These zucchini oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are extra soft with chewy centers and crisp edges. Loaded with chocolate chips, each cookie is flavored with brown sugar and a hint of cinnamon. Best part of all? You canโt taste the vegetable hiding inside.
Zucchini bread & oatmeal chocolate chip cookies: two worlds beautifully collide! Consider these zucchini oatmeal chocolate chip cookies the mandatory solution to a surplus of fresh zucchini. Over the past several years, Iโve tried throwing zucchini into plenty of cookie recipes and this one is the best version I know!
Each Cookie Is:
- Soft with slightly crisp edges
- Flavored with butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar
- Moist, tender, and very chewy
- Loaded with whole oats and plenty of chocolate chips
- Delicious in a totally unforgettable way (like any good version of chocolate chip cookies should be!)
Plus, should any cookies survive after a few days, they freeze and thaw like a dream. Also important to note: you cannot taste the zucchini. Vegetables have never been so sneaky.
#1 Success Tip: Blot the Zucchini
Have you ever made my brown butter pumpkin oatmeal cookies? In that recipe, we blot the pumpkin to rid excess moisture. The purpose of this is to reduce the amount of liquid in the cookie dough. Too much liquid = excess spreading and/or a cakey cookie. Weโre applying the same technique here. Shred the zucchini using a box grater, then lightly blot it with a clean kitchen towel or paper towel. No need to squeeze out all the moisture; gently blotting is plenty.
You need 1 cup of shredded, lightly blotted zucchini.
Pro Tip: Shred extra to make zucchini cake or one of these 20+ favorite zucchini recipes!
Overview: How to Make Zucchini Oatmeal Cookies
After you blot the zucchini, prepare the cookie dough. The full written recipe is below, but let me walk you through the steps so I can answer any possible questions.
- Whisk the dry ingredients together. This includes oats, all-purpose flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
- Beat the wet ingredients together. Cream the butter and sugars together. Beat in 1 egg, then a little maple syrup and vanilla. The maple syrup adds flavor, but it also helps the cookies spread out and crisps up the edges. You can use honey instead or you can leave it out completely. (Though I highly recommend its addition!)
- Combine the dry ingredients, zucchini, and the wet ingredients.
- Beat in the chocolate chips.
- Chill the cookie dough. Important step! The cookies will over-spread otherwise.
- Scoop & bake. I always use a cookie scoop when I make oatmeal cookies. Oatmeal cookie dough is pretty sticky and textured, so a cookie scoop is helpful. The medium size is perfect because each dough ball should be around 1.5 Tablespoons of dough.
Other Add-Ins
Though I typically use semi-sweet in these zucchini oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, you can use milk chocolate or white chocolate chips instead. Or try mini chocolate chips or chocolate chunks. For something different, try peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, or even raisins, chopped pecans, or walnuts. Some may think itโs blasphemy to replace chocolate with raisins but Iโm ALL FOR IT. If you love oatmeal raisin cookies, you should definitely try raisins here or even 1/2 chocolate chips and 1/2 raisins!
One last tip: This recipe calls for room temperature butter. Remember that room temperature butter is imperative in the creaming step. If butter is too cold or if itโs melted in the slightest, it wonโt properly aerate with the granulated and brown sugars in step 3. As a result, the cookies wonโt hold their shape and will likely over-spread. Room temperature butter is cool to the touch and about 65ยฐF (18ยฐC), which might be colder than your kitchen. If youโd like to read further, I have an in-depth post about room temperature butter.
More Zucchini Recipes
- Zucchini Bread & Chocolate Zucchini Bread
- Zucchini Muffins
- Chocolate Zucchini Cake
- Zucchini Casserole
- Greek Yogurt Zucchini Bread
- Zucchini Fritters or Zucchini & Sweet Potato Fritters (a favorite!)
And if you need more summertime cookie inspiration, todayโs cookies join 25+ others on myย Summer Cookie Recipesย collection page. ๐
Print
Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 14 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours, 35 minutes
- Yield: 2 dozen
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These zucchini oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are extra soft with chewy centers and crisp edges. You canโt taste the vegetable hiding inside! Chill the dough for at least 2 hours before baking.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (130g) shredded zucchini (lightly blotted, see step 1)
- 2 cups (170g) old-fashioned whole rolled oats*
- 1 cupย (125g)ย all-purpose flourย (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 teaspoonย baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoonย salt
- 1 teaspoonย ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed dark or light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1ย largeย egg, at room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon pure maple syrup*
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoonsย pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (180g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Lightly blot the shredded zucchini with a clean kitchen towel or paper towel. No need to squeeze out all the moisture; gently blotting is plenty. You need 1 cup (130g) of shredded, lightly blotted zucchini. Set aside until step 4. (Or cover and refrigerate for up to 1 day. It can be cold when you add it to the dough.)
- Whisk the oats, flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat the softened butter and both sugars together on medium speed until creamy, about 3 minutes. (Hereโs a helpful tutorial if you need guidance onย how to cream butter and sugar.) Add the egg and mix on high until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the maple syrup and vanilla and mix on high until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients and the zucchini to the wet ingredients, then mix on low speed until combined. With the mixer still running on low speed, beat in the chocolate chips. Cover and chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (and up to 4 days). If chilling for longer than a few hours, allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before rolling and baking because the dough will be quite hard.
- Preheat oven to 350ยฐF (177ยฐC). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Scoop or roll cookie dough, a heaping 1.5 Tablespoons of dough per cookie (I like to use this medium cookie scoop), and place 3 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 13-14 minutes or until lightly browned on the sides. The centers will look very soft. For crispier edges, bake for 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. While the cookies are still warm, I like to press a few more chocolate chips into the topsโ this is only for looks! Cookies are extra soft out of the oven, but become chewier as they cool.
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the refrigerator for 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Baked cookies freeze well up to three months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze wellโup to three months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Hereโs how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Box Grater | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Zucchini: I do not peel the zucchini before shredding, but you certainly can if youโd like.
- Oats:ย For these oatmeal cookies, I use and recommendย old-fashioned whole oats, not quick or instant oats. Whole oats provide the ultimate hearty, chewy, and thick texture.
- Maple Syrup: The maple syrup adds flavor, but it also helps the cookies spread out and crisps up the edges. You can use honey instead or even molasses for a strong flavorโor you can leave it out completely. (Though I highly recommend its addition!)
Reader Comments and Reviews
Amazing recipe, however, I would like to have the nutritional information, please.
Hi Sparkle, We donโt usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076