These healthy oatmeal cookies are so crispy and crunchy. They are just 3 simple ingredients and easy to make. They don’t contain any flour, eggs, refined sugar or butter. They can be enjoyed for breakfast, snack or dessert. The cookies also store well.
I have received so many requests to develop a super crispy and crunchy oatmeal cookie. These cookies are exactly that. They are also easy to make and need just a few ingredients.
Ingredients
- Quick Oats
- Maple Syrup
- Coconut Oil
Quick oats: I recommend using quick oats over regular rolled oats. Quick oats are smaller and finer, so they need less syrup and oil to bind together and they also cook and crisp up faster. If you need a substitute for oats, I also have a crispy coconut cookie recipe.
Maple syrup: These cookies are lightly sweetened with maple syrup. Maple syrup also acts as a binding agent.
Coconut oil: The oats are lightly coated in coconut oil. This helps the oats crisp up.
How to Make Crispy Oatmeal Cookies
The quick oats are first mixed with melted coconut oil until they are all lightly coated in oil. The syrup is then added in and mixed into the oats.
Use a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop the oat mixture and release onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. I love using Miu*silicone mats because they help me shape the cookies. (*This product link is an affiliate link. This means I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.) The mixture will be loose. Use the back of a metal spoon to flatten, press and shape the oat mixture to a thin cookie shape. Repeat with remaining oats.
The cookies are then ready to be baked. They need only about 10 minutes in the oven or until the cookies are lightly browned. After removing the cookies from the oven, don’t touch them. Let the cookies cool. As the cookies cool, the oat mixture will bind together and crisp up.
Cookie Texture
These cookies come out crispy and crunchy. These are like granola in a cookie form. They aren’t quite as hard because the oat cookies are thinner than granola chunks. The cookies also don’t have any of the mix-ins found in granola. My favorite part of granola is always just the oat clusters so I love that these cookies are basically a cookie-sized oat cluster. I find them fun and more convenient to eat than granola too.
More Crispy Oatmeal Cookie Recipes
- 4 Ingredient Crispy Lemon Oatmeal Cookies
- 4 Ingredient Crispy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 4 Ingredient Crispy Coconut Oatmeal Cookies
3 Ingredient Healthy Crispy Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (88 g) quick oats
- 2 tbsp (27 g) coconut oil melted
- 3 tbsp (44 ml) maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Add oats to a medium mixing bowl. Drizzle melted coconut oil evenly across. Using a spatula, stir the mixture briskly for about 20-30 seconds, stopping a few times to scrape the sides of your bowl, until most of the oats look slightly moistened with coconut oil. The oats only need a little oil so they should not look fully wet.
- Add in the maple syrup. Mix with your spatula until the oats are evenly coated in syrup and the oats start to clump together.
- Using a 1 tbsp cookie scoop, pack 1 tbsp of oat mixture into your cookie scoop. Release onto your prepared baking sheet. The mixture will be loose and not fully hold together. Use the back of a metal spoon to press and shape the mixture until it becomes a thin round disk (between 3/16 and 1/4 inch thick). See photo in post for reference. Repeat with remaining mixture, spacing each about 1 inch apart. If your mixture is too sticky, you can wet the spoon lightly with water.
- Bake the cookies for about 10-12 minutes or until the surface is lightly browned. The longer you bake, the crispier the cookies will be but you do want to make sure the edges don't get too dark.
- Remove cookies from oven but don't attempt to move them from the baking sheet until they are fully cooled and set. If you try to remove them while they are still warm, the cookies will fall apart. Once they are cooled, the cookies will be fully set and should peel off the parchment paper/silicone mat easily.
Notes
- The longer you bake the cookies, the crispier they will be. So if you want a very crispy crunchy cookie then I recommend you bake the cookies until they are lightly browned all across the surface and the edges are a darker brown.
- This recipe works best with quick oats. Regular oats will take longer to cook and need more oil and maple syrup. You can also run regular oats in a food processor until they become the size of quick oats.
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.
These are insane. I added dried cranberries and dark chocolate chips and they turned out perfectly crispy. Thanks for the recipe.
I’m so glad you like them!
I made these using butter instead of coconut oil, and they turned out great! Thanks!
Thank you for sharing! We’re glad those adjustments worked well for you!
I have to try these, imagine spreading a huge spoonfuls of good dark roasted peanut butter in between them and a pinch of salt on them too.
That would be delicious!
Hello, I want to thank you for this amazing recipe. I have tried so many and non of them had a “crispy oatmeal cookie” result.
One question: Today I decided to try and add seeds, dry fruits and the cookies came out really good but a little dry and they were crumbling apart. I am afraid of adding liquid and destroying their crispiness.
Do you have any recommendations?
Thank you
I would recommend only adding a little bit of dry fruits or seeds. It may be that you added too many. You can try adding a little bit more syrup but if you add too much liquid it will prevent the cookies from crisping up
These cookies are delicious! I made a batch this evening. One of my daughters does not like coconut in anything so I did substitute the coconut oil with melted butter. I was a bit skeptical while putting the crumbs on the pan…it didn’t look like the cookie would hold together. I followed your baking instructions and they came out crisp and delicious! I will be making them again.
We’re glad they worked with the butter!
These are so good!! So easy too. I sub butter for the coconut oil. I’ve made two batches already. Thank you!
So glad you loved them!
So crunchy & satisfying! What a great recipe for Gluten free needs…. Will pass this along to those who are on gluten free diets! Thank you!
So happy you liked them!
I just made these cookies and they are delicious. I used organic, sprouted oatmeal and they turned out perfectly. So easy and so good. Thank you for sharing the recipe ??
I’m so glad they worked out for you!
This was really good. I added rae coconut shreds and instead of the 3Tbsp maple syrup I did 1 1/2 Tbsp raw honey and 2Tbsp Maple syrup and it was very yummy and sweet! I had to cook it for 17-20 min because they were still pretty soft and not browned in my oven. 20 min made it very crispy and good.
Using honey probably also affected the cooking time needed, but so glad it worked out well for you!
Can you add raisins, nuts?
We haven’t tried it – depending on what you add, the cookies may not hold together well. Let us know what you try!
Can you make this in an air fryer?
We haven’t tried it – it should work, but you will need to adjust the cooking time. Without testing it, we can’t say for sure how long they will take.
Unrefined or refined coconut oil?
I used unrefined but I think either one should work
Can’t wait to try the recipe
We hope you love them!
Hi please tell me what I can use to replace the maple syrup ..I do not take anything sweet..can I use a flax egg to bind
We’ve only tried it with maple syrup.
Love your simple recipes
Thank you! So glad you’re enjoying them.
Excellent results. I was thinking of adding chia seeds or ground flax, have you tried that? How much would you add?
Without testing those add-ins we’re not sure how much you would need.
Can you use sugar free maple syrup?
We haven’t tried it with sugar free maple syrup – sorry!