These Soft Banana Oatmeal Cookies with chocolate chips are one of my favorite soft cookies to make and the best way to use up overripe bananas.
You only need a few simple ingredients for these Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. This healthy banana oatmeal cookie recipe makes a great snack and you’ll love the chewy texture.
Recipe Ingredient Notes
To make Banana Oatmeal Cookies, you will need the following ingredients:
- Shortening
- Brown Sugar
- Egg
- Ripe Mashed Banana
- Quick Oats
- All Purpose Flour
- Salt
- Cinnamon
- Baking Soda
- Nutmeg
- Chocolate Chips
Equipment Needed
For this recipe, you only need a few simple kitchen tools. We recommend using the following equipment:
How to make Banana Oatmeal Cookies:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease baking sheet and set aside.
- Cream shortening and brown sugar in large mixing bowl at medium speed until well blended, then beat in egg.
- Add one cup mashed banana and mix until creamy.
- In a separate large bowl, mix together oats, flour, salt, cinnamon, baking soda and nutmeg, then stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients creamed mixture. Fold in chocolate chips. Making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl.
- Using a cookie scoop , drop spoonfuls of cookie dough onto prepared baking sheet (if you don’t have a cookie scoop, just use a medium-sized spoon to drop cookie dough onto pan. This cookie dough will be too sticky to roll into balls).
- Place cookies 2 inches apart on baking sheet.
- Bake for 15-17 minutes, then remove from oven and let cool 1-2 minutes on baking sheet, then remove to a cooling wire rack.
Storing and Other Tips
If you manage to not eat the whole tray of cookies immediately, these (cookie name) store well. Once cookies have completely cooled, here is how you can store them:
- Counter: Store in an airtight container in a single layer for up to 4 days at room temperature. If you want to try and get the cookies to last even longer without becoming crumbly cookies, add a slice of bread into the container of cookies. The bread will give the cookies something to draw moisture from.
- Refrigerator: Store in an airtight container in a single layer for up to 7 days in a refrigerator.
- Freezer: You can freeze precooked cookie dough for cookies later. Just roll out and freeze for 30 minutes, and then transfer to an airtight, freezer safe bag for up to 3 months. To store cooked cookies, let them cool completely before you put them in a freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months.
To make these chewy banana oatmeal cookies healthier you can:
- Switch out milk chocolate chips for dark chocolate chips, mini chocolate chips or sugar free chocolate chips.
- Use coconut flour, oat flour or whole wheat flour, in place of all purpose flour.
- Use honey, coconut sugar or other natural sweeteners in place of the sugar.
- Use apple sauce or coconut oil in place of shortening or butter.
Enjoy More Delicious Oatmeal Cookie Recipes
There’s nothing like homemade cookies that the whole family will love. Check out our comprehensive collection of cookie recipes here.
- Caramel Oatmeal Cookies
- Oatmeal Coconut Dream Cookies
- Oatmeal Creme Pies
- Oatmeal Gingerbread Cookies

Banana Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup shortening
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup mashed ripe bananas, about 2-3 medium banana
- 1 ¾ cup quick oats
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 ½ cups chocolate chips, (I used semi-sweet)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease baking sheet and set aside.
- Cream shortening and brown sugar in large bowl at medium speed until well blended, then beat in egg.
- Add one cup mashed banana and mix until creamy.
- In a separate bowl, mix together oats, flour, salt, cinnamon, baking soda and nutmeg, then stir into creamed mixture. Fold in chocolate chips.
- Using a cookie scoop , drop spoonfuls of cookie dough onto prepared baking sheet (if you don't have a cookie scoop, just use a medium-sized spoon to drop cookie dough onto pan. This cookie dough will be too sticky to roll into balls).
- Place cookies 2 inches apart on baking sheet.
- Bake for 15-17 minutes, then remove from oven and let cool 1-2 minutes on baking sheet, then remove to a cooling rack.
Notes
- Switch out milk chocolate chips for dark chocolate chips, mini chocolate chips or sugar free chocolate chips.
- Use coconut flour, oat flour or whole wheat flour, in place of all purpose flour.
- Use honey, coconut sugar or other natural sweeteners in place of the sugar
- Use apple sauce or coconut oil in place of shortening or butter


















Can I have one right now, please?
Can coconut oil be substituted shortening? If so, is the amount the same?
We haven’t used coconut oil in these cookies before, so were aren’t sure how they would turn out. Keep us posted if you give it a try.
I made these for treats to have after Church today! They were a HUGE hit! They were delicious!
Can i use butter for the shortening not a fan of the texture shortening gives cookies in baking thanks!
Hi, I don’t like shortening too, so I made them with butter about hour ago and they are delicious. Half of them are already gone. 🙂
They have butter flavor shortening which tastes amazing in cookies. Butter has a lower melting point, which means that the fat melts at a lower temperature and the cookies will spread and flatten out faster during baking. Often you will hear of people using half butter and half shortening. You may still have some flattening.
Just made cookies and they taste delicious. I added vanilla extract and put them in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes to firm up. Came out with no problem using a medium cookie scoop. Got 48 good size cookies. Co- worker ‘s will be very happy tomorrow .. Thanks
omg love them! just got them out of the oven!!! i replaced shortening with applesauce used 3 super ripe bananas, dark chocolate chips and added some coconut flour to bind. kind of dense but very yummy!! thank you! could make a great breakfast cookie. great way to use brown bananas!!
i also added a splash of vanilla 🙂
Omg!! I made these just tonight for Easter Sunday with the family, I tried one and it was so good!! I’ll be making them again reall soon(: thanks!!
Just made these. The apartment smells amazing!
Awesome! Just took them from the oven and they taste heavenly!! I do similar ones just instead of mashed banana I use pumpkin purrée, but found your recipe thanks to research on what to do with banana 🙂 I couldn’t have found better!! Thank you!! 🙂
How long do these keep for?
They are good for a few days in an airtight container.
SOOOO good!
turned out great… addeda splash of vanilla too.
How much shortening? 2/3?
Recipe calls for 3/4 cup.
Can I use regular oats?
Yes, you can use regular oats in this recipe.
Made these this morning. My husband proclaims them delicious. I used butter flavored shortening and 60% Dark Chocolate Chips. YUMMY!
Can you freeze the dough to these? I usually freeze my extra cookie dough in balls to use later, but I’ve never tried with any type of cookie like this!
This dough should freeze just fine.
Ok what did I do wrong… my cookies didn’t “spread” like cookies should. I ended up with little balls instead. I subbed coconut flour for all-purpose, which I’ve never used before. I have also never cooked with shortening. Is there a technique I’m missing?
You problem was with the flour. Coconut flour is tricky to work with because it is not a grain-based flour. It’s not an easy substitute, so it’s best to use established recipes. You can’t substitute coconut flour on a 1:1 ratio for all-purpose flour, or most other flours, but try to cut down the amount of flour to 1/4 of what you would normally use.
Can you freeze the cookies
Absolutely! Wait for the cookies to cool completely, then transfer them to a reusable freezer-safe bag or container lined with wax or parchment paper. They should last for about 2 months in the freezer.