These chocolate unbaked oatmeal cookies have that classic peanut butter and chocolate flavor and rich fudgy texture. Easy to stir up a batch for the holidays, or as a quick treat any day of the week!
As much as I love my own baked cookie recipes – especially my Healthier Sugar Cookie Recipe, Chewy Gingersnap Cookies, and the classic Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookies – sometimes I just don’t feel like turning on the oven!
Or more realistically lately, I don’t have the TIME to bake!
That’s why everyone needs a tested, proven, and loved no bake cookie recipe…like the one I’m sharing today!
How do you make peanut butter and chocolate unbaked oatmeal cookies?
Learning how to make a no bake cookie is as simple as heating the chocolate sugar mixture, stirring in oats and peanut butter, and scooping out your cookies!
CHOCOLATE UNBAKED OATMEAL COOKIES
I’ve shared a No Bake Cookie Recipe with you before, and that cookie is indeed delicious!
But the chocolate unbaked oatmeal cookies I’m sharing today are a bit different…they’re:
- More peanut butter-y
- More chocolate-y
- Definitely addicting!
- And they have more of that nostalgic chocolate unbaked cookies flavor!
This recipe is similar to the classic no bake oatmeal cookies, but I made a few minor tweaks so that it’s just a bit healthier (and hopefully offers less guilt for eating a couple off the pan!)
INGREDIENTS FOR NO BAKE CHOCOLATE OATMEAL COOKIES
You only need a few pantry staples for these bakeless chocolate oatmeal cookies, and you probably already have them in your kitchen!
- Butter. Choose unsalted butter to avoid overly salty cookies.
- Sugar. I recommend coconut sugar, but any granulated sugar will work here.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder. I recommend raw cacao powder.
- Milk. Dairy or non-dairy is fine.
- Vanilla Extract. Make your own!
- Peanut Butter. Use creamy or crunchy peanut butter or substitute a different nut butter.
- Quick Cooking Oats. Not traditional old fashioned oats – these cookies come together fast, so use quick oats to get them to turn out perfectly soft and chewy.
- Salt. Just a little bit of salt helps bring out the sweetness.
Psst! Do you like that sweet-and-salty combo? Try finishing this recipe with a pinch of finishing salt! I love Ava Jane’s Kitchen because it doesn’t have microplastics (gross, right?) and it’s SO GOOD! Plus, you can get a free 8oz. bag of sea salt (just pay shipping and handling!)
CHOCOLATE OATMEAL UNBAKED COOKIES INSTRUCTIONS
Step 1. Line a large baking sheet with a silpat mat, parchment paper, or wax paper.
Step 2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine butter, sugar, cocoa powder, milk, and salt. Stir often to melt and combine the ingredients.
Step 3. When the butter has melted, bring the mixture JUST to a rolling boil and let the mixture boil undisturbed for one full minute. Use a kitchen timer!
Step 4. When the timer beeps, remove the pan from the heat and add vanilla, peanut butter, and instant oats to the cocoa mixture. Stir well until everything is combined.
Step 5. Use a medium cookie scoop to scoop either 1 or 2 scoops per cookie directly onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving 2-3” between each cookie. The no bake chocolate oatmeal cookies will spread slightly upon scooping, but they will stop spreading as they cool to room temperature.
Step 6. When the cookies have cooled completely, store them in a sealed container or freezer bag at room temperature for 2-3 days, or in the refrigerator for up to one week.
That’s it! You can enjoy the no bake cocoa oatmeal cookies as they cool off and set on the pan, or you can place them in the refrigerator, so they set quicker.
TIPS FOR MAKING NO-BAKE CHOCOLATE OATMEAL COOKIES
- You can use natural peanut butter! Most no bake recipes that call for peanut butter REQUIRE that you use conventional peanut butter because natural peanut butter tends to be more oily. I found that with this recipe and my method, you can use natural creamy peanut butter without any problems! I’ve even tested with almond butter, and it works great too!
- Use quick oats, not traditional old-fashioned rolled oats. Quick oats are essentially traditional rolled oats that have been chopped up into smaller pieces. We need the small pieces for the no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies to hold their shape, so if you don’t have quick oats, give your rolled oats a quick pulse or two in a food processor or blender so that they’re smaller.
- Make sure you DON’T STIR the butter/sugar mixture when it’s boiling. When sugar boils undisturbed, it goes through the sugar syrup stages. By NOT STIRRING, you’re making sure your cookie hardens properly in the end.
- If you don’t feel like scooping out cookies, you can also pour the no bake oatmeal chocolate cookie mixture into an 8×8 square pan and use a piece of parchment paper to press it evenly into the pan. Cool and cut into squares like fudge.
CAN I EAT CHOCOLATE UNBAKED OATMEAL COOKIES AND TRACK MACROS?
When you’re including a treat like chocolate oatmeal unbaked cookies in your day, keep these tips in mind:
- Accurately track what you’re eating. That means figuring out the nutrition information for the cookies AND knowing that the portion size you’re writing down is actually the portion you ate.
- Licks, bites, and tastes count! As you’re mixing up these yummy unbaked cookies, be mindful of licking the peanut butter off the spoon or tasting a bit of the chocolate sugar mixture.
- Keep your goals on track for the day as a whole. Include plenty of produce and lean protein, and adjust your meals so that your macros for the whole day make sense.
- Don’t fret over one snack! Consistency is key to hitting your nutrition goals, and one snack is not going to change that. What you do consistently day after day is what matters.
- Eating well is a lifestyle. Real life includes treats, not eliminating entire foods or food groups, and you can fit them into a balanced day. Understand the nutrition of chocolate unbaked oatmeal cookies and how it fits into your macro goals, supplementing with protein so your meals are balanced.
Enjoying treats, especially homemade treats with simple ingredients, is a great start, but it’s not enough. You also need to make sure you’re getting enough protein to fuel your body. Try one of my favorite High Protein Recipes on Repeat – these are the meals I return to again and again to hit my protein goals!
BAKELESS CHOCOLATE OATMEAL COOKIES FAQS
Why won’t my oatmeal no bake chocolate cookies harden?
A few things could go wrong, but if you stir your natural peanut butter well, measure everything correctly, let the sugar boil for a full minute, and DON’T STIR it as it cooks, your cookies should harden properly!
How do you fix no bake chocolate oat cookies that don’t set?
There’s no real “fix” for this, other than to store them in the fridge or freezer. They should still taste amazing though!
How long do chocolate unbaked oatmeal cookies last?
In an airtight container at room temperature, chocolate unbaked cookies will last 1-3 days. You can store them in the refrigerator for up to one week, or the freezer for 3-6 months (if they last that long!)
Are no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies gluten free?
Yes! If needed, use certified gluten-free oats to ensure they are free from wheat.
MORE EASY COOKIE RECIPES
- Healthy No Bake Cookies
- Healthy Thumbprint Cookies
- Dark Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies
High Protein Recipes on Repeat
Download the top 15+ recipes that are on repeat in my house, making it easy to feed my family AND meet my protein goals!Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies
These chocolate unbaked oatmeal cookies have that classic peanut butter and chocolate flavor and rich fudgy texture. Easy to stir up a batch for the holidays, or as a quick treat any day of the week!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 20 cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: No Cook
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter (113g)
- 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar (350g)
- ⅓ cup cocoa powder (28g)
- ½ cup milk (dairy or non-dairy is fine) (122g)
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ⅔ cup peanut butter (167g)
- 3 cups instant quick oats (240g)
Instructions
- Line a large baking sheet with a silpat mat.
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine butter, sugar, cocoa powder, milk, and salt. Stir often to melt and combine the ingredients.
- When the butter has melted, bring the mixture JUST to a boil and let the mixture boil undisturbed for one full minute. Use a kitchen timer!
- When the timer beeps, remove the pan from the heat and add the vanilla, peanut butter, and oats. Stir well until everything is combined.
- Use a cookie scoop to scoop either 1 or 2 scoops per cookie directly onto the cookie sheet, leaving 2-3” between each cookie. The cookies will spread slightly upon scooping, but they will stop spreading as they cool to room temperature.
- When the cookies have cooled completely, store them in a sealed container at room temperature for 2-3 days, or in the refrigerator for up to one week.
Notes
Enjoying treats, especially homemade treats with simple ingredients, is a great start, but it’s not enough. You also need to make sure you’re getting enough protein to fuel your body. You can either boost the protein in the cookies or make sure to hit your protein goals for the day with other meals and snacks.
Protein Boosters:
- Add a scoop of protein powder with the peanut butter, along with a splash of additional milk, to bump up the protein by 15-30g.
- Stir in a Tablespoon or two of collagen with the peanut butter to boost the protein by 6g.
My Mama always called this kind of drop cookie a “preacher” cookie. Kind of like when the reverend himself would drop by unexpected
Back in my childhood days, we made these with regular rolled oats, not instant. I don’t even know if there was such a thing as instant oats in the early 50’s, but I know that all my mother had was the regular ones.
I don’t use dairy…could I use coconut oil for the butter?
You could, it will not be exactly like our cookies, Kristina.