Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

Make your morning a whole lot better with cookies for breakfast! These banana oatmeal breakfast cookies are gluten free, sweetened with just a touch of maple syrup and can easily be made vegan.

Chocolate chip cookies are one of my favorite things ever, so any excuse to eat them for breakfast and I’m all over it! These banana oatmeal breakfast cookies are many with incredibly simple ingredients, most of which you probably have on hand already. They’re naturally sweetened from the bananas and a touch of maple syrup to seal the deal.

You can make them with chopped nuts or chocolate chips like I did, or even just plain! They’re kind of like banana oatmeal in breakfast cookie form. The banana will keep these cookies very chewy, there is no crunch or crisp to them at all. The texture is fairly similar to banana bread, just in the shape of a cookie!

Simple, delicious and perfect for an on the go breakfast or snack. All you need is about 20 minutes and a handful of pantry staple ingredients. Try my oat flour banana bread, banana waffles or caramelized banana oatmeal next!

Before we get started…

• Unfortunately, there isn’t a good way to make these without banana. They’re key for the natural sweetness and help bind all ingredients together.
• Oats are naturally gluten free, but be sure to use certified gluten free oats and oat flour if cooking for someone with Celiac Disease as oats are often contaminated during processing.

How to make banana breakfast cookies

First, whisk together the wet ingredients in a mixing bowl until well combined. If you’re making these vegan, just make the flax egg first and let it thicken, then add into the bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix together with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula.

Fold in the chocolate chips or nuts if using. You can use a mix of both, just one, or none! Use a cookie scoop to form the cookies and add to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

They won’t spread much while baking, so press down slightly with your fingers to form the shape you want the final cookie to be.

Bake for 8-12 minutes. The edges should be golden brown and the center should still feel soft. The will continue to firm as they cool. Let cool completely before serving to ensure they don’t fall apart. Try my banana bread granola next!

Key ingredients

Oats. You will need a mix of oat flour and quick cooking oats for these breakfast cookies. You can sub for rolled oats if that’s what you have on hand, but the texture will be a bit different.

Banana. I recommend using banana puree instead of mashed banana because the texture is generally much better and smoother. Just add your ripe bananas to the blender and process until smooth!

Egg. Just one egg will add a bit of extra protein and help bind all of the ingredients together.

Maple syrup. These breakfast cookies are refined sugar free and sweetened just with maple syrup! You can sub with honey if you prefer. I don’t recommend any other sugar swaps.

Nut butter. I used almond butter, but peanut butter or sunflower seed butter work well too! You cannot swap for regular butter, nut butter and regular butter have very different uses in baking.

Substitutions & Mix-Ins

While these oatmeal breakfast cookies are delicious as is, there are plenty of ways to mix it up or add some more of your favorite ingredients.

Add nuts! You can add in any chopped nuts or seeds like pumpkin seeds, walnuts, almonds or a handful of raisins. You can do this in place of the chocolate chips or in addition to.

Use peanut butter! Make them a peanut butter cookie by subbing the almond butter for peanut butter or adding in some crushed peanuts. The options are virtually endless!

Tips for success

If you don’t have oat flour, you can just grind up some quick or rolled oats until a flour forms! Be sure to blend until it’s a pretty fine flour.

This recipe makes about 12 cookies, depending on how big you make them. They don’t spread a lot while baking, so you can get away with putting up to 12 on a baking sheet at a time. If you need to do two batches, keep in mind the dough will thicken as it sits so the second batch won’t spread as much as the first.

You can use any nut butter in place of the almond butter, just make sure it is on the runny side. If your nut butter is thick, I suggest using closer to 1/2 cup or adding a splash of milk to the dough.

Make them vegan!

These banana oatmeal breakfast cookies can be made with either one regular egg or one flax egg.

To make a flax egg, simply whisk together one tablespoon of ground flax seeds with 2 1/2 tablespoons of water. Let thicken, then proceed with the recipe as usual. You can also opt to just use an extra 1/4 cup of mashed banana in place of the egg.

Try these recipes next!

• Vegan Oatmeal Cookies
• Vegan Banana Bread
• Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins
• Banana Protein Muffins
• Almond Flour Banana Bread

If you want more recipes straight to your inbox, be sure to subscribe to my email list. As always, if you make this recipe, be sure to tag me on instagram and leave a comment below so I can see your creation!