Soft-baked, hearty Banana Breakfast Cookies made in under 25 minutes with easy ingredients like oats, peanut butter, and coconut. Kids love these, and parents love that they're packed with whole grains, fiber and protein! These lower sugar cookies are foolproof and totally satisfy your sweet tooth without any butter or flour.
My toddler wants cookies like, all the time. Oh, it's 6:40am and still dark outside? What a splendid time for cookies! So here we are with crazy easy breakfast cookies *mostly* naturally sweetened and totally dessert-worthy, too. Boom shaka laka!
The texture of these banana oat breakfast cookies, inspired by my Banana Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, is totally lovely--soft and hearty. They're just a wee bit sweet, mostly from chocolate chips, since the batter itself doesn't have any added sugar. Impressive, eh?
If you're looking for a chewy, buttery, more classic cookie situation, do yourself a favor and make my Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. Cookie options for every occasion, pals!
Ingredients
- Old fashioned oats: I've also made these with quick oats, and they work well. You could also do half and half! Save the steel cut for my Overnight Steel Cut Oatmeal.
- Bananas: We want ripe, spotty, almost brown bananas for the most natural sweetness. You can use frozen bananas, but you'll want them fully thawed so you can drain all that excess liquid.
- Eggs: Eggs provide structure, rise and a bit of protein.
- Peanut butter: A bit of peanut butter to make these cookies more filling and delish! You can use any nut butter. On my third round of testing, I omitted the peanut butter and they still turned out great. (I just like the extra protein boost.)
- Coconut: Shredded coconut just does it for me texturally speaking. I love the flavor and the healthy fats it adds for staying power. You can omit and use your fave add-in if you please! Sweetened coconut is also fine here if you don't mind a sweeter cookie.
- Hemp seeds: For a boost of complete protein and healthy fats.
- Chocolate chips: What helps make these cookies taste amazing! I use semi sweet or dark. Dried cherries would be delightful, too.
- Baking soda: So they're nice and puffy.
- Cinnamon and vanilla: Musts for flavor.
- Salt: To balance the flavors.
Substitution ideas
- Higher protein: Add 2 scoops collagen peptides.
- Vegan: Omit the eggs and sub flax eggs instead.
- Coconut: Not a coconut fan? No problem. You could sub chopped walnuts pecans, dried cherries, or whatever add-in you fancy! You could even add ¼ cup shredded carrots, like my Morning Glory Breakfast Cookies.
- Nut free: Use sunflower seed butter or omit peanut butter altogether.
Let's make it!
Mash those bananas.
Whisk in peanut butter, eggs, and vanilla.
Add baking soda, cinnamon, salt, coconut, chocolate chips, and hemp seeds.
Whisk until combined.
Use a spoon to drop mounds of batter onto the baking sheet.
Bake for 13 minutes, cool and devour!
How to store
Keep leftover cookies in an air tight container on the counter for up to 2 days, then refrigerate any leftovers.
These freeze super well, too!
Cookies for breakfast....what a time to be alive.
Print
Healthy Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 13 minutes
- Total Time: 23 minutes
- Yield: 20 cookies 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Soft-baked, hearty Banana Breakfast Cookies made in under 25 minutes with easy ingredients like bananas, oats, peanut butter, and coconut. Kids love these, and parents love that they're packed with whole grains, fiber and protein! These lower sugar cookies are foolproof and totally satisfy your sweet tooth without any butter or flour.
Ingredients
- 1 cup mashed overripe banana*
- ⅓ cup natural peanut butter
- 2 large eggs (can sub flax eggs)
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups old fashioned oats (certified gluten free if needed)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
- ¼ cup shredded unsweetened coconut
- ⅓ cup chocolate chips
- ¼ cup hemp seeds (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line an extra large sheet pan (or 2 half sheet pans) with parchment paper.
- Mash bananas in a large mixing bowl. Measure to make sure you have 1 cup (it's ok if it's a bit heaping). Add peanut butter, eggs, and vanilla. Whisk until smooth.
- Add oats, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, coconut, chocolate chips, and hemp seeds. Whisk until combined.
- Use a spoon to drop mounds of batter onto the baking sheet. The batter will be wet (see process photos in the post), unlike traditional cookie dough. Don't be tempted to add more oats! You'll get 20 cookies.
- Bake for 13-14 minutes, or until golden and set. (If using 2 sheet pans, bake one at a time.) Cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes and devour! Store leftovers in an airtight container on the counter for 2 days then refrigerate or freeze leftovers.
Notes
*2 medium or 3 small bananas, but please measure!
If you prefer sweeter cookies, you can add ¼ cup sugar.
Shilpi Joshi says
Thanks for these amazing and simple cookies, Alexis!!! The coconut twist is my favorite part of this recipe because my 'no chocolate chip cookies for me, please' husband also loved them because the coconut shreds added so much texture and flavor. 🙂 🙂
We made it twice already and took it on our trip to Hawaii as a hearty, filling, tasty snack to munch on the almost 6-hour flight and while going out and about in Hawaii! Our toddler also enjoyed it very much and asked to make it again! Thank YOU! 🫶🏼🫶🏼
Alexis Joseph, MS, RD says
This made me so happy! I love that coconut texture, too 🙂 thanks so much!
Michele says
These taste pretty good, but I had to add a lot more oats. I was over 2 cups before I decided to just pour into a pan to make bars. Far too wet to make cookies. (I had about 1.25c of bananas from 3 bananas)
Alexis Joseph, MS, RD says
Sorry you didn’t love these. The recipe calls for 1 cup of banana so if you have more you will need more oats! I also specify that the batter is wet unlike traditional cookies.
Sondek says
Hi, I’m not a great cook. How does one know when these cookies are done? Mine were very spongy, is that normal? They tasted great by the way.
Alexis Joseph, MS, RD says
13-14 minutes should do it, they'll have golden bottoms and be set. Since these don't have butter/sugar like traditional cookies, they're more dense. Enjoy!
Kat says
I wanted to love these but they turned out too cake-like. I subbed for sunbutter and added pumpkin seeds. Any feedback as to why they could have turned out that way or is that the consistency they are supposed to have?
Alexis Joseph, MS, RD says
Hey Kat! Yep--the texture is soft and hearty (I always describe in the post in case that's helpful!) versus a traditional cookie since these don't have butter, flour or sugar. "If you're looking for a chewy, buttery, more classic cookie situation, do yourself a favor and make my Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. Cheers!
Rachel says
I’ve made 2 batches in 2 weeks. These are perfect for my toddler and my pregnant self. I add what I have in my pantry and mix it up following this recipe as a base. Thank you, Alexis!
Alexis Joseph says
This is the best, us too! Thanks you Rachel!
Jessica says
These are so easy to make; however, I forgot that when you use the sunflower butter (so they're school friendly for my two year old) they turn green so they were harder to tell when they were baked. I also didn't measure the banana and think I had too much bc they were super soft but they were still tasty. Next time I'll measure the banana and try the peanut butter. Thanks for another easy recipe and I can't wait to see the meat ones you come up with. Your black bean burger recipe is my go to for burgers for me!
Alexis Joseph says
Thanks Jessica! Yes, I'd love to hear the results with the 1 heapingcup banana since bananas vary so much in size--they would definitely be softer with more banana. Glad you still liked them! You can also omit the peanut butter entirely for school; I've made them that way too (my son doesn't like sunbutter).
Sarah says
Great support of people eating healthy.
Ceridon says
These cookies are phenomenal. It’s a healthy option for my teenagers because we don’t eat cereal. I also added coconut as well. The recipe is forgiving so you can play with it, but I followed it and only added coconut because we love it. You certainly don't need to change it because it’s perfect. My only problem now is the family want me to make them constantly!
Alexis Joseph says
You made my day, Ceridon! We love coconut, too (recipe calls for 1/4 cup!). They freeze well, too. Enjoy!
Alexis Joseph says
Yayyy! Love a toddler snack win, thanks Michelle!