3-Ingredient Apple Pecan Instant Oatmeal Cookies

Make deliciously soft and chewy 3-ingredient oatmeal cookies with one secret ingredient: instant oatmeal packets! These cookies are perfect for breakfast or for a healthy snack. 

Who knew you could make absolutely fantastic chewy oatmeal cookies from those little microwave oatmeal packets? You do, now! These healthy cookies have the nutritional profile of a bowl of oatmeal, but they taste like a dessert. It’s like a cheat code — eat dessert for breakfast!

Aside from the taste, the best part of these cookies is that you can make them in minutes. They take about 5 minutes to make the dough, and about 6 to bake. You can put a quick breakfast on the table on busy mornings– and if you’re trying to feed a kid, the fact that it’s a cookie is money!

What’s in Instant Oatmeal Cookies?

This recipe is made with just 3 simple ingredients available at just about any grocery store. 

• Instant Oatmeal Packets: You need 3 of those little microwave-ready instant oatmeal packets. Do NOT use old-fashioned oats, rolled oats, or steel cut oats for this. These cookies only work with instant oats (sometimes called quick oats). 
• Applesauce: I used unsweetened applesauce to keep these cookies healthy (and to reduce added sugar), but you can use any type you’d like, flavored or unflavored. 
• Chopped Pecans: The slightly sweet flavor of pecans sets off the apple and cinnamon so well! You can also sub this for your favorite mix-ins, including other nuts, dark chocolate chips, dried fruit, or even sprinkles!

Step 1 | Mix the Dough

In a large mixing bowl, pour out the oatmeal packets and add the applesauce and pecans. Use a wooden spoon to thoroughly mix the ingredients together. 

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone liner. Make small balls, approximately 1 inch, by rolling the dough in your hands. You can also use a cookie scoop to get the dough balls even. 

Press the dough down slightly with the back of a metal spoon when you put it on the prepared baking sheet to form a cookie. These cookies do NOT change shape at all in the oven, so whatever shape you form them into, that’s the shape they’re going to be. 

Let your cookies cool (they’re very crumbly when warm). These chewy cookies make a fantastic breakfast, especially when served with a little dollop of almond butter or natural peanut butter. It’s a healthy way to sate that sweet tooth!

Variations

The original recipe here is extremely versatile — all you need are a few ingredient swaps to make tons of delicious variations!

• Swap the Oatmeal: You can use any type of microwave oatmeal packet. This opens up tons of flavor options, up to and including dinosaur egg (iykyk)! You can even use plain instant oatmeal to create a more traditional oatmeal cookie.
• Swap the Applesauce: Applesauce can be subbed in a 1:1 ratio with mashed ripe bananas, pumpkin purée, greek yogurt, or mashed sweet potato. Playing with this has yielded some family favorites, including oatmeal banana cookies (cinnamon spice oatmeal + mashed banana) and maple pumpkin cookies (maple brown sugar oatmeal + pumpkin purée)!
• Play with Mix-Ins: Mix-ins can add a ton of extra flavor. You can experiment with chocolate chips, dried fruit, coconut, nuts, a drizzle of maple syrup, and sprinkles to get fun cookies with minimal effort!