These soft and chewy zucchini cookies are loaded with hearty oats and chocolate chips! My recipe is designed so you can’t taste the zucchini, making it perfect for sneaking some extra veggies into your diet. Recipe includes a how-to video!
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cookies
So far this summer I’ve shared two tasty new ways to use up garden zucchini: chocolate zucchini muffins and chocolate zucchini cake. Today, I’m adding these chocolate chip zucchini cookies to the list, and I really can’t wait for you to try them.
Why you’ll love these cookies:
- Hearty texture and flavor from oats and cinnamon.
- No peeling the zucchini. A food blender makes quick work of shredding for you, though I also include notes on how to simply use a box grater.
- Carefully crafted to be soft and chewy, NOT cakey!
- Chocolate! Plenty of pops of melty chocolate accentuate every bite of these cookies. Load yours up with semisweet or milk chocolate chips, whichever one you prefer.!
Inspired by my carrot cake cookies, this recipe has a hearty oatmeal base that conceals the zucchini beautifully (and yes, that is the point of this recipe!).
This recipe is perfect for sneaking some extra veggies into your diet. Honestly, can you think of better way to enjoy veggies than folded into a sweet oatmeal cookie batter? That’s pretty hard to beat!
What You Need
All of the ingredients used in today’s recipe are straightforward, but you should pay close attention to these few:
- Zucchini. You don’t need to peel your zucchini before shredding, but you do want to blot it after shredding. If you skip this step, your zucchini cookies will end up cakey.
- Dark brown sugar. Light brown sugar will work, but my preference is dark brown sugar. More molasses means more flavor! Don’t have any on hand? Take a crack at making your own homemade brown sugar–just 2 ingredients!
- Cinnamon. This is optional, but I love adding just a pinch of cinnamon to my zucchini cookies. It pairs so nicely with zucchini, just like in my zucchini bread!
- Oats. Oats pair well with zucchini and add a hearty texture to these cookies. Just like when making my cowboy cookies, you need to make sure to use old-fashioned rolled oats and not instant or quick cooking oats (those could make your zucchini cookies dry).
- Vanilla. A healthy pour of vanilla extract adds a beautiful depth of flavor to these cookies!
SAM’S TIP: I prefer my zucchini to be more finely shredded (it helps me hide it from the kids more easily), so I use a food processor. I first use the shred blade, then I use the normal blade to chop the zucchini shreds into bits. If you do this too, just be careful you don’t process your zucchini too much, or you could make it very watery. Also, you certainly don’t have to shred yours this way; using a box grater would be just fine.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Zucchini Cookies
Prep the Zucchini
- Finely shred the zucchini using either a food processor or box grater. See the note above for details on how I do this.
- Blot the zucchini with paper towels until most of the excess moisture has been removed, then set aside.
Make the Dough
- Beat the butter and sugars together with an electric mixer until light and creamy, about 2 minutes.
- Add the eggs and vanilla and stir well to combine.
- Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then gradually add them to the butter/sugar mixture.
- Fold the shredded and blotted zucchini into the batter until combined.
- Add the oats and chocolate chips (reserve some for later–see note below!) and stir until evenly incorporated. Cover and chill the dough for at least 30 minutes.
- Scoop the dough by rounded 1 ½ tablespoon scoops onto a parchment lined baking sheet, then bake for 12-13 minutes at 350F.
- Press a few reserved chocolate chips into the tops of each cookie just after removing from the oven. Let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheet before enjoying.
SAM’S TIP: Reserve ¼ cup of the chocolate chips for pressing into the tops of the cookies after baking! Doing this will give your zucchini cookies a pretty, bakery style look. I like to use semisweet chips, but milk chocolate would work here too.
Frequently Asked Questions
Surprisingly, these zucchini cookies don’t taste like zucchini at all! Instead, they taste like oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with a hint of cinnamon. Aside from the green specks, you’d never even know there are veggies in these cookies!
I actually tested making this recipe with browned butter, thinking that would be a slam dunk for flavor, but, shockingly, the flavor wasn’t really improved. I think that’s because of the dark brown sugar, which gives us plenty of flavor (like it does in my butter pecan cookies).
So if you ask me, I’d say it’s not worth the extra effort!
Yes! This dough can be covered and chilled in the fridge a few days in advance. Note that the dough may be difficult to scoop if chilled longer than 30 minutes. If this happens, you can let it sit at room temperature for 15 minutes or so to soften.
Are there any other zucchini recipes you’d like to see? I love hearing what you’re looking for!
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
Zucchini Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup (200 g) dark brown sugar firmly packed
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature preferred
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cup (280 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon optional but recommended
- 1 cup (133 g) shredded zucchini blot excess moisture with a paper towel before measuring
- 3 cups (285 g) old-fashioned rolled oats
- 2 cup semisweet chocolate chips reserve some for topping
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine butter and sugars and use an electric mixer to beat until lightened and creamy (about a minute or two on high speed).1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, 1 cup (200 g) dark brown sugar, ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- Add eggs and vanilla and stir until well combined.2 large eggs, 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a separate, medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon (if using).2 ¼ cup (280 g) all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ¾ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet, stirring until almost combined. Add shredded zucchini and fold into the dough until completely combined.1 cup (133 g) shredded zucchini
- Add oats and chocolate and stir until evenly distributed.3 cups (285 g) old-fashioned rolled oats, 2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- Cover dough with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator. Chill for 30 minutes before proceeding. While dough chills, preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Scoop dough by rounded 1 ½ Tablespoon-sized scoops and drop on prepared baking sheet, spacing cookies at least 2” apart. Bake in 350F (175C) preheated oven for 12-13 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet before enjoying.
Notes
Zucchini
No need to peel the zucchini before shredding. To shred mine, I use the grater blade on my food processor. I find this doesn’t get it quite as fine as I like so I’ll then very briefly pulse once or twice with my standard blade. Do not make the zucchini too fine/pulpy or the cookies may taste like zucchini and be too wet.To blot zucchini
After shredding, spread the zucchini in an even layer and blot with paper towels until you’ve removed excess moisture from the zucchini.Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Barb
I love that you included the ingredient info within the instructions. No need to keep flipping back and forth makes following the receipt so much easier.
Sam
Thank you for your feedback, Barb! 🙂
Kathy
Loved these cookies. I’ve tried others so these are the best.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed them, Kathy! Thanks for giving our recipe a try 🩷
Alexandria Parker
Would there be a big difference in the final product if I use vegan butter substitute? Planning on making these cookies for Easter and there are people dairy allergies. Thank you to Mariel for posting about the sub for GF Flour!
Sam
Hi Alexandria. I am not sure how the vegan butter will work here. I’m not familiar with using it. 🙁 If you do try it, I would love to know how it turns out.
Cindy
looking for new recipes for my plethora of zucchini. These are going in my file as a keeper! Absolutely Scrumptious. Crispy edges, soft centers, beautiful texture and flavor. My husband kept coming out of his office to get ‘one more’. .
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Too funny! Sounds like this recipe was a big hit for you, Cindy 🥰
Mariel
Sam, these cookies are what I like call out-of-this-world! I made them with King Arthur’s 1:1 gluten free flour. They are fantastic and super flavorful. Thanks for a great recipe!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Mariel! Thank you for the feedback using the gluten free flour! 🙂
Lorley
Sam
These cookies are just wonderful. Because of the dark brown sugar these cookies looked a bit dark so I did take out the first batch a tad early. They were pretty fragile. The rest I did bake at 12 minutes and they were delightfully crispy on the edges and chewy on the inside. I used a heaping #40 scoop and got about 40 cookies. You usually list your ingredients in the order in which they are used. I noticed the oatmeal is listed before the zucchini so had to go back to your website to make sure the zucchini was mixed in first then the oats and chips lastly. I loved these cookies and so did the visiting family. Even the grandkids. Thank you again for your time developing such great tasting recipes.
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Lorley! I’m glad even the grandkids enjoyed them! It can be hard to sneak them veggies some times. 😉
Rita Beyenhof
I have an over abundance of cucumbers. I’ve made cucumber bread. You can’t taste the cucumbers. Could I substitute cucumbers for the zucchini? When making the bread I do drain the cucumbers, so of course I’d drain them when making these cookies.
Sam
Hi Rita! I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure how it would work. 🙁