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Vegan oat protein cookies are the healthy, satisfying, quick & easy snack you need to make! Made with 5 ingredients, they are vegan, oil-free, gluten-free, and have 70 calories and 4.1 grams protein each.
I’m swamped. And so is our backyard.
To clarify, I’m not drowning in work, but deadlines. Add to that, dark days of torrential thunderstorms making dashes to the store for dinner supplies tricky. Dinners have been quick & easy fare, and lunches are breakfasts are hasty.
Nevertheless, I’m a pretty happy camper. I like rain. Reviewing the past decades of my life also indicates that I enjoy the tension of deadlines. Both the rain and work have me at home with my two favorite people, too, so, all in all, it’s a harmonious situation. Now, if I could just find a machine that magically cleans my house, I’d be near bliss.
As substitute, I made cookies. Not just any cookies, but a type of cookies my husband has been asking me to concoct for some time: 5-Ingredient Oat Protein Cookies.
Recipe Benefits
- High Protein
- Vegan (egg-free, dairy-free)
- Gluten-free
- Oil-free
- 5 ingredients
- Quick and easy to make
Ingredients
The exact amounts of each ingredient are indicated in the recipe card at the end of the post. Toggle between US Customary (volume) and Metric (weights) for preferred measurement option.
- Plant-based (vegan) vanilla protein powder
- Quick-cooking rolled oats (or old-fashioned, slightly chopped in food processor)
- Smooth, drippy natural nut butteror seed butter (e.g., peanut butter, almond butter, tahini, sunflower seed butter)
- coconut sugar (or granulated sweetener of choice; see recipe card notes for options)
- Nondairy milk (e.g., oat milk, almond milk, hemp milk)
Step by Step Instructions
Note that the complete directions are also in the recipe card below.
Begin making the vegan oat protein cookies by mixing the nut butter, applesauce (or milk or banana), and coconut sugar in a medium bowl until smooth.
To finish the cookie dough, stir in the oats and protein powder until completely blended.
Tip: Plant-based protein powders vary in composition. If the dough looks wetter than pictured below, add another tablespoon or more of oats. If it looks dry, add enough water to bring the dough together into a moist dough.
Drop the dough by rounded tablespoons (I like to use my small cookie scoop) onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
Dip your fingertips into water and flatten (slightly) the mounds of dough.
Bake the cookies in a preheated 350F (175C) oven for 9 to 12 minutes until the cookies look just set (do not overbake or they will dry out). The cookies will firm up as they cool.
Not too sweet, slightly chewy, and so satisfying, these cookies are perfect for a sweet treat, healthy snack, or part of healthy breakfast on the go!
Variations
Change the liquid: Use any of the following to help moisten the cookies: mashed very ripe banana, unsweetened applesauce, or nondairy milk. The cookies are great no matter which you choose!
Spices: You can add in spices, such as ground cinnamon, cardamom, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, or ginger.
Mix-ins: Stir in chopped dried fruit (e.g., dried cranberries, raisins, dried apricots, dried figs), chocolate chips, chopped nuts (e.g., pecans, peanuts, almonds), or seeds (e.g., chia seeds, sunflower seed kernels, pepitas).
Chocolate drizzle: My favorite, add a drizzle of melted chocolate on top.
Happy baking!
Other healthy, delicious oat cookies to try:
- Oatmeal Raisin Protein Cookies
- Chocolate Banana Oat Cookies (vegan, oil-free, GF)
- Copycat ZBAR Cookies (vegan, date-sweetened, GF, Oil-Free)
- Flourless Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- 2-Ingredient Oatmeal Cookies (vegan, refined sugar-free, oilfree)
Vegan Oat Protein Cookies (5 Ingredients)
Equipment
- 1 Large Baking Sheet (light in color)
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup smooth, drippy natural peanut butter , (see notes for options)
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce, (or nondairy milk, or mashed very ripe banana)
- 2 tablespoons coconut sugar , (see notes for options)
- 50 grams plant-based vanilla protein powder, (about 2/3 cup)
- 1.25 cups cups quick cooking rolled oats, (see note for options)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, applesauce and coconut sugar until blended and smooth.
- Add the protein powder and oats; stir until combined.
- Using a small cookie scoop or tablespoon measure, drop tablespoons of rounded dough onto prepared baking sheet, spacing 2 inches (5 cm) apart. With moistened fingertips, flatten each mound.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 9 to 12 minutes until just set at the centers. Remove from oven and cool on sheet for 1 minute.
- Transfer cookies to a wire cooling rack. Cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
My dough was too crumbly to hold shape so I baked like one big cookie. Tastes good but might have to eat with a spoon. I went double, triple checked the ingredients.
Hi Pat,
I am so sorry to hear you had trouble with the dough holding together! I have a tip in the post about adjusting ingredients if the dough looks too wet or dry. It is most likely due to the protein powder. Some varieties are much drier/absorbent than others, so you may have to add more liquid (water), if needed. I also want to check other possible reasons for the dryness:
(1) did you weight the ingredients? If no, it is important to very light spoon the protein powder into the measuring cup to measure. It is very easy for it to pack into the cup–you can end up with almost twice as much powder than is needed).
(2) did you use quick-cooking oats (or, if using old-fashioned rolled oats, chop them before using, as noted in the recipe)? Old-fashioned rolled oats are large and do not mix as well into the ingredients here, leading to a drier cookie that is prone to falling apart; (3) just making sure you are using a drippy (more liquid-y) peanut butter. It will be hard to mix the cookies into a dough if the peanut butter is thick and stiff. You can get around this by heating the nut butter in the microwave until it is really loose.
I hope you still enjoy spooning up the cookie! 🙂
Love these. My go to homemade “protein bars”
There is not one thing I do not like about these cookies! The added chocolate drizzle on top is beyond delicious in my opinion.
I made these with sunbutter. The sunflower seeds made them look kinda green (I learned afterwards that this happens when you bake with sunflower seed butter), but they were awesome. Maybe I’ll make them again for St Pattys Day!
My go-to cookie recipe. It’s great with any of the options listed (banana, applesauce, milk) and you can customize with spices and adding stuff in like craisins and chocolate.
Excellent recipe. Use this to make healthy cookies for my swim team kids. It’s easy to change to modify the recipe with different nut butters, flavors, stir-ins, and the options for banana, milk or applesauce given. My two teens love them!
Made these last night and absolutely LOVE them! So quick, easy and delicious! I didnt take the time to drizzle with chocolate, instead I added some mini chocolate chips to dough. – yum yum yum
Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe. I am vegan and gluten-free so this recipe brings me joy! I’ve made them with nondairy milk and with the applesauce, both are fantastic. I add extras, too, like chopped dried fruit, chocolate chips, and chia seeds sometimes. The results are fantastic, my CrossFit healthnut BF enjoyed them, too. Can’t wait to try again with the banana.
so good! I am vegetarian, not vegan, so I used whey protein powder and they came out so good.
These are delicious. I used a protein powder I had in the pantry (that I did not like in smoothies) and these came out so good, so thanks for a great way to use up the protein powder. I used the banana option.
Unique as always. I love the addition of pumpkin and imagine it would be equally good with butternut squash. It adds such unusual color and I am guessing the flavor would be good as well.