Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies are gluten-free, dairy-free, low in sugar, and made in one bowl with common pantry ingredients.

Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies on a cooling rack

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies Healthy

After sharing these Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies, I wanted to create an oatmeal chocolate-chip version with similar goals in mind:

  • Simple Ingredients: No need for specialty stores—you likely have everything in your pantry!
  • Nutritious: These cookies use ingredients packed with benefits. There’s a small amount of sugar, much less than typical oatmeal cookies.
  • Easy Prep: Just one bowl, a hand whisk, and a wooden spoon are all you need for freshly baked Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.

What To Expect From This Recipe

This recipe isn’t for classic Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. Without loads of butter, sugar, and chocolate, these cookies taste different. They’re crunchy with a sandy texture, dry, and a bit crumbly.

Flavor-wise, they’re oat-y with a bit of dark chocolate, and not very sweet. If you like oats, you’ll enjoy them; if not, this might not be for you. For extra sweetness, add more brown sugar. A pinch of sea salt on top adds the perfect touch of salty-sweetness!

Process shots-- making oat flour in the blender

Ingredients In Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

IngredientTips or Swaps
Oats (old-fashioned and quick)Use both types of oats for the best texture and structure. Double check everything was made in a gluten-free facility.
Oat flourBlend regular oats into a fine powder and measure after blending.
Coconut oilUse a mild-flavored brand for the best flavor.
Brown sugarCoconut sugar works as a swap.
EggUse at room temperature for best mixing.
Dark chocolate chipsMilk or semi-sweet chips can be used instead.

Quick Tip

Measure the oats after blending into a powder, not before. Gently pack the oat flour into the cup and level the top for best results.

Process shots-- whisking together the liquid ingredients; adding the dry ingredients and stirring

How To Make Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies

  1. Melt coconut oil: Microwave until liquid, then let it cool to room temperature.
  2. Make oat flour: Blend oats into a fine powder and measure after blending.
  3. Mix wet ingredients: Whisk coconut oil, egg, vanilla, and brown sugar until smooth.
  4. Dry ingredients: Stir in oat flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and chocolate.
  5. Chill dough: Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes, roll into balls, then chill again.
  6. Bake: Bake at 350°F for 7–9 minutes. Slightly underbake for best texture.
  7. Cool: Let cookies cool on the tray before moving. They’re delicate while warm.
Mxing the dough; adding chocolate chips; mixing well; rolling into cookie balls to bake these healthy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
  • Measure Carefully: Baking needs precise measurements. Level the tops of measuring cups with a metal spatula or knife.
  • Follow the Recipe: Stick to the recipe; substitutions may not work well here.
  • Use Room-Temperature Ingredients: Make sure the egg and melted coconut oil are at room temperature.
  • Measure Dough Balls: Each should be 1½ tablespoons or 30 grams- use a cookie scoop. Roll and slightly flatten before baking. Expect about 14-15 cookies.
  • Bake on a Lined Pan: Use a silicone liner or parchment paper for even baking and easy cleanup.
  • Let Cool: Cookies are crumbly when hot. Let them cool on the tray before transferring to a rack.
  • Handle Carefully: Cookies are delicate; move them gently to avoid crumbling.

Storage

Storage: Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Freezing Dough Balls: Freeze dough balls on a parchment-lined sheet until solid, then transfer to an airtight container or bag. Bake directly from frozen, adding 1-2 minutes to the baking time.

More Healthy Treat Ideas:

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4.79 from 80 votes

Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies are gluten-free, dairy-free, low in sugar, and mixed up in just one bowl with pantry staples!
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes
Chilling Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 28 minutes
Servings: 14 cookies

Video

Equipment

  • Blender or food processor
  • Sheet pan (15" x 10")

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup coconut oil see note 1
  • 1 large egg at room temperature
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 4 tablespoons light brown sugar lightly packed, see note 2
  • 3/4 cup oat flour regular oats blended in a blender—see note 3
  • 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
  • 1/4 cup quick oats
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt or 1/4 teaspoon table salt
  • 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips see note 4

Instructions 

  • Melt the coconut oil in the microwave until it is liquid. Measure once fully melted. Set aside to cool back to room temperature—it should not be hot when adding to the recipe.
  • Add old-fashioned or quick oats to a blender or food processor. Blend or process until the oats are fine and resemble flour; stir and reblend if needed so that all the oats are a fine powder. Measure the oat flour after blending to get a level and gently packed 3/4 cup oat flour. Set aside.
  • In a medium bowl, combine cooled coconut oil, vanilla extract, egg, and brown sugar in a bowl. Briskly whisk everything together until completely smooth.
  • Add oat flour, old-fashioned oats, quick oats, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt to the wet ingredients. Mix with a wooden spoon and stir until just combined, then stir in the chocolate chips. The dough is very wet—this is normal.
  • Cover the dough tightly and chill for 30 minutes. Don’t skip chilling, but don’t chill longer than 30 minutes or the dough will be nearly impossible to shape! Remove dough and use a 1-1/2 tablespoon measuring spoon or cookie scoop to measure out cookie dough balls. Tightly roll the balls, then slightly flatten. You should get about 14 dough balls. They must be this size for correct baking. Place the balls on a parchment-paper-lined plate, then chill all the rolled dough balls for another 30 minutes.
  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Once dough balls have chilled, transfer them to a lined sheet pan, spacing them out 2-inches apart. Bake for 7–9 minutes (I think they’re perfect at 8 minutes) or until no longer gooey-looking on top. Slightly under-baking is best for flavor and texture. Carefully remove the tray from the oven. If desired, press a few chocolate chips into the tops of the cookies. It makes them look pretty and ensures chocolate in every bite! Once those chips have melted a bit, add a sprinkle of sea salt onto the melted chocolate if desired. Let the cookies sit on the sheet pan 5 minutes. Then use a spatula to carefully remove cookies to a cooling rack. Handle carefully; these cookies are very delicate and crumbly.
  • Enjoy hot, warm, or at room temperature (I like them best right out of the oven!). Cookies are best the same day they’re made—they get harder and less sweet every day following.
Final step! Please let us know how it was by leaving a review.

Recipe Notes

Gluten Free: While the ingredients in these cookies are naturally gluten-free, check all your ingredient labels to verify they weren’t processed in a facility with gluten.
Note 1: Coconut oil brands vary in strength; I use LouAna Coconut Oil. It is very important the oil is fully cooled to room temperature (if you touch it and don’t feel a temperature, it’s at room temperature) before adding to this recipe.
Note 2: If you aren’t used to healthier treats, increase the brown sugar to 5–6 tablespoons (I typically use 6 tablespoons). Most of the sweetness in these cookies comes from chocolate chips.
Note 3: Regular, old-fashioned oats or quick oats will work to blend into oat flour. Make sure the oats are completely and thoroughly blended to a powder before measuring. Gently pack in a measuring cup and level off the top.
Note 4: Why dark chocolate? Dark chocolate is known for its high antioxidant and mineral content and is a great source of healthy fats; read about the benefits of dark chocolate here. Any type of chocolate works, but milk or semi-sweet chips will be slightly less nutritious.
A few quick tips:
  • Measure the ingredients carefully. As with most baked goods, loosely measuring may result in cookies that do not work out properly.
  • Even tried-and-true substitutions (like flax egg for regular egg, vegetable oil for coconut oil, or almond flour for oat flour) don’t work the same in these cookies—this recipe is fairly particular.
  • Use room-temperature ingredients. It’s best if the egg and melted coconut oil are at room temperature. This ensures even emulsification of ingredients instead of a cold egg seizing up in warm or hot coconut oil.
Storage: I recommend freezing unbaked cookie dough instead of freezing baked cookies. Drop the cookie dough balls on a large sheet pan and freeze until solid. Once solid, transfer the frozen dough balls to an airtight container or bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Bake these cookies straight from the freezer, though you may need to add an extra minute to bake time.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 238kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.001g | Cholesterol: 13mg | Sodium: 141mg | Potassium: 158mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 21IU | Vitamin C: 0.05mg | Calcium: 46mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Meet Chelsea


Hello, and welcome to Chelsea’s Messy Apron! I’m Chelsea, the recipe developer, food photographer, and writer behind the site. I’m passionate about creating simple, reliable, and delicious recipes that anyone can make.

Thanks for stopping by—I hope you find something delicious to make!

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278 Comments

  1. Katy says:

    5 stars
    Always love trying healthy snacks but this is the best by far. They’re amazing and I will definitely make these again.
    Do you know how many calories are in them roughly?

    1. chelseamessyapron says:

      So happy to hear that! Thanks Katy 🙂 I don’t have nutrition on these yet; I’d recommend My Fitness Pal!

  2. Aliyah says:

    Mine melted flat!! It tastes awesome… not sure what I did wrong! I let it harden in the fridge for more than 2 hours.

    Boo, I’m so sad!!

    1. Aliyah says:

      … And I just realized I used 1/2 c oat flour instead of 3/4! ::face palm::

      I guess I’ll have to re-try tomorrow!

      1. chelseamessyapron says:

        Darn!! I’m so sorry you had a bad time making these first go-around. Best of luck tomorrow! 🙂

  3. Samantha says:

    Do you have the nutritional facts for these cookies??

  4. Lana says:

    I didn’t follow the recipe exactly since I don’t have coconut oil and the closest Aldi is 26 miles away. Here at our local grocery store and Wal Mart, I’d about have to mortgage the house to buy the stuff! But I used butter which I thought would work. The taste was good, but they did not spread (didn’t read all the comments before so I didn’t think to press them down) and they were not chewy at all and I prefer crispy-chewey cookies. They were crumbly. Was that just because of the butter? My soda was not new but I keep it in the freezer and they were not bitter. Since you mentioned that you could have used raisins but you preferred chocolate, I added some dried cranberries which were good. I still put the chocolate chips in though. My mantra is “anything chocolate is better than anything that’s not”. I went ahead and gave 5 stars since I didn’t want your rating to go down just because I chose to change the recipe!

  5. Sarah says:

    Made these but substituted the oatflour for 1/4cup coconut flour and raisins instead of chocolate chips. They were delicious! Thanks for the great recipe!

    1. chelseamessyapron says:

      You’re so welcome! 🙂

  6. ida says:

    Made these just now with my 3 year old… so tasty! Great consistency, held together well, and not too coconutty.

    For anyone in Ireland, I used Ready Brek for quick oats.

  7. Liza says:

    Hi! I am a bit confused by the “oats” portion of this recipe. Are we supposed to make 3/4 cup oat flour from regular old fashioned oats? THEN are we to combine this with the 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats and 1/4 quick oats? Please let me know how this portion of the recipe is supposed to go. So looking forward to making these tonight!!

    1. chelseamessyapron says:

      Yes, totally right 🙂 Enjoy!

  8. Chris says:

    5 stars
    These are delicious and such a nice texture. So happy I found the recipe when searching for baking with oat flour. One substitute that I made is coconut sugar for brown sugar. This worked well. Thanks so much! Great recipe.

    1. chelseamessyapron says:

      So happy to hear these were a hit! Thanks so much for the comment Chris 🙂

  9. Zainab says:

    I tried the recipe. The cookies wet and I felt like they need to be cooked more. Also, they break easly(turn to crumbs). But it is a very good alternative of the normal cookies (butter cookies)

    1. chelseamessyapron says:

      Oven temperatures can definitely vary from oven to oven so I’d keep them in a for a few more minutes next time 🙂 And yes they do have the tendency to crumble more than regular cookies 🙂

  10. LisaCD says:

    This recipe looks great and I will be making it soon. I don’t see the nutritional information posted. Do you have that on hand?