🥜🍪 My Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are lightly crisp around the edges, soft, chewy, and LOADED with nutty flavor and rich chocolate chips in every bite! Why choose between oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, or soft chocolate chip cookies when you can have them all?
Why You’ll Love These Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
A personal favorite of mine, these cookies combine elements from all my favorite cookies. The recipe is adapted from and very similar to the Peanut Butter Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookie recipe, making it virtually foolproof.
- All you need is one bowl and a spoon, and these cookies are ready to eat in about 30 minutes.
- The higher ratio of brown to white sugar and egg yolk to egg white results in a super soft centers and a chewy texture.
- There’s no chilling required, and one batch makes 13 large cookies, making it the perfect treat for all your cookie cravings. I’d go ahead and make an extra batch before you find yourself snacking. They’re seriously addicting!
Ingredients You’ll Need
There’s a LOT of flavor packed into every bite of these cookies, all thanks to just a handful of simple ingredients. Here’s what you’ll need for this chocolate chip peanut butter oatmeal cookie recipe:
- Butter – I recommend using unsalted butter and letting it come to room temperature for easy mixing. Feel free to use margarine or a vegan butter for dairy-free cookies
- Sugar – The combination of brown sugar (light or dark) and granulated sugar sweetens the dough, adds a touch of molasses flavor, and contributes to the chewy texture
- Peanut Butter – Use creamy peanut butter. I recommend a brand like Jif or Skippy. Natural peanut butter tends to separate and cause greasy cookies. I also don’t recommend crunchy peanut butter, because it won’t incorporat into the dough evenly. Have leftover peanut butter? Check out my peanut butter cookbook to put it to good use!
- Eggs – For vegan cookies, substitute a flax egg
- Vanilla Extract
- Flour – I use all-purpose flour. If you need gluten-free cookies, substitute a 1:1 all-purpose gluten-free flour. Then, make sure to double-check the nutrition label on the rest of the ingredients
- Oats – Make sure to use old-fashioned oats. Quick oats and steel-cut oats will NOT work for this recipe! For gluten-free cookies, make sure to use certified gluten-free oats
- Baking Soda
- Mix-Ins – I use semi-sweet chocolate chips, but you can use milk chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips. Or, experiment with mix-ins like peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, white chocolate chips, toffee bits, raisins, nuts, seeds, etc. I don’t recommend adding more than 1/2 cup, or your cookies will just be way too packed
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Melt the peanut butter and butter in the microwave in a large mixing bowl. Then, stir in the remaining wet ingredients. Wait a few minutes before combining ingredients to avoid scrambling the eggs! There’s no need for an electric mixer or stand mixer!
- Add the oats, followed by the remaining dry ingredients. Fold in the chocolate chips or mix-ins of choice.
- Portion the dough, and chill it in the fridge.
- Arrange the cookie dough balls on a silpat mat or parchment paper lined baking sheet, leaving space between each cookie. Bake until the edges and tops are just set. (I like very underdone and soft cookies, so I baked mine for 10 minutes) The cookies will look pretty raw even at 12 minutes, and that’s ok. Take them out and let them sit and cool well before eating.
- Cool on the pan. There’s no need for a wire rack!
Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- 1 Large, Microwave-Safe Bowl
- 1 Cookie Sheet
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ⅓ cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk, discard extra white or save for another use
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup old-fashioned whole rolled oats, not instant or quick cook
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ½ cup peanut butter chips, white chocolate or butterscotch chips may be substituted
Instructions
- To a large, microwave-safe bowl add the butter, peanut butter, and heat on high power to melt, about 1 minute. Stop to check and stir. Heat in 15-second increments until mixture can be stirred smooth.
- Wait momentarily before adding the egg and yolk so you don’t scramble them. Add the egg, sugars, vanilla, and whisk until combined. It’s okay if mixture is slightly granular.
- Add the oats and stir to combine.
- Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and stir to combine; don’t overmix. Dough is fairly thick.
- Add the chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and stir to incorporate.
- Using a large cookie scoop, 1/4-cup measure, or your hands, form approximately 13 equal-sized mounds of dough, roll into balls, and flatten slightly. Tip – Strategically place a few chocolate chips on top of each mound of dough by taking chips from the underside and adding them on top.
- Place mounds on a large plate or tray, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to 5 days. Do not bake with unchilled dough because cookies will bake thinner, flatter, and be more prone to spreading. Dough is a bit on the oily side before chilling and becomes less oily as it chills.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray. Place dough mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet).
- Bake for about 11 to 12 minutes (for very soft cookies, longer for more well-done cookies), or until edges have set and tops are just set, even if slightly undercooked, pale, and glossy in the center; don’t overbake. Cookies firm up as they cool.
- Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes before serving. I let them cool on the baking sheet and don’t use a rack.
Notes
- Cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
- Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 4 months, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Cookie Recipes:
Edited to add the following related cookie recipes – November 2012
Chocolate Chip and Chunk Cookies – This is my new favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe for straight up chocolate chip cookies, without oats or peanut butter added. They are soft, chewy, tender, moist, a snap to make, and have two kinds of chocolate in every bite. They are my new go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe
New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies (from Jacques Torres) – I learned many valuable lessons when making these cookies, from loving bread flour in cookies to detesting cake flour in them; to baking cookies bigger to stuffing in extra chocolate. The cookies are very good, and I loved them on the first day, and I wrote extensively about my thoughts overall on them.
Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Skillet Cookie – This cookie combines three of my favorite cookies into one – chocolate chip, peanut butter, and oatmeal. The edges bake up crispy and chewy, and sweetened condensed milk is baked into the cookie, keeping the interior a literal hot, sweet, and gooey mess.
Averie you are simply an amazing person who really reaches out to her readers. Thanks for replying so fast. And double thank you for the storing lemons tip. I did feel rushed to do something with them but if you say they keep in the fridge for some time then I can use them in the future. *and if you are going to remake these cookies with a twist I am already excited. These were outstanding.
Yes no rush on using lemons! I have a neighbor with a lemon tree and literally have like 20 lemons in my fridge right now. I am in no rush to use them…like I know they can sit there for months :) To each her own but as long as the skin is intact, I consider them totally fine!
Hi Averie,
I just realized that these are also in your cookbook. And that’s how I “broke” into your cookbook today. They are amazing. I added pb chips and chocolate chips.
*And I also made your lemon bars about 2 days ago. My mom gave me like 20 lemons from her tree and I wanted to make the copycat starbucks loaf. but when I looked at the recipe again it said to use lemon extract and not juice. So I was able to make the lemon bars instead. BTW, I have so many lemons still-if you were here I’d give them to you. But since you’re not :p, what else should I make from your site? In other words a recipe that requires lemon juice!
Hope your week is going well. hugs!
Funny you made these…I had a few people make this recipe in the last few weeks (and that’s a bit rare on a 3-4 yr old recipe) and it prompted me to re-make them with a twist…stay tuned :) And yes at the time I was writing PB Comfort in 2011-12 these cookies just HAD to be in the book – loved them so much then and still!
The lemon loaf recipe has lots of recipes linked in the Related section that are all lemon. There are lemon cookies, lemon bars, a few blueberry-lemon cakes (or you can just google those titles + averie cooks and they’ll come up). Glad you liked the bars! BTW lemons keep for weeks/months in the fridge for me at least. So you’re not like in a ‘rush’ like you’d be with fresh peaches or something!
OMG!!! These are delicious! I couldn’t decide if I should make pb, chocolate chip or oatmeal cookies. I stumbled on your website and found these awesome cookies and thought I’d try these and I’m so glad I did! Thank you so much for the recipe!! I can’t wait to try more!
You’re the third person in one day who commented saying they made these cookies (a recipe from 2011)…was the post shared somewhere? But I’m glad they came out great for you and that you’re happy! That’s wonderful!
I absolutley love these cookies. I’m making them for the 3rd time right now! I don’t have a cookie scoop but I use an ice cream scoop and it makes giiiiiant cookies haha, which is awesome for my soul (though maybe not so much the waistline :P). It’s definitly the best of all three cookies so I never have to decide which I want to make :D. Thanks for the great recipe!
I love making giant cookies too :) Since I wrote this recipe years ago, my cookie sizes have gotten bigger and bigger…I think because after making about 12 mounds of dough and shaping them, I get impatient, so just keep cramming more and more dough per mound :)
Glad these came out great for you. You’re the second person today who’s told me they made this recipe and it’s years old. Maybe it got shared somewhere recently and caught on again!
Wonderful recipe, made it recently and also used an ice-cream scoop I bought at the dollar store just for this. I will always use this as my go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies! Amazing! I did not chill the dough and it worked perfectly. Fyi – I had never used anything other than a tablespoon to scoop the dough, but I am now converted since using the cookie scoop; a definite must have. Thanks Averie.
So glad that this will be your go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies! And yes a cookie scoop is a must – so many benefits! Glad you can see that! Thanks for trying the recipe!
Per comments from other people about the sugar content, I omitted ALL of the granulated sugar (only kept the brown). I know you advised not to use all natural peanut butter but that’s all I had on hand & I was so desperate to make these! :) I think, because of those two things, I ended up having to add an additional 3 heaping tablespoons of flour to make the consistency more like cookie dough. They were in the oven for 11 mins. They took a while to set (hours!) and did not flatten out like the cookies pictured so I manually pushed them down a little bit because I like flatter cookies than domes. They don’t look as pretty BUT! taste and texture wise: INCREDIBLE. Because the recipe calls for plenty of chocolate chips, I do not miss the 1/2 cup omission of white sugar at all. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS RECIPE! Will def make again…and again.
Glad that all of your tweaks worked out for you and that you’ll make them again!
Mine came out very crunchy (like breakable) on the outside but still very undone on the inside. Followed all of the directions! Any reason as to why?
When that happens, the top/outer surface of something is crisp long before the inside is done, it generally means the oven is running at too hot of temp for the recipe. I would check to make sure (with an oven thermometer, about $5 at the hardware store) that your oven is indeed running at the correct temp and not too hot – if it is running too hot, you’ll need to reduce it accordingly and also get it fixed. That’s my guess based on what you described…
I NEVER take the time to write a review. But these were to good not too. I made these twice already. BEST cookies hands down.
Thank you for taking the time – it’s helpful and nice as a blogger/baker to hear from people when they just LOVE a recipe. Glad that this is it for you! I loved these so much I put the recipe in my first cookbook :)
needs salt.
Last question! How long do you suppose I should chill them (minimally) until they’re ready to be baked?
Reread the recipe.