Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Delicious Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies with no gluten or dairy! These cookies have very little sugar, come together quickly in ONE bowl, and don’t require any “specialty” ingredients or trips to a local health foods store — you might already have everything needed in the pantry!

Try our Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, Healthy Chocolate Cookies, or Healthy Pumpkin Cookies next time!

Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

I had a few criteria for these cookies to come into existence:

1. The ingredients needed to be normal — you shouldn’t have to go to a specialty health food store to be able to make these cookies. You may already have everything needed for this recipe in your pantry!
2. The ingredients needed to be nutritionally sound — not just a couple of nutritious swaps. We’ve got oats, an egg, coconut oil, cinnamon, salt, and dark chocolate chips, all of which have great nutritional benefits. There is some sugar in this recipe, but a very small amount — in fact a fraction of what you’d find in typical chewy chocolate chip cookies!
3. This recipe needed to be simple to execute and fast to whip together. Check! Only one bowl, a hand whisk, and a wooden spoon are needed to have freshly baked healthy chocolate chip cookies.

What To Expect From This Recipe

If you’re expecting this recipe to taste like regular chocolate chip cookies, I’ll tell you right here, this is not the recipe for you. There’s a reason loads of butter, tons of sugar, and even more chocolate make such a compellingly delicious treat. When you take all that out, you can still have delicious cookies, but they’re going to taste quite different. 

Texture-wise: These cookies are very crunchy with a sandy-like texture. Sandy textured cookies are made by using less sugar, less liquid, and higher fat content. We use coconut oil as the fat (with nutritional benefits) in this recipe. These cookies quickly disintegrate, practically melting away in your mouth in one bite. These cookies are drier than regular cookies — more of a crunchy cookie as opposed to soft and chewy.

Flavor-wise: Fresh out of the oven, these cookies taste like crumbly, chewy oat bites with pools of melted chocolate. If you love oats, you will enjoy these cookies. If you aren’t a big oat fan, once again, this is probably not the recipe for you! These also have a strong dark chocolate flavor from the dark chocolate chips. (Other chocolate can be used, but will reduce the health benefits of these cookies — more on this later.) Finally, these aren’t very sweet; most of the sweetness comes from the chocolate chips. If you’d like them to be slightly sweeter, the brown sugar can be increased.

I highly recommend topping the cookies with extra chocolate chips and a pinch of sea salt flakes for the perfect crunchy, salty, and sweet treat!

First off, what is oat flour?

These cookies use easily accessible old-fashioned or quick oats, blended into a flour-like consistency, avoiding the need for specialty flours. Steel-cut oats don’t work for this.

Making oat flour is simple and quick: just pulse oats in a food processor or blender until powdery, ensuring no whole oats remain for consistent texture and liquid absorption in the cookies.

Other Ingredients in Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Below are some notes about the ingredients in this recipe.

• Oats. This ingredient is discussed more in-depth up above. Read up on the amazing benefits of oats and why we love them in this Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.
• Vanilla extract, salt, and cinnamon. All of these ingredients are important for the flavor of the cookies and add minimal additional calories. Cinnamon also boasts great health benefits, so why not throw it in these cookies?! If you aren’t a cinnamon fan, feel free to reduce the overall amount, but note that the flavor will also lack a bit with it left out or reduced.
• Egg. The egg is important for binding and giving these cookies rise. Eggs are a great healthful ingredient to use — they have healthy fats and lots of protein!
• Baking soda. This is important for the structure of the cookies; be sure to use fresh baking soda.

Other Ingredients in Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies, Continued

• Coconut oil. This oil is linked to myriad health benefits and is integral to the cookie flavor and texture. Two important things to note when using this ingredient: measure it in its liquid state and let it fully cool to room temperature before adding it to the cookies. This recipe relies on coconut oil; other oils won’t work the same.
• Brown sugar (or coconut sugar). Not a nutritious ingredient, but these cookies do need a little sweetness. We’re using a mere 4-6 tablespoons which is a fraction of the 2 (or more) cups you’ll find in a regular cookie recipe. This recipe does work with coconut sugar if you’d prefer to use unrefined sugar.
• Dark chocolate chips. Why dark chocolate as opposed to milk or semi-sweet? Dark chocolate is known for its high antioxidant and mineral content, and is a great source of healthy fats; read up on the benefits of dark chocolate here. Any type of chocolate chips will work in this recipe, it will just be slightly less nutritious with milk or semi-sweet chips. Read the ingredient labels for dark chocolate chips; many contain milk fat, non-fat milk, or sugar, and if you’re sensitive, they could be an issue.

How To Make Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies

1. Melt Coconut Oil: Microwave the coconut oil until liquid, measure ½ cup once melted, and cool to room temperature.
2. Blend Oats: Turn regular oats into oat flour using a blender, measuring 1½ cups after blending. Blend oats thoroughly to a fine powder for a smooth cookie texture.
3. Mix Wet Ingredients: In a bowl, whisk together the cooled coconut oil, vanilla extract, egg, and brown sugar until smooth.
4. Combine with Dry Ingredients: Stir in oat flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt, then fold in the dark chocolate chips. Mix until just combined to avoid overworking the dough, which can affect the texture of the cookies.
5. Chill Dough: Cover and chill the dough for 20-30 minutes, then form into balls and flatten slightly. Don’t chill for longer than 30 minutes to make the dough easier to shape.
6. Bake: Place the dough balls on a lined sheet pan, 2 inches apart, and bake at 350°F for 7-9 minutes. Slightly underbake for a better flavor and texture; they should be soft and gooey in the center.
7. Cool and Serve: Let the cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Optionally, press extra chocolate chips into the tops while warm. Handle the cookies gently as they can be quite delicate when hot.

Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookie Tips

• Measure carefully. This recipe is very precise (as most baking is). It’s quick to make, but be precise in measuring everything fully and leveled to the top. To level the tops, sweep a metal spatula or the flat side of a knife across the top of the measuring cup.
• Follow the recipe. Even tried-and-true substitutions (flax egg for regular egg, vegetable oil for coconut oil, or almond flour for oat flour) don’t work the same in these cookies — this recipe is fairly particular.
• Make gluten-free Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies. While the ingredients in these bars are naturally gluten-free, make sure to check all the ingredient labels to verify they weren’t processed in a facility with gluten.
• Use room-temperature ingredients. It’s best if the egg is at room temperature and the melted coconut oil is at room temperature. This ensures even emulsification of ingredients instead of a cold egg seizing up warm or hot coconut oil.

Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Tips, Continued

• Measure cookie dough balls precisely. Each cookie dough ball should be one tablespoon in size. Roll and then slightly flatten the cookie dough balls before baking.
• Bake on a lined sheet pan. A silicone liner or parchment paper helps bake foods evenly without burning and allows the cookies to release from the pan and clean up effortlessly. Without the liner, we found the bottoms of the cookies crisped up more than we liked.
• These cookies are very crumbly right out of the oven. Let them stand on the tray for a few minutes to firm up before carefully removing them with a metal spatula to a cooling rack. 
• Handle delicately. Again, these cookies can be very crumbly and delicate. Move them carefully to avoid them breaking and crumbling apart.

More nutritious treats to try

• Healthy Breakfast Cookies made with peanut butter
• Banana Bread with Greek Yogurt and loads of other nutritious ingredient swaps
• Chocolate Banana Muffins better-for-you muffins made bakery-style
• Healthy Brownies made with no flour, no refined white sugar, and no butter
• Granola Bars naturally sweetened with dates

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4.72 from 120 votes

Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies

By Chelsea Lords

Delicious Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies with no gluten or dairy. These cookies have very little sugar, come together quickly in one bowl, and don't require any specialty ingredients or trips to a local health foods store -- you probably already have everything needed in the pantry!

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Chilling Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour

Servings: 18 cookies

Equipment

• Sheet pan and silicon liner or parchment paper

Ingredients  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 2 teaspoons (10g) vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 large egg
• ▢ 4 tablespoons (43g) (up to 6) dark brown sugar Note 1
• ▢ ½ cup (111g) melted coconut oil Note 2
• ▢ 1 ½ cups (160g) oat flour (regular oats blended in a blender -- See Note 3)
• ▢ ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ▢ ½ teaspoon fine sea salt Note 4
• ▢ ½ cup (85g) dark chocolate chips Note 5
• ▢ Optional: sea salt flakes & additional dark chocolate chips for topping cookies

Instructions 

• MELT COCONUT OIL: Melt the coconut oil in the microwave until it is liquid. Measure a level ½ cup of oil once it's fully melted. Set aside to cool back to room temperature -- it should not be hot when adding to the recipe.
• BLEND OATS: Add old-fashioned oats to a blender or food processor. Blend or process until the oats are fine and resemble flour, stirring and re-blending if needed so that ALL the oats are a fine powder. Measure the oat flour after blending and not before, to get a level and gently packed 1½ cups of oat flour. Set aside.
  
• WET INGREDIENTS: In a medium-sized bowl, combine the cooled coconut oil, vanilla extract, large egg, and brown sugar in a bowl. Briskly whisk everything together until completely smooth.
  
• DRY INGREDIENTS: Add the oat flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Mix with a wooden spoon and stir until just combined; then stir in the dark chocolate chips.
  
• CHILL: Cover the dough tightly and chill for 20-30 minutes. (Don't skip chilling, but don't chill longer than 30 minutes or the dough is almost impossible to shape!) Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Remove the dough and use a 1-tablespoon measuring spoon to portion out cookie dough balls. Tightly roll the balls and then slightly flatten. You should get 22-24 cookies from this dough. Place rolled-out balls on a parchment-paper-lined plate. Once rolled, chill all the cookie dough balls for another 10 minutes.
  
• BAKE: Once chilled, transfer the cookie dough balls to a lined sheet pan, spacing them out 2 inches apart. Bake for 7-9 minutes (we think they're perfect at 8 minutes) or until no longer gooey on top. Slightly underbaking is best for flavor and texture. Carefully remove the tray from the oven. If desired, press a few more chocolate chips into the tops of the cookies. It makes them look pretty and ensures chocolate in every bite! Once those chips have melted a bit, add a sprinkle of sea salt onto the melted chocolate, if desired. Let the cookies stand on the sheet pan for 5 minutes. Then, very carefully, use a spatula to remove from the sheet pan to a cooling rack. Handle delicately-- these cookies are crumbly.
  
• SERVING OR FREEZING LEFTOVER COOKIE DOUGH: Enjoy hot, warm, or at room temperature (we like them best right out of the oven!). Cookies are best the same day they're made -- they get harder and less sweet every day following. To freeze, I recommend freezing the unbaked cookie dough rather than baked cookies. Drop the cookie dough balls on a large sheet pan and freeze until solid. Once solid, transfer the frozen cookie dough balls to an airtight container or bag and freeze for up to 3 months. To bake: Bake these cookies straight from the freezer. There is no need to thaw, but you may need to add an extra minute to bake time.

Recipe Notes

* While the ingredients in these cookies are naturally gluten-free, make sure to check all your ingredient labels to verify they weren’t processed in a facility with gluten.

Note 1: Sugar: We love dark brown sugar, and light brown sugar will also work. Alternatively, use coconut sugar for non-refined sugar. If you aren't used to healthier treats, increase this amount to 5-6 tablespoons (we typically do 6 tablespoons). These cookies aren't overly sweet, since most of the sweetness comes from the chocolate chips. Lightly pack brown sugar in measuring cups when measuring.

Note 2: Coconut oil: I have found a good amount of variation in coconut oil brands; some brands leave a stronger coconut flavor in some brands than others. I personally use LouAna Coconut Oil. It is very important the oil is fully cooled to room temperature (if you touch it and don't feel a temperature, it's at room temperature) before adding to this recipe.

Note 3: Oats: Regular, old-fashioned oats or quick oats will work. Ensure the oats are completely and thoroughly blended to a powder before measuring. Gently pack in measuring cups and level off the top.

Note 4: Salt: Reduce to ¼ teaspoon if using table salt instead of fine sea salt -- these two salts aren't the same.

Note 5: Chocolate: Why dark chocolate as opposed to milk or semi-sweet? Dark chocolate is known for its high antioxidant and mineral content, and is a great source of healthy fats; read up on the benefits of dark chocolate here. Any type of chocolate chips will work in this recipe, it will just be slightly less nutritious with milk or semi-sweet chips. If you're highly sensitive to dairy, check the ingredient labels to be sure milk fat or non-fat milk aren't added.

A few quick tips:

• Measure the ingredients exactly. As with most baked goods, loosely measuring may result in cookies that do not work out properly.
• Even tried-and-true substitutions (flax egg for regular egg, vegetable oil for coconut oil, or almond flour for oat flour) don’t work the same in these cookies — this recipe is fairly particular.
• Use room-temperature ingredients. It's best if the egg is at room temperature and the melted coconut oil is at room temperature, as well. This ensures even emulsification of ingredients instead of a cold egg seizing up warm or hot coconut oil.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 188kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.001g | Cholesterol: 10mg | Sodium: 111mg | Potassium: 124mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 16IU | Vitamin C: 0.04mg | Calcium: 36mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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