Healthier Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie Bars made without refined sugar, butter or flour. These delicious flourless cookie bars include all the classic favorites. A magnificent combination of chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal cookies and peanut butter cookies for the person who loves it all!
One of my all-time favorite cookie recipes on this site is my 5-Ingredient Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.
They have everything you need for a great time!
Well, we’re back with the bar version of those cookies. These chewy peanut butter oatmeal bars feature the same great taste and texture as the cookies but are made easy into bar form.
For those of us who can be indecisive over what cookie treat we want to eat, these peanut butter oatmeal cookie bars are here to support our every desire.
Plus, they are lower in added sugar than regular cookies, are flourless and require no butter.
Here are the basic ingredients we need for these delicious peanut butter cookie bars.
Ingredients for Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie Bars:
Eggs: Eggs are used to bring rise and great texture to the cookie bars. Bring the eggs to room temperature before making the recipe so that the wet ingredients are easier to mix. You can replace the eggs with two mashed bananas (make sure they’re very ripe), flax eggs, or ½ cup of unsweetened applesauce for a vegan version of the recipe.
Creamy Peanut Butter: One of the stars of the show, unsweetened natural peanut butter acts as the fat and takes the place of all-purpose flour in the recipe.
You can also use almond butter, as seen in my 5-Ingredient Almond Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars or cashew butter or sunflower seed butter.
Pure Maple Syrup: I love using pure maple syrup for baked goods like this because it’s less refined than regular sugar. I personally love that these cookie bars aren’t very sweet, but you can always add some brown sugar if you’re looking for a sweeter treat.
Old Fashioned Oats: Another big name actor in these cookie bars, old fashioned rolled oats bring all that oatmeal flavor and act as a sort of binding agent to help hold everything together. You can use quick oats or instant oats but I find the texture of rolled oats to be superior. Steel cut oats won’t work here. I use sprouted gluten-free oats.
Baking Soda: Used as the leavening agent to help the bars bake evenly and keep them held together, a little baking soda brings some rise to the bars.
Chocolate Chips: Delicious chocolate chips bring little pockets of gooey chocolate to make the cookie bars extra tasty. I use dark chocolate chips, but semi sweet chocolate chips or sugar-free chocolate chips work too.
Cinnamon and Sea Salt: Cinnamon brings that nostalgic oatmeal cookie vibe to these bars and sea salt helps bring out all of the flavors.
Optional Additions:
- If you have vanilla extract on hand, add 1 teaspoon.
- Love nutty treats? Add ½ to ⅔ cup of chopped walnuts or pecans.
- Feel free to add dried fruit like raisins or dried cranberries in place of or in addition to the chocolate chips
- Sprinkle shredded coconut on top of the bars if you love coconut.
Now that we’re experts on the simple ingredients, let’s make these easy peanut butter bars!
How to Make Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie Bars:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper.
Combine the eggs, peanut butter, and pure maple syrup (and vanilla extract if adding) in a large bowl and mix until everything is well combined. If you have an electric mixer or stand mixer, feel free to use it. Note: if your peanut butter is cold or seems firm, microwave it for 20 to 30 seconds to help with the mixing process.
Add the rolled oats, baking soda, ground cinnamon and sea salt (dry ingredients) to the mixing bowl and mix until everything is combined and a thick dough forms. Stir in the chocolate chips (if adding).
Transfer the peanut butter oatmeal cookie dough to the prepared baking pan and spread it into an even layer. If you’d like, sprinkle the top with extra chocolate chips and/or flaky sea salt.
Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until the bars have set up and the edges are slightly golden brown.
Allow the peanut butter chocolate chip bars to cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing and serving. You can wrap the baking pan in plastic wrap and leave the bars on the counter for up to 2 days.
Store the bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Freeze in a large zip lock bag for up to 3 months.
This is one of those healthier treats I’m more than happy to eat every single day. Between the wholesome ingredients and the feel-good flavor, these yummy oatmeal cookie bars are an all around win!
Peanut butter lovers, you’re going to go wild over the prominent peanut butter flavor! The next time you’re fiending for peanut butter desserts, whip up this easy dessert recipe.
If you love oatmeal treats like this, check out these goodies below!
More Healthy Recipes with Oats:
- 5-Ingredient Healthy Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies
- Healthy Apple Oatmeal Muffins
- Peanut Butter Banana Baked Oatmeal
- Blueberry Banana Baked Oatmeal Cups
- Healthy 6-Ingredient Apple Oatmeal Cookies
Peanut butter, oats, and chocolate, oh my!
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup peanut butter
- ⅓ cup pure maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract optional
- 1 ½ cups rolled oats
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon optional
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper.
- Combine the eggs, peanut butter, and pure maple syrup (and vanilla extract if adding) in a large bowl and mix until everything is well combined. Note: if your peanut butter is cold or seems firm, microwave it for 20 to 30 seconds to help with the mixing process.
- Add the rolled oats, baking soda, ground cinnamon and sea salt (dry ingredients) to the mixing bowl and mix until everything is combined and a thick dough forms.
- Stir in the chocolate chips (if adding).
- Transfer the peanut butter oatmeal cookie dough to the prepared baking pan and spread it into an even layer. If you’d like, sprinkle the top with extra chocolate chips and/or flaky sea salt.
- Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until the bars have set up and the edges are slightly golden brown.
- Allow the peanut butter chocolate chip bars to cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing and serving.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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The best kind of recipe! Clean, easy and delicious! Thanks for all your work! I love your recipes.
Aww, thank you, Michelle! I really appreciate the kind words! xo
I am just adding oats back into my diet and prefer them soaked. Have you ever tried soaking oats for any kind of cookie dough?
Thanks for all the great recipes!
Hi Karen! I have never soaked oats before using them in a baked recipe so I’m not too sure hoe this would work out. I imagine as long as they aren’t overly wet, soaked oats would work just fine! Feel free to let me know if you end up trying it!
I love these bars! Second time making them, everybody loved them,
Thank you for sharing 💕
Amazing! Love hearing that! Thanks so much for the sweet note!
Everyone who has tried these loves them!
That’s so great to hear! Thanks for sharing, Ellen! xo
I made these tonight with modifications(didn’t want to run to store). I doubled recipe. Didn’t have enough peanut butter so used 1 1/2 cups peanut butter 1/2 cup Nutella. Used honey instead of maple syrup and had to sub baking powder for baking soda. I also ground half the oats. Baked for almost 30 minutes in a 9 x 13. My bars turned out more fluffy than I thought they should. Maybe because of the baking powder? They are still good, just more cake than cookie bar. These were easy to make with minimal ingredients, and did not require butter! I will definitely try these again with baking soda once I have some. Thank you!
Hi Manda! Omitting the baking soda should help for sure. You can also try using 1 egg instead of two and adding 1/4 cup of some form of liquid such as milk (nondairy or regular), or more peanut butter. Let me know how this goes for you! xo
Have you tried to do this without maple syrup?
Hi there! I haven’t tried the recipe without the pure maple syrup so I’m not sure how it would turn out. You can always try it without and if the mixture is too thick or isn’t sweet enough, you can add it in. My only concern is that if you use unsweetened peanut butter the cookie bars won’t taste very sweet. If you end up using sweetened peanut butter, they may be sweet enough without the pure maple syrup but the mixture also might be difficult to mix without the liquid from the maple. Let me know if you try it!
Can I make these into cookies?
Hi MJ! Most certainly 🙂 In fact, I have a cookie version of this recipe, which can be found here: https://www.theroastedroot.net/5-ingredient-peanut-butter-oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookies/ The short answer is 350 for 9-12 minutes 🙂 Enjoy!
Hi Julia,
These bars sound awesome. I’d like to add some shredded coconut, when and how much?
Ty. Karen
Hi Karen! I love the idea of adding shredded coconut! I would add 2/3 cup at the same time as adding the oats. Hope you enjoy! xo
Hello
Julia, would it be possible to use liquid Just Eggs in this recipe. Wanting to make this for someone that has an egg allergy and also follows a plant based diet.
Thank you for a great recipe !!
Hi Donna! I’ve never tried using Just Eggs so I’m not positive how the bars would turn out, but I think it may work. For recipes like breads or cake, it can be challenging to use an egg replacer but because the texture of these bars is designed to be dense anyway, I think using an egg replacer will work great. Let me know how it turns out 🙂 xo