Chewy Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

These peanut butter oatmeal cookies will blow your mind! Tons of peanut butter flavor (actual peanuts optional) paired with some chewy oats for an amazing texture. They are so tender and totally melt in your mouth! Originally published June 1, 2017.

hand holding a chewy peanut butter oatmeal cookie.

Table of Contents

You will love these peanut butter oatmeal cookies
Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies Ingredients
Oatmeal peanut butter cookies substitutions and options
How to make peanut butter oatmeal cookies
How to serve chewy peanut butter oatmeal cookies
How to store oatmeal peanut butter cookies
Peanut butter oatmeal cookie recipe FAQs
More peanut butter oatmeal goodness!
Chewy Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe

What could be better than riding a dirty subway through San Francisco at midnight? Well I can think of about 500 things, the first one being a nice soft bed.

a chewy peanut butter oatmeal cookie about to be dunked in a glass of milk.

But THIS subway had awesome people on it (and hardly any crazy/scary/drunk people!). We were on our way back from seeing Hamilton (which was AMAZING of course) and started playing Heads Up on our phone. That’s where you hold the phone on your forehead so you can’t see it, it displays a word, and everyone else has to help you guess what it is.

super soft and chewy peanut butter oatmeal cookie.

My favorites were the songs. It would display a song title and everyone else has to hum the tune until the person figures it out. SO HARD!!! But extremely entertaining when everyone else on your train starts humming at you frantically.

a couple posed in front of a Hamilton mural, young people on a subway car.

It’s also great having a younger crowd help you out with all the Ke$ha songs that you’ve never heard of. Because who the heck is that? Also, look at how good they are at selfie-ing! So natural! It’s a skill, guys. I’m all like, “Hang on lemme bust out the double chin” and they’re like, I’m cool. Hang ten. I take selfies with strangers on the train all day long.

a hand holding a stack of peanut butter oatmeal cookies broken in half.

You will love these peanut butter oatmeal cookies

Coooookies. I’ve been obsessed with them lately. These peanut butter oatmeal cookies were my latest craving. This recipe is spot on: A big, soft, extremely chewy cookie with just the right amount of oats. I used both quick and old-fashioned oats in the dough to give it great texture. The peanut butter COMES THROUGH guys. You know how sometimes peanut butter cookies aren’t peanut buttery enough? Never fear! And because they have oats in them…so they’re basically healthy. Right??

Ever bitten into a peanut butter cookie, only to have it crumble into dust? Such a disappointing experience. If a peanut butter cookie is going in my mouth, it better follow the rules. And those rules are: tons of peanut butter flavor. Super moist and tender. NO CRUMBLING.

And these peanut butter oatmeal cookies are IT, guys. The oatmeal keeps them so soft and there’s a LOT of peanut butter (some would say too much, they are wrong).

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“This is by far my favorite recipe for a peanut butter cookie on the internet.”
– Marilyn

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Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies Ingredients

Yes, this recipe calls for both butter AND Crisco. Can you use just butter? Sure, but just know that the cookies will come out flatter. They´ll still be super soft and tasty, but wI did have the best results using butter for flavor and shortening for fluffiness.

Here’s a quick shopping list to help you gather your ingredients. See the recipe card below for the full ingredients and instructions!

butter
butter flavor Crisco
brown sugar (light or dark)
white sugar
peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)
eggs

vanilla
flour
baking soda
quick oats
old fashioned oats

Oatmeal peanut butter cookies substitutions and options

There are so many ways to enjoy these peanut butter oatmeal cookies. You can really make them your own! Here are a few suggestions.

Love peanuts? Use crunchy peanut butter instead of creamy.
Only have quick oats on hand? That’s ok, you can use ALL quick oats. The reverse is also true: if you only have old-fashioned oats, just use them. Play around with the ratios and see what creates your favorite texture.
Not enough peanut butter for you? Make these into Peanut Butter Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies and up the ante with a generous amount of rich peanut butter frosting.
Never enough chocolate? You can add a cup of chocolate chips, chunks, or mini chips, or get extra fancy and add Reese’s Pieces or Peanut Butter M&Ms (or any combination of the above).
Cookies too big? No worries, you can make them any size you like (including the actual Do-si-do size). Just watch the time to make sure they don’t overbake.
For an ultra-peanuty candy cookie, try coating the cookie dough ball in chopped-up peanut butter cups or peanut M&Ms before you bake it.

How to make peanut butter oatmeal cookies

Let´s make some cookies!

Start by beating together the butter and Crisco until they’re nice and fluffy. Next, mix in both the brown and white sugars, followed by a generous scoop of peanut butter (because peanut butter makes everything better, right?).

Once that’s smooth, beat in the eggs and vanilla. Now, here’s a little trick—add the flour to the bowl, but don’t mix just yet! First, stir the baking soda and salt into the flour to make sure they’re evenly distributed, then gently beat everything together. Fold in a mix of quick oats and old-fashioned oats for the perfect chewy texture.

peanut butter oatmeal cookie dough in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment.

Now, patience is key. Chill the dough for at least an hour, or if you can wait, let it rest overnight. When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven, line your baking sheets, and scoop out your cookies. Pop them in the oven, let them do their thing, but DO NOT overbake them. This is key for super soft, chewy cookies.

a 1/4 cup measuring cup with a ball of peanut butter oatmeal cookie dough.

This dough is insanely good.

How to serve chewy peanut butter oatmeal cookies

All I need with these babies is a tall glass of cold milk. That’s it.

That being said, I’m also pretty obsessed with making them into these Peanut Butter Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies. You take two of them and put peanut butter frosting in between. They’re like a super upgraded version of the Girl Scout Do-si-dos.

How to store oatmeal peanut butter cookies

Oatmeal peanut butter cookies can be stored on the counter for 3-4 days and frozen for 3-4 months—making it almost too easy to grab one whenever a craving strikes. (And yes, I’ve been known to eat them straight from the freezer… so don’t think freezing them means you’re safe from their peanut-y charms!)

Want to take it a step further? Freeze just the dough instead! Scoop the dough into cookie-sized portions, freeze them on a baking sheet until solid, then transfer them to a freezer bag. That way, whenever you want a fresh, soft-baked cookie, just pop a few onto a baking sheet and bake straight from frozen—no need to thaw! It’s basically built-in self-control… or at least, that’s what I tell myself.

soft and chewy peanut butter oatmeal cookies with one broken cookie resting on a glass of milk.

How do you keep peanut butter cookies from falling apart?

A lot of peanut butter cookies have too much flour and not enough fat. That’s why they turn into a crumbly pile of dust when you try to eat them. This recipe calls for plenty of fat: it’s in the butter, shortening, peanut butter, and eggs. That will require the dough to be chilled so that the fat doesn’t immediately melt when the unbaked cookies go into the oven. I promise you, the chilling time is totally worth it to achieve soft, tender cookies that won’t fall apart.

What is the secret to soft chewy cookies?

Soft, chewy cookies. They’re the stuff of dreams. Here are a few tips that will make your peanut butter oatmeal cookies the perfect combination of chewy and soft!

Use butter AND shortening. The butter is for flavor, the shortening is for soft, puffy tenderness. Also, we’re using butter-flavor shortening, so we’re maximizing the butter flavor as much as possible.

Use brown sugar. Brown sugar lends a lot more moisture to a cookie than white sugar alone.
Don’t overbake them. When you pull these out of the oven, the edges should be firm, but the centers should still be just a little bit shiny.

Is it better to chill oatmeal cookie dough before baking?

Yes! Definitely. This peanut butter oatmeal cookie dough is super soft. That’s amazing for our finished cookies (softness is our goal) but we don’t want them to spread out into flat, burned pancakes. It’s always a struggle to wait for the dough to chill, but the result is worth it.

Are peanut butter oatmeal cookies healthy?

I mean, they do have oats, so we can pretend they’re healthy, right? But let’s be real—it’s still a cookie. If you’re after a lighter treat that doesn’t skimp on flavor, check out my Skinny Texas Cowboy Cookies—they’re completely free of sugar and white flour, with just two tablespoons of butter in the entire batch! Or, if you’re craving that classic chocolate chip cookie taste without all the extra fat and calories, my Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies are the perfect guilt-free option. Or try these No Bake Peanut Butter Oatmeal Energy Bites that basically taste like cookie dough, but they have NO butter, NO sugar, NO flour.

If you make this recipe, share it on Instagram using the hashtag #TheFoodCharlatan so I can see it! I love that.