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 just made a version of these and they were awesome (I used white chocolate and added some pecans). They aren’t too sweet, which I love, and healthy because of the oats. I’ll definitely be making these again. Thanx
Awesome!! So glad to hear it! 🙂 Thank you Yolanda!
SO great to hear!! The white chocolate and pecans sounds amazing! 🙂 You are welcome!!
These were so so good! Mine spread a little bit too much- (came out flatter). Maybe cause I didn’t wait exactly the 30 minutes you suggest (I waited more like 20).
Regardless they were lovely- flavor was excellent and not too sweet (which is my #1 comment for all cookies).
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe <3
Oh that is so great to hear!! Thank you for trying these and leaving a review Sarah 🙂 So happy you enjoyed these! 🙂
I’ve made these tonight with my three year old son. I’m on a dairy/gluten/refined sugar free diet at the moment so I’ve used 4 table spoons of agave syrup instead of the brown sugar. My son couldn’t wait so I’ve had to put the dough in cling film (made into a salami shape) and put in the freezer for 10-20 minutes. They were absolutely gorgeous! Definitely a family favourite now so thank you!
Agave is refined. If you are seeking out an less refined sugar, I would choose Organic Coconut palm sugar. If you need unrefined, Honey or REAL maple syrup is the only unrefined sugar.
Just made these cookies tonight and they are FABULOUS!!! Just wanted to know how many calories are in one cookie? Thank you!
Ok! No problem! I totally understand ?
Really easy recipe. Made it gluten free and the recipe was a little stiff after mixing, so didn’t give it to long in the fridge. The cookies are delicious and have gone down a treat in my house.
Also didn’t have any chocolate chips that where dairy and soya free so I bashed down some bark chocolate into bits .. just as good 🙂
Thanks for a really easy recipe that didn’t have loads of sugar in it!
How did you make them gluten-free?
They are naturally gluten free if you use certified gluten free oats.
I would like to hear more from those who used canola oil… Coconut oil is not heart friendly and these sound so good. Any oil that hardens at room temperature isn’t good for the heart, although coconut oil does have lots of benefits. My husband is recovering from a heart attack and we were told not to use any tropical oils.
Canola oil will not work in these cookies as it doesn’t harden like the coconut oil does.
Hi
I have made these a few times now and I LOVE them with all my heart. I am not a baker and these are just perfect for me to make on an evening and be so satisfied with my efforts. I am currently making these for a baby shower tomorrow 😀
I make these with extra virgin coconut oil and not refined and they turn out perfect…I haven’t yet tried with refined as I never buy this in. I have also added chopped nuts at the chocolate stage and they are just lovely. I have also tried these with rice malt syrup and the texture wasn’t any different but they weren’t as sweet as with the brown sugar.
The one thing that continues to confuse me though is when do you flatten them out to make them look like cookies and not a ball of cookie??? can anyone share their experiences?
Thanks 😀
This recipe is amazing! I just made them and couldn’t wait to try. Delicious -thanks for sharing your recipe.
Yay!! So great to hear!! Thanks for the comment 🙂
What are the nutritional facts for this recipe?
I just did a quick estimate of how many calories in this recipe. It is real close to 2,000. If you get 18 cookies, it would be 111 calories per cookie. I didn’t figure out any other nutritional content though. Hope this helps you.
Thank you so much Ash!
They look delicious. One question: what can I swap coconut oil with?
I would not suggest any swaps for coconut oil as I’ve never had success with different oils. The coconut oil “hardens” when being refrigerated much more than any other oils I’ve used. However, I have had some readers say they have had success with canola oil, so you could try that, but I can’t guarantee it will work for you. Sorry to not be of more help!
A previous cookie recipe I used asked for coconut oil but after cooling in the fridge I noticed a funny taste or smell due to the coconut. I was afraid the same thing would happen again with your recipe so I swapped the coconut oil for softened unsalted butter and they turned out fine too. *note* I didn’t cool them too long in the fridge as I was eager to bake them and eat them =]