Have brown bananas? Skip the bread and make banana cookies! My recipe is carefully crafted to have a chewy (not cakey!) texture and rich banana flavor. Recipe includes a how-to video!
Soft & Chewy Banana Cookies 🍌
For when you’re not in the mood for another loaf of banana bread, banana pudding, or another batch of banana muffins, it may just be time to give my banana cookies a whirl. A Google search will populate dozens of tasty recipes, but almost all of them boast a soft, almost cake-like texture. I don’t know about you, but I when I want a cookie, I’m expecting it to be chewy, not cakey!
I’ve adapted my recipe to account for the extra moisture from the bananas, and the end result is a true banana cookie recipe with a classic CHEWY (not cakey!) cookie texture 🙌
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s perfect for using up those last few brown bananas lingering at the bottom of your fruit basket. Some banana recipes call for a bunch of brown bananas, but this one is perfect for using up the 1 or 2 you thought you’d eat in time, but didn’t.
- No mixer needed. Since the recipe starts with melted butter (another key ingredient for chewy cookies). Using melted butter in this recipe means the dough will need to chill for a bit before baking though.
- Includes fun add-ins like pecans (or walnuts!), cinnamon, and chocolate chips. You can always leave these out if you prefer, though.
- Carefully crafted to have a classic soft and chewy cookie texture. Unlike many other recipes, my cookies are NOT cakey (we have banana cake if you’re looking to fix a cake craving!)!
Jump to:
Ingredients
- Very ripe bananas. If there’s one piece of advice I can give you for this recipe, it’s to make sure your bananas are about as old (or ripe) as possible. Ripe bananas are easier to mash and have the sweetest and strongest banana flavor.
- Egg yolk. I took a note from my equally chewy pumpkin cookies and omitted the egg white in this recipe. If included, it would add excess moisture to the dough, creating that cakey texture we are so carefully trying to avoid.
- Melted butter. Melted butter imparts a rich, buttery flavor and encourages spreading (as opposed to creaming cool butter with sugar, which would make the cookies fluffier and cakier). If you want to get fancy and make banana cookies with brown butter, hop on over to my recipe for chocolate chip banana bread cookies, which is a more gourmet version of this recipe.
- Brown sugar. I like to use a 50/50 blend of light and dark brown sugar. All light brown sugar will work if that’s all you have on hand, but I don’t recommend using all dark brown.
- Add-ins. I like pecans and a blend of milk chocolate and semisweet chocolate chips. You could always swap the pecans with walnuts, or do toasted pecans or walnuts instead! For the chocolate, really any kind will work–even peanut butter chips would be tasty here! You can also omit the add-ins entirely.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
SAM’S TIP: For pretty cookie tops, reserve about ¼ cup of chocolate chips for pressing into the cookies just after they’ve come out of the oven. It gives them a bakery-style look!
How to Make Banana Cookies
- Step 1: Mash the banana. Use a potato masher or fork to mash the banana in a large bowl, then stir in the melted butter, sugars, egg yolk, and vanilla.
- Step 2: Combine wet and dry ingredients. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then gradually add them to the banana mixture. I like to do this in 3-4 parts; adding them all at once could make the dough difficult to work with.
- Step 3: Fold in the add-ins. Add your nuts and chocolate chips, then fold them into the dough until evenly incorporated. Cover the bowl and place in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Step 4: Scoop & bake. Drop 1 ½ tablespoon scoops of dough onto parchment lined baking sheets. Bake for about 12 minutes and let cool completely on the baking sheet before removing and enjoying. If you wanted to add chocolate chips to the tops of your cookies, make sure to do this within 1-2 minutes of removing them from the oven; otherwise they won’t stick.
SAM’S TIP: For neater, more uniform cookies, roll the dough between your palms before baking. It might be bit sticky when you do this, but this is normal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! I have instructions for freezing all types of cookie dough in my post on how to freeze cookie dough. It’s one of my favorite things to do–makes it SO easy to have fresh baked cookies on hand any time.
As long as they are in an airtight container, they’ll keep for up to 4 days. You do not need to refrigerate these cookies.
I carefully designed this recipe to make chewy cookies, so if yours are cakey, something definitely went wrong!
Two of the most common mistakes that can cause this include using a whole egg (we skip the egg white for a very important reason!), using more banana than called for, or adding too much flour to the dough. It can be VERY easy to over-measure flour; I really recommend learning how to use a kitchen scale for the most accurate baking.
More Chocolate Banana Recipes
If you love fruit-infused cookies, try my strawberry cookies or lemon cookies next!
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! Subscribe to my newsletter to be notified of all the newest recipes, and find my free recipe tutorials on YouTube 💜
Banana Cookies
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup (185 g) well-mashed very-ripe bananas (this is typically 1 ½ bananas for me)
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter melted and cooled until no longer warm to the touch
- 1 cup (200 g) light brown sugar firmly packed
- ⅔ cup (135 g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon table salt
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ cups (255 g) chocolate chips use either milk chocolate or semisweet, or a blend of the two!
- 1 cup (115 g) chopped walnuts optional
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Combine well-mashed banana, melted/cooled butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and stir well until completely combined.⅔ cup (185 g) well-mashed, 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, 1 cup (200 g) light brown sugar, ⅔ cup (135 g) granulated sugar, 1 large egg yolk, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour, 2 Tablespoons cornstarch, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ¾ teaspoon table salt, ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Gradually add flour mixture to butter/banana mixture until completely combined (I do this in 3-4 parts).
- Add chocolate chips and walnuts, if using, and stir until well-combined.1 ½ cups (255 g) chocolate chips, 1 cup (115 g) chopped walnuts
- Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes (or up to 24 hours).
- Once dough has nearly finished chilling, preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Scoop dough by 1 ½ Tablespoon-sized scoops and drop on prepared baking sheet, spacing at least 2” apart.
- Bake in 350F (175C) oven for 12-14 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes on baking sheet then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely before enjoying.
Notes
Storing
Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. Interestingly, I’ve found that the fresher these cookies are the stronger the banana flavor is!Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Lynn Warnicke
These are great!!
I used peanut butter chips and pecans
Will make again!!!
any chance you have tried to cut sugar a bit-my bananas are home grown and very sweet and that is the only thing about your recipe that gave me pause.
BTW- I actually like them better out of the refrigerator!!!
Many bananas will try your muffins next!!
Thanks
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
That sounds like a delicious combination, Lynn! Reducing the sugar a bit should be fine. Enjoy 😊
Elizabeth Perez
Mine came out like bread. Not sure what I did wrong.
Sam
Hi Elizabeth! That’s a bummer! It’s always hard to troubleshoot without being in the kitchen with you, but sometimes when people run into this issue it’s due to the flour accidentally being over-measured.
Jamie
These cookies have amazing flavor. The only thing is they spread out thin. I did refrigerate the dough and I didn’t make any changes. What could I have done wrong?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Jamie! Could it be that your butter may have been a little too warm when you added the sugars/wet ingredients? We’re happy they still tasted great though!
Lindsay P
These are incredible!! I used 16 crushed oreos instead of chocolate chips and they’re amazing. My dough was a little bit stickier looking, so maybe I needed to chill it longer or add more flour, but regardless they came out great. They’re like banana bread in a cookie. Absolutely love – thank you for this recipe and I love your videos!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Lindsay! 🙂
Laura
These are super easy and delicious.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you like them, Laura! 💛
Deborah Nicole
Hi these are BEAUTIFUL. My kids instantly said SAVE THIS RECIPE! will note that i basically halved the sugar, unintentially, because I decided to double the recipe but forgot the sugars. They still came out quite sweet enough. Also the only brown sugar I had on hand was swerve, but it worked.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Deborah! 🙂
Elaine Roede
I’m at a cabin in the mountains of Norway right now. I had some ripe bananas so I decided to make these cookies. I didn’t have any baking soda, so I just added a little more baking powder + a whipped egg white. They are sooo delicious‼️ Thank you for this wonderful and easy recipe‼️ ❤️
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy they turned out, Elaine! Enjoy the cookies (and the cabin–sounds lovely!) 😊
Amy
Hello, Would this recipe work as a cookie bar? Thank you
Sam
Hi Amy! I haven’t tried it myself, but I think it should work. 🙂
Rashmi Devaprasath
Would oats added to this recipe work? I could call it breakfast if it does. Right?
Sam
Hi Rashmi! I haven’t tried it to be sure. I think it could work though. I’m not sure how much you could add.
Evelynn
I just made these cookies with oats and they turned out great! You can swap out “quick” or “1-minute” oats and flour as a 1:1 ratio, so basically for every cup of oats you use, subtract a cup of flour from your recipe. I was afraid of putting too many oats so I did 1/2 cup quick oats and 2 1/2 cups flour. The final product isn’t too “oaty”, I think it was a nice texture.
Amy Dillon
Sam, these are delicious. I ate four of them right away! What I have found to be helpful is to watch several of your videos before making anything. You have tips and techniques (placing eggs in warm water to bring them to room temperature faster, for example) that are helpful for many recipes. Following your methods exactly yield excellent results. I really appreciate the time you take to create detailed recipes and videos. I can’t wait to see the result of my next attempt (and neither can my family and friends)!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Amy! Also, I’m incredibly impressed that you were able to stop at 4. 🤣
Cathy
I was wondering if I could freeze these I also added peanut butter chips
Sam
Hi Cathy! I haven’t frozen them myself, but you shouldn’t have any issues doing so. Peanut butter chips sound delicious. 🙂
Vicki
Mine look nothing like these. I rolled them into balls and that’s how they ended up. They didn’t melt down down or anything. Haven’t tasted them yet. We’ll see.
Sam
Hi Vicki! I’m so sorry this happened. 🙁 It sounds like there may have been a little too much flour in the dough. If you didn’t weigh your flour I recommend checking out my post on how to measure flour to hopefully prevent this in the future. 🙁
Ashley
Simple, easy and absolutely DELICIOUS! Thanks Sam!
Musang
My husband and daughter loves it! Big hit to them. Thank u for sharing this recipe.
Marcela
These cookies are so delicious!!
Juanita J Sparkes
No corn starch, will they still come out okay?
Sam
Hi Juanita! I would replace the corn starch with flour here if you don’t have any cornstarch. 🙂
Ma Yohana
Wonderful