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.
Omg…. these cookies ! Drooling! They are fantastic! The only PB I had at my house was pb with honey (Peter pan brand) and they are amazing! I will definitely be making this recipe again! I even think omitting the chocolate, they will still be so good! I used instant oats because that is all I had and it didn’t dry them out at all either ( instant oats tend to be more powdery and dry out the cookies). Overall, this is one of the best cookie recipes I have found online!
Hi Sally you refer to rolling the dough if it’s been refrigerated over an hour is it supposed to be rolled either way? thank you and they taste really good. Just wondering if I am missing a step
So delicious! Thank you Sally, your recipes are always amazing!
So good! I use self rising flour and crunchy PB and man.. these are good! Thank you so much for the recipe! Can’t wait for my hubby to try them ☺️
absolutely amazing! I’ve used this recipe twice now, exactly as stated and they turn out beautifully! I can cook ANYTHING great, but I haven’t been known to be a good baker- these prove otherwise!! Delicious!
My favourite cookie recipe ever. I don’t say that lightly either. The oatmeal and peanut butter flavours and textures are not over powering and compliment each other perfectly! My mouth is watering just thinking about them.
Sally, could these be made with vegan butter or lactose free butter? I’m BF and my baby has a lactose sensitivity but the holidays just won’t be complete without these. Thank you!
Hi Tabitha! I’m so glad you love these cookies. I haven’t personally tested them with a vegan or lactose-free butter so I can’t say for certain, but let me know if you give it a try!
Speaking of alternative diets. I’m Low Carb and was looking for a Low Carb Peanut Butter, *Noatmeal* (we use Hemp Hearts to sub.). I just couldn’t find a good one, so I went searching for a traditional recipe I could modify. Yours won by a mile!!! Thanks for the inspiration. So if others are interested, I used Hemp Hearts for the Oatmeal, and Monk Fruit Granulated and Monk Fruit Golden, for the sugars, and Sugar Free Hershey’s Chocolate Chips. They turned out perfect and delicious delicious!!! Thanks again!!!
These cookies are everything. Amazing. Thick, chewy, and soft, even four days later. And an easy recipe to make with kids!
AMAZING!!! I’m absolutely in love with these cookies. Thank you for the great recipe! I made them without the chocolate chips – everything else I kept the same and they turned out perfectly. Next time I’ll add the chocolate!
Hi Sally,
Do you press down the cookie dough before baking them?
Or just scoop and leave them as they are (partially round) on the baking tray?
Hi Emily, We don’t press them down – just leave in a round shape and they will spread out enough but still remain beautifully puffy!
These are delicious. I used a 1.5-Tbsp, leveled-off scoop of dough and got about 60 perfectly sized cookies. My husband had a great idea for a variation, which we’ll try next time: Substitute equal parts M&Ms and raisins for the chocolate chips and call them GORP cookies.
i just made the recipe up and didn’t see your note about natural peanut butter until after i had mixed it all. Would adding in another egg or a smaller baking time prevent them from drying out and crumbling you think?
I have not baked yet, its in the fridge chilling at this time.
Thanks!
Hi Savannah, I’m unsure if adding an egg would help if it’s already chilled. You can certainly try a shorter bake time – they will still have a good flavor!
I’ve made this recipe a few times now. They turn out perfect every time! So yummy. It’s always a hit no matter who I make them for
These are seriously my favorite cookies. They’re everything I look for in a cookie! The one small change I make is to finely chop half of the chocolate chips, so you get tiny little slivers of chocolate dispersed throughout the dough.
These cookies came out great and went over big. I was afraid that the recipe would come out like a lot of oatmeal cookie recipes, dry and tasteless, but they were excellent and it yielded 5 dozen cookies. Super recipe!
My favorite cookie of all time! They freeze exceptionally well which I really like becase I can have a wonderful cookie whenever I want one. Soooooo very good!
This is one of the best cookies I’ve ever made. Just the right amount of peanut butter and oatmeal and of course a few more chocolate chips never hurt. This cookie has a soft middle with a little crisp around the edges. I doubled the recipe and froze the 2nd batch of cookie dough. Hubby and co- workers enjoyed them.
BTW, I would like to say to Sally this is a GREAT website. Easy to navigate and you’ve packed if with a ton of useful information !! Thank you, Thank you.
5 STARS ALL THE WAY! Where do I begin? Have no fear when cranking that kitchen aid mixer to high when combining the liquid ingredients per the recipe! I was a little hesitant at first and noticed the almost mousse like texture, and worried the cookies will get too soft and spread. But once the flour, oats, and chocolate are added, and the dough is refrigerated? the end result will be a big fat cookie, SO THICK, so chewy, so yummy, so chocolatey….please help me from not eating another one ~.~
Super love this recipe. Since I made this cookies, I never thought making other cookies because it has all i wanted – PB, oats and chocolate.
Hi!
If I want to add raisins to this recipe, should I reduce the amount if chocolate chips?
Thanks!
Hi Dorothy, Yes you can replace some chocolate chips with raisins. Just keep the total amount of add-ins to 2 and 1/2 cups (450g). Enjoy!
The only cookies I make now! They are just THAT GOOD!!! Passed this on to all my friends and family!
I don’t have any chocolate chips on hand. 🙁 If you don’t put any chocolate chips, should you adjust the recipe at all?
Hi Julie, simply omit the chocolate chips. No other changes necessary- they will still be delicious!
I absolutely love these! I’m going to have to ration them out so I don’t inhale the entire batch in a couple of days. I used mini chocolate chips and it makes them seem more chocolatey. Maybe next time I could add M&Ms since I didn’t get great results with your monster cookie recipe. Thanks for another great recipe, Sally! Hope your maternity leave is going fabulously.
I’ll be making these cookies and will be shipping them. Because of the heat I’m assuming the chocolate chips would melt even if I packed them well. Would toffee bits work in this recipe instead?
Hi Rose, you can definitely sub the chocolate chips with toffee bits. Should taste wonderful with all the peanut butter flavor.
Hi Sally, can I used instant oatmeal instead old fashion rolled oatmeal? Does it works?
Hi Lisa, Quick oats are more powdery and dry out the cookies. I recommend sticking with whole oats.
Hi Sally! Do you have a recipe for Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies – without oatmeal? I have a recipe that tastes good but they are fragile and fall apart when picking them up. Love your website and recipes!
Hi Jan, Try our bakery-style peanut butter chunk cookies or our white chocolate peanut butter cookies and use any kind of chocolate chip in place of the white chocolate chips. I hope you love them!
I used one of the calculators you recommended per 1 cookie
200 calories
Total fat 11.70 g
Cholesterol 27.10 mg
Sodium 171 mg
Potassium 77.20 mg
Total carb 22.90 g
Dietary fiber 1.4 g
Sugars 13,10
Protein 4 g.
I found Sally’s Baking Addiction last winter when I was looking for cookie recipes. I’ve made three different kinds of cookies and Zucchini Muffins. Everything has been fantastic.
Can this dough be frozen? Thank you.
Hi Elaine, yes! This cookie dough can be frozen. We recommend freezing cookie dough balls for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw.
Was looking for a new twist on a peanut butter cookie recipe. Came across this one with lots of good reviews and I had all ingredients so gave it a shot. It was a hit! The kids raved (one doesn’t like peanut butter btw but they’re pretty easy to please) … the real test was the husband who never compliments anything even if he likes it, and he said ‘the cookie was good’! That’s basically gushing for him lol. He had one for breakfast too. It’s a keeper, going into rotation! I made as written, chilled then baked at 350 for 12 mins. Let sit on pan. Fluffy and with a nice chew from oatmeal. Agree with other comments this would be easy to add different ingredients and still be great.
Brilliant!! I did use rolled spelt instead of rolled oats because that’s what I had on hand. The recipe worked great, I live at an altitude of about 2600 feet. Low humidity. I baked them at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. Perfectly baked. My husband likes oatmeal cookies, my daughter likes peanut butter, and my granddaughters like chocolate chip. They work for everyone!! Thanks!!
Don’t make these unless you want to eat 1,000 of them. They are SO GOOD. I am not usually a fan of chocolate chips in my cookies, but these have me changing my tune. I’ll be making these again FOR SURE!
Excellent cookie recipe! Thanks for including the weights, I think I get better results when using them to bake.