Healthy Peanut Butter Cookies

This healthy peanut butter cookies recipe is so tasty and easy to make by hand with just 7 ingredients.

My go-to recipe for when I’m craving a batch of warm, delicious, and slightly-healthier cookies…stat. ♡

These peanut butter cookies are always here to save the day. They’re wonderfully low fuss with just 10 minutes of prep time and only require 7 basic ingredients that are likely already hanging out in your pantry. They’re naturally gluten-free and dairy-free and made with a chewy oatmeal base. There’s no mixer or chill time required here. And even without the usual flour and butter, these peanut butter cookies are still downright delicious.

Feel free to stir some chocolate chips, nuts, or other add-ins to the dough if you’d like. And I definitely recommend a little sprinkle of flaky sea salt for a crunchy finish.

Let’s bake some cookies together!

Healthy Peanut Butter Cookie Ingredients

Here are a few notes about the ingredients you will need to make this healthy peanut butter cookies recipe:

• Natural creamy peanut butter: This recipe was developed with natural creamy peanut butter made from 100% peanuts. (The consistency of natural peanut butter varies significantly from traditional peanut butter.) As always, be sure to give your jar of natural pb a good stir before adding it to the recipe.
• Old fashioned oats: Old fashioned oats (aka “rolled” oats) will serve as the base for these cookies. If you want to make this recipe gluten-free, be sure to check labels to ensure that your oats are certified gluten-free.
• Eggs: We will use eggs to help bind all of the ingredients together.
• Brown sugar: I typically make this recipe with light brown sugar, but other forms of granulated sugar may work well too.
• Baking soda: Baking soda will serve as our leavening agent to help the cookie dough rise.
• Vanilla extract: A hint of vanilla extract brings out the best of the peanut butter flavor.
• Salt: And finally, we will use fine sea salt in the cookie dough to bring out the best of all of those flavors. Then I also highly recommend sprinkling a pinch of flaky sea salt on the cookies after baking.
• (Optional) Chocolate chips or nuts: Feel free to also add in a handful of semisweet chocolate chips or chopped nuts (such as pecans or walnuts) if you would like!

Peanut Butter Cookie Tips

Before we get to the full recipe below, here are a few additional tips to keep in mind when making these peanut butter cookies:

• Use natural peanut butter. Again, this recipe was developed using natural peanut butter, which you can either purchase at the store or make homemade. The texture/consistency will not be the same if traditional peanut butter is used.
• Save time with a cookie scoop. You’re totally welcome to just use a spoon to scoop the batter into roughly 2-tablespoon balls. But if you’d like to save time, a medium cookie scoop makes measuring and scooping the batter a breeze.
• Be sure to flatten the cookies slightly. This batter doesn’t rise and spread very much on its own, so I recommend patting the cookies down slightly before baking.

Recipe Variations

Here are a few additional variations that you are welcome to try with this recipe:

• Add cocoa powder: Add 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder to the batter if you would like to make it more chocolatey.
• Add cinnamon: Add 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon to the batter if you would like a hint of cinnamon flavor.
• Use different chocolate chips: Use any other favorite kinds of baking chips (i.e. butterscotch, white chocolate, peanut butter, Heath bar chips, M&Ms, etc) in place of semisweet chocolate chips.

More Cookie Recipes

Looking for more delicious cookie recipes to try? Here are a few of our faves:

• The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Gingerbread Cookies
• Brown Sugar Cookies
• Peanut Butter Blossoms
• Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies
• Linzer Cookies
• Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Healthy Peanut Butter Cookies

4.78 from 98 votes

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes minutes

Author: Ali

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This tasty healthy peanut butter cookies recipe is quick and easy to make by hand with just 7 ingredients.

Equipment

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  Natural Peanut Butter
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  Flaky Sea Salt
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  Vanilla Extract

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup natural creamy peanut butter
• 1 cup old-fashioned oats
• optional: 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips or chopped nuts
• flaky sea salt, for topping

Instructions

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  Prep oven and baking sheet. Heat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
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  Mix the dough. In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs and brown sugar together until smooth. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt evenly over the top of the mixture and stir until combined. Add in the vanilla, peanut butter, and stir until combined. Add in the oats (and chocolate chips or nuts, if using) and stir until evenly combined.
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  Scoop the dough. Use a medium (2 tablespoon) cookie scoop to scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Gently press down the dough balls to slightly flatten the tops, since they will not spread much while baking.
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  Bake. Bake for 10 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and sprinkle each cookie with a small pinch of flaky sea salt. Let the cookies cool for at least 5 minutes.
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  Serve. Serve warm and enjoy!

Notes

Storage instructions: Cookies can be stored in a sealed container at room temperature for up to 4 days or frozen for up to 3 months.

Additional Info

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!