Healthy No-Bake Cookies
Posted Aug 15, 2016, Updated Jul 14, 2024
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Healthy no-bake chocolate peanut butter cookies! Made with 8 nutritious ingredients, these healthy no bake cookies are gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan & refined sugar free!
I remember the first time I ever tried no bake cookies…I was in heaven. I hunted down the maker of those cookies and begged for the recipe. They were easy to make, but I wasn’t a fan of the nutritional profile.
Since my first encounter with these little bits of chocolate/peanut butter heaven, it became my mission to create a healthier version! I’ve made this recipe more times than I can count, which means I’m very glad that these healthy no bake chocolate peanut butter cookies are gluten-free, dairy-free, refined-sugar free and vegan-friendly!
These Healthy No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies are made with only 8 good-for-you ingredients, all of which you probably have on hand right now – yay!
Healthy No-Bake Cookies: Ingredients & Substitutions
Here are a few potential substitutions for this recipe!
- Peanut butter. Any nut or seed butter works well in this recipe.
- Coconut oil. Butter or ghee are great substitutes for coconut oil.
- Honey. Use maple syrup for a vegan version of this recipe.
- Shredded coconut. If you don’t care for coconut, simply replace it with an extra 1/4 cup quick-cooking oats.
How to Make Healthy No-Bake Cookies
These healthy no bake cookies are so easy to make! Start by melting together the coconut oil, peanut butter and honey!
Stir or whisk the wet ingredients together over medium-low heat until the mixture is smooth.
Add the dry ingredients – cocoa powder, quick-cooking oats and coconut.
Stir until the mixture is homogenous (uniform throughout).
Then, use a 1 TBS measuring spoon or cookie scoop to portion out the no bake cookies, and place them onto a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Let them harden at room temperature or in the refrigerator or freezer.
Serve
These healthy no bake cookies are best served cold because the coconut oil is soft at room temperature.
Store
Store these cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week, or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Healthy No Bake Cookies FAQs
If you over-cook these healthy no bake cookies, simply add a TBS of each: honey, peanut butter and coconut oil by melting them together and then mixing them into the dry cookie batter. This should help. If you burnt them, you will have to start over.
If your no bake cookies don’t harden it means you didn’t cook the mixture long enough.
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Healthy No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter
- ¼ cup honey (or maple syrup)
- ¼ cup coconut oil (or butter)
- 2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup quick cooking oats
- ¼ cup unsweetened coconut (shredded)
Instructions
- Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper, set aside.
- Combine peanut butter, honey salt and coconut oil in a saucepan and heat, stirring continuously, until melted and well-combined.
- Stir in vanilla and cocoa powder.
- Add quick-cooking oats and mix well.
- Add coconut and stir until completely combined.
- Drop 1 TBS portions of mixture onto your prepared baking sheet. Continue until you’ve used all your cookie mixture.
- Let cool in the refrigerator or freezer until hardened.
- Serve cold or frozen!
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator!
Video
Notes
- Peanut butter. Any nut or seed butter works well in this recipe.
- Coconut oil. Butter or ghee are great substitutes for coconut oil.
- Honey. Use maple syrup for a vegan version of this recipe.
- Shredded coconut. If you don’t care for coconut, simply replace it with an extra 1/4 cup quick-cooking oats.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I have to say that even though I haven’t officially tried them yet, the kitchen smells amazing now after making these. Thank you for “cleaning up” our favorite recipes!!!
Muah!!
Does the coconut oil make this taste very strongly of coconut?
I don’t think so! But there is coconut in the recipe which does make it taste like coconut!
Made this twice since the pandemic has started…. I use the dark cocoa powder for the mix and then I melt some dark chocolate and drizzle on top after they have cooled and top with a little shredded coconut… maybe that defeats the ‘healthy’ part but it’s so good! Thanks for sharing 🙂
These are the Ultimate nomm treat and are super easy to make with great ingredients!
My daughter and I have made them so many times – usually with Traditional (not Quick) oats, we’ve added nuts, shredded coconut, salted caramel flavour instead of vanilla and tonight some maca powder. Thank you SO much for a fantastic recipe that our family loves, and which is also guilt free! 😊😋💕
I have never left a comment for any recipe. But I felt I had to this time. WOW these were just absolutely delicious!!! I am so happy about this recipe!
Really good but with this recipe it only made 9 not 24! Is that normal?
Did you use a 1 TBS measuring spoon to scoop out the batter? If so it should make more than 9!
I’m with you! I think it made 9 or 10 and I used a measuring spoon. They are delicious but serving size is off, which means nutrition is off 🙁
I agree! I got 11 out of mine.
These are delicious and quite flexible. I’ve made them with butter instead of coconut oil, with regular oats instead of quick oats, omitting the cocoa powder and/or coconut, substituted raw fiber for the coconut…even reduced honey to 2 tbsp (they were a little crumbly that time). Every time a winner.
So tasty! Thank you for a great alternative!
These are absolutely delicious! I’ve made 3 dozen in the past week alone! Also, instead of honey, I used some agave that I had. So delicious! I have this recipe bookmarked on every device in the house! Love it
Absolutely delicious! We ate most of the batter.
I would totally recommend!
LOL It’s hard to resist that batter!
LOVE these! Made a double batch yesterday and raved about them to my family. My sister just made a batch based off my rave review. I agree that they taste better than the original, unhealthy version.
I added 1/4 cup of collagen to my doubled recipe and they turned out deliciously!
Thanks for the fabulous recipe!
Thank you so much Maria! Love the addition of some extra protein too! 🙂