These vegan peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are incredible! Easy to make (no mixer needed!), they are super soft and so yummy!

Meet your new favorite cookie! You’d never even know they are dairy- and egg-free. They are irresistible! (And they are delicious cold from the fridge, consider yourself warned.)

Half cookie on top of whole cookie on half sheet pan.

Prep the Oats

The recipe calls for either quick oats or old-fashioned oats. Process the oats in a blender or food processor until they are coarsely ground.

You don’t want them to be finely ground like flour, but they should be aggressively chopped into small pieces.

Oats blended up in blender.

Add flour, baking soda and salt to the oats and give a few more pulses until the dry ingredients are well-combined.

Flour blend in blender.

The dough for these vegan peanut butter cookies comes together quickly and without a whole lot of effort.

You don’t even need a mixer. Just stir everything together the old-fashioned way: bowl and spoon (or spatula).

Mix together:

  • peanut butter, natural or regular (read below for a few additional details about the peanut butter)
  • brown sugar + granulated sugar
  • unsweetened applesauce
  • neutral-flavored oil, like grapeseed, canola or vegetable
  • vanilla extract

If I’m being honest, I don’t usually get excited about cookie recipes that use applesauce. Like, please don’t try and change my soft, decadent cookie into something healthy or cakey or weird. I just want a real, live cookie.

However, the applesauce works really well in these cookies, which is partly what made me a super fan of this recipe. In the end, the cookies still taste like an amazing cookie!

Brown sugar, applesauce, oil, and peanut butter in glass bowl.

A Note About Peanut Butter

I have made these cookies with natural peanut butter (Costco brand) and also with regular peanut butter (Skippy brand).

While this recipe is extremely forgiving, the outcome of the cookies might change a bit depending on the type of peanut butter, since different brands and types of peanut butter can vary in sweetness, consistency, salt, etc.

I personally don’t make any adjustments based on the different peanut butters I’ve used, but if you are using unsalted peanut butter, you may want to add another 1/4 teaspoon salt. 

Chocolate chip oatmeal peanut butter cookie dough.

Flattening Cookies: A Tip

These cookies are naturally a bit thicker and puffier than, say, a traditional oatmeal chocolate chip cookie.

However, they might be extra puffy if using a really thick peanut butter.

To mitigate this, you can flatten the cookies slightly before baking. You also may want to do this if your oven tends to bake hot (either that, or decrease the baking temperature to 325 degrees F).

Baking 1-2 test cookies first can help decide whether to flatten or not. 

Baked cookie on sheet pan.

Vegan Cookies for the Win

These cookies are truly incredible. My 15-year old made them recently for a church activity to accommodate a dairy-free allergy, and they were inhaled. (Just remember to source vegan chocolate chips if you need them to be 100% dairy-free.)

I’ve also been making them and keeping them on hand at all times, because as it turns out, they taste incredible cold from the refrigerator. And also, I really like cookies heavy on the peanut butter and oats, which these are.

I don’t have any plans to become a full-time vegan food blogger, but I’ll be honest, these vegan peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are so delicious, I was tempted to convert for half a second.

They are so yummy! I hope you love them!

Cookie broken in half and leaning against full cookie.

One Year Ago: Chocolate Chip Blended Oatmeal Cookies
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Three Years Ago: Crunchy Baked French Toast Sticks 
Four Years Ago: Honey Lime Chicken or Pork Enchiladas 
Five Years Ago: Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble
Six Years Ago:  French Bread Rolls {Step-by-Step} 
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Ten Years Ago: Italian Lasagna Rolls

Half cookie stacked on top of whole cookie on parchment lined baking sheet.

Amazing Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies {Dairy-Free + Egg-Free}}

Yield: 36 cookies
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Total Time: 37 minutes
4.86 stars (48 ratings)
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Ingredients

  • 2 cups (200 g) oats (quick oats or old-fashioned rolled oats)
  • 1 ¼ cups (178 g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup (255 g) natural or regular peanut butter
  • 1 cup (212 g) lightly packed brown sugar
  • ½ cup (106 g) granulated sugar
  • ½ cup (108 g) neutral-flavored oil, like grapeseed, canola or vegetable or melted coconut oil
  • ½ cup (130 g) unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 ½ cups (255 g) chocolate chips or peanut butter chips (or a combo – make sure brand of chips are dairy-free, if needed)

Instructions 

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a couple half sheet pans with parchment paper and set aside.
  • Add the oats to a food processor or blender and process until coarsely ground (not super fine like flour but in small pieces). Add the flour, baking soda and salt and pulse a few times to combine all the dry ingredients.
  • In a large bowl, stir together the peanut butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, oil, applesauce, and vanilla extract.
  • Add the dry ingredients and chocolate chips and mix until no dry streaks remain.
  • Scoop dough into 2-3 tablespoon-sized portions and roll into balls. Place a few inches apart on prepared baking sheets. See note about flattening the cookies.
  • Bake for 10-12 minutes until edges are set and lightly golden (but not overly brown). Don't over bake. Let the cookies rest for 1-2 minutes on the baking sheet and then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Notes

Peanut Butter: I have made these cookies with natural peanut butter (Costco brand) and also with regular peanut butter (Skippy brand). The outcome of the cookies will change a bit depending on the type of peanut butter, since all brands, particularly natural vs regular differ in sweetness, consistency, salt, etc. I don’t make any adjustments based on the different peanut butters I’ve used, but if you are using unsalted peanut butter, you may want to add another 1/4 teaspoon salt. 
Flattening Cookies Before Baking: if the peanut butter used is really thick, you may want to flatten the cookies slightly before baking so they don’t bake up too puffy. Baking 1-2 test cookies first can help decide whether to flatten or not. 
Author: Mel
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Method: Bake
Serving: 1 cookie, Calories: 176kcal, Carbohydrates: 22g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 9g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Sodium: 66mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 14g

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Recipe Source: adapted from this recipe (increased the batch significantly, adjusted amounts, omitted peanuts, etc) – sent to me by a reader Deborah A. (thanks, Deborah!)

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