Sometimes you need a little something sweet in a hurry, and without an oven. These no bake peanut butter oatmeal cookies are an easy treat the whole family will love. Luckily they only take a handful of ingredients and a few minutes to make.

Close plate of no bake peanut butter cookies with oatmeal, ready to eat.

If you are a peanut butter lover, these cookies are the perfect treat for you. They are a lot like the classic no bake cookies, but without chocolate.

While we love chocolate, sometimes it is fun to let the peanut butter really shine. This gives you full peanut butter flavor with that classic oatmeal chew.

A Quick and Easy Treat

Have you ever had one of those nights where you just need a little something sweet but there’s nothing in the house? I have those all the time.

My sweet tooth is always calling for a little something more. And while you might not believe this if you have perused the dessert section of this site, but I do actually have a little bit of self control at the store.

So I try not to buy too many easy sweet treats to have on hand. If all I have to do when a craving hits is open a package, that is too easy.

Ingredients including peanut butter, sugar, butter, milk, and oats ready to be made into no bake cookies.

Stirring creamy peanut butter into hot sugar, milk, and butter mixture.

I like to make it a bit of a challenge.

The problem is… I know my way to the kitchen. And gosh darn it if I don’t know how to whip something up when it’s needed.

So for better or for worse we are always just a few short minutes away from a treat. Especially when armed with recipes like this one.

You just need to grab a few ingredients, most of which are pantry staples. Then you can be enjoying the fruits of your labors in about 20 minutes.

Adding old fashioned oats to hot peanut butter mixture in pan.

Peanut butter no bake mixture in pan, ready to be scooped into cookies.

Making Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies

This recipe is a lot like the chocolate and peanut butter version from my childhood. You start by boiling some sugar, butter, and milk together.

Watch the mixture closely and once it starts boiling, let it boil for exactly one minute. If you boil it too long, the cookies will be dry and crumbly.

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If you don’t boil it long enough, they won’t set all the way. One minute is the perfect amount of time to hold them together but maintain a soft interior.

Perfect every time

If you are worried about judging the doneness of the sugar mixture just by a timer, you can use an instant read thermometer to make sure they are done. The boiling sugar mixture should be about 235F.

Once your sugar mixture is up to temperature, go ahead and remove the pan from the heat. Then stir in the peanut butter and vanilla.

I like to use regular commercial peanut butter for these kinds of recipes because it gives the most consistent results. I haven’t tried it with the natural peanut butter that needs stirred first, but you can let me know how it goes if you try it.

Now it is time to stir in the oats. I use old fashioned oats, because that is what I always have in the cabinet.

Using cookie scoop to portion out hot peanut butter and oatmeal mixture onto wax paper to form cookies.

Peanut butter no bake cookies setting up on a wax paper lined cookie sheet.

Quick cooking or instant oats also work. In this recipe there isn’t a lot of difference between the two.

Scoop the mixture onto a sheet of wax paper or parchment paper and let the cookies set up. To speed up the process, put the trays in the refrigerator.

Storage

Store no bake cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. Or freeze the cookies for even longer storage.

Hand holding peanut butter no bake cookie with oatmeal.

Peanut butter oatmeal no bake cookie with bite missing showing dense texture in front of plate of more cookies.

What did the boys think?

My husband isn’t the biggest fan of peanut butter, but even he went back for more and then a few more. Which is a really good thing.

He and little man were the only thing that kept me from knocking back the whole batch by myself.

They are so easy, so delicious, so peanut buttery and so melt in your mouth good. In fact, I don’t know why you are still reading me yammering on about them. Skip to the recipe and run to the kitchen as fast as you can!

4.79 from 28 ratings

No Bake Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Author: Carlee

Servings: Servings

Peanut butter no-bake cookies are full of peanut butter flavor and rolled oat goodness. They only require a few simple ingredients, and are incredibly easy to make!

Prep: 5

Cook: 10

Chill Time 15

Total: 30

Ingredients

Instructions

Cover a baking sheet with wax paper and set aside.
In a large saucepan over medium heat, stir together 1½ cups granulated sugar, ¼ cup butter, and ½ cup milk. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently and keep at a rolling boil for one minute.
Turn off burner and stir in 1 cup creamy peanut butter until smooth. Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 3 cups old fashioned oats until combined.
Working quickly, drop in desired sized mounds on wax paper.
Allow to cool and set and then serve.

Notes

Sometimes I like to stir in a Tablespoon or two of ground flax seed with the oatmeal.
Because these cookies are no bake, you can make them whatever size you would like. I usually use either a small or medium cookie scoop to make portioning the cookies easier. The recipe makes 26 medium cookies (1½ Tablespoons each) or about 40 small cookies (1 Tablespoon each)