These Gluten-Free Banana Oatmeal cookies are soft, flavorful, and have a great chewy texture. You'd never know they're gluten-free!

Note: This recipe was first posted on my original blog, Celebration Generation, on May 6, 2020. It was transferred over to this blog - existing comments and all - on 3/8/2021. Most recently updated on 2/1/2024.

These Gluten-Free Banana Oatmeal Cookies came about in sort of a roundabout manner.

My husband mentioned seeing a post about strawberry Oatmeal cookies. That sounded awesome to me, so I started working on a recipe to make something like that.

At the same time, we had some bananas that were extremely ripe, and begging to be baked into something. Banana bread sounded really good, but I'd already had my mind set on cookies.

... So I split the difference, and now we have a tasty recipe for gluten-free banana oatmeal cookies!

That was almost 3 years ago now, and these oatmeal banana cookies are still a big favourite.

As with all of my gluten-free cookies, these have a fantastic texture - soft and chewy, hearty texture of classic oatmeal cookies, with the taste of banana throughout.

They're great for the whole family/friends - no one would ever guess they're gluten-free.

Seriously, it’s a good thing that this easy oatmeal cookies makes a fair number of them, because my (NOT gluten-free!) husband can *not* stay out of them!

The thing is, I'm not a big fan of the "gluten-free cookies are punishment" thing, which is why I use a blend of flours specific to each recipe.

The textures and flavours work together to make a fantastic cookie - and those particular flavours work really, REALLY well with the bananas and oats.

It’s a really great recipe for a relatively healthy cookie... and the perfect way to use up old bananas.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

This chewy banana oatmeal cookies recipe uses fairly basic ingredients, most - or all - of which should be easy to find in any larger grocery store.

A complete list of ingredients with measurements is in the recipe card at the end of this post, but I have some notes for you, before getting to the recipe!

Overripe Bananas

Much like with my Gluten Free Banana Muffins and my
Gluten Free Banana Bread recipe, you’re going to want to use bananas that ... don’t look great.

Wait until your banana peels are covered with brown spots, and are fairly mushy - just not rotten.

Super ripe bananas are the key to getting a really robust banana flavor in these healthy banana oat cookies.

Rolled Oats

This recipe uses Rolled Oats, which can also be labeled as old fashioned rolls oats, or even just old-fashioned oats

Two things to note here:

1. Be sure to use certified gluten free oats if you are serving these to anyone who needs to avoid gluten for any reason.

Oats themselves are gluten free, but they’re also HIGHLY likely to be cross-contaminated with wheat, if it’s not certified that they’re NOT.

2. Steel-cut oats, and any form of quick oats - AKA quick cooking oats or instant oats - aren’t going to work the same way in this recipe, as they all behave differently.

Stick to Gluten Free Rolled Oats!

The Flour Mixture

As always, I use a blend of a few basic gluten free flours - specific to each recipe - rather than an all-purpose mix.

This gives me the best control over the finished flavour, texture, and performance, and it makes for a far more consistent result.

The gluten free “all purpose” flour mixtures all have different compositions, and will handle things like moisture uptake/retention, browning, etc differently.

This healthy banana oatmeal cookies recipe uses my basic set of “sweet” flours, that I use in most of my baked goods:

Sorghum Flour
Light Buckwheat Flour
Coconut Flour
Xanthan Gum

I have these flours on hand at all times, they really do make for the absolute best sweet baked goods - cookies, muffins, quick breads, etc - when it comes to gluten free baking.

And hey - they tend to be cheaper than the gluten free all purpose flours, too!

The Fats

This recipe uses both unsalted butter and lard, as it gives the best balance in flavor and texture.

That said, feel free to use all butter if you want - it’ll just end up a bit crispier than if you use part lard.

Alternately, you can swap the lard out for vegetable shortening, if you need to keep these chewy oatmeal cookies vegetarian.

Everything Else

Rounding out this recipe, you will need:

Raisins (Optional, see “variations”, below)
Brown Sugar
Granulated Sugar
Large Egg
Pure Vanilla Extract
Ground Cinnamon
Ground Cloves
Baking Soda
Salt

... I just don’t have anything to add, as far as these last few ingredients go. Like I said... fairly simple ingredients!

Variations

The recipe is great as it is, but there are a few variations of these banana oatmeal cookies you may want to consider:

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies: Swap the raisins out for chocolate chips - especially good with dark chocolate chips.. I’ll usually leave the spices out of the base recipe when doing chocolate chip banana oatmeal cookies.

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Cookies: Skip the butter, replace it with ⅔ cup smooth peanut butter. This works really well as peanut butter banana chocolate chip cookies!

Miscellaneous: Swap the Raisins out for different add-ins: sweetened dried cranberries, dried currants, or chopped up bits of other dried fruit, or nuts. Coconut shreds work well.

As pictured in this post, we swapped the raisins out for chopped walnuts.

Share the Love!

Before you chow down, be sure to take some pics of your handiwork! If you post it to Bluesky, be sure to tag us - @CelebrationGen. We're also on Pinterest, so you can save all your favourite recipes to a board!

Also, be sure to subscribe to my free email newsletter, so you never miss out on any of my nonsense. Well, the published nonsense, anyway!

How to Make Gluten Free Banana Oatmeal Cookies

The full recipe is in the printable recipe card at the end of this post. Here is the visual walk through with step-by-step photos.

Preheat oven to 350 F, Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, mix together oats, flours, baking soda, spices, salt, and xanthan gum, set aside.

In a large mixing bowl (if mixing by hand or with a hand mixer) or in the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and lard together until smooth.

Add sugars, a little at a time, until fully combined and fluffy.

Add egg, mashed banana, and vanilla to the sugar mixture, continue beating until well combined and smooth.

4 part image showing 2 ripe bananas being mashed into the butter and sugar mixture, then eggs and vanilla being added.

You can mash bananas separately, I'm too lazy and just do it in the same bowl!

Add the dry ingredients mixture to the bowl of wet ingredients, mix just until well combined.

Fold in raisins or nuts, if using.

Cover cookie dough in plastic wrap, chill for 1 hour. This is necessary for the best texture and handling.

Use an ice cream scoop or cookie scoop to portion out cookies onto prepared baking sheet, leaving 2-3" between each of them.

Using clean wet fingers or back of ice cream scoop, slightly flatten each cookie.

Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until golden brown.

Allow cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for at least 5 minutes before moving.

2 part image showing a pan of gluten free oatmeal banana cookies, before and after baking.

This is actually before and after baking. Hard to tell in the photo, I know!

Storage

Once cooled to room temperature, cookies can be transferred to an airtight container - we’ll usually keep them in a zip-top bag.

They can be stored at room temperature for several days, or in the fridge for a week or so. Best served at room temperature - or warmer!

More Gluten-Free Cookie Recipes!

Looking for even more recipes for fantastic gluten free cookies that *everyone* will love? Look no further!

... and there’s even more - be sure to check out our Gluten-Free Cookies and Bars recipe section!

A plate of gluten-free banana oatmeal cookies.

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5 from 3 votes

Gluten-Free Chewy Banana Oatmeal Cookies

These Banana Oatmeal cookies are soft, chewy, and have a great texture and flavour. You'd never know they're gluten-free!

Prep Time10

Cook Time32

Chilling time1

Total Time1 42

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Diet: , Gluten Free, , Vegetarian

Servings: Large Cookies

Calories: 167kcal

Author: admin

Equipment

Ingredients

3 cups Rolled Oats
¾ cup Sorghum Flour
½ cup Light Buckwheat Flour
¼ cup Coconut Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Xanthan Gum
½ teaspoon Ground Cloves
½ cup Butter room temperature
¼ cup Lard
1 cup Brown Sugar Packed
½ cup Granulated Sugar
1 Large Egg
2 Very Ripe Bananas mashed
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 ½ cups Raisins Optional

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 F, Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, mix together oats, flours, baking soda, spices, salt, and xanthan gum, set aside.
In a stand mixer - or with a hand mixer - cream butter and lard together until smooth. Add sugars, a little at a time, until fully combined and fluffy.
Add egg, banana, and vanilla to the sugar mixture, continue beating until well combined and smooth.
Pour sugar mixture and raisins - if using - into the dry ingredients, mix just until well combined.
Chill dough for 1 hour
Use an ice cream scoop or Tablespoon to portion out cookies onto prepared baking sheets, leaving 2-3" between each of them.
Using clean wet fingers or back of ice cream scoop, slightly flatten each cookie.
Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until golden brown.
Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for at least 5 minutes before moving.

Nutrition

Thanks for Reading!

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Old Photos

In 2024, this recipe was re-shot. The original photos are below, for posterity.

Pretty wild glow-up, huh?

Gluten-Free Banana Oatmeal Cookies