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Banana Oatmeal Cookies
If you can imagine a cross between oatmeal cookies and banana bread, this is it — and it’s delicious!
Meet my new favorite cookies: they’re crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, and they taste just like banana bread.
What you’ll need to make Banana Oatmeal Cookies
How to make Them
Begin by combining the dry ingredients: flour, quick oats (they are smaller and thinner than regular rolled oats), baking soda, salt, and spices.
Next, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the mashed banana, egg, and vanilla, then stir in the dry ingredients.
Scoop the dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes, or until golden.
Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
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Banana Oatmeal Cookies
If you can imagine a cross between oatmeal cookies and banana bread, this is it — and it’s delicious!
Ingredients
- 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- 3 cups quick-cooking oats
- 1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 scant teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened but still cool
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup mashed bananas, from 2 large overripe bananas
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Space two oven racks so that the oven is divided into thirds. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy, a few minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the egg, mashed bananas and vanilla extract; beat until combined. Add the flour and oats mixture and mix on low speed until well combined. Do not overmix.
- Scoop large balls of dough (about 1-1/2 tablespoons) onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing at least 2 inches apart (I use a small ice cream scooper with a wire scraper). Bake for 14-17 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back midway through, until golden brown. Cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining cookie dough.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The Cookie Dough can be Frozen for up to 3 Months: Roll the dough into balls, let set on a baking sheet in the freezer, then place in a sealable bag and press out as much air as possible. Bake as needed directly from the freezer. (Allow 1 to 2 minutes longer in the oven.) To Freeze After Baking: Let the cookies cool completely and store in an airtight container separating layers with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Before serving, remove the cookies from the container and let them come to room temperature.
Nutrition Information
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- Serving size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 128
- Fat: 5g
- Saturated fat: 3g
- Carbohydrates: 19g
- Sugar: 8g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 2g
- Sodium: 83mg
- Cholesterol: 15mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Reviews & Comments
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Made these today and I think the recipe got mixed up somehow!
Used the 1 1/2 cups flour, 3 cups quick oatmeal, followed the directions step by step, and the cookie dough was more like cake batter! Very thin, I added about 1+1/4 cups of flour, it got so I could scoop it up and put on the pan. Then followed the baking instructions and they tasted great!
I’m not a novice baker (been baking for about 52 or so years, I’m 66), and kind know what to do in the kitchen.
I’m just wondering if the amounts got switched between the flour and oatmeal!
Hi Jim, Sorry you had a problem with these! Is there any chance you made a measuring error?
These cookies turned out so good! I added walnuts too them and they were a big hit with the family. I will definitely be making these again!
They were a bit of a disaster, first of Jenn’s recipes that I have tried that I would not make again.
Some of them spread too much and was unable to salvage except by eating as is, so no one would see! And they did taste great. As I got to the bottom of my stand mixer bowl I noticed that there was more butter than batter, so maybe the mixing was at fault. But loved the idea of them.
Another slam dunk. Thank you! Had some ripe bananas and just wasn’t in the mood for bread/muffins. These are perfect. The only problem is that I can’t stop eating them…
Just made these, came out great soft in the middle and crispy around the edges!
Can I add chocolate chips &/or dried cranberries to the recipe?
Sure! Hope you enjoy. 🙂
Thank you Jenn for this most excellent cookie recipe. Mine came out like some other people’s did, which was like “cakey” cookies and everyone thinks they are awesome. I found that they needed a long time in the oven to harden up and I think my batter was a little gooey. They ended up taking around 25 minutes. I also put in maybe 1/2 the total sugar amount in the end. And congratulations for the lifestyle you chose – giving up the high end stressful restaurant gig to raise your kids and decide to do things the way that works out best for you and your family. I am doing the same thing and am very happy doing it, despite less earnings. I know that beyond a shadow of a doubt I will not regret having done this when I am old and gray. Btw, I also spent a year abroad in France and got fired from my summer job at the end of the academic year as a GO at a Club Med in Turkey. Cheers!
Glad you enjoyed the cookies and thanks for your kind words! And funny (at least now!) that you were also fired from a job abroad! 🙂
Would old fashioned oats work for this recipe?
Hi Colleen, They would, but the texture will be different. (I prefer them with instant oats.) You can always put your old fashioned oats in the food processor and make your own instant oats. Hope that helps!
Amazing cookies! I prefer less sweet so
I kept the prescribed 3/4 cup light brown sugar and omitted the white sugar altogether. Added a chopped bar of 70% dark chocolate (35g) and the result was PERFECT. The only thing was that the batch size made it very hard to mix by hand (I don’t have an electric mixer). but I got a good workout and 3 dozen medium cookies for my effort. Will def make again!
Perfect! Delicious! Exactly as you described them. Thank you for sharing!
We love banana bread (your banana bread recipe) and so no surprise these cookies were definitely a hit in our home. Although they did not crisp up all the way at the bottom and were sticking to each other when I tried to stack them for storage, the taste was good. I tend to like my cookies a bit less sweet so I reduced the sugar by two tablespoons. I’ve had so much success with so many of your recipes I guess I got a little comfortable deviating from the recipe. I will definitely make these again following the exact recipe!
I like less sweet baking so I deleted a bit of the sugar no choc chips or raisins but 1/2 cup of raisins would be nice for something sweeter most would go for full cup but I like just a hint of sweetness but it sustains this cookie. Put 3/4 cup of very lightly packed brown sugar and took out 1/8 cup of the white sugar. I used 1/2 cup Vegan Becel and 1/2 cup I Cant Believe Its not Butter Margarines. I put an extra 1/4 cup mashed bananas in (leftover 3 big bananas) and a 100 gram package of chopped walnuts. Cookie batter was thick. I lined my two narrow cookie pans with foil gave light spray cooking oil and rubbed it in with my fingers so no excess oil on foil. The first batch I just sort of flattened out the cookie with my fingers only a bit sticky and I got a taller kind of puffed up mound cookie tasty and soft but not like depicted in photo. I baked them for about 8-10 minutes middle of oven side by side. Got about 16 cookies. Next batch I used same amount of batter (heaping table teaspoon) took time to really flatten them out and baked them 10 minutes. They spread and rose up only slightly but you got a soft and chewy cookie can really taste the banana because less sugar and the healthy oats and spices. 2 cookies and I am stuffed and fully satisfied these will feed a crowd got another 16 cookies plus another half dozen so 38 cookies total nice for one recipe and not thimble sized. I also put two cookies each in a ziplock sandwich bag and sealed they stay great that way put in a container in the fridge last even longer or freeze them. It keeps cold germs off the cookie plate. Healthy snack. P. Stevens
Just made them . Perfect . Crispy outside . Soft inside . Yummy
how much flour did you use i.e cup size or grams?
These cookies are fantastic. I made them because I had some overripe bananas, and it was a stretch for me because I have a former-favorite oatmeal cookie recipe that I’ve been baking for decades. I added chocolate chips and pecan pieces to half of the dough. Both ways, these are pretty doggone hard to beat! In the future, I may add dried apricot pieces, walnuts, golden raisins–whatever I have on hand. Thanks for a terrific and versatile recipe.
how much can the sugar be reduced without altering outcome of cookie?
thank you!
You could probably reduce the sugar by about 1/4 cup without impacting the texture of the cookie. Hope you enjoy!
Made exactly as written, and would not make again. These tasted good, but were hopelessly soft and crumbly, when fully cooked. Not “crisp outside and chewy inside” as they should be. First recipe of Jenn’s that I didn’t love!
Hi Jenn
I’ve made many of your wonderful recipes with great success, but my cookies came out completely flat; flatter than pancakes. Not sure what went wrong. I did tweak the recipe by adding raisins and pecans but not sure if that caused all my cookies to become flat. Any suggestions to avoid flat cookie syndrome? Thanks so much! I’m giving this 5 stars because the taste was good and my error.
Hi Barbara, Sorry to hear these came out flat. Adding raisins and nuts wouldn’t have had an impact. What brand of flour did you use? Sometimes when baked goods turn out flat, one reason may be the brand of flour used. I always use King Arthur flour with good results. You could give these a try again with King Arthur flour, or just add 2 extra tablespoons of flour to the mixture. You should get a fuller cookie.
I love crisp on the outside chewy on the inside cookies. But my first batch didnt spread at all, so I pressed the second batch into shape before baking. All of them came out cake like no matter how long I baked them. Help!
Hmmm, not sure, Casey – did you by chance make any substitutions?
Can you add chocolate chips and nuts to this batter?
Sure – both should work. I’d love to hear how they turn out!
I had extra bananas that were really ripe and we were tired of banana bread variations. I also had tons of oatmeal, so I found this recipe and I’m so glad. I’ve made a lot of Jenn’s recipes but this is my first review. These cookies are fantastic! I followed the instructions to a T. We wonder if they can be frozen? We have a new favorite cookie!
Glad you enjoyed them! And, yes, I think they would freeze nicely.
These cookies are amazing! They have the perfect amount of sweetness and a beautiful little crunch along the edges. I definitely recommend!
I was looking for a recipe for banana oatmeal cookies and found this picture, which looked exactly like what I thought my cookies should look like. I used 2 frozen bananas and reduced the white sugar by 1/2. I also added a cup of chopped pecans and 1/2 cup of cruisers. I let them go in the oven a couple extra minutes for a little crispier as per a suggestion on a different recipe and they came out perfect. Like al dente banana nut bread. Will definitely be making these again, for breakfast!
Just made this recipe and it turned out looking awesome, smelling wonderful and tasting delicious. Two tweaks made to suit our personal preferences. Replaced 0.5 tsp of the 1.5 tsp of cinnamon with the same amount of cardamom and added 1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips to final batter. Well worth the time and effort to make! Thanks for sharing.
Do you have a basic oatmeal cookie recipe?
Hi Kimberly, why don’t you give this recipe a try? Hope you enjoy if you make them!
Have time to make the cookies today for a meeting I’m going to have in two days. You said they’re best on the day baked. Will they stay good for 2 days?
Thanks!
You could keep them for two days– they are just best on the day they’re baked.
These were amazing! Very tasty and chewy and decadent.
Great recipe! I have found that very few banana cookie recipes are crunchy which we like. And, I added one cup of pecans for even more crunch! DE-LISH!!!
Yummy- just made this great recipe. I added mini chocolate chips. Didn’t have full 3 cups of oats so I used quinoa flakes for the difference. they r soooo good. Thanks for a great recipe.
These are amazing, they are the perfect banana bread in cookie form! I was looking for something different to do with my brown bananas and was so excited to see this pop up on Jenn’s site because I knew it would be no fail. I made them exactly as written, except I did add about 3/4 a cup of mini chocolate chips. Kids and husband loved them and I’ve already passed the recipe along to others!
Try with chopped pecans – even better! Brings out the banana flavor.
I first tried with chocolate and peanut butter chips but banana flavor was light and was too sweet.
Hi Jenn, when you’re right you’re right! Do not reduce the sugar in this recipe, otherwise they will not flatten out and get crispy. While they were a bit cakey, they were still yummy, and I am looking forward to getting this recipe right the second time. BTW, always a good idea to read the reviews before trying a recipe so you can get Jenn’s feedback!
Hi Jenn
Would you be able to convert this recipe to metric – looks like a great recipe. I did manage to get some US size cups at Costco recently, so don’t feel quite so worried about conversion, but on the whole I prefer to measure with the scales! Thanks again for some great recipes. Anita
Hi Anita, I just added the metric conversions to the recipe. Hope you enjoy the cookies!
I just baked these cookies, and when I tasted my first bite, I thought, “banana bread!” These cookies are wonderful! They are chewy on the outside, soft on the inside.. I added walnuts to the last panful, and it was delicious! There’s nothing I don’t like about these banana cookies! I gladly give it five stars! If you’re wondering what to do with those over ripe bananas, but don’t want banana bread again. . Try these cookies! Thank you for the recipe!
Jan ♡
Very good. A little too good. (Belly is now full of these yummy cookies). I decided not to use parchment and didn’t regret the decision, as I waited until they had cooled off before lifting them from the pan and there’s enough butter that they don’t seem to stick. Great recipe!
The oatmeal banana cookie recipe looks really good. I only have steelcut oats and figure thete is a difference using them.
Is it possible to substitute?
Hi Harriet, Unfortunately, steel cut oats won’t work here – sorry!
I just made these cookies. My first 2 batches came out exactly as described, and are quite delicious (I added mini chocolate chips). But something weird happened with the 3rd and 4th pan — the cookies flattened out and melted all over the pan so that the cookies are all sticking together. Still delicious, but not nearly as appealing. And very odd since everything was exactly the same for all 4 pans.
Hmmm, that is strange! Could your oven temperature have changed?
Sometimes when making cookie dough, we don’t get the oatmeal completely mixed into the butter base of the batter, so the last batch at the bottom of the bowl, without much oatmeal will spread out, buttery and thin in the pan. It’s still tasty though. Hope this helps.
Perhaps your cookie sheet wasn’t cooled enough between batches?
Dry
I love this recipe! Thanks for sharing! It is the second time I am making it! But this time I decide to add less sugar , only 80grams, and I added 1 teaspoon of ground cloves, 1tsp of ground nutmeg and one tsp of ground cardamom. I also put my ripe bananas in the freezer , so they were not room temperature when I added to the butter and sugar. But they turned out delicious and really tasty!
I wanted to make these, but the only oatmeal I have is quick 3-minute steel cut oats. Would that work?
Noreen, You could use them, but the texture will be different. I like them best with instant oats. (You can always put your steel cut oats in the food processor and make your own instant oats.)
They came out great!
I loved these oat banana cookies.. I baked it for my little one so instead of all purpose I used whole wheat flour and instead of butter I used olive oil same proportion and no sugar as he’s just a year old. It turned out wonderful and he loves them every evening. Thanks very much for this recipe.. It’s fun because even if it was tweeked it turned out great.
Michelle,
sounds like you’ve had success replacing the butter,can you post how much oil you used? thank you! alisa
Can I freeze this? If I could, do I have to thaw it first before baking? Thank you.
Yes Elsie, you can freeze the dough. If you shape the dough into balls prior to freezing, you wouldn’t need to thaw it first. I would just bake them for a little longer.
My family devoured these cookies! They are easy to make & I had all the ingredients in the house. I love how they are crispy on the outisde, but still chewy! This is a keeper! Thanks for another great one!
Great recipe. A little on the soft side… not much crisp. I wasn’t sure if you’re supposed to flatten the balls of dough on the baking sheet, or leave them as balls. I found them better if you flatten them first. Even if they were a bit soft, everyone loved them!
These cookies were easy to make, mine turned out fluffy instead of flat. Could it be that I used old fashioned oats? I missed that when reading the instructions. They were good just not thin and crispy like the photo
Hi Elizabeth, Yes, that would definitely explain it.
These cookies are fantastic! They were a huge hit with my two young daughters. I’m wondering what you could add in to make them slightly more nutritious to use as a breakfast cookie? Flax seed, agave instead of so much sugar, etc. Great recipe!
Hi Katie, Glad your girls enjoyed the cookies! I do think you could add some flax seed but I would go gently with sugar substitutions as they can change the cookies.
This is a favorite snack at my daughter’s preschool. I can’t tell you how many 4 year olds have asked me to share the recipe with their mom! I’m writing an article for the school newsletter to share your website. Thank you!
That is so nice, Mindy. Thank you!
I just made these cookies, and they did NOT turn out. I followed the directions exactly. The cookies have a nice flavour, but they’re flat, super crispy on the edges, and just fall apart in the middle. Disappointing and a waste of ingredients:(
Wow. The Banana Oatmeal cookies are delicious. Thank you for the wonderful recipe and instructions. I followed them exactly and they came out just right. Mmmm. Banana Spice Buttery Oatmeal goodness. This recipe is a keeper.
I made these cookies completely improvising according to what I had on hand, and they turned out wonderfully, which is a testament to their versatility. I had 3 small-ish bananas to use up, so I put them all in. I only had 1/2 C of softened butter and so I used 1/4 C coconut oil and 1/4 C sunflower butter. I added a small dash of grapseeed oil. The rest of the recipe was followed as written. Then the dough sat in the fridge for over 24 hours because I was too busy to bake them, which is hardly ideal. They still turned out deliciously. They’re chewy but crispy, with a hint of spice, and quite healthy too. This is a great alternate to making banana bread to use up leftover bananas.
Hi Jennifer. LOVE your recipes! Every one has been a hit. About these cookies, can I add some chocolate chips?
Hi Susan, Absolutely!
Can I use old fashioned oats?
Hi Tiffany, You could, but the texture will definitely be different. I prefer them with instant oats. (You can always throw your old fashioned oats in the food processor and make your own instant oats.)
I found the cookies were ready to take out of the oven at 10 minutes. Very good – my brother has already eaten 4 cookies and they are still warm. Delicious!
I made these yummy cookies for my kids and brought them to school for field day lunch dessert and they were a hit! Everyone (parents included) enjoyed them. I will definitely make them again soon! They were soft and chewy.
These sound and look delicious but I am skeptical because of all the butter. Is there a substitution that would work such as yogurt or applesauce?
My kids would really love these, my banana bread is a similar recipe but uses 1/4 cup butter not 1 cup.
Hi Cara, I know – there is a lot of butter! That (and all the sugar) is what makes them so delicious and crisp on the outside. You could cut back a little or try substituting but they wouldn’t be the same. I don’t think they’d be bad, just different 🙂 In developing the recipe, I did try using less butter and sugar but the cookies came out very cakey and tasted more like little banana oat muffins — good but not what I was going for. If you try a substitute, please let me know how they come out.
Thank you for the “flour measuring” directions! As an avid home cook and baker, I know how much difference flour measuring can make! PS – weight is an even better measure, but who has time for that!
Actually, weighing is much faster than measuring.
This is the best oatmeal cookie recipe ever!! Thank you!!