Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies are a yummy, healthy breakfast! Made with only 8 ingredients, they are great for easy meal prepping & gluten free.
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Is there really anything better than cookies for breakfast? I think not.
These Healthy Pumpkin Cookies are the perfect combo of delicious, hearty, and fun for your fall breakfasts! They’re made with wholesome ingredients like oats, pecans, and fall spices.
Plus, they’re sweetened with just a little bit of maple syrup and have no refined sugars.
I’ve always been a fan of oatmeal, but hate cooking it. Yes, my Protein Packed Egg White Oatmeal is delicious, but it still requires you to wash a sticky, oatmeal covered pan.. who has time for that?!
Baked oatmeal is a great option (especially this Chocolate Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal) but even though it only requires one dish, it’s not very portable (unless you put it in a container to go!)
That’s where oatmeal breakfast cookies come in!
These healthy breakfast cookies are easily customizable and SO delicious! I’ve included substitutions below.
Ingredients for Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies:
Healthy pumpkin cookies are made with only a few pantry staples. I used:
- pumpkin puree
- coconut oil
- maple syrup
- old fashioned oats (gluten free if necessary)
- ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves
- chia seeds
- pecans
You can find substitutions for all of these ingredients below in the green shaded substitutions box.
Making Healthy Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies is simpler than you would think!
How to make Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies:
- Put all your ingredients in a bowl.
- Mix all ingredients.
- Place your cookies on a parchment paper lined baking sheet + bake.
Like I said before, you can easily customize these breakfast cookies – or use one of our other breakfast cookie recipes like these Healthy Banana Breakfast Cookies or Healthy Gingerbread Breakfast Cookies!
Substitutions for oatmeal breakfast cookies:
These cookies are pretty versatile. Here are a few ways you can customize them!
To make nut free: omit pecans
To make vegan: You can sub the egg with one flax egg
Oil: If you don’t have coconut oil you can use olive oil or avocado oil
Sweetener: You can sub maple syrup with honey. These cookies may not be sweet enough for you/your family’s taste. You can always add more maple syrup if you prefer your breakfast sweeter, but I wanted to make these cookies as low in sugar as possible.
Add ins: You can add chocolate chips to these cookies to make them more dessert-like. Nuts (like chopped walnuts) and seeds are also great add ins!
Pumpkin: You can substitute pumpkin puree with mashed banana or applesauce if you don’t have it!
Spices: You could also try adding pumpkin pie spice instead of the other spices.
Can you use quick cook or steel cut oats in this recipe?
No, unfortunately, you can’t use quick cook or steel cut oats to make these healthy breakfast cookies. Quick cook oats can get too mushy when mixed with these ingredients as they are often smaller and less hearty than old fashioned oats.
With steel cut oats, they can’t soak up the ingredients and cook in time. They need to be cooked for much longer over with heat to make them edible. You’ll wind up with a mess unless you use old fashioned oats.
How to store pumpkin breakfast cookies:
Refrigerator: I recommend storing these healthy pumpkin oatmeal cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. I would not store these on the counter as they will likely get moldy/stale tasting due to the moisture in the cookie/lack of preservatives.
Freezing: These cookies freeze very well! You can put them in a ziploc bag or a container and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Whether you meal prep these cookies or just enjoy them for a lazy fall breakfast, I know you’ll love them!
If you’re looking for other pumpkin recipes, check out these 30 Healthy Pumpkin Recipes
Healthy Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup pumpkin puree
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil melted and cooled
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 egg
- 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats gluten free if necessary
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- ½ cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat liner
- In a bowl whisk together pumpkin, coconut oil, maple syrup and egg.
- Stir in oats, spices, chia seeds and pecans.
- Drop the cookies in 1 tablespoon balls on the baking sheet about 1 inch apart (12 cookies per sheet) Press flat with palm of your hand. You can top with additional pecans if you’d like.
- Bake at 350 for 17-19 minutes until bottom of the cookies have browned. Allow the cookies to cool and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 5-6 days.
Video
Notes
- To make nut free: omit pecans
- To make vegan: sub egg with one flax egg
- Oil: If you don’t have coconut oil you can use olive oil
- Sweetener: You can sub maple syrup with honey
Chelsea says
These are delicious!! I made them and freezed half per the suggestion in the recipe. Have been heating them up + topping with peanut butter for breakfast. So good!
The Clean Eating Couple says
Yum!! Love the peanut butter on top!
Sherry says
Just found this and was wondering is the nutritional information per cookie? Is a serving a single cookie?
Thanks!!
The Clean Eating Couple says
Hi! Yes, this recipe makes 12 cookies and the serving size on the nutrition facts is listed as 1 cookie. You could of course eat more or less, but that’s what the nutrition facts are for. Thanks!
Mary says
The instructions mention vanilla extract but I didn’t see it listed in the ingredients. How much vanilla do you suggest?
The Clean Eating Couple says
Sorry for the typo. I removed it from the recipe – vanilla extract is expensive and it’s not necessary for these cookies but if you’d like you could add 1 teaspoon!
Marisa says
Great recipe! I’m always looking for new ways to use pumpkin and this is perfect. All of the delicious pumpkin flavor and zero guilt starting my day with one of these.
The Clean Eating Couple says
So happy you liked them, Marisa! thank you so much!
Maria says
I’ve made these exactly per the recipe and have also subbed in butter, pumpkin pie filling, raisins and probably something else I’m forgetting and they’ve been tasty any of these ways! Great versatile recipe that keeps me from drinking coffee on an empty stomach and makes sure I’m getting some yummy oatmeal, even if it is disguised as a cookie!
J says
Do the chia seeds need to be soaked before using (like in making a ‘chia egg’ with one tablespoon chia seeds and three tablespoons water)? Or do they just get put in dry? Or could they be left out if I don’t have any?
Also, could the recipe be doubled?
Thanks so much.
The Clean Eating Couple says
No, they don’t need to be soaked! put them in dry. I haven’t tried making it without them, it might affect the texture, but I think it would be ok without them! You can double the recipe!