Healthy oatmeal cookies made with fiber-rich oats, coconut sugar and coconut oil and applesauce instead of butter. One cookie has about 115 calories! Naturally gluten-free and dairy-free.
It’s crazy to think that I first shared this recipe back in 2012. I made them for a New Year’s Eve party and they were a big hit. I have a ton of awesome healthy cookie recipes, but oatmeal cookies have always been one of my favorites.
These oatmeal cookies are made healthier just by swapping a few ingredients, but still absolutely delicious. The combo of oatmeal, raisin and cinnamon is pure perfection.
Gluten-Free Oatmeal Cookies
This recipe is super easy to follow and naturally gluten-free because we’re using oats and oat flour as the base. If you’re new to using oat flour, it’s essentially just rolled oats ground up into a fine flour. You can find it at most grocery stores in the natural section (I usually buy the Bob’s Red Mill brand) or simply make your own by processing rolled oats in your food processor or high speed blender.
Ingredients Needed
old-fashioned rolled oats
oat flour – store-bought or you can make your own oat flour.
baking soda
baking powder
cinnamon
ground nutmeg
sea salt
coconut oil
applesauce – store-bought or you can make your own applesauce at home.
coconut sugar
egg whites
vanilla extract
raisins or dark chocolate chocolate chips or your favorite mix-in
Substitutions & Notes
Oat flour – I haven’t tested these cookies with another flour, so I’m not sure how they’d turn out. Some people have commented letting me know that almond flour and all-purpose flour worked, but I’ve only tested these cookies with oat flour. If you try a different flour, let me know in the comments.
Coconut oil – you can use butter (vegan or regular) in place of the coconut oil.
Applesauce – if you don’t have applesauce on hand you can use mashed bananas instead.
Sugar – as a sub to coconut sugar you can use brown sugar or regular sugar. I wouldn’t swap it with a liquid sweetener like maple syrup or honey.
Egg whites – you can use 2 eggs in place of the egg whites. I haven’t tested these with flax eggs, but I bet it would work subbing the egg whites for 2 flax eggs. Let me know in the comments below if you try it.
How to Store Homemade Cookies
After letting your cookies cool completely, I recommend storing in an airtight container. They’ll last a few days on the countertop, a week in the fridge and up to 3 months in the freezer. I love making these in advance, freezing and then serving during the holidays!
If you make these healthy oatmeal cookies let me know how they turned out by leaving a comment and a star rating below. Your feedback is so helpful for the EBF team and other EBF readers.
These healthy oatmeal cookies are made with fiber-rich oats, coconut sugar and coconut oil and applesauce instead of butter. They are easy to whip up and are naturally gluten and dairy-free and paleo-friendly.
Ingredients
2 1/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup oat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
6 Tablespoons coconut oil
2 Tablespoons applesauce
1 cup coconut sugar (organic brown sugar works too)
2 egg whites (about 1/3 cup)*
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup raisins or dark chocolate chocolate chips or your favorite mix-in
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
Spray two baking sheets with cooking spray or line with silpat mats and set aside.
In a medium bowl, mix together oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl with the mixer set on medium speed, beat together oil, applesauce, sugar, egg whites and vanilla until fluffy and smooth. Slowly beat in the oat mixture. Lightly stir in raisins.
Using a spoon or cookie scoop, drop cookie dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Press each cookie down with a fork a bit. Bake for 10 minutes, or until golden brown. The cookies will seem a little soft, but do not over bake or they’ll get too crisp. Remove from oven and let cool on sheet for about 5 minutes or until they start to harden up a bit. At this point you can transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
I found these cookies to be a little too soft and not as dense as other oatmeal cookies. I think I should have flattened them a bit more. I may have been heavy handed with the coconut oil. I will give it another try. Love your website and enjoy your recipes. Thank you
This recipe is fantastic! I didn’t have oat flour on hand so I substituted a half cup each almond flour and spelt flour. I also added in chopped walnuts, pecans and dark chocolate. These cookies are delicious! The cookie dough is a bit sticky and crumbly so I reshaped the falling bits of dough back onto the cookie. This cookie is sort of like a cross between a cookie and granola. Guilt-free and delicious!
Oh yay!! So glad these cookies turned out with the almond + spelt flour. Thanks for sharing that, it’s super helpful for readers who might need a flour sub. 🙂
Really the best
I replaced the recipe with 2 whole eggs, 2 tsp chia seed, cranberry,
medjool date (cut into small pieces),pumkin seeds, 1/2 cup coconut sugar and truvia
And it’s absolutely delicious 🙂
So glad you loved these cookies, Johanna! Thanks for making them and for coming back to share the subs you made. It’s super helpful for future readers, so I appreciate it. 🙂
Absolutely delicious!
I didn’t have coconut sugar, so substituted with 1/2c truvia and 1/2c brown sugar. Very addicting-even without raisins and chocolate chips!
I’m thoroughly confused as to what I might have done wrong with this recipe. I have gone over it multiple times and as far as I can tell I followed it precisely, but my cookies came out thin and crumbly. Even before baking the batter appeared weak (gooey and thin for an oatmeal cookie) and I questioned whether the result would be good, and it wasn’t. It tasted okay (not great) but is crumbly and spread more than it should have. One thing I did notice from the video is that the coconut sugar in your video appears to be lighter in color and more consistent in texture. But what I purchased is simply coconut sugar so I’m not sure why it would appear different. My overall batter and cookie in the end looks darker than yours, too. Really disappointed because I tried to be precise and didn’t change any ingredients.
Any ideas what I might have done wrong? My applesauce was cold, and my oat flour was chilled—could that have been it? I suspect it may be something with the sugar but I don’t know what.
Clearly this recipe works because you and others have had had success but I can’t tell where I might have gone wrong.
Oh no!! I’m so sorry to hear that these cookies didn’t turn out for you, Victoria. The sugar shouldn’t have made a difference if you had coconut sugar. Did you use egg whites or full eggs? The fact that they turned out crumbly after being cooked makes me think they were cooked too long or needed a splash of liquid in the batter.
Baking as we speak. They really smell good. I added walnuts to. I am wondering how healthy these are for a diabetic? I also used parchment paper instead of spray. This is also the first time to use coconut sugar, it seems to have a burned flavor. Overall I think they are a good alternative to prossesed flour.
Haven’t tried the cookies yet but soon. I’ll likely use part wheat pastry flour for the oat flour and sub olive oil for the Coconut. Hate wasting eggs, so can I use whole eggs? If so, do I use one or two as that as that’s more liquid? Thanks.
Hi! Could I use corn oil instead of coconut oil? Do you think if I spread out the dough a bit thinner I could achieve a crunchy outside instead of a the cookie being all the way chewy?
I bet corn oil would work just fine, Celien! And that should work if you want to achieve a crunchier cookie. Just keep an eye on them as they might not need to cook as long if they are thinner. Let me know how they turn out if you end up making them!
I tried REALLY hard. I even made the applesauce from scratch (based on the recipe here actually). The applesauce turned out great but the cookies not so much. I followed all the instructions except I ran out of coconut oil and added some light olive oil for the rest of the oil ratio. I also only used baking powder because there is no baking soda in my country (but that should be fine because our cookies are usually pretty good around here though we just use baking powder.) The cookies tasted a bit sour and felt raw to me. I would want to try them once more to see if I made a mistake with mixing the egg mixture, but for now this is my review.
Oh no!! So sorry to hear that these cookies didn’t turn out for you, Asli. Did you just use 1/2 tsp of baking powder or did you use 1 tsp? When you say they felt raw… were they gooey like undercooked?
These are the best oatmeal cookies I have ever had! I had to make some modifications: I replaced the oat flour with whole wheat flour, and I used chocolate chips instead of the raisins, and I also added 40g of dessiccated coconut which brought up the calorie count a bit- but they are amazing! So delicious, chewy, and filling! I will no doubt make them again; thank you!
Ahh that makes me so happy to hear, Cat!! I’m so glad you’re a fan of these cookies. Thanks for making them and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. The reviews are super helpful for other readers, so I appreciate it. 🙂
These were delicious! I used almond flour and I didn’t have applesauce so I used 1/3 to 1/2 of a banana. I also was low on add-ins so I did a combo of choc chips, dried cherries, and walnuts to equal 1/2 a cup, wish I had added a little more since it was three different things. So good!
Ahh yay!! So glad these cookies turned out. Thanks for sharing the subs you made and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. It’s super helpful to other readers, so I appreciate it. <3
Hi,. Thanks for the beautiful recipe and your blog is very beautiful too.
I tried this recipe for oat cookies and it didn’t turn out at all.
It was just mushy and came apart, didn’t stay together.
The only thing I didn’t have was applesauce, which I substituted with golden syrup.
Hey Lorraine – I haven’t tried it, but you can try using 2 flax or chia eggs to replace the egg whites. Let me know if you try it and how the cookies turn out!
Hey Carene – So sorry these cookies didn’t turn out for you. The applesauce helps to bind the cookies in addition to the eggs. I would suggest subbing it with mashed bananas next time if you don’t have applesauce on hand. The syrup probably made the dough too liquidy, which made the cookies mushy.
Hey Brielle – I haven’t tried these cookies with a different flour besides the oat flour. I wouldn’t use coconut flour as that can’t be subbed 1:1 with other flours and it soaks up way more liquid. I would try almond flour first, but I haven’t tested it so I’m not sure if these cookies would turn out the same. Let me know if you try it though!!
I LOVE these cookies! They are so delicious and easy. I make them every other week and I can’t get enough. I’ve started getting “crazy” with my mix-ins and used dried cherries and apricots.They make me so excited! Thank you so much!
Ahh that makes me so happy to hear, Laura!! I’m so glad you’re loving these cookies and getting creative with the add-ins. 🙂 Thanks for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I really appreciate it!
Ahh that makes me so happy to hear, Kimberly. I’m so glad you enjoyed these cookies. Thanks for trying them and for coming back to leave a comment and star rating. It means the world to me. <3
I used coconut flour instead of oat flour (this was an accident). The cookies were baked and looked crispy, but did not hold together at all. I nudged one with a spoon and it completely fell apart 🙁 I wonder if the issue was the coconut flour.
Taste yummy, but cant really be eaten as a cookie, more as a crumble.
Hey Effie – I’m so sorry to hear that!! It was definitely because you used coconut flour versus oat flour. Coconut flour can’t be used as a 1:1 substitute for other flours as it soaks up way more liquid, so that makes sense why the cookies were dry and crumbly.
These cookies are a healthier version of a favorite; however, the is no joy when eating them. I followed the recipe, cutting the batch in two and adding walnuts to one batch. They lack flavor. They also took much longer to bake than the recipe suggests. I left them in for 15 minutes and let them set, but had to bake them for longer to cook. The second batch I baked at 370 degrees for 20 minutes and this helped. I plan to melt down dark chocolate to drizzle over them to add flavor. I wont use this recipe again, sorry to say.
I just cooked this!! It’s really delicious. Personally, I don’t really like sweet desserts so it was really good for me. After baking this, I’m going to look for more recipes for Healthy cookie 🍪 Thank u for sharing ur recipes!!!
Ahh yay!! So glad you’re enjoying these cookies, Keisha. So glad you found my recipe. Thanks for coming back to leave a comment and star rating. I so appreciate it. <3
I want to try this for a work event! Is the oat flour a must or is there another substitute? Can I also use different type of sugar? Would it be ok to use apple sauce and also mashed banana?
Hey Haley! I haven’t tried these cookies with a different flour besides the oat flour. You could possibly try regular flour, gluten-free all-purpose or almond flour, but you might need to alter the amount. You’d probably need a little less flour if using something other than oat. I’m not sure if I would use the applesauce / mashed bananas as a substitute for the sugar. It would probably make the dough too liquidy. You could use brown sugar instead of the coconut sugar! Let me know how these cookies turn out for you. 🙂
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I found these cookies to be a little too soft and not as dense as other oatmeal cookies. I think I should have flattened them a bit more. I may have been heavy handed with the coconut oil. I will give it another try. Love your website and enjoy your recipes. Thank you
★★★
These cookies are absolutely delicious!! Made them today and wow, I can’t stop eating them. So so good!
★★★★★
Yay!! That makes me so happy to hear. I’m glad you enjoyed these cookies. Thanks for the review, Amanda. I so appreciate it!
This recipe is fantastic! I didn’t have oat flour on hand so I substituted a half cup each almond flour and spelt flour. I also added in chopped walnuts, pecans and dark chocolate. These cookies are delicious! The cookie dough is a bit sticky and crumbly so I reshaped the falling bits of dough back onto the cookie. This cookie is sort of like a cross between a cookie and granola. Guilt-free and delicious!
★★★★★
Oh yay!! So glad these cookies turned out with the almond + spelt flour. Thanks for sharing that, it’s super helpful for readers who might need a flour sub. 🙂
Really the best
I replaced the recipe with 2 whole eggs, 2 tsp chia seed, cranberry,
medjool date (cut into small pieces),pumkin seeds, 1/2 cup coconut sugar and truvia
And it’s absolutely delicious 🙂
Thank you
★★★★★
So glad you loved these cookies, Johanna! Thanks for making them and for coming back to share the subs you made. It’s super helpful for future readers, so I appreciate it. 🙂
Absolutely delicious!
I didn’t have coconut sugar, so substituted with 1/2c truvia and 1/2c brown sugar. Very addicting-even without raisins and chocolate chips!
★★★★★
Ahh yay, so pumped these cookies were a hit, Andrea!! Thanks for making them and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I so appreciate it!
I’m thoroughly confused as to what I might have done wrong with this recipe. I have gone over it multiple times and as far as I can tell I followed it precisely, but my cookies came out thin and crumbly. Even before baking the batter appeared weak (gooey and thin for an oatmeal cookie) and I questioned whether the result would be good, and it wasn’t. It tasted okay (not great) but is crumbly and spread more than it should have. One thing I did notice from the video is that the coconut sugar in your video appears to be lighter in color and more consistent in texture. But what I purchased is simply coconut sugar so I’m not sure why it would appear different. My overall batter and cookie in the end looks darker than yours, too. Really disappointed because I tried to be precise and didn’t change any ingredients.
Any ideas what I might have done wrong? My applesauce was cold, and my oat flour was chilled—could that have been it? I suspect it may be something with the sugar but I don’t know what.
Clearly this recipe works because you and others have had had success but I can’t tell where I might have gone wrong.
Oh no!! I’m so sorry to hear that these cookies didn’t turn out for you, Victoria. The sugar shouldn’t have made a difference if you had coconut sugar. Did you use egg whites or full eggs? The fact that they turned out crumbly after being cooked makes me think they were cooked too long or needed a splash of liquid in the batter.
Baking as we speak. They really smell good. I added walnuts to. I am wondering how healthy these are for a diabetic? I also used parchment paper instead of spray. This is also the first time to use coconut sugar, it seems to have a burned flavor. Overall I think they are a good alternative to prossesed flour.
Haven’t tried the cookies yet but soon. I’ll likely use part wheat pastry flour for the oat flour and sub olive oil for the Coconut. Hate wasting eggs, so can I use whole eggs? If so, do I use one or two as that as that’s more liquid? Thanks.
Hey Jenny – yes, you can use 2 whole eggs instead of the egg whites. Let me know how these cookies turn out for you if you try them!
Hi! Could I use corn oil instead of coconut oil? Do you think if I spread out the dough a bit thinner I could achieve a crunchy outside instead of a the cookie being all the way chewy?
I bet corn oil would work just fine, Celien! And that should work if you want to achieve a crunchier cookie. Just keep an eye on them as they might not need to cook as long if they are thinner. Let me know how they turn out if you end up making them!
I tried REALLY hard. I even made the applesauce from scratch (based on the recipe here actually). The applesauce turned out great but the cookies not so much. I followed all the instructions except I ran out of coconut oil and added some light olive oil for the rest of the oil ratio. I also only used baking powder because there is no baking soda in my country (but that should be fine because our cookies are usually pretty good around here though we just use baking powder.) The cookies tasted a bit sour and felt raw to me. I would want to try them once more to see if I made a mistake with mixing the egg mixture, but for now this is my review.
★
Oh no!! So sorry to hear that these cookies didn’t turn out for you, Asli. Did you just use 1/2 tsp of baking powder or did you use 1 tsp? When you say they felt raw… were they gooey like undercooked?
These are the best oatmeal cookies I have ever had! I had to make some modifications: I replaced the oat flour with whole wheat flour, and I used chocolate chips instead of the raisins, and I also added 40g of dessiccated coconut which brought up the calorie count a bit- but they are amazing! So delicious, chewy, and filling! I will no doubt make them again; thank you!
★★★★★
Ahh that makes me so happy to hear, Cat!! I’m so glad you’re a fan of these cookies. Thanks for making them and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. The reviews are super helpful for other readers, so I appreciate it. 🙂
Hi, my friend is allergic to apples, can I use a ripe mushed banana instead of Apple sauce?
★★★★
I haven’t tried that, but I think it should work just fine. Let me know if you try it.
These were delicious! I used almond flour and I didn’t have applesauce so I used 1/3 to 1/2 of a banana. I also was low on add-ins so I did a combo of choc chips, dried cherries, and walnuts to equal 1/2 a cup, wish I had added a little more since it was three different things. So good!
★★★★★
Ahh yay!! So glad these cookies turned out. Thanks for sharing the subs you made and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. It’s super helpful to other readers, so I appreciate it. <3
Hi,. Thanks for the beautiful recipe and your blog is very beautiful too.
I tried this recipe for oat cookies and it didn’t turn out at all.
It was just mushy and came apart, didn’t stay together.
The only thing I didn’t have was applesauce, which I substituted with golden syrup.
★
Can I make these cookies without eggs?
Hey Lorraine – I haven’t tried it, but you can try using 2 flax or chia eggs to replace the egg whites. Let me know if you try it and how the cookies turn out!
Hey Carene – So sorry these cookies didn’t turn out for you. The applesauce helps to bind the cookies in addition to the eggs. I would suggest subbing it with mashed bananas next time if you don’t have applesauce on hand. The syrup probably made the dough too liquidy, which made the cookies mushy.
Hi! can i use coconut or almond flour instead of oat flour?
Hey Brielle – I haven’t tried these cookies with a different flour besides the oat flour. I wouldn’t use coconut flour as that can’t be subbed 1:1 with other flours and it soaks up way more liquid. I would try almond flour first, but I haven’t tested it so I’m not sure if these cookies would turn out the same. Let me know if you try it though!!
This is a great recipe and easy to make! Cookies turned out nice and chewy. I used all coconut oil. Glad to be able to make healthy sweet treats!
I LOVE these cookies! They are so delicious and easy. I make them every other week and I can’t get enough. I’ve started getting “crazy” with my mix-ins and used dried cherries and apricots.They make me so excited! Thank you so much!
Ahh that makes me so happy to hear, Laura!! I’m so glad you’re loving these cookies and getting creative with the add-ins. 🙂 Thanks for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I really appreciate it!
Best healthy oatmeal cookie ever! Hard to believe they’re healthy with such a great taste! Thank you. Will be making these again.
Ahh that makes me so happy to hear, Kimberly. I’m so glad you enjoyed these cookies. Thanks for trying them and for coming back to leave a comment and star rating. It means the world to me. <3
I used coconut flour instead of oat flour (this was an accident). The cookies were baked and looked crispy, but did not hold together at all. I nudged one with a spoon and it completely fell apart 🙁 I wonder if the issue was the coconut flour.
Taste yummy, but cant really be eaten as a cookie, more as a crumble.
Hey Effie – I’m so sorry to hear that!! It was definitely because you used coconut flour versus oat flour. Coconut flour can’t be used as a 1:1 substitute for other flours as it soaks up way more liquid, so that makes sense why the cookies were dry and crumbly.
These cookies are a healthier version of a favorite; however, the is no joy when eating them. I followed the recipe, cutting the batch in two and adding walnuts to one batch. They lack flavor. They also took much longer to bake than the recipe suggests. I left them in for 15 minutes and let them set, but had to bake them for longer to cook. The second batch I baked at 370 degrees for 20 minutes and this helped. I plan to melt down dark chocolate to drizzle over them to add flavor. I wont use this recipe again, sorry to say.
Oh no, I’m so sorry to hear that Yvonne. Did you change anything about the recipe besides adding the walnuts? Did you leave out any of the spices?
Loved these cookies! I didn’t have chocolate chips or raisins and had to sub oat flour for chickpea flour, and they still came out amazing!
Thanks for letting us know, Juliette! I’m so glad they still turned out for you. 🙂
I just cooked this!! It’s really delicious. Personally, I don’t really like sweet desserts so it was really good for me. After baking this, I’m going to look for more recipes for Healthy cookie 🍪 Thank u for sharing ur recipes!!!
Ahh yay!! So glad you’re enjoying these cookies, Keisha. So glad you found my recipe. Thanks for coming back to leave a comment and star rating. I so appreciate it. <3
This is amazingly delicious! I am obsessed!
Can I use monk fruit sweetener in place of coconut sugar?
I made the recipe with monk fruit and they came out great!
★★★★★
Oh yay! Good to know – thanks for sharing Linda!
Can we substitute something else for the egg whites? I have a grandson who is allergic to eggs.
Thank you
Hey Ratna – You can try using 2 flax or chia eggs to replace the egg whites. Let me know if you try it and how the cookies turn out!
I think that would be just fine! 🙂
I want to try this for a work event! Is the oat flour a must or is there another substitute? Can I also use different type of sugar? Would it be ok to use apple sauce and also mashed banana?
Hey Haley! I haven’t tried these cookies with a different flour besides the oat flour. You could possibly try regular flour, gluten-free all-purpose or almond flour, but you might need to alter the amount. You’d probably need a little less flour if using something other than oat. I’m not sure if I would use the applesauce / mashed bananas as a substitute for the sugar. It would probably make the dough too liquidy. You could use brown sugar instead of the coconut sugar! Let me know how these cookies turn out for you. 🙂