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 can’t 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, I’ve 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. We’re 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 it’s blasphemy to replace chocolate with raisins but I’m 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 it’s melted in the slightest, it won’t properly aerate with the granulated and brown sugars in step 3. As a result, the cookies won’t hold their shape and will likely over-spread. Room temperature butter is cool to the touch and about 65°F (18°C), which might be colder than your kitchen. If you’d 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, today’s cookies join 25+ others on my Summer Cookie Recipes collection page. 🙂
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 can’t 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 cup (125g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon 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
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon pure maple syrup*
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons 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 2 minutes. 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 350°F (177°C). 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 tops– 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 well–up to three months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Here’s 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 you’d like.
- Oats: For these oatmeal cookies, I use and recommend 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 flavor—or you can leave it out completely. (Though I highly recommend its addition!)
These cookies are delicious! Another recipe for the plethora of garden zucchini’s.
This is definitely as described! Crunchy edges and soft, pillows centers! It’s a blue ribbon winner in my book!
Amazing cookies! Just wondering how many calories a standard batch is or a serving? Thanks
Hi Jamie, we’re so glad you enjoyed them! We don’t 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
I think the weighted measurements need to be double-checked or updated. I followed this recipe exactly, no substitutions or add-ins – using my kitchen scale for measurements. My scale is accurate and I made sure to tare between measurements, but these cookies came out very poorly. They are so gummy that I can’t even pick one up without it falling apart! This is the first time that any of Sally’s recipes have been a flop for me, so I was quite surprised.
I was hopeful that this would be a great way for me to use up my abundance of zucchini, but it looks like I’ll have to stick to muffins and quick breads because I won’t be wasting ingredients to try this one again.
Hi Natasha, I’m sorry to hear these came out poorly for you. We will look into re-testing this and the measurements, but I’m guessing that what happened here is the zucchini needed to be blotted a little more–too much moisture in the batter and not enough flour. Again, I’m sorry this recipe didn’t turn out well, thank you for giving it a try!
I made the cookies today, and they truly are unforgettable, just as the recipe says. I found that lightly blotting the zucchini wasn’t enough, so I squeezed out a lot of moisture this time. My first attempt resulted in dough that was too wet, so be aware of this if your zucchini is very fresh.
Thanks Isabel! This advice can be really helpful for others.
I think I may have done something wrong because my first batch didn’t turn out well. The cookies overspread and crumbled, probably because my zucchini was still too wet. I’m definitely going to give it another try.
Hi Isabel, overly wet zucchini could certainly be the culprit. Here are our best tips for preventing cookies from spreading, which will be helpful to review, too!
Absolutely LOVE this recipe. I needed to get creative with all of our excess garden zucchini. These are a big hit with our family & friends. Everyone wanting the recipe!
Been making at least one batch of these every summer for 4 years now and never had an issue. I do cut the white sugar just a bit as I think they are plenty sweet with the choc chips. I do have a question tho…why should the egg be room temp when the whole thing ends up going back in the fridge to chill? Just curious. Thanks.
Hi Renee, we’re so glad you love these cookies! Having the egg at room temperature helps it combine with the other ingredients more easily.
I love this cookies so much. Great for breakfast
This recipe is fabulous! Cookies turned out so good and was devoured very quickly in my household. I used the mini chips which worked out better for me. My go to from now on for cookie baking!
What are the calories on oatmeal zucchini cookies
Hi Elaine, We don’t 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
I made these for a church event and they were so delicious I almost didn’t take them so I could keep them for me and my family to enjoy . They were well received, a big hit and no one knew zucchini was the secret ingredient! Thank you Sally for creating a wonderful and novel use for zucchini!
Can you make these from frozen zucchini?
Hi Heidi, frozen thawed zucchini should work okay, but be sure to drain off any excess liquid from thawing and lightly blot the zucchini before using.
These cookies are great! I added a cup of chopped pecans. Thanks!!
Family all loved this recipe. I liked the mixed consistency even after refridgeration. I fork-patted my second pan to have a flatter cookie. I have saved it and will reccommend with acknowledgement. Thank you
This was awesome. I subbed 1:1 King Arthur Gluten Free Flour. They cooked 15 mins. They didn’t flatten a lot, but dang! These are delicious. In fact, I’m making a second batch tomorrow. Thanks for this awesome use of zucchini!!!
This recipe calls for egg but I’m not seeing it in the ingredients so how many eggs?
Hi Cindy! 1 large egg – listed after the sugars.
Followed well written instructions. Used honey instead of maple syrup. Recipe made about 3 dozen cookies. Easy to make and have such a wonderful flavor and texture. So good!
My 5-year old grand nephew’s favorite! We make with white chips and raisins!
Wow just Wow! These are so delicious! I substituted raisins instead of choc chips and used the masses instead of maple syrup! Holy moly Sally has done it again!
I have made these cookies several times and love them. In the summer I froze some zucchini in 1 cup amounts to try the cookies in the winter. This past week I made them and were great. Note: I thawed zucchini in freezer bag then drained off lightly not squeezed.
I love put my shredded zucchini in the blender.. I love the recipe, the cookies weee delicious
Another winner from Sally!!! So much so my husband is now asking for them when we are down to a few in the container. I gave some to my neighbour who’s son dispises zucchini… he LOVED these cookies. Well done!!!