Thick, fluffy and soft, these Healthy Almond Butter Oatmeal Cookies are a quick and simple treat! They’re made primarily with instant oats and almond butter, a touch of cinnamon, and sweetened lightly with maple syrup and dark chocolate chips.

Who always needs more recipes for healthier cookies?!
This girl does!
We love love love cookies in our house, whether its a gluten-free Chocolate Chip Cookie or a breakfast cookie. Either way, I think my family could eat cookies every day.
But, we do try and eat healthier in our house… even with all the baked goods that are constantly around.
So I took one of my all-time favorite cookie recipes (gluten-free Monster Cookies) and turned them into these Healthy Almond Butter Oatmeal Cookies.
These cookies are made primarily with instant oats (NO FLOUR!) and almond butter, less butter, and lightly sweetened with maple syrup and dark chocolate chips.
They’re thick and fluffy, soft oatmeal cookies at their core. Fresh out of the oven they have the consistency of a classic soft oatmeal cookie. As the days go on, the cookies get softer and softer, in the best way. They just get better and better!
If you’re looking for a treat that’s a little healthier and isn’t loaded with sugar, give these cookies a try!

Let’s chat all things almond butter and other ingredients for these cookies.
First, I recommend that you use a natural almond butter, that only has almonds and salt as the ingredients. A more drippy, oily almond butter is what you’re looking for.
If you have the wrong type of almond butter the texture of these cookies may not turn out correctly. After baking, these cookies should spread some but still be thick and fluffy.
If you aren’t sure whether you have the right almond butter or not, after you make your batter you can bake only ONE cookie and see how it turns out.
If it doesn’t spread enough, you can try pressing your cookies down with a fork and flattening them prior to baking. You may need to add 1-2 more tablespoons of melted butter/coconut oil to your batter if that still isn’t enough. This will help give your batter the extra oil that it was lacking if your almond butter was too thick and dry.
The second most important ingredient in these cookies are the oats. Be sure to use quick-cooking/instant oats, rather than rolled oats. If you only have rolled oats, you can throw them in a blender or food processor and very lightly pulse them till they are more of a fine texture. The cookies hold together better with instant oats.
Lastly, these cookies are sweetened with maple syrup, but you could use honey instead if you prefer.
To make these Healthy Almond Butter Oatmeal Cookies gluten-free, be sure to use certified gluten free instant oats.
To make these cookies dairy-free, use coconut oil (or a dairy-free butter stick) and dairy-free chocolate chips.
Other Cookie ideas…
If you don’t like chocolate chips, or want these to be even less sweet, you could omit them entirely. You could even replace the dark chocolate chips with chopped up nuts or dried fruit if you’d like! I think dried cranberries would be delicious in these (or raisins, but I’m not a raisin fan…).
Or, to make these more sweet, you can use milk chocolate chips or cinnamon chips! Or a combination of the two. Yum!

I hope you all love these Healthy Almond Butter Cookies as much as my family does. They’re soft, fluffy, filled with almond butter flavor, a hint of cinnamon and chocolate chips. Plus they’re easily made gluten-free and dairy-free too!
After you make these cookies, let me know what you think! Leave a comment and rating, below, or find me on Instagram and tag me in your cookie picture. I’d love to see them!
If you need a few more gluten-free cookie recipes before you go, be sure to check out my Soft Banana Oatmeal Cookies, Double Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies, Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookies, and Almond Flour Shortbread Cookies.

- 1/4 cup coconut oil or butter, softened
- 1/3 cup maple syrup or honey
- 1/2 cup natural almond butter
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 egg
- 1 1/2 cup quick cooking/instant oats (certified gluten-free, if necessary)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (optional)
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To begin, preheat your oven to 350 and spray a pan with non-stick spray (or line with parchment paper).
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To a large mixing bowl, add your coconut oil/butter and maple syrup and beat them together till well blended. Next, add your almond butter and vanilla and blend again till smooth. Then add your egg and briefly blend it into the wet ingredients.
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To the same bowl, add your oats, cinnamon, baking soda and salt and stir everything together till you have a consistent cookie dough. Add your chocolate chips and fold them into your batter.
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Using a large cookie scoop, scoop 12 cookies and evenly space them apart on your pan. Bake for 10-14 minutes, or till the edges are set.
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Let the cookies cool entirely and then devour!
These cookies get softer as they sit. I recommend storing them in the fridge for them to last about a week.
I used 1/2 maple syrup and 1/2 honey just for fun. My husband asked me to go for a walk with him since it was an unexpected 62 degrees outside for the middle of November. I put all the ingredients together and placed the bowl in the fridge. we came back about an hour later and the cookie mixture was a nice solid consistency so I blended almonds and macadamia nuts and as I scooped out the cookie mixture I rolled it in the blended nuts. I baked the cookies and they came out AMAZING. The nuts on the outside of the cookie are a favorite with my husband. I baked them just a couple minutes more and the edges came out crispy…Yum!!!!
Hi! I see the calorie count. Do you have any idea what the carb count on these might be? I’m cooking for a diabetic.
Hi Barb. I’m sorry I don’t have that.
this is perfect for my family I used raw honey I stead of maple syrup and added blueberries with the dark chocolate! super delicious
Should I use salted or unsalted butter for these?
Hi Christina. I always use salted!
Oh wow, these were delicious! All of my kids loved them (which rarely happens!). I’m excited to have a special treat to make them that has lots of healthy ingredients.
I modified, using 1/3 coconut sugar, and half of a verrry ripe banana, for the sweetness. And a dash of cardamom for a twist. Judging by the batter these will be delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
This recipe was great! I added raisins and chopped walnuts- yum!
Yum!! Love hearing this!
I just made these and used unsweetened applesauce and about 1tbsp honey, not very sweet because of that, but i wanted to have less sugar in them. They turned out incredible! Thanks for the recipe! Will make these again!
Awesome! Thank you, Amanda!
Absolutely love the cookies and just made twice in a row. Very healthy alternative. Next time will reduce syrup to make healthier. First time around husband said salty so second batch just did pinch of salt.
Love the cookies!! As soon as I make them, they disappear!! No one would guess they are healthy, great for a in between snack. They are good with almond butter or peanut butter. Thanks!!
These cookies are so so good, I will always make these now. I love how simple and healthy the ingredients are. I am going to try them with peanut butter next time! Thank you for the recipe 🙂
Thank you, Ashley, that’s so great to hear! I be they’ll be delicious with peanut butter.