Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies are gluten-free, dairy-free, low in sugar, and made in one bowl with common pantry ingredients.
Try other nutritious baked goods next: Banana Bread With Greek Yogurt, chocolate-frosted Healthy Brownies, or Healthy Ice Cream (no bananas!).
Table of Contents
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies Healthy
After sharing these Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies, I wanted to create an oatmeal chocolate-chip version with similar goals in mind:
- Simple Ingredients: No need for specialty stores—you likely have everything in your pantry!
- Nutritious: These cookies use ingredients packed with benefits. There’s a small amount of sugar, much less than typical oatmeal cookies.
- Easy Prep: Just one bowl, a hand whisk, and a wooden spoon are all you need for freshly baked Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.
What To Expect From This Recipe
This recipe isn’t for classic Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. Without loads of butter, sugar, and chocolate, these cookies taste different. They’re crunchy with a sandy texture, dry, and a bit crumbly.
Flavor-wise, they’re oat-y with a bit of dark chocolate, and not very sweet. If you like oats, you’ll enjoy them; if not, this might not be for you. For extra sweetness, add more brown sugar. A pinch of sea salt on top adds the perfect touch of salty-sweetness!
Let’s Talk Oats
Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies use oats in three different forms:
- Old-fashioned oats
- Quick oats
- Oat flour
Before you get overwhelmed (Didn’t I say no specialty ingredients after all?!), if you have oats, you can have oat flour in a matter of minutes.
How to make powdered oats: Add the old-fashioned oats or quick oats to a food processor or small blender jar. Pulse or blend the oats until they are ground into a powder-like consistency that resembles flour. Stir the oats around to be sure that all the oats have been finely ground and there aren’t any whole oats left. (This affects the texture and liquid absorption of these cookies.)
Quick Tip
Make sure to measure the oats once they’ve been blended into a powder and not before. Gently pack the oats into the measuring cup and level the top off. It’s important to measure the oat flour correctly for the recipe to work properly.
How To Make Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Melt Coconut Oil: Microwave until liquid, then cool. Measure after melting.
- Blend Oats: Process into fine flour. Measure after blending.
- Combine Wet Ingredients: Whisk together wet ingredients. Use room-temperature ingredients.
- Add Dry Ingredients: Mix in oat flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and chocolate chips. Stir until combined.
- Chill Dough: Chill for 30 minutes, shape into balls, then chill again for 30 minutes.
- Bake: At 350°F for 7-9 minutes. Slightly under bake for best texture.
- Cool and Serve: Let stand before transferring to a cooling rack. Handle gently; they’re fragile.
Other Ingredients In Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Below are some notes about the ingredients in this recipe.
- Oats: You need both quick and old-fashioned oats for the right texture and structure.
- Vanilla extract, salt, and cinnamon: These add important flavor. If you don’t like cinnamon, you can use less, but it will change the taste.
- Egg: Helps bind the cookies and gives them a little rise.
- Baking soda: Important for the structure of the cookies—make sure it’s fresh.
- Coconut oil: Adds flavor and texture. Measure it in liquid form and let it cool to room temperature before adding. Other oils won’t work the same.
- Brown sugar (or coconut sugar): Adds necessary sweetness with just 4-6 tablespoons, much less than most cookie recipes.
- Dark chocolate chips: These add sweetness and flavor. Any type of chocolate chip works, but milk or semi-sweet chips have more sugar. Check the labels for fewer additives.
Quick Tip
While the ingredients in these bars are naturally gluten-free, make sure to check all your ingredient labels to verify they weren’t processed in a facility with gluten.
Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Tips
- Measure Carefully: Baking needs precise measurements. Level the tops of measuring cups with a metal spatula or knife.
- Follow the Recipe: Stick to the recipe; substitutions may not work well here.
- Use Room-Temperature Ingredients: Make sure the egg and melted coconut oil are at room temperature.
- Measure Dough Balls: Each should be 1½ tablespoons or 30 grams- use a cookie scoop. Roll and slightly flatten before baking. Expect about 14-15 cookies.
- Bake on a Lined Pan: Use a silicone liner or parchment paper for even baking and easy cleanup.
- Let Cool: Cookies are crumbly when hot. Let them cool on the tray before transferring to a rack.
- Handle Carefully: Cookies are delicate; move them gently to avoid crumbling.
Storage
Storage: Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Freezing Dough Balls: Freeze dough balls on a parchment-lined sheet until solid, then transfer to an airtight container or bag. Bake directly from frozen, adding 1-2 minutes to the baking time.
More Nutritious Treats:
- Healthy No-Bake Cookies chocolate and peanut butter flavored
- Monster Cookies with a healthy twist
- Healthy Blueberry Muffins with Greek yogurt
- Chocolate Granola Bar with dark chocolate and coconut oil
- Healthy Pumpkin Muffins with dark chocolate
Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- Blender or food processor
- Sheet pan
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup coconut oil see note 1
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 tablespoons light brown sugar lightly packed, see note 2
- 3/4 cup oat flour regular oats blended in a blender—see note 3
- 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
- 1/4 cup quick oats
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt or 1/4 teaspoon table salt
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips see note 4
Instructions
- Melt the coconut oil in the microwave until it is liquid. Measure once fully melted. Set aside to cool back to room temperature—it should not be hot when adding to the recipe.
- Add old-fashioned or quick oats to a blender or food processor. Blend or process until the oats are fine and resemble flour; stir and reblend if needed so that all the oats are a fine powder. Measure the oat flour after blending to get a level and gently packed 3/4 cup oat flour. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine cooled coconut oil, vanilla extract, egg, and brown sugar in a bowl. Briskly whisk everything together until completely smooth.
- Add oat flour, old-fashioned oats, quick oats, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt to the wet ingredients. Mix with a wooden spoon and stir until just combined, then stir in the chocolate chips. The dough is very wet—this is normal.
- Cover the dough tightly and chill for 30 minutes. Don’t skip chilling, but don’t chill longer than 30 minutes or the dough will be nearly impossible to shape! Remove dough and use a 1-1/2 tablespoon measuring spoon or cookie scoop to measure out cookie dough balls. Tightly roll the balls, then slightly flatten. You should get about 14 dough balls. They must be this size for correct baking. Place the balls on a parchment-paper-lined plate, then chill all the rolled dough balls for another 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Once dough balls have chilled, transfer them to a lined sheet pan, spacing them out 2-inches apart. Bake for 7–9 minutes (I think they’re perfect at 8 minutes) or until no longer gooey-looking on top. Slightly under-baking is best for flavor and texture. Carefully remove the tray from the oven. If desired, press a few 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 sit on the sheet pan 5 minutes. Then use a spatula to carefully remove cookies to a cooling rack. Handle carefully; these cookies are very delicate and crumbly.
- Enjoy hot, warm, or at room temperature (I 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.
Video
Recipe Notes
- Measure the ingredients carefully. As with most baked goods, loosely measuring may result in cookies that do not work out properly.
- Even tried-and-true substitutions (like 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 and melted coconut oil are at room temperature. This ensures even emulsification of ingredients instead of a cold egg seizing up in warm or hot coconut oil.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I measured everything correctly and they turned out flat as a pancake. Horrible. Not sure what I did wrong. I followed the recipe to a tee. Pretty bummed.
Did you chill the dough long enough? Any recipe substitutions?
I didn’t use any substitutions. And I let the dough chill for an hour. It scooped great. But when it baked it turned into a flat glob.
Hmm that’s so strange; I’ve never had that happen before or heard of that happening. I’m so sorry you had a bad experience with these cookies 🙁 I wonder if after scooping the dough they got warmed up? If you try again, I’d recommend chilling them again after scooping so they are super cold/solid going into the oven.
I’ve been searching for healthy cookies for my kids and I think I am excited to try this. Just one question- do the cookies come out crunchy? I think my kids would enjoy it more if the cookies are somehow crunchy. Thanks!
The oatmeal makes a super nice crunch! I think your kids would love this! Thanks! 🙂
I was just wondering how many cookies does this recipe yield?
Thank you for sharing the recipe, they were a big hit. My husband insists that I have to make these for him every week. I gradually kept reducing the sugar to try and make them even healthier and now I substitute semi-sweet chocolate chips and I use less than half a cup for double the recipe and it is more than enough. I also deleted the sugar completely, found that I didn’t need it at all, and the cookies still tasted very sweet. The coconut oil is very sweet and has lots of flavor so you actually don’t need any sugar. They are soft and gooey when they come out of the oven and not very impressive. But if you refrigerate the cookies overnight they firm up nicely and the flavor improves too.
I already made them and loved ir, the texture Is great o would want to así, what if i put half of the oil and double of sugar? Since sugar Is usually what gives that chewy texture. Has anyone donde it?
Congrats for the great récipe!
Hi! I’m super new to baking and I know next to nothing about it so this is probably a dumb question, but can you substitute Stevia extract for sugar?
I haven’t tried that before, but wouldn’t recommend that substitute
Hi Chelsea, I’m wondering what I did so wrong – my cookies just spread out like liquid on the tray in the oven. They came out after 8 mins flat and all joined into one. I chilled the dough for an hour and then when I rolled them into balls I re-chilled them for 15 mins. Any idea other than the chilling that could cause this ? They still taste delicious, just cooling them now to see what the consistency will be like. Super keen to get it right though. Any thoughts would be amazing ??
Just made a double batch of these babies, they turned out delicious but a bit too crumbly on the inside. The only thing I added was some ground almonds, and to be honest my egg wasn’t exactly a large one. Could that be the reason of the excess crumblyness?
How much ground almonds did you add? That could have been the main contributor to the crumbliness, but definitely try a large egg next time too! I’m so glad you still enjoyed them though! Thanks! 🙂
Made these exactly. Turned out great. I made a second batch and mixed in sliced almonds, unsweetened coconut and dark chocolate chips. I put in fridge for 30 minuets to set up. Baked for 10 minutes. They were wonderful! Slightly crunchy on edges. Would definitely recommend this recipe! Thanks for sharing with us.
I’m so glad you loved them Lisa! 🙂
So I made this exactly as instructed with the exception that I substituted butter for the coconut oil because I had none on hand.
I split one batch up prior to the mix-ins and did one half chocolate chips and the other half rasins & craisins.
I needed to let these cook at least 10 minutes each (especially if you were refrigerating the dough before hand).
While the cookies taste good, they are extremely crumbly even after cooling. I was able to remove them from the tray to a drying rack with a spatula, but you can barely hold them without them crumbling.
Would this have been prevented with the oil? Honestly I’m not willing to try another batch unless I know for sure because they simply are too fragile to store and even though they are good we won’t eat them all at once!