With a rich banana flavor and soft, chewy texture, these Banana Cookies are a unique and fun twist on a traditional chocolate chip cookie. Recipe includes a how-to video!
Perfectly Textured Banana Cookies
Meet your new favorite cookie! These banana cookies are packed full of banana flavor, sprinkled with chocolate chips and walnuts, and baked to golden brown perfection. My other banana recipes are pretty popular around here (I’m looking at you, banana muffins and banana bread), and I have a feeling this recipe will be too.
Why You’ll Love My Recipe:
- The cookies come out soft and chewy, NOT cakey (we have banana cake if you’re looking to fix a cake craving!)!
- Comes together easily by hand–no mixer needed.
- It’s perfect for using up those last few brown bananas lingering at the bottom of your fruit basket.
- Can handle add-ins like chocolate chips and nuts, but will still bake up just fine without them.
- The dough can be made up to 24 hours in advance.
What You Need
I wanted these banana cookies to be a chewy and flavorful twist on chocolate chip cookies. Here are a few ingredients that will help us achieve that:
- 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. Not only are less ripe bananas more firm, but they are also less sweet and don’t have as strong of a flavor.
- Melted butter. Melted butter enriches the entire flavor of the cookie, but it also encourages some spreading (as opposed to creaming cool butter with sugar, which would make them fluffier and cakier).
- Brown sugar. I like to use a 50/50 blend of light and dark brown sugar. All light will work, but I’ve found that all dark brown sugar tends to be too rich and doesn’t balance quite as well with the banana flavor.
- Egg yolk. These banana cookies were inspired by my equally chewy pumpkin cookies. Like in that recipe, we’ll be using an egg yolk (no white!) for the perfect chewy texture.
SAM’S TIP: For pretty cookie tops, I like to reserve a few chocolate chips (about ¼ cup or so) for pressing into the cookies after they’ve come out of the oven. Simply let the cookies cool for a minute or two, then randomly (and gently!) nestle a few chips right in the top. It makes a noticeable difference!
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!
How to Make Banana Cookies
- Mash your very ripe bananas in a large bowl.
- Add the remaining wet ingredients and stir until combined.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then gradually add them to the wet ingredients.
- Fold in the chocolate chips and nuts, then cover and chill.
- Scoop your dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 12-14 minutes.
- Let the cookies cool on the sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
SAM’S TIP: For neater, more uniform cookies, roll the dough into smooth balls between your palms before baking. You may find the dough to be a bit sticky, but this is normal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! This dough can be made 24 hours in advance. Make sure to cover it tightly in plastic wrap before chilling.
Nope! I prefer to store my banana cookies at room temperature. As long as they’re in an airtight container, they’ll keep for up to 4 days.
Brown bananas have the most banana flavor, so they’re great for baking. Besides banana cookies, you can use your brown, spotty, and mushy bananas for delicious hummingbird cake, banana nut muffins, and banana cupcakes! They’re also delicious in oatmeal, smoothies, and milkshakes too.
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
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.
Juli
do you have a recommendation for a good gluten free flour to sub?
Sam
Hi Juli! Unfortunately I don’t have much experience with gluten free substitutes. 🙁
Monica
Could you add something like oatmeal to the cookie or would It change the consistency?
Sam
Hi Monica! You’d likely have to make some alterations to add oatmeal here and without having tried it, I can’t say for sure how it would work.
Ronalyn
Do you have a high altitude adjustment?
Sam
Hi Ronayln! Unfortunately, I am not familiar with high altitude baking so I can’t say for sure if there would be any adjustments needed for high altitude. If you do try it, I would love to know how it goes. 🙂
Julie
Delicious! Minimal clean up thanks to the measured weight amounts, and no need for a mixer! Sure to become a staple cookie for us.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Julie! 🙂
Sam
I’d appreciate please if the size of the 1.5 tbsp dough balls before cooking could be clarified, as I’m not in the USA and don’t have a sized dough scoop. Are they rounded, or flat tbsps for example? How much approx does each scoop weigh? It would be helpful if there were photos of each step, and I can’t see the video mentioned at the top of the recipe.
Sam
Hi Sam! I don’t have a weight on the scoops of dough, but it’s not an exact science on the size of the dough balls. I have a tablespoon scoop that I round a bit. If you have an ad blocker running it will prevent the video from showing up, but you can always find all of my videos on Youtube. I hope this helps! 🙂
Laurie R
These cookies were surprisingly delicious. Subtle banana flavor which I liked. Moist, soft and chewy. I added both milk and semi sweet chocolate chunks along with chopped pecans then glazed the tops of the baked cookies with melted white chocolate. Soooo good and everyone loved them. Thanks, Sam, for another wonderful recipe.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed, Laurie! Thank you so much for trying my recipe!
Skahoopii
My new favorite recipe. Love love love!!! Thank you for sharing.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Patti
These are amazing!! I made according to your recipe and had to make a few of my own adjustments. I added a half tsp of banana bakery emulsions, an extra tsp of cinnamon, and extra baking powder. my man days we have to buy bananas every week now do I van make these for his lunches! Thank you for sharing this recipe!!
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Patti! 🙂
Nancy
I can see why this recipe has 5*. Yum yum “) I also stuffed some with nutella 😋
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Nancy! 🙂
Maria B Rugolo
If you haven’t tried Sam’ banana cake, you’re missing out! These cookies are amazing!!!!!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed both recipes, Maria! Thanks for the review ❤️
Terry
Hi Sam! Silly question for you…can I turn these into cookie bars instead, using, I’m guessing, a 9 x 13″ pan?
I’m having serious dexterity issues at the moment, so scooping & rolling are beyond my abilities. But – I DO have REALLY ripe bananas 😧
Thanks so much, and have a great weekend!
Sam
Hi Terry! I haven’t tried it but I think it could work. 🙂
Anna D.
Perfect way to use overripe bananas when you don’t want to make banana bread. These cookies are chewy, not cakey, which is why I love them. I’ll definitely be making these again!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Anna! 🙂
Jeanne
I doubled the recipe & I wonder if I can freeze the leftover batter? Delicious cookies!!
Sam
Hi Jeanne! I haven’t personally tried it, but I think it could work. 🙂
John Reist
Can you prepare banana cookies in bread maker using dough setting?
Sam
Hi John! I’m not really sure how it would go. 🙁
Nazifa
This is the first banana cookie recipe where it didn’t taste like banana bread or cake, but instead like an actual cookie. It has the crisp outside and chewy inside texture while still having a banana flavor. 10/10
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Nazifa! 🙂
Bruce
I’m making them again now, using the gram measurement for flour, so they will probably have maximum chewiness. I’m using toasted walnuts, and will use a browned butter frosting (just browned butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and milk) that I know will go great with them.
Hc
Hi, I assume I can rolls into balls and freeze? Should I defrost the dough balls before baking?
Sam
Freezing them should work just fine. I would bake them from frozen. 🙂
Bruce
Leave it to Sam to come up with a chewy banana cookie. These are amazing. I used 1 1/2 cups of toasted pecan pieces, and no chocolate chips, because I didn’t want to have chocolate overwhelming the banana flavor. The small amount of cinnamon just adds a little something to the overall flavor. Mine are a little smaller than yours, about the size of a Keebler Pecan Sandie, so I got 4 1/2 dozen.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Your version sounds delicious too, Bruce! Enjoy 😊
Bruce
I forgot to mention that you need to add the metric measurement for the 3 cups of flour, please.
Sam
Just updated, thanks Bruce!