they were so easy to make! We ate them all lol. I also added mini reese’s cup to a few:) This was my first recipe from your site and I will definitely be trying many more. Thank you!
I’m so glad you and your boyfriend enjoyed them!
It’s very nice.
Thanks so much!
Do I have to use quick oats. Will the old-fasioned oats work as well?
Old fashioned oats are thicker than quick oats which will change the texture of the cookies.
May I know can i use honey?
As stated in the notes section, this will not work with honey
I love your recipes they are easy and healthy ?
Thank you! We’re glad you’re enjoying them.
These are actually really, really good! And kid approved! I had to add a bit more of the oats to get the proper consistency but they turned out great.
I’m so glad they worked out well for you and your family!
I don’t think these bake in 10 minutes. I pulled them out of the oven and they were still raw and soft. Had to put them back, I tried to turn one oven and it broke!
You should bake them until the top is set and cooked. Every oven is different so you may need to add a couple of extra minutes.
Hi. The recipe only yielded 9 cookies for me. I weighed the ingredients because I’m from Aus. Where did I go wrong? TIA
I think the difference is that you are from Australia and the measurements are in US measurements. My understanding is that the US tablespoon is smaller than Australia, so that is why you ended up with fewer cookies
These were not good. I mixed the ingredients exactly as instructed, but it did not resemble a thick cookie dough. I think maybe this calls for too much peanut butter because it was an oozy mess. I had to add more oatmeal just to be able to spoon it into anything close to a ball. I baked them for 10 mins. They were not crunchy at all. Not at all biscuit-like. The flavor isn’t great either. I managed to choke one down with the help of a lot of water. No way my kids would eat these.
Did you use pure maple syrup? If you did, it should thicken the peanut butter and there would be no oozy mess. If you used another syrup, like honey, then it won’t work. And if you had to add a lot more oats, that would explain why they weren’t crunchy and the flavor wasn’t great.
Looks and sounds delicious. Thank you
We hope you try them soon!
I’ve been looking for quick breakfast ideas. This is the perfect recipe! Thanks!
We’re glad you love them!
Can I use regular oats instead of quick oats?
The cookies will be a lot chewier. If you only have regular oats, you can pulse them in a food processor a few times to break them down.
Your recipes are very enticing but I hesitate. Will you ever consider looking into the Weight Watchers point system and posting it with your nutrition label, so we can ALL enjoy your recipes?
Sorry, we don’t plan to offer that info, but WW has calculators you can use to figure out the points on recipes. You can use the nutrition info we provide.
Happy New year to, thanks for the your wonderful recipe, it’s really nice I tried it and my family loved it so much, God bless you
Happy New Year to you too!
RECIPE STATES:
Make sure to use natural peanut butter. This recipe will not work with regular peanut butter.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE??? “REGULAR PEANUT BUTTER =????
DO YOU MEAN NATURAL == PEANUTS ONLY? NO OIL, SALT, SUGAR……???
I explain exactly what natural peanut butter is in the post. You can also look it up, it’s not a term I made up. Natural peanut butter refers to peanut butter that is made with just peanuts and doesn’t contain any added oils.
Excellent recipes! Very easy and they taste great ??
Thanks so much!