Name: Banana Oatmeal Cookies Recipe
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 60 min
Ingredients: ¾ cup unsalted butter (softened (1.5 sticks)); ½ cup granulated sugar ((white sugar)); ½ cup brown sugar (lightly packed); 1 cup mashed banana (overly ripe, 2-3 bananas); 1 large egg (at room temperature); ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon; 1 ½ cups all purpose flour; 1 teaspoon salt; ½ teaspoon baking soda; 2 cups oats ((quick or old fashioned) (see note 1)); ½ cup chopped walnuts (optional); 1 cup chocolate chips (optional, or raisins)

Soft and chewy Banana Oatmeal Cookies taste like banana bread infused oatmeal cookies! A popular baking recipe that is easy to make. Perfect for overripe bananas.

Banana Oatmeal Cookies in a glass bowl on a cutting board

These Banana Oatmeal Cookies taste like if banana bread and a hearty oatmeal cookie had a baby! Soft and chewy cookies that are easy to make.

Table of Contents

Banana Cookies

These Banana Oatmeal Cookies were a huge hit when I made them! The perfect cross between a banana bread and a classic oatmeal cookie.

Overly ripe bananas are best here because they have a deeper banana flavor. And as they ripe, they develop more sugars.

Ingredients Needed

Here is what you need to make these cookies:

Flour
Oats
Brown Sugar
Granulated Sugar
Butter
Bananas
Cinnamon
Baking Soda
Salt
Egg

The riper the bananas, the better!

Flavor Options

Fun variations of this cookie include adding in chocolate chips, walnuts, and/or raisins.

But just the plain cookies without those add-ins are also amazing!

Can I use old fashioned oats instead of quick oats?

Yes! The oat type will not affect the recipe, but does have a slight difference in the final product.

Quick oats will have a more delicate texture, while old fashioned oats will have a heartier texture.

Any kind of oat works based on your preference!

Close up top view of a Banana Oatmeal Cookie

Instruction Overview

First beat the butter until smooth. Then add both types of sugar and beat to incorporate.

Next add in the egg, cinnamon, and banana. Beat until incorporated.

Then on a low speed, add the rest of the ingredients and mix until just incorporated.

Chill the dough for 30 minutes.

Once chilled, scoop the dough out and place on a lined baking sheet. I like to use a cookie scoop for fast and easy, even portioning.

Bake for about 15 minutes until the bottom edges of the cookies are a light golden brown.

Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring cookies to a cooling rack.

Store in an air tight container for up to 2 weeks.

The batter being portioned and placed on a baking sheet

How can you tell when oatmeal cookies are done?

The cookies will have a bolden brown edge along the outside of the cookies where they meet the baking sheet.

Since we are using bananas, which has sugars in them, I do find that browning happens a little faster with these cookies compared to other oatmeal cookies, such as my Oatmeal Craisin Cookies.

The cookies will still feel very soft in the oven, but will firm up a little when cooling to result in a chewy cookie.

Why are my oatmeal cookies not chewy?

This can happen if the dough is overmixed with causes an excess of gluten to develop from the flour. The gluten is what gives them a tough texture.

To avoid this, just barely mix the dough once adding the dry to wet ingredients.

It also could be that the butter has leaked out and the cookies become hard and not chewy. Which brings us to our next question…

How do I stop my cookies from spreading so much?

To avoid this, I always recommend refrigerating the dough for at least 30 minutes before baking. You can do this with the entire dough batch, before portioning the cookies out.

Chilling the dough locks in the butter. If it is warm, it will leak out of the cookies quickly instead.

Are oatmeal cookies a healthy snack?

Oatmeal cookies do have added nutrition benefit compared to other cookies since it incorporates the oats, plus fresh bananas in this case.

But ultimately, it is still a cookie. So it depends on what you are comparing it to!