Breakfast Cookies are soft, chewy, and packed with peanut butter and oats. No flour, butter, or oil—just big flavor in every bite! Ready in about 20 minutes.
author’s note
Cookies You Can Eat For Breakfast!
I love a good savory breakfast like an egg skillet or wrap, but let’s be real—I’m all about the sweet breakfasts. Crepes, pancakes, bread pudding…if it’s got sugar, I’m in.
So if there’s a way to justify cookies for breakfast, you know I’m on board! Sure, these have a little sugar, but they’re mostly made with peanut butter, honey, an egg, and oats. Honestly, depending on how you sweeten your oatmeal, your bowl might have more sugar than these cookies… or is that just me? 😅
And of course, breakfast cookies aren’t just for breakfast! They’re the perfect grab-and-go snack or afternoon treat.
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make Breakfast Cookies:
- Peanut butter: Use creamy, not crunchy, for the best texture. Pick one you love! Avoid oily natural kinds—they won’t hold together as well.
- Honey & brown sugar: Use super soft brown sugar for extra soft cookies. Lightly pack it in the measuring cup.
- Oats: Old-fashioned oats work best. Skip quick or steel-cut oats.
- Salt & baking soda: Add flavor and help with texture. Sift baking soda if it’s clumpy.
- Vanilla & egg: Gives flavor and holds everything together.
- Peanut butter chocolate chips: A delicious combo!
Breakfast Cookies Tips
- Measure evenly: Use a 1-tablespoon measuring spoon so all cookies bake the same.
- Flatten slightly: These don’t spread much, so press the dough balls wider, not taller.
- Use creamy peanut butter: It mixes better than crunchy.
- Watch the bake time: They bake fast! Take them out when the tops aren’t gooey or shiny—they’ll firm up more as they cool.
Variations
- Chocolate breakfast cookies: Use dark chocolate chips instead of peanut butter chocolate chips.
- Fruit & nuts: Try raisins, dried cranberries, tart cherries, or nuts instead of chocolate.
- Salty-sweet: Add a sprinkle of Maldon sea salt flakes on top.
Featured Comment
“I just made this recipe for the fourth time this week! My kids love it, and I do too.”
– Melissa
Storage
Leftover Breakfast Cookies?
- Room temp: Keep in an airtight container for 3–4 days.
- Fridge: Store in an airtight bag for up to a week.
- Freezer: Freeze unbaked dough in a sealed bag for up to 3 months. Bake straight from frozen, adding 1–2 minutes to the bake time.
More Delicious Breakfast Treats:
Desserts
Healthy Pumpkin Cookies
Desserts
Healthy Banana Muffins
Breakfast
Yogurt Parfait Recipe
Snacks
Granola
Breakfast Cookies
Video
Equipment
- Sheet pan (15" x 10")
Ingredients
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter see note 1
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 4 tablespoons light brown sugar lightly packed
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons old-fashioned oats
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup peanut butter and chocolate chips see note 2
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a medium bowl, stir together all ingredients except the chocolate chips. (Do not warm the peanut butter or honey.)
- Fold in the peanut butter and chocolate chips.
- The dough will be thick. Use a 1-tablespoon measuring spoon to scoop a leveled dough ball, press it tightly into a ball, then flatten into a disc.
- Arrange the cookie discs, spaced an inch apart on a sheet pan and bake for 6–8 minutes. Watch closely—remove when the bottoms start to brown, even if they look slightly underdone. They will continue cooking as they cool.
- Cool completely before serving.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I would prefer that people post after they actually try the cookies. That being said, I just made these and they are absolutely wonderful and so easy too! I used crunchy natural peanut butter and they turned out great.
So glad to hear you enjoyed these cookies! Thank you for the comment! 🙂
Out of curiosity how many calories per cookie? They are delicious
Thanks so much for this recipe! I have made it several times and it came out great every time. These are delicious AND quick to make.?
Yeah!! That is so great to hear! 🙂 Thanks for the comment!!
Could you grind the oatmeal into a flour? Would that help in holding the cookies together and to be less crumbly?
If you want you can, I haven’t ever done that and haven’t had a problem with them crumbling. If they are crumbly you may be packing in too many oats or under-measuring the peanut butter. Hope that helps 🙂
I made these, so delicious! I used agave instead of the brown sugar I didn’t have a problem with them being crumbly at all they were so moist and so yummy!
Do you grind the oats to make flour ? The pic doesn’t like oatmeal cookie texture.
Nope, no grinding needed 🙂
I usually don’t have time to sit down for breakfast during the week and was finding myself relying on really unhealthy and expensive breakfast options like (shudder) the fast-food drive-through picked up on the way to work and eaten in the car. (Please don’t judge me.)
I went online to find recipes for healthier breakfast choices on busy weekday mornings, and I stumbled on your blog! I’m so happy to have found it. The breakfast cookies are in the oven right now, but I found a bunch of other recipes while browsing that I can’t wait to try.
I’m always skeptical when it comes to “healthy breakfast cookies”…but these are FABULOUS! PLUS, they are only 139 calories each (count based of the ingredients and brands I specifically used, and 19 cookies)! Not to mention the are super filling (thank you, oats and PB)! I froze the batch so I can grab one to go on busy mornings. Thank you for this recipe!!
You are so welcome!! So glad to hear that you enjoyed them 🙂 And yes, it’s so nice they are filling thanks to that PB and the oats 🙂 Thanks for the comment!
So I saw your cookies and just wanted to give them a try immediately, I had one minor inconvenience: no eggs and all stores closed! Why all stores decided to close today, hey, I live in Belgium, you stop wondering at one point. But this was not going to sop me! (its rainy and I need comfort goodies for my tea!) so I looked up a vegan substitute, found it (1TBSP star + 2 TBSP water)… made the dough, didn’t have dark chocolate (except with ginger) so I was thinking what to pair them with (didn’t feel like putting raisins in) … while the cookie dough sat in the fridge I decided on the best PB pairing I could think of: PB&J of course!!! made a thumbprint, filled it up with raspberry jam, enclosed the dough and flattened them out a bit… baked them as per your instructions: BAM! oatmeal PB&J cookies!!! Thanks so much it worked amazingly!!! 🙂
I LOVE how you changed these to be PB & J thumbprint cookies – what a fantastic idea and I’m so happy they worked out so well 🙂 Thanks for your comment Carol!
OMG, there is a hair on your cookie!
I’m pretty certain that is long fabric strings from the fabric fraying 🙂
I added an extra egg yolk to help prevent potential crumbliness and swapped the brown sugar for coconut sugar. They came out great! No one cared that these didn’t have butter, white sugar, or flour—that’s a win in my book!
Awesome!! So great to hear everyone enjoyed them and didn’t miss the butter, white sugar, or flour 🙂 Thanks so much for the comment Molly!