Vegan Turmeric Cookies
on Apr 07, 2020, Updated May 14, 2026
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These healthy vegan turmeric cookies are gluten-free, oil-free, naturally-sweetened and full of superfood ingredients like oats, flax, turmeric, coconut, carrot and walnuts.
About the Recipe
These cookies are hearty, satisfying, soft and comforting with all sorts of flavour from wholesome ingredients like walnuts, coconut, carrot, turmeric and peanut butter.
They’re a little crispy on the outside, chunky, soft and chewy on the inside and just sweet enough to be a delicious and satisfying treat.
This recipe is gluten-free, oil-free, dairy-free and refined sugar-free. For more healthy cookies, these Vegan Carrot Oatmeal Cookies, Vegan Chocolate Chip Quinoa Cookies and Vegan Sweet Potato Cookies are really yummy too.
Ingredients
- Rolled Oats: Rolled oats, old fashioned oats, large flake oats and quick oats are all suitable.
- Turmeric: Yes, these cookies call for ground turmeric! I use 2 tsp but you can experiment anywhere in between 1-2 tsp.
- Carrot: Use raw, finely grated carrot.
- Walnuts: Use raw chopped walnuts or walnut pieces.
- Maple Syrup: You can use maple syrup, brown rice syrup or if not vegan, raw honey.
- Peanut Butter: Use natural peanut butter not processed peanut butter, feel free to sub almond butter or sunflower seed butter.
This list is not complete. Please see the recipe card at the end of the post for the complete ingredient list with measurements and detailed instructions.
Step-by Step-Instructions
Step 1: A flax egg is made by mixing ground flaxseed with water to create a gel that helps to bind recipes. One flax egg is made by mixing 1 tablespoon of ground flax with 3 tbsp of warm water.
Mix it up and let sit for 5-10 minutes. The flax will absorb the water, creating a gel-like mixture much like an egg!
Step 2: This recipe calls for both oats and oat flour so before you mix the dry ingredients, use a heaping 1/2 cup of oats to make 1/2 cup of oat flour.
How do I make oat flour? Easy! Just pop rolled oats into a blender or food processor and process until they resembles a fine flour.
The dry ingredients include the oats, oat flour, baking powder, salt and turmeric. Mix them up so the baking powder is well distributed.
Step 3: The wet ingredients include the flax egg, peanut butter, maple syrup and vanilla. Mix it all up until you have a thick batter.
Step 4: Next, add the rest of the ingredients and mix into the final cookie batter. You should be able to shape it into balls using your hands.
Step 5: Roll the dough into balls, press them into cookies, bake and enjoy!
FAQs
They have a little hint of spice but it’s not overpowering.
These are best stored in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 1 week. They can also be frozen for a couple months. That being said, they’re totally fine at room temperature for a day or so if you need to take them to-go.
More Healthy Cookies
- Tahini Date Cookies
- Flourless Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Quinoa Cookies
- 3-Ingredient Oatmeal Cookies (No Banana)
Turmeric Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp ground flax + 6 tbsp water
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1/2 cup oat flour, see notes
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 2 tsp ground turmeric
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/2 cup natural peanut butter
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup finely grated carrot
- 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1/2 cup walnut pieces
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking pan with parchment paper or give it a lightly spritz of non-stick cooking spray.
- Mix the flax eggs in a small bowl and set aside for 5-10 minutes.
- Add the oats, oat flour, baking powder, salt and turmeric to a large mixing bowl and mix well to combine.
- Mix in the flax egg, maple syrup, natural peanut butter and pure vanilla extract until smooth.
- Fold in the carrots, walnuts and coconut until combined into a thick dough.
- Place 12 balls of dough on the baking pan and press each ball down into a cookie shape. Bake for 13-15 minutes until firm and golden brown.
Notes
Nutrition
Originally published on May 8, 2017.
I don’t really eat sweets, but this is the kind of thing that I can have (not too sweet, not completely devoid of nutritional value). Anyway, I’ve made this recipe a few times. It turns out best when I ground the carrots up in a Cuisinart.
Glad you enjoy them! Thanks for the tip on the carrots – good to know!
Glad you enjoyed them, Michelle1
Currently in the oven! And have combined about 5 recipes with yours! I’m trying to recreate a gf, egg-free “sandy” carrot CAKE cookie that was at a cafe….So I added pulsed the walnuts in food processor until small sandy pebbles added, 1 1/2t cinnamon, 1/4t nutmeg, 1/4t ginger, used pecan butter and brown rice syrup and 1/4C raisins, used chia in place of flax – what i had on hand and added another 1/2C oat flour bc didn’t have the oats!
Let me know how they turn out!
Made these 2x so far. Very good. A bit moist but chewy and good!
Just made these and they are super good!! Great creative recipe. I’ll be making them again. I used one real egg and one flax instead of 2 flax, added a bunch of freshly grated ginger (about 1.5 tblsp) and used finely ground pecans instead of peanut butter because that’s what I had on hand. I also skipped the walnuts because I didn’t have any. Thanks!
And I added ground black pepper like the other person suggested! 🙂
Salutations;
I am wondering what would be a good substitute for turmeric powder in this recipe.
I have curry powder, but maybe that would not go so well…
I thank you in advance,
Caelen
You can just leave it out if you’d like. 🙂
Hi. These cookies are baking in my oven as I’m typing this… How long will they store in an airtight container? Thanks
I’m not sure how long they would last at room temp but in the fridge they’re okay up to 1 week, you can freeze for up to 3 months. I hope you enjoy them!
I just made these and added in 1 tsp of cinnamon, 1/4 tsp of ginger and a dash of black pepper for absorption of the turmeric. I think they would also be good with orange zest and cranberries. I’m so happy I found this recipe, its so healthy and non-traditional. I don’t like using prepared GF flour mixes because of the taste and I can’t eat a lot of it without feeling icky but these cookies taste better and make me feel amazing. Thanks for your brilliant mind!
I love the idea of orange and cranberry! So happy you liked them, I should actually add pepper to the recipe to help with absorption of the curcumin, I forgot! Thanks!
When do you add the flax eggs?
You can add it to the dry ingredients when you mix the rest of the wet ingredients in. Thanks, I’ll add that to the instructions! Hope you enjoy them.
Very inspiring article! Definitely inspired me to try different recipes and inspire myself to venture with food! And an individual can be very inspired to eat healthy, be healthy and live healthy! Hope you wont mind me addig your web/blog to share it with my bloggers and allow them to inspire themselves via your blogs!
Oh course, that would be great! Thanks for your comment. 🙂 xo