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!).
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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
Ingredients
- ½ cup coconut oil Note 1
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 tablespoons light brown sugar, lightly packed Note 2
- ¾ cup oat flour regular oats blended in a blender — Note 3
- ½ cup old-fashioned oats
- ¼ cup quick oats
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt Note 4
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips Note 5
Instructions
- MELT COCONUT OIL: Melt the coconut oil in the microwave until it is liquid. Measure a level ½ cup of oil once 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 or quick oats to a blender or food processor. Blend or process until the oats are fine and resemble flour, stir and re-blend 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 in ¾ 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, old-fashioned oats, quick oats, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt to the liquid ingredients. Mix with a wooden spoon and stir until just combined; then stir in the dark chocolate chips. The dough is very wet– this is normal.
- CHILL: 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 the dough and use 1½ tablespoon measuring spoons or cookie scoop to measure out cookie dough balls. Tightly roll the balls and then slightly flatten. You should get about 14 cookies from this dough. They must be this size for correct baking. Place the balls on a parchment-paper-lined plate. Once all rolled, chill all the rolled cookie dough balls for another 30 minutes.
- BAKE: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Once dough balls have 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-looking on top. Slightly under-baking 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 use a spatula to very carefully remove cookies from the sheet pan to a cooling rack. Handle carefully; these cookies are very delicate and crumbly.
- ENJOY/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. I recommend freezing the unbaked cookie dough instead of freezing 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.
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 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.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I followed the recipe exactly and they turned out perfectly. These cookies are so delicious. I also appreciate how detailed and explicit your directions/notes are. I have yet to find a recipe of yours I don’t love!
Thank you so much Caitlin! I am so happy to hear this! 🙂
Taste good although recipe doesn’t work out unfortunately.. The cookies didn’t flatten which was still a good thing but were “sand texture” they were so crumbly. I will try adding another egg etc next time.