Chunky Monkey Paleo Banana Cookies
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These paleo banana cookies are rich, chewy, and delicious! Grain-free and bursting with goodness, they taste like a dessert while being made from only delicious ingredients. They’re perfect for busy weekday mornings or an afternoon pick-me-up!
These paleo banana cookies are a little sneaky in the best way. They taste like a proper dessert, but they’re made with simple, flavorful ingredients like ripe bananas and nuts. I use almond flour instead of all-purpose flour, which gives them a tender texture and makes them my go-to when a cookie craving hits.
They’re incredibly easy to make and very forgiving — everything gets mixed in one bowl, scooped onto a baking sheet, and baked until golden. I love that they keep well for several days, so I’ll often bake a batch on Sunday and grab one on my way out the door all week long.
Flavor-wise, they don’t hold back. The banana base is joined by coconut, chopped walnuts, raisins, and plenty of chocolate chips (because chocolate always helps). There’s no butter or refined sugar here — just naturally sweet bananas, almond butter, cinnamon, and a bunch of ingredients that come together into a cookie I’m always happy to have around.
How to store
How do I store leftover paleo banana cookies? When storing these cookies, let them completely cool first. You can transfer them to a cooling rack or wire racks for this. Then, pop them into a sealed container and store them at room temperature for 3-4 days. They make great meal prep cookies or easy grab-and-go breakfasts.
Can I freeze the batter? Yes! The batter freezes well; just be sure to store it in a freezer-proof container. Cut the banana slices fresh before baking.
Watch how to make this recipe
Paleo Banana Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 medium ripe bananas (sliced (+ slices for topping, optional))
- ½ cup almond butter (can sub peanut butter if not paleo)
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup dark chocolate chips
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts
- ¼ cup coconut
- ¼ cup raisins
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Add the banana slices, almond butter, water, and vanilla to a large bowl and beat with electric beaters until mostly smooth. Add the almond flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt, and beat until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips, walnuts, coconut, and raisins.2 medium ripe bananas, ½ cup almond butter, ¼ cup water, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, 1 cup almond flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ cup dark chocolate chips, ¼ cup chopped walnuts, ¼ cup coconut, ¼ cup raisins
- Drop the dough (it will be sticky) into 12 equal mounds on the baking sheets. Press a banana slice into the top of each cookie to flatten it out a little.
- Bake for 16-18 minutes, or until the bottoms are golden then remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool.
Video
Nutrition
We have thoroughly tested this recipe for accuracy. However, individual results may vary. See our full recipe disclosure here.
I made these for my family the other night and they were a hit. I had to omit the walnuts because my son is allergic but they still turned out great. Thank you!
Hello! Love this recipe. Easy and tasty. Can they be frozen? ( that way they won’t be eaten in one sitting!) Thank you! Jacqueline
Yes! They freeze really well.
Hi again, how would you describe the texture? Are these cakey cookies (soft and fluffy) or chewy and dense. I was looking for the latter, and these look cakey. The dough looks very wet/needs more flour? Would refridgerating the dough help make them less cakey? Just deciding whether to make the cookies next on my list, thanks!
These are definitely the dense and chewy variety!
Thanks for the reply! Strange it didn’t notify me. I only have a small banana and a broken freezer lol so I’ll reduce the recipe. I’m assuming 2 bananas are 2/3 cup? Otherwise I’ll just follow the video for cookie texture 🙂
Yep – 2 bananas should be about ⅔ cup. 🙂
Hello again, finally made these and what an exciting challenge they became lol. Firstly I’m from the UK so I converted cups to grams for a more accurate result and I’m happy my conversions are tried and tested. We don’t have ready made almond flour, only ground almonds which is very finely chopped blanched almonds – I don’t know if that made a difference or if I added too much banana (I bought a bunch of ‘baking’ bananas – ripe and ready to go but they were very bruised so I assumed 2 medium bananas = 225g/1 cup mashed) but anyway I baked my tester cookie (which was 3tbsp, instead of stated) with a slice of banana and it came out raw in the middle at the time stated, another 5 minutes bake. Raw to me means too many wet ingredients (and it needed sweetener and molasses flavour for my tastes) So back to the batter, I added 2tbsp maple syrup (wondered if would help with spread/flavour, next time I’ll use dry sugar), 2tbsp less refined golden caster sugar (assume that’s raw sugar in US), 1tsp black treacle/molasses, 2tbsp ground flax and 3tbsp slightly heaped coconut flour and left it to sit for 10-15 minutes in the hope the flour would soak up some moisture lol. This time I baked another cookie at 325F in the hope low (oven) and slow (cooking time) would do the trick – 20 minutes later I got a soft, chewy and thick ‘cakey’ cookie with a nice crisp (but after a few hours of cooling, I lost my crisp which was a shame). I baked a batch of these (16 x 4tbsp), and then wondered if I could use this recipe for GF oatmeal cookies haha. So to my leftover dough, I added 4-5tbsp slightly heaped chopped porridge oats until I was happy with texture, a handful of chopped and toasted pecans, 1/8tsp bicarbonate of soda/baking soda (for lift with the extra oats), 1tbsp maple syrup (to sweeten oats), a drizzle of pomegranate molasses (to see if it would work in a bakng application) and at least 1tbsp ground almonds to make a drier cookie dough similar to gluten included cookies that I suddenly remembered lol – just holding itself together in my scoop. I cooked for 17 minutes this time as I was worried the dough was too dry but in fact these were my favourite – they were still soft and chewy but not ‘cakey’ like my first batch They tasted just like my gluten oatmeal cookies without the butter of course (no banana aftertaste on day 2 which i exoected), and they had more molasses and sugar flavour than my first batch – fascinatiing. Next time, I’ll try my first recipe without the water, maple syrup, and start with less banana and see if that gives me the texture I wanted. The banana comes through more on day 2 for the first batch, not the second (which I’m grateful for as it tastes like the real deal). All in all, a delicious expermient, thank you so much for the inspiration! I won’t rate the recipe as it wouldn’t be a fair interpretation. Oh and it still says money in the description box in the recipe card 🙂
What a great find! I keep my littles grain free until 2, so my little guy can enjoy these along side his gluten-free siblings and his sweet-tooth dad. I love that these are basically refined sugar free (depending on the chocolate chips), which makes them a slam dunk for mamas looking to provide delicious treats without loading everyone up with sugar. They are subtly sweet with the banana base, and the chocolate chips and raisins are the perfect addition. Even so, my husband (who is the only one not gluten free in our home) kept shoving them in his mouth and asked for another batch! WIN!
I did not have almond butter on hand, so I made them with peanut butter. If you prefer a bit more sweetness, consider adding a tablespoon of monkfruit or maple syrup to the batter. I found my batch needed 20 minutes to finish in the oven and as I eyeballed/was generous with the nut butter, I got an extra cookie or two out of the batch.
I wasn’t sure what sticky meant and my dough was really wet so I doubled all the add-ins until I thought things would stay together. My dough was “sticky” enough to scoop out 12 equal bobs. I baked them a little longer to brown on the bottom, and they were delicious! This is a very forgiving recipe That I plan to make anytime I’m in the mood for something sweet! They Really hit the spot ?
Wonderful flavour and texture! I used natural peanut butter, 2 cups oatmeal, 1/4 cup cocoa powder unsweetened, 1/4 cup coconut, and 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips. No need to add sweetener.
I realize the grain disqualifies it for paleo, but I’m sure it would be just as good with almond flour.
Definitely a keeper?
I bet the oatmeal addition was wonderful!!
Very tasty and light. My batter was very loose, so I added a little bit of almond flour until the batter tightened up. I went back and watched the video, my almond butter was a bit runny than yours. But still they came out great!
So happy to hear that they turned out!
Thanks for sharing! Do you use this dough for any other kinds of cookies?
I haven’t tried it for any other cookies yet. But the add-ins are flexible so you could definitely experiment. 🙂
Amazing! I sub a little date syrup for the water and used dried cherries. We’ve made these twice this week!
That is so wonderful to hear! Thanks, Lizzy!
Do you mean “Chunky Money” or “Chunky Monkey?” All the links to your site are linking to Chunky Money cookies.
Oh man … definitely not chunky money lol!
I’m looking for breakfast options but not necessarily paleo. Could I use normal butter (or any other oil) instead of almond butter?
No butter or oil won’t work in this recipe. You could use peanut butter, though!
Love this recipe! It’s become a staple in our home 🙂 My dad is allergic to coconut and walnuts so I substituted with slivered almonds and recipe was excellent!
That’s wonderful! Thank you for coming back to let us know!
So yummy!! I made my own almond flour by mixing some almonds in my nutribullet, which was super easy and then I didn’t have to by a whole bag of almond flour. These are super yummy and a perfect breakfast for busy mornings.
Thanks, Amanda! So happy you like them!
Great recipe, made these tonight, very quick easy tasty!
I’m so happy to hear that the recipe was a hit!
They are fantastic. I didn’t have raisins so I used chopped dates and sub in pecans for the walnuts.
That’s a great idea!
Excited to make these! I ran out of vanilla extract, do you think I could use my unsweetened vanilla almond milk in place of water to help?
These cookies are quite flexible so I think that would work!