Breakfast Cookies are soft, chewy, and packed with peanut butter and oats. No flour, butter, or oil—just big flavor in every bite! Ready in about 20 minutes.
Cookies You Can Eat For Breakfast!
I love a good savory breakfast like an egg skillet or wrap, but let’s be real—I’m all about the sweet breakfasts. Crepes, pancakes, bread pudding…if it’s got sugar, I’m in.
So if there’s a way to justify cookies for breakfast, you know I’m on board! Sure, these have a little sugar, but they’re mostly made with peanut butter, honey, an egg, and oats. Honestly, depending on how you sweeten your oatmeal, your bowl might have more sugar than these cookies… or is that just me? 😅
Quick Tip
Breakfast cookies aren’t just for breakfast! They’re the perfect grab-and-go snack or afternoon treat.
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make Breakfast Cookies:
- Peanut butter: Use creamy, not crunchy, for the best texture. Pick one you love! Avoid oily natural kinds—they won’t hold together as well.
- Honey & brown sugar: Use super soft brown sugar for extra soft cookies. Lightly pack it in the measuring cup.
- Oats: Old-fashioned oats work best. Skip quick or steel-cut oats.
- Salt & baking soda: Add flavor and help with texture. Sift baking soda if it’s clumpy.
- Vanilla & egg: Gives flavor and holds everything together.
- Peanut butter chocolate chips: A delicious combo!
Breakfast Cookies Tips
- Measure evenly: Use a 1-tablespoon measuring spoon so all cookies bake the same.
- Flatten slightly: These don’t spread much, so press the dough balls wider, not taller.
- Use creamy peanut butter: It mixes better than crunchy.
- Watch the bake time: They bake fast! Take them out when the tops aren’t gooey or shiny—they’ll firm up more as they cool.
Variations
Breakfast Cookies Variations
- Chocolate swap: Use dark chocolate chips instead of peanut butter chocolate chips.
- Fruit & nuts: Try raisins, dried cranberries, tart cherries, or nuts instead of chocolate.
- Salty-sweet: Add a sprinkle of Maldon sea salt flakes on top.
Storage
Leftover Breakfast Cookies?
- Room temp: Keep in an airtight container for 3–4 days.
- Fridge: Store in an airtight bag for up to a week.
- Freezer: Freeze unbaked dough in a sealed bag for up to 3 months. Bake straight from frozen, adding 1–2 minutes to the bake time.
More Breakfast Treats:
- Healthy Pumpkin Cookies no refined sugar, no flour, butter, or oil
- Healthy Banana Muffins naturally sweetened
- No Bake Granola Bars with a chocolate drizzle
- Healthy No Bake Cookies with dark chocolate
- Healthy Applesauce Muffins made with Greek yogurt
Breakfast Cookies
Breakfast Cookies are a peanut butter lover’s dream! Soft, chewy, and packed with oats, these cookies come together fast—just 20 minutes from start to finish.
Video
Equipment
- Sheet pan (15" x 10")
Ingredients
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter see note 1
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 4 tablespoons light brown sugar lightly packed
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons old-fashioned oats
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup peanut butter and chocolate chips see note 2
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a medium bowl, stir together all ingredients except the chocolate chips. (Do not warm the peanut butter or honey.)
- Fold in the peanut butter and chocolate chips.
- The dough will be thick. Use a 1-tablespoon measuring spoon to scoop a leveled dough ball, press it tightly into a ball, then flatten into a disc.
- Arrange the cookie discs, spaced an inch apart on a sheet pan and bake for 6–8 minutes. Watch closely—remove when the bottoms start to brown, even if they look slightly underdone. They will continue cooking as they cool.
- Cool completely before serving.
Final step! Please let us know how it was by leaving a review.
Recipe Notes
Note 1: I use Skippy. Choose a smooth, creamy peanut butter—avoid oily or natural varieties.
Note 2: You can also use dark chocolate chips, raisins, dried cranberries, or peanuts as a mix-in.
Gluten-free: For a gluten-free version, make sure oats are certified gluten free.
Storage: Keep in an airtight container at room temp for 3–4 days or in the fridge for up to a week. Freeze in a sealed bag for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 197kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.001g | Cholesterol: 12mg | Sodium: 172mg | Potassium: 156mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 18IU | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 0.5mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I’m trying to decide whether to make your Healthy Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies or Healthier Flourless Monster Cookies. I notice the Oatmeal do not call for coconut oil or as much oatmeal. Do you think either would help hold them together? Thanks!
These healthy oatmeal breakfast cookies are definitely the more popular one on my site 🙂 I think they hold together great without coconut oil!
Made these just as written and they were a huge party hit. Lots of requests for your recipe!
So happy to hear that!! Thanks so much for the comment Rachel 🙂
Have made these twice so far in the past two weeks. First time I had a mental blip while measuring the chocolate chips and actually doubled the amount of chocolate + butterscotch chips to 1 cup total instead of 1/2. Also had only dark brown sugar to use.
They still came out delicious if not a little more crumbly.
Today I made them again and split the batch. One with 1/4 cup chocolate/butterscotch blend and the other 1/4 dark chocolate chips and then topped the latter with sea salt.
Definitely must smush these flat on the cookie tray as they don’t flatten much and must let these cool before trying to eat!
At almost 175 calories a cookie (by my calculations), I’m not sure they are worth two normal chocolate chip cookies, but wife and kids liked these a lot, I might try one batch with only additional honey (no unrefined sugars) to see how they come out.
Question- is the recipe 1/2 cup total chips or a half cup each PB and chocolate. I made with 1/2 cup total and mine are delicious but there are no chips showing like in your picture. Thanks !
Hi Darlene; if desired you can add a few extra chips (or reserve a few from the total) to add to the tops of the cookies after they’ve been baked! It’s 1/2 cup total.
I could see this being a really good recipe for someone who was gluten-free or couldn’t have butter, but after trying it I think I’d rather just make regular oatmeal cookies and reduce the sugar/sub in whole wheat flour. It’s not necessarily “healthy” – just lacks flour. I put the ingredients in a nutrition calculator and did not see any major, healthy differences between this and a more conventional cookie. It just has a health halo because it doesn’t have wheat flour. That said, it was tasty and if I didn’t have the option of eating wheat flour, I’d make these again.
Thanks for your feedback Dee 🙂
Making these for the second time this week. I made them vegan, substituting maple syrup for honey, and 3 tablespoons of roasted sweet potato purée for the eggs. I also used extra dark chocolate chips. OMG- they are delicious. I am neither vegan nor gluten-free, but wanted to make some for a friend who is. She loved them, and now bringing them to a cookie exchange in California where lots of people are gluten free, dairy free, vegan, etc. Thank you for this recipe. I never comment on blog recipes, but wanted to let others know this works for vegans with tweaks, and it’s AMAZING!! I can’t believe it’s healthy, and so quick to make! This recipe is a keeper.
LOVE hearing this!! Thanks for the comment and review Robin 🙂
Can I use quick oats instead of rolled?
Unfortunately not for these cookies!
I made these cookies this morning for my 3 sons under 4. I thought the sugar content was a little high so I used natural peanut butter and didn’t add the brown sugar at all. I replaced the chocolate chips with chopped dates. They were perfect. Just sweet enough for breakfast.
So happy to hear that!! Love that you used dates 🙂 Thanks for the comment Kristen!
I made these last week and loved them. I didn’t follow the tips so they were crumbly. Trying them again now with natural peanut butter and will follow your tips to avoid crumble. Any other great recipes of yours i should try?
Thank you for the recipe, these are divine! I made them with natural peanut butter and as I do not have cookie scoop, I just used my hands. They are not crumbly yet and when eaten few mintes after being out of the oven (I could not resist), they were amazingly chewy. Thank you, these are really delicious! 🙂
Are you serious here? I think I’ve died and gone to heaven!!