3-Ingredient Oatmeal Cookies

Easy 3-Ingredient Oatmeal Cookies that take right around 15 minutes to make from start to finish! This simple healthier cookie recipe is vegan, gluten-free, flourless, dairy-free and contains no added sweetener.

Have you tried one of my banana-sweetened treats yet?

My 3-Ingredient Chocolate Banana Cookies, 4-Ingredient Healthy Samoa Cookies, Healthy Apple Muffins and 4-Ingredient Flourless Healthy Brownies and now this recipe for 3-Ingredient Oatmeal Cookies all have one thing in common.

They are sweetened entirely with bananas!

The way I see it, this is an excellent baking project for kids as there are so few ingredients and minimal cleanup. Also an awesome recipe for those of us who simply love a healthier sweet treat.

I’m constantly looking for ways to get my sweet fix without going overboard on sugar, and I’ve found fruit, certain vegetables (root vegetables and winter squash in particular), and various ingredients like almond flour and unsweetened coconut to be useful in generating sweet flavor without the need for excess sugar.

So what we’re making here is a refined sugar-free, egg-free, flourless, gluten-free vegan cookie using three simple ingredients.

Of course, we can easily use more than three ingredients in order to change up the flavor profile and make them even tastier (more on that later).

At a minimum, all you need is ripe banana, almond butter (or peanut butter) and rolled oats.

Let’s discuss these ingredients in detail!

Ingredients for 3-Ingredient Oatmeal Cookies:

Ripe Bananas: Be sure you use very ripe bananas that have plenty of brown spots for the best result. The riper the banana, the sweeter it will be, which will ensure these cookies turn out nice and tasty.

As previously mentioned, the banana serves as the sweetener of the cookies and also provides moisture. Can you taste the banana? Yes, absolutely! The banana shines through very well, which is great for those of us who love them. If you don’t like bananas, you won’t like these cookies!

Almond Butter or Peanut Butter: Unsweetened almond butter or peanut butter is the glue that holds these cookies together, eliminating the need for eggs or a leavening agent. It also adds delicious flavor! 

If you’re fine with the added sugar, use sweetened peanut butter or almond butter to ramp up the sweetness of the cookies. If you prefer keeping the cookies refined sugar-free, go with an unsweetened nut butter.

Rolled Oats: Rolled oats give that amazing earthy nutty flavor to the cookies with that oaty texture. I use gluten-free oats, but you can use regular oats if you aren’t concerned about the gluten content.

For a recipe for banana cookies without oats, make my 3-Ingredient Nutty Banana Cookies, which are grain-free.

Optional Additions: 

• Chocolate Chips
• Vanilla Extract
• Ground Cinnamon
• Sea Salt

These additions, while certainly not mandatory, level up the deliciousness of the cookies quite a bit! I personally like adding them all. 

The chocolate chips provide delectable little goo pockets, the vanilla extract provides nice warming flavor, and the ground cinnamon gives the cookies a richness with that iconic oatmeal cookie vibe. Sea salt enhances all of the flavors and makes the cookies taste sweeter without the need for additional sweetener.

If you’re looking to keep the cookies low in sugar, skip the chocolate chips!

Let’s bake a batch!

How to Make 3-Ingredient Oatmeal Cookies:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper (or spray it with cooking oil).

Mash the banana into a mixing bowl until most of the chunks are out (it can be a little chunky just not overly chunky).

Add the peanut butter and oats and mix everything together until a sticky dough forms.

If you’d like, add chocolate chips.

Use a spoon to drop the cookie dough onto the baking sheet, creating any size of cookie you like (note very small cookies will require less bake time). The cookies won’t spread, so form them into the shape you want them to be in – I stick with round mounds.

Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, or until they are slightly golden-brown around the edges.

Allow the cookies to cool for at least 15 minutes before using a spatula to remove them from the baking sheet to serve. 

That’s it! A 3-ingredient cookie recipe that anyone can make and everyone can enjoy.

Bake them for a cleaner option any time the desire strikes!

More Delicious Gluten-Free Cookie Recipes:

• Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
• Crispy Rice Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies
• Keto Cowboy Cookies
• Flourless Almond Butter Cookies
• The Best Giant Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies

Banana + oatmeal + almond butter OH MY!

If you make these cookies, feel free to share a photo on Instagram and tag @The.Roasted.Root!