These are hands down the Best Healthy Protein Cookies recipe! These easy vegan protein cookies can be made with any protein powder and are so delicious! Gluten free, dairy free, easy to make and tasty – you will love this yummy treat!
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If you’re anything like me – you try to sneak in extra protein wherever/however you can. So many people under eat protein!
It’s easy to blend in protein powder to things like a Strawberry Banana Smoothie, but baked goods are the perfect place to sneak in protein.
Healthy Protein Donuts, Oatmeal Raisin Protein Bars, and Healthy Banana Protein Muffins are some of our most popular healthy recipes, so it only made sense that we perfected a protein cookie recipe for you!
Why you’ll love this Protein Cookie Recipe
This protein cookie recipe is our favorite for so many reasons
- Easy to make
- Soft & fudgy! These cookies are soft, chewy and delicious – we love them!
- Great for meal prep – If you have a sweet tooth, these are awesome to prep and have on hand for when the dessert craving strikes!
There are a lot of different protein cookies on the shelves of supplement/health food stores – but honestly… those aren’t exactly healthy. Here’s what we think about them…
Are protein cookies good for you?
These protein cookies have a pretty good balance of protein, fat, and carbs. Each cookie has 90 calories, 8g carbs, 6g fat, and 5g protein. They’re a better alternative to a regular chocolate chip cookie, but should still be treated as a treat.
These cookies are much better for you than a Lenny & Larry’s cookie or even a Quest cookie. This protein cookie recipe is also much smaller, so you’d need about 4 cookies to stack up to eating to 1 Lenny Larry’s Cookie.
Are Lenny & Larry’s Cookies Healthy?
For comparison:
Lenny & Larry’s Chocolate Chip Protein Cookies: 420 calories, 12g fat, 59g carbs, and 16g of protein (per serving)
Quest Chocolate Chip Protein Cookies: 250 calories, 17g fat, 19g carbs, 15g protein (per serving)
4 of our protein cookies: 360 calories, 24g fat, 32g carbs, 20g of protein
Pre-made protein cookies have on average 20 ingredients, whereas our homemade protein cookies only have 6 ingredients. The ingredients in pre-made protein cookies are less than stellar and often loaded with gums, thickeners, and sugar.
In our opinion, Lenny & Larry’s or Quest Chocolate Chip Protein Cookies aren’t really healthy for you. They should be considered a treat.. not post workout nutrition.
The same goes for our protein cookies. A cookie is a cookie, but these have minimal ingredients, no preservatives, and are much lower in sugar!
Here’s what you’ll need to make them:
What you’ll need for Protein Powder Cookies
These protein cookies on require 6 simple ingredients:
Our favorite protein powder is from Now Foods. You can find substitutions for the ingredients below in the green shaded substitutions box.
P.S. We have a Healthy No Bake Protein Balls recipe that you’ll absolutely love if you like our protein cookies!
How to pick the best healthy peanut butter:
Not all peanut butter is the same! When we buy a peanut butter we look for 3 things:
- That the ingredients contain just nuts (and maybe some salt).
- That there are no added sugars. There is no need for added sugar in nut butter.
- That there is no added oil. Added oils are unnecessary, and usually used as a filler to mimic the taste/texture of nuts instead of using them (it saves manufacturers $$!)
Some of our favorite places/brands of peanut butter are Costco (They have a 2 pack of organic creamy peanut butter. It’s cheaper to buy in store), Crazy Richard’s, Spread the Love, Whole Foods Brand, and Trader Joe’s
How to make Protein Cookies
Making protein cookies is SO easy.
- Just combine your protein powder, peanut butter, coconut flour, baking soda, and applesauce together until combined.
- The protein cookie dough will be sticky and wet, it’s not your typical cookie dough.
- Once combined, fold in your chocolate chips.
- Roll the dough into 2 tablespoon balls and press down to flatten on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. (We love this cookie scoop!) The cookies will not spread on their own, so flattening them is necessary!
- Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes and enjoy.
If you want, you can double the cookie size and make each cookie 4 tablespoons. This will make them closer in size to a Lenny & Larry’s or Quest cookie. They may need to bake for about 1 minute more.
These cookies are just a little bit crispy on the outside, and perfectly soft on the inside while having delicious chocolate chips throughout. They’re seriously SO yummy. We like to eat them right out of the oven!
Protein Cookie Recipe Substitutions & Variations
There aren’t a ton of substitutions for this recipe, but here are some that you can make!
Coconut Flour: You can not substitute coconut flour. I tried to make these cookies without coconut flour multiple times and it did not work with white flour, whole wheat flour or oat flour. The cookies were dry, hard, and nearly inedible. Baking with protein powder is difficult, and the coconut flour + protein combo is the best way to ensure you get a cookie with the right consistency. Trust me on this! You can get coconut flour on amazon here. It also makes the cookies gluten free!
Protein Powder: I tested this recipe with vanilla whey, vegan, and egg white protein powder. I would not recommend using egg white protein powder as it made the cookies very dry. Whey and vegan protein powder both worked well in the cookies.
The whey protein cookies had a bit of a crisper outside, while the vegan cookies were very soft. I haven’t tried using chocolate protein powder, but I’m sure it would work great.
Peanut Butter: I haven’t tried it, but I think cashew butter or almond butter would be a good substitute for peanut butter. Sunflower butter may work but I can’t be sure without testing it.
We do not recommend using crunchy peanut butter. You can’t use powdered peanut butter. The fat in regular peanut butter is essential for these cookies to come out. correctly
Applesauce: We don’t recommend any substitutions for applesauce.
Chocolate Chips: Chocolate chips are optional but recommended. We like Lily’s chocolate chips for baking.
Healthy Protein Cookies FAQs
Adding protein powder to baking is a science! You need to make sure you have enough fat or liquid to compensate for the protein powder being added. Protein powder can make baked goods very dry!
No, protein powder can’t replace flour. It’s very different than flour. It has no gluten in it compared to regular flour which does have gluten in it. Flour gives baked goods a light, fluffy texture, while protein powder can give baked goods a dense, dry texture.
No, a protein cookie is not a meal replacement. Most do not have enough protein, calories or carbs to replace a meal.
No, heat doesn’t destroy whey protein. It’s fine to bake with whey protein. If you were cooking it at excessively high heat it could cause damage, but it’s otherwise fine.
How to store Vegan Protein Cookies
Storing: We recommend storing these cookies in the refrigerator. They will last up to 1 week in an airtight container. You can store the cookies at room temperature, but they are relatively moist and more apt to get moldy because there are no preservatives.
Freezing: These cookies freeze SO well. Let them cool completely, place them in a bag or container and freeze. When ready to eat, simply pop them in the microwave for 15-20 seconds until they are warm.
We don’t recommend freezing unbaked dough. I would bake the cookies and then freeze them.
Protein Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup coconut flour
- 1 cup vanilla whey protein powder or vegan protein powder – see notes above
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 1/2 cups applesauce
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3/4 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 and prepare a parchment lined baking sheet
- In a bowl mix together coconut flour, protein powder, peanut butter, applesauce and baking soda.
- Once combined, fold in chocolate chips.
- Drop cookies by 2 tablespoon balls. Flatten with the palm of your hand just slightly.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes until edges/bottom are browned.
Bonnie Arrant says
These look good! Peanut powder mixed with coconut oil would probably work as would mixing with a light olive oil if you are concerned about the fat in a store bought peanut butter.
The Clean Eating Couple says
Hi Bonnie – I wouldn’t recommend that. I don’t think it will save you much in terms of fat per cookie, but I’d be more concerned about it ruining the batter.
Melissa says
Best protein cookie recipe I have ever tried! And so very easy to make. Definitely a must try!
The Clean Eating Couple says
Thank you so much!! I’m so glad you liked them!
Sherri Miles says
How much mashed bananas would you recommend in place of the applesauce?
The Clean Eating Couple says
Hi Sherri – I haven’t tested this so I can’t give you a recommendation. Sorry!
Natalie says
My cookies came out really dry. Is there a way to fix that?
The Clean Eating Couple says
Hi Natalie – did you follow the ingredients exactly as stated in the recipe? No substitutions will work for this recipe!
Beatrice Barajas says
Hello, I am curious if I can add almond butter for this cookie recipe?
The Clean Eating Couple says
I haven’t tried it but I think you could sub peanut butter for almond butter!
Rob says
Would PB2 Or PB Fit work as a substitute for peanut butter?
The Clean Eating Couple says
No it wouldn’t. The fat from the peanut butter is necessary for the texture of these cookies
Rob says
Awesome alternative to a sugar and fat filled cookie, my whole family loved them.
The Clean Eating Couple says
Thanks, Rob! So glad you all liked them!
Loren says
Do not substitute bananas for the applesauce. The dough will be dry and crumbly.
The Clean Eating Couple says
Sorry this didn’t work for you, Loren! We don’t recommend that as a substitute
Tori Gillispie says
I made the cookies. They were pretty dry but tasty.
The Clean Eating Couple says
Hi Tori – did you follow the recipe or did you make any substitutions? If you used different ingredients this could have made the cookies dry
Kelly Shaw says
Even though you said not to use oat flour, I tried anyway. The cookies came out great!! They are soft, moist and baked perfectly. I used oatmeal I grinded into flour myself so I’m not sure if that is different from oat flour you buy, but wanted to comment that oat flour does work!
Amazing recipe overall! My husband and I love these cookies!
The Clean Eating Couple says
So glad it worked out for you, Kelly! Glad you enjoyed them!
Bonita says
I made these for my INCREDIBLY picky eater who needs more protein in his life (like A LOT MORE) thinking he wouldn’t touch them, like everything else, but he’s had one or two for breakfast each day since I made them. So thank you for this recipe!! I consider it a game-changer. As he is intolerant to peanuts, I did use creamy cashew butter, and it worked beautifully.
The Clean Eating Couple says
So so glad he liked them!! You can check out these or – maybe he will like those too!!
Karen says
HI! I have just popped these in the oven but am curious about your sizes, as I got 26 using 1tblsp for each ball and you say it yields 38 with 2 tblsp balls. I didn’t miss anything, so I wondered if you meant teaspoons? Thanks.
The Clean Eating Couple says
Hi Karen – I’m not sure what went wrong with this. It could’ve been your protein powder? But the recipe is written correctly! There should be roughly 38 cookies
Aleah says
I’ve made this recipe twice. Once I subbed out the applesauce for pumpkin puree- and I think I like them even better.
For a “healthy cookie,” They are pretty decent. I chill the dough before baking. And I don’t like them fresh, I only like them after they have chilled in the fridge overnight, because then they become a little more moist. I store them in the fridge and I eat them cold for breakfast with my matcha or coffee, because they are too dry to eat without a drink. But they are satisfying- filling and just sweet enough. I use dark chocolate chips instead as well.
Melanie says
I love these! I had part of a baby food pouch to use up that my daughter didn’t care for so I used that, applesauce, vegan protein powder, vanilla and a couple splashes of almond milk. Turned out amazing! I will definitely make them again!