Healthy Double Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies are an explosion of gooey chocolate decadence! You’d never guess these cookies are flourless, dairy-free, egg-free and vegan. They are the perfect go-to for the chocolate lover to stave off those chocolate cravings.
Fudgy, soft, chewy, gooey, these double chocolate chip cookies are everything I love in a chocolate dessert.
They include no added sugar, no eggs, dairy or all purpose flour!
The inspiration for this recipe came from a massive chocolate craving (basically my standard state).
I wanted to make an incredibly rich and chocolatey cookie recipe made with better-for-you ingredients, so I used my 3-Ingredient Oatmeal Cookies as my base recipe.
While I’m all about an indulgent treat from time to time, I like whipping up easy cookie recipes like this fairly regularly because I feel better about treating my sweet tooth when there are wholesome ingredients involved.
In this sense, these cookies are partially sweetened with ripe bananas and partially sweetened with pure maple syrup.
Rather than using butter, I use almond butter (peanut butter works too), and the combination of oats and cocoa powder negates the need for flour.
In addition, the combination of almond butter, pure maple syrup, and mashed bananas creates a sticky enough substance that we don’t need to use eggs, so the recipe happens to be vegan.
All of the ingredients combined together result in a soft and chewy cookie with big chocolate flavor and just the slightest banana undertone. The banana flavor does shine through a little, but you don’t get a big explosion the way you do with banana bread.
Plus, they are so easy to make! Even if this is your first time baking, you can’t mess up this simple recipe because there are no eggs, flour, or leavening agents to throw you off.
I love that these double chocolate cookies are made with all whole foods and doesn’t require a stand mixer. Just a large bowl and some wholesome pantry ingredients that you may already have on hand.
If you follow a grain-free diet or a low-carb diet, make my Low-Carb Double Chocolate Chip Cookies, which are made with almond flour.
My Double Chocolate Vegan Black Bean Cookies are also a great option for those who love making desserts with beans (like me).
Let’s discuss the simple ingredients for healthy double chocolate oatmeal cookies.
Ingredients for Double Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies:
Ripe Bananas: Used to bring sweetness, moisture, and volume to these healthy double chocolate chip cookies, overripe bananas play an indispensable role.
Be sure to use large ripe bananas that have plenty of brown spots for the best results, as they provide the best level of sweetness and moisture content.
If you’re allergic to bananas, use 2/3 cup of unsweetened applesauce and add 1 to 3 tablespoons of brown sugar.
Unsweetened Almond Butter: Creamy almond butter provides a sticky substance that helps keep all of the ingredients held together nicely and it also adds healthy fat which thereby brings richness to these flourless double chocolate oatmeal cookies.Â
Pure Maple Syrup: Because I knew adding cocoa powder would bring a bit of bitterness to the cookies, I decided to add pure maple syrup to counterbalance the acidity and enhance the chocolate flavor.
I don’t recommend replacing the pure maple syrup with a granulated sweetener like regular white sugar or brown sugar because it will disturb the liquid to solid ratio and the cookies will turn out slightly dry.
Quick Oats or Rolled Oats: Use your favorite type of oats for these soft and chewy double chocolate chip cookies. Old fashioned oats, quick oats or instant oats all work great.
Quick-cooking oats or instant oats result in a better texture than old-fashioned rolled oats in my opinion because they require less chewing. I like using sprouted quick oats that are gluten-free and glyphosate free.
Cocoa Powder: Pick your favorite cocoa powder that you know you love for these delicious chocolate cookies. I use raw cacao powder because it is less bitter than standard unsweetened cocoa powder and has a creamy essence to it.
Chocolate Chips: The second round of chocolate in our chewy double chocolate oatmeal cookies adventure. Use semi-sweet chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, sugar-free chocolate chips or white chocolate chips.
You can even get fancy with butterscotch chips, cinnamon chips or peanut butter chips.
Sea Salt: A pinch of salt brings out all of the bold flavors so that the cookies taste ultra rich and inviting.
Optional Additions and Recipe Adaptations:
- Add ½ cup to ⅔ cup chopped walnuts or pecans for nutty cookies.
- Mix in ½ cup of unsweetened shredded coconut if you’re a coconut lover.
- Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of flax seeds, hemp seeds, or chia seeds for some added health benefits.
- Swap out the semisweet chocolate chips for white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, or sugar-free chocolate chips.
Because there are no eggs or dairy in this recipe, the cookies are naturally vegan which means there is no need to use flax eggs, chia eggs, or any other egg replacement.
Fair warning, these healthy chocolate cookies may just be my new favorite cookies due to their generous chocolate flavor, amazing soft texture and fudgy essence.
Be sure to make a double batch if you are wanting to serve many individuals or want leftover cookies to enjoy throughout the week.Â
Now that we’re familiar with the healthy ingredients, let’s bake some soft and chewy double chocolate chip cookies!
How to Make Healthy Double Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. If you don’t have parchment paper, spray the cookie sheet with cooking spray.
Mash the bananas in a large mixing bowl until they are very creamy.
Add in the almond butter, pure maple syrup, and vanilla extract (if adding) and mix until the wet ingredients are combined.
Transfer the oats, cocoa powder and sea salt to the mixing bowl and combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. The cookie dough will be very sticky. This is normal.
Stir in the chocolate chips.
Use a spoon to drop mounds of cookie dough onto the prepared baking pan, making any size cookies you’d like.
The dough doesn’t spread and remains roughly the same shape through the baking process so shape the dough according to how you want your cookies to look.
Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes. For very small cookies, bake for 8-10 minutes, for medium sized cookies 10-12 minutes and for large cookies, 12 to 15 minutes.
You’ll know the cookies are ready when they no longer have a glossy look and feel relatively firm when poked.
Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Store cookies in an airtight container or zip lock bag in the refrigerator for up to 7 days. The cookies will also be fine at room temperature on the counter for a couple of days if you would like to leave them out.
You can also freeze the cookies in a freezer bag or freezer-safe container for up to 3 months.
The chocolate flavor of these wonderful cookies is even more pronounced the next day, so you’ll have something to look forward to.
The next time you’re craving something rich and fudgy but want to keep the ingredients relatively health-conscious, whip up a batch of these double chocolate oatmeal cookies!
If you enjoy healthy oatmeal cookie recipes, also try out these magical treats.
More Healthy Oatmeal Cookie Recipes:
- 5-Ingredient Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Healthy Strawberry Oatmeal Cookies
- 5-Ingredient Healthy Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies
- Healthy 6-Ingredient Apple Oatmeal Cookies Â
- 4-Ingredient Banana Oatmeal Bars Â
Double chocolate everything for the rest of eternity!
Healthy Double Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 medium-sized ripe bananas mashed (about â…” cup)
- â…“ cup pure maple syrup
- ½ cup almond butter
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract optional
- 1 cup quick oats
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- â…” cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. If you don’t have parchment paper, spray the cookie sheet with cooking spray.
- Mash the bananas in a large mixing bowl until they are very creamy.
- Add in the almond butter, pure maple syrup, and vanilla extract (if adding) and mix until the wet ingredients are combined.
- Transfer the oats, cocoa powder and sea salt to the mixing bowl and combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. Stir in the chocolate chips. The cookie dough will be very sticky – this is normal.
- Use a spoon to drop mounds of cookie dough onto the prepared baking pan, making any size cookies you’d like. The dough doesn’t spread and remains roughly the same shape through the baking process so shape the dough according to how you want your cookies to look.
- Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes. For very small cookies, bake for 8-10 minutes, for medium sized cookies 10-12 minutes and for large cookies, 12 to 15 minutes. You’ll know the cookies are ready when they no longer have a glossy look and feel relatively firm when poked.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
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6 months pregnant here devouring the dough straight from the bowl. These may or may not make it to the oven…
LOL, I love hearing that! I can’t help but eat the cookie dough every time I make the recipe too. Congratulations on your upcoming babyyyyy!! xo
I just took a bite. Omg these cookies really hit the spot. My goodness. Very easy to make.
I’m so happy to hear you enjoy them, Pam! We can’t get enough! This is one of the recipes I go back to over and over because we just love the cookies so much. Thanks for the sweet note! xo
I could eat the entire bowl of battery in one sitting!!! I made small cookies and they are just the best, best, best no guilt treat EVER!
@Heather, batter*
Yaaas! That’s exactly how I feel, too! I definitely have to control myself around the cookie dough, lol xo
Can I substitute sunflower butter instead of almond butter? I’m allergic to tree nuts.
@Leigh, I’m looking for a replacement for almond butter too!
Hi Erin! Peanut butter, cashew butter, or sunflower seed butter are my top three recommendations 🙂
Hi Leigh! Any well-stirred nut or seed butter will work in this recipe 🙂 Sunflower seed butter works great as long as you enjoy the flavor.
@Julia,
Update: I made them with the sunflower butter and they came out great! They weren’t overpowered by the seed flavor at all. Thanks for the recipe!
Wahoo!! Great success! Thanks so much for swinging back around to let us know, Leigh! xo
I don’t have quick oats can I use oat flour (already have old fashion oats ground)
Thank you
Hi Cindy! I haven’t tested the recipe using oat flour. If I were trying it myself, I would start with 1.5 cups of oat flour and add more if it seemed like the dough needed it. If you try it, let me know how it goes!
Any substitutions for the bananas? Allergy…
Hi Jessica! I mention this in the body of the post 🙂 You can replace the mashed bananas with 2/3 cup of unsweetened applesauce (sweetened applesauce will work too). Hope you enjoy! xo
Any alternative option to the almond or peanut butter? Nut allergy in my household.
Hi Cheryl! You can use sunflower seed butter if you like the flavor 🙂 Hope this helps!
Could I use sugar free maple syrup in order to lower the sugar?
Hi Kristen! Absolutely! Sugar-free maple syrup works too 🙂
My whole family loves these cookies. So today I used white chocolate chips coz hubby loves white choc more. Soo good. I liked the comment on applesauce too, Def gonna try it.
I’m so happy to hear you and your family enjoy the cookies, Pam! They’re always a big hit in my household and disappear WAY too quickly 😉 Thanks so much for the sweet note!