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These steel cut oats cookies are such a delicious snack. They’re also healthy enough to eat for breakfast! Who can resist oatmeal in a cookie?
Oatmeal cookies are a classic healthier dessert. Oats are a whole grain, which is a rare feature in cookies.
I usually use rolled oats to make oatmeal cookies, but I recently found myself wondering, “Can I use steel cut oats in cookies?”
We were out of rolled oats, but we had steel cut oats in our cabinet. This led to some research and several experimental batches. I discovered that yes, not only can you make cookies with steel cut oats, but they’re arguably more delicious than the rolled oat version.
Steel Cut Oatmeal Cookie Tips
When making cookies with steel cut oats, you have two options. You can use traditional Irish oats, or you can use the quick-cooking variety.
For an easy batch of cookies, use raw “instant” or “quick-cooking” steel cut oats. These are broken down into smaller pieces than traditional Irish oats, so they give the cookies a nice texture.
If you’re using traditional steel cut oats, you’ll want to cook them first, just like when you’re making oatmeal. They’re a bit too hard when baked into a cookie in their raw form, which leads to a lot of extra chewing. To use cooked oats, simply substitute one cup of cooked oatmeal for the instant raw oats listed in this recipe, and add an extra half cup of flour (or more as needed to achieve a non-runny dough consistency).
For the chocolate chips, I like Enjoy Life allergy-friendly chocolate. These chips come in a variety of sizes.
Whether you make them with quick-cooking or traditional oats, these cookies have a delicious flavor and texture. Watch this video to see the simple process behind these steel cut oats cookies:
Steel Cut Oats Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups gluten free flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 2/3 cup melted coconut oil
- 1 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/4 cups instant steel cut oats* (uncooked)
- 1 1/4 cups chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup diced walnuts optional
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla. Add the flour mixture, and mix to combine. Then stir in the quick cooking oats, chocolate chips, and walnuts.
- Use a cookie scoop or tablespoon to portion out the dough onto a cookie sheet (9 cookies per sheet). Bake for about 10 minutes, or until the cookies are set and they're beginning to turn brown.
- Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days, or freeze for later.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
Steel Cut Oats Cookies Price Breakdown
This recipe costs a total of $10.95 to make, or $.27 per cookie. Try these steel cut oatmeal cookies for a delicious, healthy treat.
In case you only have rolled oats on hand, here’s a more traditional oatmeal cookie recipe.
Jessica says
Yummers! Copied the recipe exactly except used regular flour instead of gluten-free. Only reason it’s a 4 star is because the oats were still a tad crunchy after baking, but I think that might happen regardless of the recipe. Thank you for this recipe!!
Elizabeth says
I used the quick steel oats and that worked well. What didn’t work as well was switching out dried cranberries for chocolate chips because we prefer them over the chips in oatmeal cookies. The cookies were very bland so after the first batch, I added 1 tsp cinnamon and then the cookies were very good. I will make again as I have a box of instant steel cut oats to use up (husband bought instant by mistake & I hate instant oats of all types). I also decreased the maple syrup to 1C. The batter was softer than I’m used to but the cookies baked up well. My cookies were not as brown as the photos so perhaps I should have cooked a bit longer.
Bridget says
Mine turned out well. Changes listed below. I did use the cooked steel oats and it needed more flour as you mentioned. I did dried cherries, walnuts, nutmeg and orange peel. I also added a scoop of vanilla protein powder and a scoop of collagen powder. Sneaking stuff in on kids and hubby! LOL They are cakey but have nice flavor. I may leave out baking powder next time as in the recipe. Thanks for your site. I will try other things too!!! Let’s all feed our kids better use natural sweeteners!
2.5 cups total flour (1 cup AP wheat, 1/2 cup tigernut, 1/2 cup buckwheat, + 1/2 cup AP added at end to make less runny.)
1 tsp Baking soda 1 tsp Baking powder 1 tsp salt 3 tsp nutmeg 1 tsp ground orange peel
2 eggs
1/3 cup melted coconut oil and 1/3 cup olive oil (it was what I had)
3/4 cup maple syrup (used less because my vanilla protein powder is sweet)
3/4 cup chopped dried cherries
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
Moon says
We have a coconut allergy so I used ghee. Cooked the steel cut oats and made as directed. They tasted terrible and in my opinion a waste of very expensive pure maple syrup, couverture chocolate, ghee and other ingredients. They came out cakey and did not flatten out like most cookies do. The came out the same shape of the scoop I used. I would have given them to my dogs except for the chocolate. No one liked them so they immediately hit the compost heap.
What a bummer. I was so looking forward to some yummy cookies!
Annemarie says
I’m sorry to hear that your adaptation of the recipe didn’t work. They’re delicious with coconut oil.
Syl says
I made a batch using steel cut oaks and grinned them into flour, but I made them oil free and egg free so I had to make several adjustments but that is because I eat plant based , but they did not disappoint . Bonus is they have a lot less fat and calories while still turning out great. I just wanted to leave a comment saying you can definitely bake with steel cut oats just grind them first.
Susan says
My first attempt at using quick cook steel cut oats. Really disappointed that the oats did not seem to cook or soften, almost like eating the oats right out of the package, which is sad because otherwise the flavor is great. For the he choc chips I substituted dried cranberries and raisins and threw in a handful of candied ginger because I love ginger in all my baked items. Sorry, this recipe did not work for me.
Stargazer says
If you grind regular steel cut oats in a food processor rather than cook them before proceeding with the recipe will this work? I would like to sub white whole wheat flour and unsalted butter for GF flour and coconut oil. Would the proportion amounts be the same? Many thanks.
Annemarie says
Substituting white whole wheat flour and butter will work. I haven’t tried this recipe with ground oats. Grinding the oats will make them more like a flour, so I would cut back a bit on the white whole wheat flour quantity. You’ll have to take a look at the texture and adjust the amount as needed. Please let me know if you try it.
Alana says
Wondering how I would adjust if I wanted to add two rope bananas? 🙂
Annemarie says
I haven’t tried that substitution, so I’m not sure. You could try cutting out some of the coconut oil and some of the pure maple syrup. Let me know how it goes if you try it.
Melinda says
The cookies turned out great. I didn’t have gluten free flour nor organic maple syrup so I just used log cabin syrup and they turned out fabulous.
Adrienne says
Hi I was wondering if I could make this recipe with white flour instead of gluten free and also if I could leave out the walnuts. Thank you!
Annemarie says
Yes, both of those adaptations would work fine. Enjoy!
Pam h says
Made them exactly as instructed. Extremely sweet, but otherwise not much flavor. Also thought they would have more texture- the oats are basically not noticable
Andrea says
I adjusted with the following changes to the ingredients: 1c flour, 1c almond flour, 1c maple syrup, 1/2 c softened butter (less sweet & butter because of the almond flour), 1 flax egg (with 1 real egg) and dark chocolate chips. Kept everything else the same. Dough wasn’t exactly as thick as cookie dough but I went for it. Took my oven about 18 min to get them brownish and I ended up with about 36 cookies (I have a heavy scoop ?). They are a little chewy but delicious and a great way to use up some of my bulk-sized quick cooking steel cut oats!
Muskan says
Wow!! Wonderful cookies out of grains!! Love the concept!!
Susan says
I can’t stop making these!
Peggy says
I’m just baking these now. I had to make a couple of changes, but they kind of taste like muffin and not a cookie. I used half the maple syrup (all I had left), used regular flour, and cooked steel cut oats oatmeal since I don’t but “quick”. I make my oatmeal with nutmeg, cinnamon and Maple syrup, so I thought the cookie recipe would be fine as is… But the batter tasted bland, so added chopped dried cherries, a little cinnamon, dark chocolate and walnuts. Maybe it’s too much egg? But the texture is like a quick bread and has less flavor. Its not a “cookie”, but more like a muffin top. I’m sure we will eat them up. I’m not sure if I had used the correct amount of maple syrup or other kinds of flour would have made these more delicious. Maybe butter instead of coconut oil? Its worth trying, but I do suggest more vanilla and spice… Maybe half butter, half coconut oil?
Annemarie says
Making those changes (especially cutting the maple syrup in half) will definitely change the texture and flavor of these cookies quite a bit. Hopefully you enjoyed this adapted version once they came out of the oven.
Madlen Wadsworth says
Fantastic recipe!!!
Made it many times.
Thank you so much.
Regards Madlen
Stacey says
Made this evening with leftover steel cut oats but I had this morning. They were exactly as described and a healthy option for breakfast. Thank you for sharing ?
Ellen says
Does the coconut oil give it any coconut flavor? I’m not a huge fan of coconut. What other varieties of oils could I use as a substitute?
Annemarie says
I don’t notice a coconut flavor in these. If you want, you could use softened butter (or vegan butter substitute) instead.
Lisa P says
Great recipe! I had to substitute a few of the ingredients, but they still turned out great. I added an extra 1/2 cup of flour and really liked the texture of them when they were done. Mine had more of a cakey texture than cookie texture, but my family loved them. I will definitely be making these again.
Tina says
The batter is looking VERY runny even after adding the extra 1/2 cup of flour.
Should I go ahead and make them as is?
Annemarie says
Can you form the dough into cookie shapes? If not, add more flour a tablespoon at a time until you can shape the cookies. You could also refrigerate the dough for a bit to help it get firm. Let me know how it goes.
ShawnDell says
These were absolutely amazing cookies! I was looking for a healthy grab and go breakfast alternative to poptarts. (Yes, I’m still a kid at heart) I followed the recipe as it was except I toasted the walnuts (my personal choice…love toasted nuts) and toasted coconut in addition to both dark chocolate chips and semi sweet chocolate chips. I subbed Honey for the maple syrup because that’s what I had on hand. They were super easy and so yummy! Thanks for sharing. (Even the batch I forgot to set the timer for turned out delicious. Definitely will be making these again.
Amanda says
Just found this recipe looking for a use for leftover steel cut oats and it looks great. Any suggestions for what to use instead of coconut oil? I’m allergic to coconut.
Annemarie says
Amanda, softened butter would be a good substitute.
sam says
what a healthy recipe. I am vegan and will try flax eggs and sugar-free lakanto maple syrup. Question: after cooking traditional steel cut oats – do you discard residual liquid? I need to add 4 cups water to 1 cup oats and usually after cooking there is a gel-like or watery liquid with the cooked oats.
Annemarie says
There’s no need to discard the liquid with the cooked oats. Just stir the liquid into the oats, then measure them for the recipe. Enjoy!
Betty High says
What can I use as a substitute for the maple syrup?
Thanks
Annemarie says
You can substitute honey for the pure maple syrup, or else you could try regular sugar.
Babs says
Can you use regular unbleached all purpose flour instead of gluten free.— same amount?
Annemarie says
Yes, that will work. You can use the same amount of all purpose flour.
Tamara says
Just made this recipe and I’m really impressed! I used white chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate morsels and raisins, as well as gluten-free cassava flour in place of wheat flour. I cooked Quaker steel-cut oats before adding to the batter. It took mine about 12-13 minutes to bake. They came out just like the pictures with a cake-like texture in the middle. Very yummy!
Diana says
I guess I’m confused, how much cooked steel cuts vs uncooked you add in, as just reading off the recipe and wading through the text, I wasn’t sure?
Annemarie says
If you’re using uncooked instant steel cut oats, use 1 1/4 cups as stated in the recipe card. If you want to substitute cooked oats, use 1 cup of cooked oats, and add an extra 1/2 cup of flour to get the right cookie dough consistency. Please let me know if that clarifies it for you.
JoAnn says
I accidentally mixed the batter before I read the recipe notes….is there any saving the batter if I didn’t cook the traditional steel cut oats?
Annemarie says
You can definitely still bake them. They’ll just be extra crunchy. Let me know how they turn out.
Kari - Get Inspired Everyday! says
The texture on these cookies looks absolutely amazing!
anne says
Great idea! I love steel cut oats , but would have never thought to make cookies with them. I am going to give this a try real soon!
STACEY CRAWFORD says
My son and hubby would love these!
Lindsey Dietz says
Any excuse to have cookies for breakfast, right??! I’ve never seen a cookie recipe made with steel cut oats! So original and yummy!
CHIHYU says
What a lovely recipe. These cookies look so moist and healthy delicious!
Tina says
Yum! I really love oatmeal cookies, and these look great. Thanks for doing all the tests on using the oats 🙂
Kathryn says
I love oatmeal cookies and these look perfect! I also appreciate you listing the price of your recipes. That’s such a helpful tool when choosing which recipes to make!
Kelly says
I think Santa would be pretty happy with these cookies – and me too!
Hope says
I love oats in cookies! There is something so satisfying about them. Can’t wait to give these a go!
Megan Stevens says
I love that I can cook the oats first because then I can soak them, too, which our bodies/bellies prefer (with ACV the night before). These cookies look so good!!
Mary Ann says
Please tell me what (like just AVC or AVC and water) and how long you soak the oats with
Annemarie says
I don’t soak the oats for this recipe.
Raia Todd says
My kids are going to love these!
Jean says
The texture of these cookies look so perfect! Definitely need to try out that gluten free flour.
Meredith says
Such a brilliant idea for leftover steel cut oats. And who doesn’t love an oatmeal cookie!?! Pinning to make soon…
Joni Gomes says
These cookies are so up my alley! Saving the pin to make for later 🙂
Catherine BaezCatherine Sholl says
Oatmeal cookies have always been my favorite. Want to try with steel cut oats nnow. Great recipe!
Renee D Kohley says
Super fun and so easy! Thanks for the recipe!