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Made with two kinds of peanut butter and quick-cooking oats, these chewy peanut butter oatmeal cookies are the perfect after-school snack.
Peanut butter is a favorite ingredient that always makes me think of being a kid. Besides reminding me of PB&J sandwiches, it always makes me think of no-bake cookies, peanut butter blossoms, and peanut butter cup cookies – all of which are longtime favorites of mine.
As an adult, I love it in everything from peanut butter banana bread and peanut butter pound cake to peanut butter pie and chocolate-covered peanut butter balls, too.
So it just makes sense that these big, chewy peanut butter oatmeal cookies are totally my jam. (Get it?)
My chewy peanut butter oatmeal cookies
If you love my peanut butter sandwich cookies, then I’ve got great news for you about this recipe: you’re gonna love it, too.
I love the combination of peanut butter and oats in those sandwich cookies. There’s something about the richness of peanut butter that pairs perfectly with hearty oats. So you shouldn’t be surprised that my family loves these peanut butter oatmeal cookies.
This recipe takes peanut butter cookies to the next level with quick-cooking oats AND peanut butter chips.
Yep, that’s right. There are TWO kinds of peanut butter in these babies for double the peanutty goodness.
These cookies are big and chewy and are great for an after-school snack, road trips, holiday cookie platters, and so much more.
How to make peanut butter oatmeal cookies
If you’ve made my other drop cookie recipes, you’ll be familiar with the process for making these peanut butter oatmeal cookies.
Ingredients you’ll need
For this recipe, you will need:
- 1 cup room-temperature unsalted butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
- 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
- 1 (10-ounce) bag Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips
- flaky sea salt for sprinkling on top (optional)
Before you start baking, make sure you know how to measure flour and how to cream butter and sugar correctly. Getting these steps correct will help your cookies turn out perfect every time!
A mix of brown and granulated sugar help give these cookies their chewy texture and rich flavor. If you are out of brown sugar or if yours has hardened in the pantry, check out my tips on how to make a brown sugar substitute and how to soften brown sugar.
Make sure you grab creamy peanut butter for these cookies, not crunchy. You’ll also want to pick up a bag of peanut butter baking chips. I prefer the Reese’s brand, but feel free to use whichever brand you prefer.
(You can also try making DIY peanut butter chips if you like!)
The finishing touch on these peanut butter oatmeal cookies is a little sprinkle of flaky sea salt right as they come out of the oven. It totally gives these cookies a gourmet feel.
Making this recipe
The dough for these peanut butter oatmeal cookies needs to chill in the refrigerator before baking, so make sure you plan ahead for these.
To make the dough, start by creaming together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar with the peanut butter until light and fluffy. This will take about 3 minutes.
Mix in the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla, and mix until well combined.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add this to the butter mixture until just combined, then mix in the oats and fold in the peanut butter chips.
Cover and chill the dough for at least 3 hours. You can also keep it in the fridge for up to 2 days before baking.
When you’re ready to bake your peanut butter oatmeal cookies, use a large (3-tablespoon) cookie scoop to scoop the dough onto lined baking sheets. If the dough has been in the fridge for much longer than 3 hours, you may need to let it sit at room temperature for a bit before you can scoop it out.
Bake the cookies at 350°F for 16-18 minutes; you want the edges to be golden. If you like, sprinkle the tops of the cookies with a bit of the flaky salt as soon as the cookies come out of the oven.
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Storage tips
Peanut butter oatmeal cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. You can also freeze them in an airtight container or zip-top freezer bag for 1-2 months.
If you want to freeze the dough, I suggest freezing it already portioned so you can easily grab as many dough balls as you want and bake them. I walk you through that process in my post on how to freeze cookie dough.
FAQs
I used regular JIF for these peanut butter oatmeal cookies, but I have also made them with the no-stir natural JIF before.
If you want to use natural peanut butter, I do not recommend using the kind that is just ground peanuts that you can sometimes get made in-store at places like Whole Foods. In my experience, it isn’t smooth enough for using in baked goods like this.
Look for peanut butter chips in the baking aisle near the chocolate chips. While the Reese’s brand is my personal favorite, your store may carry other brands as well.
When I’m out of quick-cooking oats and only have old-fashioned oats, here’s my trick:
Pop the old-fashioned oats into a mini food processor and pulse them a few times, just to break them down a bit. This helps the texture be more like quick oats. Then measure out the amount of oats you need and proceed with the recipe.
If you want to use a medium (1.5 tablespoon) cookie scoop, you will get about 60 cookies. Bake them for 12-15 minutes at 350°F.
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
- 1 ½ cups creamy peanut butter we used JIF
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 ½ cups quick-cooking oats
- 1 bag Reese's Peanut Butter Chips 10 ounces
- flaky sea salt optional
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream butter, sugar, brown sugar and peanut butter until light and fluffy – about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time and add vanilla extract, mixing until incorporated.
- In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter and sugar mixture and mix until thoroughly combined. Mix in oats and fold in the peanut butter chips. Cover and chill dough for at least 3 hours or up to 2 days.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F and line baking sheets with parchment paper. You may need to let the dough rest at room temperature for 30-40 minutes before you can scoop the cookies out.
- Using a large cookie scoop (3 tablespoons), scoop cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets, leaving a few inches between each cookie. Bake in preheated oven for 16-18 minutes, or until edges are golden brown. If desired, immediately sprinkle each cookie with a little flaky sea salt.
- Allow cookies to cool on cookie sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I like simple cookies
I made these this weekend and they were delicious. I did omit the PB chips and used pecans instead. I also used Kirkland natural peanut butter (the kind that you need to stir) and they still turned out perfect, looked like your pics and weren’t flat. Everyone loved these. Thank you for the recipe!
So happy you enjoyed, Joanna! Thanks for stopping by and sharing your feedback!
Delicious cookies. I made half the recipe, but without the sprinkled sea salt. I made my cookies smaller than what the recipe calls for and got exactly 36 cookies. I baked them for 16 minutes but next time (and there will be a next time) I will bake for 15 minutes for a softer cookie. This recipe is a keeper – especially for peanut butter cookie fans!
So happy to hear this, Mary! Thanks for stopping by and sharing!
Made them they are really good
Glad you enjoyed them, Jim! Thanks for sharing!