Peanut butter and chocolate lovers rejoice! I’ve combined at least 3 delicious cookies into 1 mouthwatering recipe with my big fat peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Consider yourself warned: these cookies are exploding with flavor, unapologetically thick, and hopelessly irresistible. They’re guaranteed to satisfy almost every cookie craving.
A cookie to end all cookies, these big fat peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are a mouthful. I was inspired to try these decadent treats after seeing the cover of my cookbook, Sally’s Cookie Addiction, for the first time. The glorious monster cookies gracing the book cover are loaded with M&Ms and can be found in Chapter 2 and have recently been added to my website.
This recipe, however, skips those rainbow candies and focuses instead on a flavor relationship like no other. Chocolate chips and peanut butter. It’s a match made in cookie heaven! In this recipe, we’re combining that perfect pairing with textured oats to achieve the thickest, richest, and most satisfying cookie.
Tell Me About These Big Fat Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Texture: Loaded with so many delicious add-ins, these cookies have chewy edges, soft centers, and are unbelievably thick. (I’m always shocked by how thick they turn out.) If you want to go even bigger and thicker, try these big fat dark chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies next!
- Flavor: Ordinary chocolate chip cookies are buttery sweet on their own, but the peanut butter-chocolate pairing here brings a delicious decadence to these cookies. If this flavor pairing is a favorite, be sure to add these peanut butter chocolate cookies to your list, too.
- Ease: Simple to make, the dough comes together in just minutes using a few staple pantry add-ins like old-fashioned oats and peanut butter. Make them for same-day snacking or prepare them ahead of a special occasion (see Note).
- Time: This dough can be prepped and chilled in under an hour. 20 minutes in the refrigerator (the same amount of time we chill dough for brownie cookies) helps the oats soak up some moisture and prevents the cookie from overspreading.
If you love these cookies but don’t have oats, try these peanut butter chocolate chip cookies instead. If you love these cookies but need a gluten free dessert recipe, try these flourless peanut butter oatmeal cookies or flourless monster cookies instead. We’ve got all the bases covered!
One reader, Dyna, says: “Hands down the BEST cookie recipe I have ever made, and I’ve made a lot of cookies… All the extra notes and suggestions too were spot on. Following those tips made for a beautiful, delectable cookie!”
Recipe Testing: What Works & What Doesn’t
- The weight of peanut butter. This cookie dough is adapted from my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. The addition of peanut butter here, however, can weigh down the dough. To counter this, I add baking powder for lift.
- A spreading solution. When testing the recipe, I found the cookies weren’t spreading enough. I decided to swap the quantities of granulated sugar and brown sugar. Granulated sugar—dry and thin—helps increase cookie spread. Brown sugar—moist and thick—keeps cookies compact. Increasing the granulated sugar makes all the difference in this dough for the perfect spread. You won’t even miss that extra brown sugar flavor because the peanut butter is our front-runner.
- Fewer oats + more chocolate. When testing, I originally had a higher quantity of oats in the cookies. I decided to reduce that amount to make room for more chocolate chips. Can you blame me?
Choosing the Right Ingredients:
Peanut butter. Though natural-style peanut butter is my #1 choice for eating and snacking, I recommend using non-natural peanut butter for this particular cookie recipe. Natural peanut butter can be used in my regular peanut butter cookies (though the cookies are a little crumblier than intended), but it’s not ideal for today’s recipe. Instead, use Jif or Skippy. You can use creamy or crunchy, but I prefer creamy peanut butter as crunchy can make the cookies taste a little dry. You need 1 cup of peanut butter for this recipe.
Room-temperature butter. Like my basic soft chocolate chip cookies, the base of today’s oatmeal cookie recipe is creamed room-temperature butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar. You can’t cream butter and sugar together if the butter is too warm or too cold. (It usually spells disaster for your cookies!) Room temperature butter is about 65°F (18°C). It’s cool and slightly firm to touch, not warm or slippery. I recommend placing your butter on the counter for 1 hour prior to beginning the recipe to achieve ideal “room temperature” butter. If you don’t have an hour, here is my trick to soften butter quickly. You need 1 cup of butter for this cookie dough.
Whole oats: To ensure the cookies spread nicely and do not dry out, be sure to use whole oats and not quick oats. Quick oats are cut finer, and will soak up more moisture in the dough.
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
After you prepare the peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies dough, chill it for 20 minutes in the refrigerator. After chilling, it’s time to scoop the dough and bake the cookies. Each cookie uses 2 Tablespoons of dough which is about the same size as these regular chocolate chip cookies. Arrange the cookie dough balls 3 inches apart on your baking sheet. These cookies are large, so I use a medium cookie scoop and overflow it with dough (since the medium only holds 1.5 Tablespoons.)
More Quick Cookie Recipes
- Peanut Butter Cookie Sandwiches
- Mini M&M Cookies
- Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Brownie Cookies
- Shortbread Cookies
Big Fat Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
- Yield: 32 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Big fat peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are easy, thick, and exploding with peanut butter, oats, and chocolate chips to satisfy your cookie cravings.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup (240g) creamy peanut butter
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups (170g) old-fashioned whole rolled oats
- 2 and 1/2 cups (450g) semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus more for topping if desired
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat on medium-high speed until creamed, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, peanut butter, and vanilla and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low until combined. With the mixer running on low speed, add the oats. Once combined, beat in the chocolate chips. Dough will be thick and sticky. Cover and chill the dough for at least 20 minutes in the refrigerator (and up to 4 days). If chilling for longer than 1 hour, allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before rolling and baking because the dough will be quite hard.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Scoop balls of dough, 2 Tablespoons of dough per cookie, and arrange 3 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 12-14 minutes until lightly browned on the sides. The centers will look very soft.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. While the cookies are still warm, I like to press a few more chocolate chips into the tops—this is only for looks!
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Allow to come to room temperature then continue with step 4. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Peanut Butter: Use a non-natural peanut butter like Jif creamy or Skippy creamy. I do not suggest using natural style or oily peanut butter as both produce crumbly, fragile, and sandy tasting cookies. (Try this recipe for flourless peanut butter oatmeal cookies if you want to use natural!) Crunchy peanut butter is OK, but I find the cookies taste a little dry with it.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I only had quick oats instead of old fashion oats. They didn’t take as long to bake because they were lighter, but delicious!!!
This is my go to cookie recipe. Replace 1/2 the chocolate chips with m&ms and they are what we call “monster cookies”…. Also, in the summer they are an amazing frozen treat!! I almost like them more frozen than room temp!
I’ve never written a review of any online recipe ever but this really deserves it. These are the best cookies I’ve ever made in my life. 10/10. They are addictive. I cannot stop eating them!! Definitely a recipe for the books, thank you!!
After discovering an almost full canister of old fashioned oatmeal in my cabinet, I set to baking with it. First your easy lemon crumble bars (yum!) and today these cookies. Like all your recipes, they are delicious and instructions are so clear and easy to follow. Other than the only chips I had on hand were the super-sized ones, made the exact recipe. So good! Thanks, Sally!
I change these up a little bit, making them dairy-free for my son. My oatmeal raisin cookie-loving husband, who’s also allergic to peanuts, considers these cookies a total betrayal, but I love them SO much!
I made this pretty much as written and loved it! I’m planning on using it as a jumping off point for a bit of baking lunacy, though- how much more oats did the recipe have when it was a lower proportion of chocolate? Thanks!
Hi Sarah, looking back at my testing notes, one test batch used 3 cups of oats, 1 and 1/2 cups of chocolate chips, and 1 cup of flour. Keep in mind this recipe did not turn out very well, and it’s one of the reasons the recipe was tested again and changed before publishing.
What type of salt is best for Baking?
Hi Lorie, our recipes call for plain ol’ table salt unless otherwise noted!
Made half the recipe because there’s just the two of us.
The best peanut butter cookie I’ve ever made
My husband and I try to cut back on any sweets, so I like to bake different cookies and have them in the freezer. Then we both can have our choice. These cookies messed me up so bad. I try to just have a cookie on Fridays, but I could not stay out of these. They are now gone, thank goodness. They are so very delicious, and the next time I make them, it will be for a function, so I dont eat them all. I made them just as the recipe said, with the 2.5 cups of Ghirardelli choc chips, and Bobs Red Mill oats. Wonderful.
Great recipe! Thank you! Can you tell me where i can find the ‘drizzle icing’?
Hi Deb, we aren’t sure what icing you’re referring to. Here’s our vanilla icing recipe, if that’s it!
Any suggestions for making these at a higher altitude? Thank you! They look delicious and I can’t wait to make them!
Hi Kara, wish we could help, but have no experience baking at high altitude. Some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
Made these today replacing the eggs and butter with coconut oil and flax eggs due to food allergies. They turned out great! Next time I will cut salt in half as I can really taste it. Will make these again soon. Yummy! Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Our family favorite!
Loved it, peanut butter, oats, chocolate. What’s not to like!
I made this recipe almost exactly as written. I only had a 12 oz. bag of chocolate chips. The cookies were wonderful, even without the additional chocolate chips. My family loved them!
I’ve made these twice now and both times have been wonderful. I use Reese’s peanut butter and add in flax seeds for an added nutritional punch. This time I didn’t have enough butter so I subbed in nuefchatel (I prefer it to plain cream cheese) and I daresay they are even better than cookies made with butter! I also did this batch with white chocolate chips and cranberries. A must have recipe!
This was an exceptional cookie. I recommend you weigh the flour and oats. Mine looked exactly like the pictures and the whole family raved about them. So glad I tried them definitely a keeper.
Has anyone tried using different fats (combo of butter and oils maybe) and/or lowering sugar? Love these bit they are high in butter and sugar.
It would have been helpful to see your notes on natural peanut butter verses non-natural peanut butter at the beginning, before I completed the recipe. Erg.
This is a great cookie! I provisioned a day sail to Buck Island, off St. Croix US Virgin Islands. I pulled out a Tupperware filled with these cookies from the cooler and they were an incredible hit! I needed a cookie that wouldn’t crumble and had a bit of “healthy” in the mix. I have forwarded the recipe to the group because they just loved them. Thank you for a great recipe.
Yummy, but I seriously recommend taking them out after about 14 minutes because they crisp up a bit so they will be harder then you think.
Otherwise, really good, next time I would add more oats.
great the family loves them
I made but omitted the chocolate chips and use chopped nuts instead and are so good! The edges of the cookie is crisp and the center is soft.
i can i use quick cooking oats for this recipe?
Hi Rachelle, quick oats are more powdery and dry out the cookies. We recommend sticking with whole oats for best results.
Hi. Can I turn these into lactation cookies?
Hi R., we haven’t tried these as lactation cookies, but a few readers have reported success doing so. Let us know if you try it! (We have turned these breakfast cookies into lactation cookies, if you’re interested.)
My family’s favorite cookie has long been oatmeal chocolate chip with walnut or pecans. When this recipe showed up in my inbox, I decided it would be the first task on my to-do list for today. I only have crunchy Jif, so that’s what I used. My cookies are extra gigantic so the recipe only yielded 26 cookies. But, wow, these are very yummy! I took one upstairs to my husband in his man cave with a cup of tea & he was very happy! These cookies will be great for gifting to my friends and family. Thanks for the recipe!
Hey Cindy,
May I ask how many grams you weighed cookies and how long did they take to bake.
Thank you.
D.
This is my new favorite cookie. I’ve cut the recipe in half as there are only two of us. We each eat a couple and then I freeze the rest. So good!
make the full batch, portion out balls of dough, freeze those then you can make a cookie any time.
I’m a broken record, but once again delicious recipe. Consistent, reliable results and a taste that always wows. Thank you Sally. You’re truly the best.
I’m about to make these big fat cookies and I’m sure they’re going to turn out great!! Every week I make a different dessert recipe in my husband takes it to work and the guys absolutely love and look forward to whatever it is I’m making.. I just wanted you to know that you are the one that I follow all the time your recipes are always amazing and turn out wonderful every single time… I just wanted you to know that I am a faithful follower of you and appreciate all of your recipes and hard work.
What a thoughtful comment, Susan! Thank you so much for making and trusting our recipes.
Sally’s recipes are always good and this one is not a disappointment. Easy to make and delicious! I used crunchy peanut butter and added some shredded coconut for a little flair. I used a cookie scooper, scooped the dough cold, and made about 5 dozen cookies
Just made these using Smucker’s Natural Creamy PB. It has only peanuts and salt with no fillers or other additives. They came out delicious. I yielded 35 cookies at 14 minutes. Thank you for sharing.