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.
One reader, Dyna, says: “Hands down the BEST cookie recipe I have ever made, and I’ve made a lot of cookies in my time as a 50-something, mother of three. An incredibly satisfying cookie experience. All the extra notes and suggestions too were spot on. Following those tips made for a beautiful, delectable cookie! Thank you for putting this out there into the world for all to enjoy.”
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.
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.
Video Tutorial
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.)
- 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!
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: Best Peanut Butter to Use
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.
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 (260g) 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.
Made these twice, soft and delicious each time!
These cookies were absolutely delicious – soft, chewy and perfectly sweet and comforting. I will say I didn’t taste any peanut butter flavour in the finished product but they were so yummy we were ok with that! If you’re looking for a peanut butter fix, these don’t fit the bill but if you want an otherwise delicious cookie these won’t disappoint!
I substituted King Arthur gluten-free flour and these were still to die for!
Thoughts on using mini chocolate chips instead?
Would be excellent! Same amount.
These are great. And FYI work just as well with quick oats which is all I had on hand. Another great recipe!
Would I need to make any adjustments if I double the recipe?
No adjustment needed! Enjoy!
I made these last night. They are scrumptious! An amazing mix of flavors and textures. They did not turn out as “fat” but they are still delicious. I live in the high altitude so cookies tend to flatten out more due to sugars etc, so I might have to tweak that a little. It was also a 95-degree day so a little longer cooling in the fridge first might have helped. However, my husband ate five of them after dinner so I know it wasn’t a baking fail 🙂
I brought them to work and my co-workers loved them as well. One said she has NEVER had an oatmeal cookie that she likes, but she loved these cookies.
These are fabulous! My dad is gluten free so I made them with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Baking Mix instead of regular flour. It’s exciting to be able to make a cookie that he can actually eat! Thanks for a great recipe. 🙂
These have been on my to-bake list for ages and they are definitely as good as I assumed they would be! Another stellar recipe and I ate *a lot* of the dough and still had many cookies to bake and eat! Thanks Sally!
Can I substitute regular flour for almond flour?
Hi Amy! I don’t recommend it for this cookie recipe.
Wonderful recipe! I make peanut butter cookies with natural salted peanut butter, but the texture was a little grainy for a cookie. The oatmeal added such a great texture that I didn’t notice at all. I am a big fan of salty/sweet so I used salted butter and salted peanut butter and sprinkled a tiny bit of kosher salt on top before baking. Next time I’d try this with less or no chocolate (please note that I don’t usually say those words), maybe butterscotch chips and lots of cinnamon. Thank you once again, Sally, for a great and versatile recipe!
I never comment on these things but these are really the best cookies ever! I made them exactly following the recipe except I didn’t have enough chocolate chips (who opened and ate out of that bag!) but I had a half bag of butterscotch chips so I dumped those in too, and these are amazing cookies, soft and delicious! This recipe is a keeper!
These are absolutely amazing. I used whole wheat flour and salted butter (adjusting the salt to 1/2 tsp). This cookie recipe is now a favorite for sure. They baked to a nice thickness, not flat like other all butter recipes I’ve tried.
Absolutely perfect! I added some cinnamon, my family just likes cinnamon, otherwise I stuck to the recipe. These are fantastic cookies!
This might be my new favorite cookie recipe! I brought a batch on a trip and everyone LOVED them, including my non-peanut-butter-loving boyfriend. They were very flavorful and perfectly chewy. Will definitely be making these cookies a lot in the future!
Made these for a Father’s Day treat and they were a huge hit! Everyone loved them. The family already told me I need to make them again! The recipe came out to 33 cookies and they are big, soft, and delicious. Thank you!!
Excellent recipe and excellent directions!
Oh, mama, these are good! The only thing I did slightly differently is I flattened the scoops a little with the palm of my hand. This made for crispier cookies which I tend to like more. Thank you for solving my constant dilemma of whether to make peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, or oatmeal chocolate chip cookies! These are my new go-to!
Amazing recipe! I love the strong peanut butter flavour and the chew of these cookies! I baked a dozen and froze the rest of the balls for another time because it would not be good for me to eat them all, even with my new gym membership lol. Thank you Sally for yet another excellent recipe.
On Tuesdays I have one of our gradsons after school..I always make cookies and he brings the rest home for his brothers and I know his mom samples..Today I made these and he requested them for next Tuesday.Mine spread out more..however I may have put a tbsp more pb..and did big scoops.Thank you!!Printing as a keeper:)♥
I adapted these for my specific dietary needs. I subbed Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour for the all-purpose flour. I’m allergic to peanuts, so I combined cashew butter, sunflower seed butter, and Nutella to replace the 1 cup of peanut butter (bc I didn’t have a full cup of just one nut butter! Ha ha!) The cookies are a lovely mocha color thanks to the Nutella, the texture is perfectly chewy, and the flavor is chocolatey w/a hint of nuttiness from both the nut butters and the oats. So scrumptious! It’s a blessing to be able to enjoy cookies, too, instead of just watching my family get their sweets fix w/o me. Thank you, Sally!!
So so so goood!! I remember your last recipe you had us soak the oats in milk… either way, really good! Thank you for being so wonderful! Love love your recipes!!
I love your blog and look here first when I want a new recipe. Your recipes are tested and I love the ingredients in grams. I just tried these cookies and they were very good. I noticed that some of the comments found the peanut butter flavor too strong. I found the opposite. I thought the chocolate overwhelmed the peanut butter and will probably cut back on the chocolate chips next time.
I’m so happy that you use and trust my blog, Denny! Taste is so subjective which may be why I love cookies so much- it’s easy to adjust things like the add ins for personal preference!
I am making these for my daughters wedding but making them monster cookies by using m&ms too. The recipe is delicious and the cookies stay fresh for days.
Delicious!! A friend I shared them with wants to know if they can be made without the peanut butter and still come out thick like these did.
The peanut butter is an essential ingredient in this particular recipe, although you can try substituting a nut-free butter. I would recommend your friend try my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookies/
Amazing recipe! I tweaked it slightly by using salted butter instead of adding salt, adding a teaspoon of almond extract for some extra nutty flavour, and putting in 1 2/3 cups quick oats since we didn’t have any rolled oats. The consistency is amazing – they’re still chewy and moist 2 days later. I’ll be bookmarking this for sure!
I made these with Bobs Red Mill QUICK steel oats. I just used 1/4 cup less oatmeal. I like to try recipes exactly as suggested, but accidentally bought the wrong oatmeal at the store (FYI, Quaker “hearty oats” are steel cut too, but not a quick version) so I used the oatmeal I already had because it was late.
Anyway….delicious! Fat! Moist, even 2 days later. Will make them again! Might even use the quick steel oats again!
The best recipe ever.
Hi Sally, can I use quick instant oats instead old fashioned rolled oats? Thanks
Hi Sylvia! Quick oats are more powdery and dry out the cookies. I recommend sticking with whole oats.
My 13 and my 8 year special needs daughter just made this recipe. We put our own spin on it adding coconut. The mix smells SO GOOD. We can’t wait to see how they turn out ❤.
Thank you Sally for a wonderful cookie recipe!