These simple, naturally-sweetened peanut butter banana oatmeal cookies are the perfect healthy treat for a school or work lunchbox. They’re made with just 4 ingredients– oats, peanut butter, banana, and chocolate chips. 
I first tried these simple peanut butter banana oatmeal cookies when one of my good friends made them in college, so I knew what to expect when I tried making a version of peanut butter banana oatmeal cookies myself.
They’re definitely not your typical cookie, but I think they’re delicious. They’re are an easy, healthy treat that doesn’t taste overly decadent or sweet. They’re soft rather than crispy and almost remind me of a banana bread cookie!
And you can preheat the oven, mix up the batter, and enjoy one of these cookies in 20 minutes from start to finish!
To make these healthy cookies, start by mashing ripe bananas in a medium bowl. Stir in peanut butter, optional honey or sugar, oats, salt, and chocolate chips.
Then, roll the cookie dough into balls, place them on a parchment paper-lined sheet, and lightly flatten them since they don’t spread in the oven. 
Before you know it, you’ll be enjoying some cookies hot out of the oven!
A note about sweeteners: you can add a small amount of honey or sugar if you prefer your cookie to taste a bit sweeter. Even though I don’t love overly-sugary desserts, I enjoyed the addition of a tablespoon of honey to liven these up after I tried only sweetening them with banana the first time I made them. They aren’t overly sweet at all. But it’s up to you!
I often pack a mini treat to snack on between classes or enjoy after dinner as a healthy dessert, and these peanut butter banana oatmeal cookies are perfect for that. I keep these cookies in the freezer, toss one in my lunchbox in the morning, and it’s thawed within a couple of hours.
Some of my other favorite healthy treats that I keep in my freezer are Yasso Greek yogurt bars and these amazing double chocolate peanut butter muffins (which only have 8 grams of sugar)! Feel free to share other ideas with me– I’d love to hear your favorite healthy treats!
And I hope you enjoy these peanut butter banana oatmeal cookies as much as I do 🙂
If you try these peanut butter banana oatmeal cookies, feel free to let me know in a comment and leave a star rating, or take a photo and tag me @livbane on Instagram! I’d love to see!
4-Ingredient Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups mashed ripe banana (2 very large bananas, about 290g weighed without peel)
- 1/2 cup peanut butter (I use natural, no sugar added)
- 1 Tbsp. honey or coconut sugar (optional)
- 2 cups quick-cooking oats
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- 1/4 cup chocolate chips (I use semi-sweet or dark), plus a few extra to sprinkle on top
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Peel bananas and mash in a medium mixing bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients, including optional honey or sugar if using, and stir to combine.
- Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Drop approximately 20 tablespoon-size spoonfuls onto a cookie shape and flatten with a spatula. Press a few chocolate chips into the top of each cookie, if desired.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes, until cookies have set and are just beginning to lighty brown. Let cool for 5-10 minutes and then remove from cookie sheet.
- For optimal freshness, store leftover cookies in an airtight container on the counter for up to 2 days, in the fridge for up to 1-2 weeks, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
A Healthy Liv original recipe
Recipe video by If You Give a Blonde a Kitchen
So glad to see this recipe. Love easy to make cookies using oatmeal instead of flour.
Yes! Love that they have oats for some extra nutrients and gluten-free if that’s a dietary concern!
I tried these and really enjoyed them for a less sweet cookie option! I find many desserts to be too sweet, anyway!
I’m so glad you enjoyed these, May!!
I made them for my family and they were delicious, thank you
Ok so mine were definitely not photogenic, but they were delicious! Thanks for sharing these recipes!
I’m so glad you enjoyed these cookies, Amber!!
I made these this morning and loved them! I had some unsweetened coconut that I threw in as well, and it was really good. Thank so much for the recipe!
Perfect! Wanted something sweet and just the right amount of sweetness without the quilt! Yummy!
*Thank you
Haha gotta love it when you type so fast you leave out a word!
Haha so glad to hear that you enjoyed these! Unsweetened coconut sounds like a perfect addition!
Added dried cranberries and flaked almonds. Delicious.
These were ok. I guess they aren’t supposed to be super delicious considering that they dont have white sugar and white flour. we still enjoyed them though. Glad I tried the recipe!
These were delicious and I added raisins. They were sweet I ground up the oatmeal in a food processor first and added cinnamon love them making some more right now.
Thank you very much for this recipe! I used chunky peanut butter and extra honey. I think that the peanut chunks helped to hold the cookie together. I will make them again.
So glad you enjoyed these 😀
I’m trying them with unnatural peanut butter, I’ll let you know how they come out.
Please do! I imagine they’ll be just as yummy, if not more!
Just made these and we love them! A perfect after school treat for my daughter. Thank you!
I was craving something like this today and am so glad I found the recipe. I added cinnamon, a splash of vanilla, and ground flax to mine. The result was perfection! It was exactly what I needed to eat…in fact, I had 5 and considered that my dinner. Yum!!
I added these too and used old fashioned oats because it’s what I had. My toddler loves them.
tasty i,m diabetic and its hard to find cookie recipes.
i added the cinnamon vanilla sultan raisins chocolate chips
had to cook a lot longer than normal.
maybe because my bananas were frozen and i didn’t really wait till they thawed. lol
very nice stay safe with this virus
So glad you enjoyed these!! Stay safe 😀
Can apple sauce be a sub. For bananas
Hi Joyce! I haven’t tried it, but let me know what you think if you do!
Hi tried these today. Why would mine come out soft and rubbery.
Did these today! Added blueberries to the mix as I needed to use them up so didnt need honey aswell as the banana and blueberries were enough. Came out great!
LOVE YOUR COOKIES! Just the right amount of sweetness, I didn’t add the salt or sweetener. This is the perfect recipe I’ve been looking for, Thank you!
I thought about these before I made them as I don’t like raw oats much.. so I toasted them in the oven, cooled them and added.. also added millet about 2 tbsp and some wheat germ and almond meal and coconut.. all mixed in well and were a bit more cookie like than muffin texture, so a bit dryer but the banana kept the mositure up..
I’d make again with these adjustments
does the oatmeal have to be quick oats
I used part quick oats and part whole oats and they came out fine. I was just finishing open packets Also i skipped the honey and they are sweet enough for us. Great recipe for a quick on the go breakfast.
I made these with date paste instead of honey. I also used raisins and added cinnamon and ground cardamom. So yummy. I’ve removed white sugar, honey, molasses from my diet so making sweet things has become a delicious lightly sweetened experience. I will make these again.
I’m so glad you enjoyed these, Evita! Thanks for reporting back!
This baking dad was desperate to use some frozen bananas. Checked many recipes and liked this one the best overall – and just decided to make the frozen work. My son and I used about 9 sm.-to-med. bananas and let them strain first in a colander (after reading a note about the liquid maybe being an issue). Along with some other insignificant adjustments based on available ingredients, they came out deliciously! Thanks.
I’m so glad you and your son enjoyed these cookies and it’s great to know that frozen bananas work well here!
Thanks! I forgot to mention that we did a double batch.
I have never commented before, but these are absolutely amazing! The chocolate and banana are a great mix!
Happy to hear that you enjoyed these, Bailey!! Thanks for reporting back 😀
I found this recipe on a Google search. I love it! I used crunchy peanut butter, rolled oats and cacao nibs, because that’s what I had! I will make this again and again. Do you think I could use almond butter? Thanks!
I’m so glad you enjoyed these! You can absolutely substitute almond butter 😊
Thanks for sharing your recipe, I enjoyed these cookies.
I did add raisins
I’m so glad you enjoyed these cookies, Lora!
The kids love these! I added organic sweetened dried cranberries this time and used mini chocolate chips. They are great!
I’m so glad you all enjoyed these cookies!
These look good!
My toddler son tends to make a mess with chocolate. Do you think these would be good with maybe raisins instead of the chocolate chips? Do you have any other suggestions for a chocolate replacement?
Hi Jessica! I haven’t tried it, but some other commenters mentioned they liked using raisins in these cookies so I think that would work great. Dried cranberries/craisins could also be yummy!
These are easy and delicious! Only had 1 tbsp of chocolate chips, so just used that and 1 tbsp of shredded coconut and they still turned out great. I think having overripe bananas for recipes like this is really key to get the best texture and flavour. Would
Definitely make again!
Oh yum! Shredded coconut sounds delicious.
Perfect healthy, easy, gluten free treat!! So happy to find this recipe. I’ve made them twice this week already 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing it!
I made these today with oat flour and add a few chocolate chips. I don’t do well with sugar, so these are perfect for me. The texture is a little weird, but that’s to be expected with the ingredients. After I made them, I realized that without the chocolate chips, I would have the perfect grain free dog treat! I have my own dog treat business, so these will go into my rotation!
I’m a college student and I love making these for an easy breakfast when I run out the door! I typically blend an extra half cup of oats into our flour and I’ve found that it helps them hold a little better 🙂
So glad to hear it, Celeste!!
Hi Just want to say I love these cookies, I have made them several times now. I was just wondering if you would know the calorie intake to these I used reduced fat peanut butter but am thinking of next time using All Natural peanut butter. Trying to be good and trying to find more healthy recipes. Thank you for sharing these love them!!
I didn’t add the additional sugar, just oats, chocolate chips, banana, vanilla, and I also subbed PB2 powdered peanut butter. A sprinkle of Maldon sea salt on top after baking and they were perfect!
Instead of chocolate chips I substituted dried cranberries to make a pet friendly treat! Dogs loved it and so did their masters. Win! Win!
I added pecans in lieu of chocolate chips! delicious quick breakfast or snack!
These will be good for breakfast on the go. Thanks!
The taste was good but because they don’t crisp up at all it was basically like eating unbaked. Not a repeat recipe for me
I found this recipe in a Google search as well, as I typed in, 4 ingredient cookies. I am much more of a cook in my creations than a baker. Actually, I don’t bake because I can’t follow instructions lol my substitutes were, I used almond butter, I had a two scoops of my peppermint, chocolate protein, pecans, dark chocolate chips, and sprinkles with flakes salt after cooking. Wowser came out delicious! Thank you for the guide. !
Just made these-I love the healthy ingredients. I thought they tasted good, but not loving the texture. They seemed under baked to me and I don’t like baked goods over baked at all. I would not call them a cookie. I don’t think I would make them again.
Can’t wait to make these cookies! Can I substitute dates for chocolate chips?
These are literally my favourite cookies. Most traditional chocolate chip cookies make my body feel terrible after eating, but I have been making these cookies for years now, and they are still my absolute favourite.
Easy enough, think I’ll try
I made these according to the recipe (with Smucker’s natural peanut butter) and they were delicious, and (of course) super easy. I ended up cooking them 13 minutes. Mine were probably a little bit bigger spoonfuls of cookie.
This was soooo good. I think this might be my new favorite bedtime snack!
They were edible. My family liked them more than I did, to me they were too “toothy” and not sweet enough. Thanks for the recipe!
Love them! I added dried cranberries. I had to use regular peanut butter, it was all I had. Going to make another batch with frozen blueberries. Love gluten free.
Absolutely loved this recipe! Needed a guilt free dessert to follow dinner. These are perfect!
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I wasn’t sure I’d like these cookies without white sugar, but I really enjoyed them!
I had try to mixed in half a cup of chocolate chips. This is an awesome recipe. Thank for your article.
The combination of peanut butter, banana, and chocolate chips sounds like a winning flavor combination time calculator
Absolutely loved the recipe!!! they were a big hit with the family and friends.
I made them and they would not bind together at all. Followed the recipe to a T.
I made bigger cookies so had to bake them more than twice as long, and the tops never started browning for me, but the bottoms were getting quite brown so I pulled them out. I do like these, will probably heat them up to eat the rest. I’d think of them more as “oat bites” than cookies. I was sick of watching bananas go bad on my counter so was looking for a recipe to use a couple up, with ingredients I already had. This fit the bill. I used dried cranberries instead of chocolate chips because that’s what I had.
That’s great to hear! It’s always a pleasant surprise when a healthier alternative is delicious. What kind of sweetener did you use instead?
I am really looking forward to Christmas Eve to receive papa’s games the gift
These peanut butter banana oatmeal cookies sound like the perfect snack for gaming sessions! Quick to make, healthy, and packed with energy—exactly what you need to keep your focus sharp during intense matches in games like Null’s Brawl. A treat like this is great for fueling up while unlocking brawlers and leveling up your game.
I originally made these for my 13 mo old grandson. I love the minimal ingredients, not to mention how delicious they are! I am never without a bag of them in my freezer. Not only are they the treat I take when I visit my grandson, they have become my go-to on long bike rides. They travel extremely well in a pocket, are healthy, digest easily, nutritious and satisfying. No more wasting money on hyped up nutrition bars—these are it!! Thank you for a wonderful recipe.
Okay, today’s January 31, 2025 and I it is almost 11pm and I embarked on making these amazing little yummy cookies! Taste, consistency and satisfying to the taste buds. A must try. I added some pumpkin spice and used my newly made Almond Butter this week (long process but worth it!) So brothers and sisters out there want healthy yummy treat – here they are! GREAT RECIPE!
Oh, how delicious you make. Thank you so much for the great recipe. I drink it with tea and coffee and give it to my friends to try.
Mash ripe bananas, mix with peanut butter, oats, and optional sweetener. Shape into cookies, bake at 350°F (175°C) for 12-15 minutes. Simple, healthy treats!
Oh, how delicious you make.
Had some quick cook quinoa flakes in the cupboard to use up. Used in place of the oats. Turned out well. Very versatile recipe and delicious.
I just made it today I used no sugar almond butter instead of peanut butter it was delicious!
These Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Cookies are a deliciously healthy treat with just four simple ingredients! Perfectly sweetened naturally, they’re an easy snack for busy days and a great addition to any lunchbox. Plus, the combo of oats, peanut butter, and banana makes them super satisfying!
Thank you for adding the amount of bananas needed in gms as bananas vary so much in size.
I don’t always use a sweetener but if I do, I add organic maple sugar.
I also add a scoop of vanilla protein powder.
Sometimes I add dried fruit, ie tart cherries, cranberries, chopped apricots.
Great for before or after exercise class or a snack in the car when running errands to hold me over until I get home for a meal.
Sooo yummy! I added chai seeds and used chunky peanut butter for some extra texture.
My husband calls them a treat, but I call them a quick breakfast, lol.
They taste even better chilled!
Thanks for the wonderful recipe 😉
Your expertise has saved me hours of research.
My grandchildren- and grown kids- absolutely love these cookies! Naturally sweetened, I do not add any sugar or honey. I use mini chocolate chips. Great snack for toddlers. Thank you!
These cookies sound amazing! I love that they’re so simple and use ingredients I usually have on hand. Perfect for a quick and healthy treat. My kids are always looking for snacks, and I think even they could manage to whip these up. Makes me think of the kind of silly, lighthearted fun you get from a game like Funny Shooter 2, something easy and enjoyable to pick up anytime. I’ll definitely be trying these out this week. Thanks for the recipe!