One summer, my family and I flew to Wisconsin to visit my dad’s old college roommate and his wife. As very gracious hosts, they played tour guides for our entire vacation and drove us to all of the little gems in the area, including Laura Ingalls Wilder’s house (I grew up reading those books!), the historic Trempealeau Hotel with their infamous walnut burgers, and boating on the Mississippi River like Huck Finn.
All of that driving meant that my parents filled up the gas tank on our rental minivan fairly often. Nearly every morning before the rest of us woke up, they navigated through the sleep streets to the nearest gas station to fuel up and purchase the daily newspaper.
On one of those trips, my dad impulsively brought a loaf of banana bread to the cash register along with the paper. Back at the house, he and his college roommate carved off thick slices to share around the breakfast table. I politely declined, somewhat skeptical of gas station banana bread, and stuck with my yogurt and cereal, but the two of them insisted on offering me a pieces multiple times throughout the meal.
By the end of our trip, it almost became a game: Buy gas station banana bread and see how many times we can offer it to Amy before she gives in. I good-naturedly went along with it, but with willpower like nobody in my family had ever seen, I held out for the entire vacation. To this day, nobody in our family can look at banana bread without thinking about that gas station!
However, if they had offered me these Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Oatmeal Cookies, it would’ve been a completely different ballgame—and not just because they’re homemade! Soft and chewy with oodles of gooey melted chocolate, they’re much healthier and absolutely irresistible!
These little beauties are the next installment in my clean-eating oatmeal cookie series. We’ve done blueberry, raspberry, apple pie, and carrot cake (plus lots more!), but these… They’re the first ones that involve chocolate and no other mix-ins. Surprising, seeing how much of a chocoholic I am!
The main difference between this recipe and the rest of the oatmeal cookies (besides the chocolate, of course!) is that these do NOT require chilling. In fact, I insist that you don’t!
I used mashed banana to provide the iconic banana bread flavor and replace the egg. Because mashed banana contains a lot less liquid than eggs, the dough is firmer as soon as you mix everything together compared to my previous oatmeal cookie recipes, so you don’t need to chill it to make the dough stiffer. And that means you get to eat cookies half an hour sooner!
To maximize the chocolaty goodness, I added both mini and regular chocolate chips. The mini chips ensure that every bite contains chocolate, and when you hit a big, melty regular chip… Well, I basically thought I’d died and gone to heaven. I highly recommend that you try microwaving a cookie for 7 seconds, just enough to warm it up and start the chocolate melting again. Pure bliss.
And definitely much better than gas station banana bread!
| Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Oatmeal Cookies | | Print |
- 1 c (100g) instant oats (measured correctly)
- ¾ c (90g) whole wheat or gluten-free* flour (measured correctly)
- 1 ½ tsp (4g) baking powder
- 1 tsp (3g) ground cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp (1g) salt
- 2 tbsp (28g) coconut oil or unsalted butter, melted
- ¼ c (63g) mashed banana
- 1 tsp (5mL) vanilla extract
- ½ c (120mL) agave
- 2 ½ tbsp (35g) regular semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 ½ tbsp (21g) miniature semisweet chocolate chips
- Preheat the oven to 325°F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the coconut oil or butter, mashed banana, and vanilla. Stir in the agave. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Fold in all of the regular chocolate chips and 1 tablespoon of miniature chocolate chips.
- Drop the cookie dough into 15 rounded scoops onto the prepared sheet, and flatten slightly. Press the remaining miniature chocolate chips into the tops. Bake at 325°F for 13-15 minutes. Cool on the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
Instant oats are also known as quick-cooking or minute oats. They come in large canisters, just like old-fashioned oats. They are not the ones in the small flavored packets of oatmeal.
If you don’t have instant oats, measure the same amount of old-fashioned oats, and pulse them in a food processor 7-10 times.
Chopped dark chocolate may be substituted in place of the chocolate chips.
Honey or maple syrup may be substituted for the agave. Alternatively, ½ cup (105g) brown sugar + 5 tablespoons (75mL) milk may be substituted as well. The baking time stays the same.
For a gluten-free version, use gluten-free instant oats and a gluten-free flour blend. I recommend the following blend: ½ cup (60g) millet flour, 2 tablespoons (15g) tapioca flour, 2 tablespoons (17g) brown rice flour, and ½ teaspoon (2g) xanthan gum.
For all other questions regarding the recipe, including ingredient substitutions, please see my Oatmeal Cookie FAQ + Video page.
{gluten-free, vegan, clean eating, low fat, low calorie}
More banana cookie recipes from other food bloggers…
♥ Banana and Nutella Oatmeal Cookies by French Press
♥ Banana Breakfast Cookies by Crazy for Crust
♥ Chocolate Chip Banana FlufferNutter Sandwich Cookies by Half Baked Harvest
♥ Healthy Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies by Yummy Healthy Easy
These cookies are amazing.I’m eating one right now and it’s just so delicious I don’t want it to finish! the good thing is that it’s easy to make and I can make another batch tomorrow! Thank you for another great recipe.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cookies Zahra! I’m touched that you’ve made multiple of my recipes! 🙂
2/18/16: I made these tonight and they are freaking delicious. I did half the batch with chocolate chip and the other half with chocolate and white chocolate chips……AMAZING! Half of these will not make it past tonight, thanks for the recipe, can’t wait to share these cookies with family and friends 🙂
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cookies Shakeda — thank you so much for your high praise! 🙂 I hope your friends and family enjoy the cookies just as much as you!
I decided to double the recipe because 15 cookies won’t last in our house and when I mixed the dry and wet ingredients together it became very thick and like a big cookie ball, had a hard time adding the raisins (instead of chocolate chips). Is it suppose to be that stiff or did I not have enough liquids?
Oh goodness! No, the cookie dough should not be stiff; it should be really wet and similar to the consistency of thick muffin batter. Did you watch the videos included on my Oatmeal Cookie FAQ page that’s linked to in the Notes section? That will really help you! I also recommend being very careful when measuring the oats; too many will make the cookies dry. I explain how to do that in the link included in the Ingredients list. 🙂
I made sure to measure level with a knife but I’ll make sure to watch those videos to get it right! Thanks for the advice!
My pleasure Kaly! If you have a kitchen scale, I highly recommend using that instead of the spoon and level method. It’s much more accurate! (And mine only cost $20!) 🙂 I’m excited to hear how your next batch turns out!
I found this recipe, needed something healthier for my son. He doesn’t like oatmeal, so he didn’t care for them (we loved them though, yum). So today, I tried again, ground up the oats very fine, omitted the cinnamon, added 1 Tbls + 2 tsp of cocoa powder, and added a bit more banana. They are pretty good. A bit dry, so will add more banana next time. Hope he likes them. I do! Thanks for the recipe 🙂
I’m glad the rest of your family enjoyed the cookies Judy, and I can’t wait to hear what your son thinks of your recipe modifications! 🙂
well, the modifications were ok, but he still didn’t like them (just doesn’t like oatmeal). However, we love your original recipe and make them all the time for the rest of us 🙂
I’m glad everyone else loved the cookies Judy! Hopefully your son starts to like oats when he grows older. 🙂 In the meantime, I also have a few banana cookie recipes that don’t include oats! You can find them here and here. Maybe he’d like those better! 🙂
lol, he’s 18 🙂 Thanks for the links!
Nothing wrong with that! My brother was a pretty picky eater until he left for college. 😉 And it’s my pleasure!
I applaud your insistence on “measuring correctly” and love the inclusion of weight measures, not just volume. I use my food scale whenever possible and can always count on successful results when I do so.
That being said…I have been at my elderly father-in-law’s house this past week. Had a leftover ripe banana in the pantry and wanted to leave some healthy banana oatmeal cookies behind after our departure. Unfortunately, there is exactly ONE glass measuring cup in this household, so old that the markings are mostly worn off. Undaunted, I pressed forward. Despite the lack of adequate measuring equipment, or any type of electric mixer, or even a baking sheet (I resorted to using a metal 9×13 casserole pan to bake the cookies), we had a successful batch! Yummy cookies enjoyed by all. Thanks for the great, healthy recipe and the description, which helped me achieve the correct dough mixture, even without benefit of good measurements!
Oh my goodness, I’m so impressed at your perseverance Mary! It’s hard enough baking in someone else’s kitchen when it’s well-stocked with proper baking and measuring equipment, but to do so without a kitchen scale or measuring cups?? That’s amazing — good for you! I’m so glad that you and your family enjoyed the cookies. Your father-in-law (and your entire family!) is so lucky to have you to bake sweet treats for them! 🙂
We just made these and they turned out great! We substituted old fashioned oats for the quick oats and used maple syrup instead of agave. Great banana flavor and the texture was perfect. Nice and soft and a little chewy. Thank you for the recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cookies Chelsea! 🙂
Would it alter the recipe too much if I used maple syrup? Thanks!
I actually answered that already in the Notes section underneath the Instructions. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of the cookies Sarah!
My daughter wanted to make healthy cookies for dessert tonight so a quick Google search lead us here to these AWESOME cookies! Really great recipe, Amy. Can’t wait to poke around on your site. Thanks for the dessert tonight! 🙂
I’m so glad you and your daughter enjoyed the cookies Kristine! It means a lot to me that you picked my recipe from your Google search. 🙂 I’m excited to hear what you try next!
Thanks for such a great recipe! We are a low-carb family so I did have to make a few modifications. I subbed oatmeal for coconut flakes (it was about 1/2 oatmeal and 1/2 coconut). I also subbed the whole wheat flour for almond flour. I replaced agave with stevia and a little brown sugar along with the milk recommendations. I reduced the banana to closer to 2 Tbsp. and used lily’s baking chips along with regular chips. I also added in a pinch of nutmeg. They are AWESOME. This is the first low-carb recipe that I don’t have the funky after taste from the replacement sweetener, probably thanks to the small bit of banana and coconut.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cookies Bailey! Thanks for sharing your modifications with me too. I always love hearing what tweaks work! 🙂
Hi Amy! What are your thoughts on using old fashioned or steel cut oats instead of instant?
I’ve actually answered that already on my Oatmeal Cookie FAQ Page, which is linked to in the Notes section underneath the Instructions. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of the cookies Khushboo!