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My Zucchini Cookies combine a chocolate cookie with an oatmeal one with some fresh zucchini added in! The oats and zucchini give these cookies the best soft and chewy texture plus with the cocoa and chocolate these are rich and gooey – besides my zucchini brownies, these are our favorite way to eat zucchini.
Why You’ll Love Zucchini Cookies
During the summer, I am looking for all the ways to use up the zucchini we grow in our garden. I love zucchini bread and muffins, but zucchini cookies are a good option to switch things up. These are full of chocolate flavor with tons of gooey chocolate chips. The zucchini keeps them moist and the oats make them nice and chewy! These are one of our favorite cookie recipes – like oatmeal chocolate chip cookies but better.
Ingredients
- Butter and Vegetable Oil: This recipe uses a combination of unsalted butter and oil. The butter gives flavor and the oil keeps them soft. You can also use liquid coconut oil.
- Sugar: I love using both light brown sugar and granulated sugar in cookie recipes. Dark brown sugar may be substituted for the light.
- Egg: For structure
- Vanilla: For flavor
- Flour: Use all-purpose flour and be sure to measure it correctly.
- Baking soda: Helps the cookies be soft and chewy and helps them spread a bit.
- Cinnamon: For flavor, oatmeal cookies aren’t complete without it!
- Cocoa Powder: The chocolate of the cookie is cocoa powder, use unsweetened natural cocoa.
- Quick Oats: I prefer using quick cook oats in cookies, and if you don’t have any you can make your own quick oats from old fashioned oats!
- Shredded Zucchini: The most important part – uses up the zucchini and adds moisture to the cookie. The kids will love them regardless!
How to Make Zucchini Cookies
- Whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and cocoa in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
- In a large bowl (or stand mixer with a paddle attachment), cream the butter, oil, and both kinds of sugar. Lower the speed and mix in the egg and vanilla until combined.
- Slowly add the flour to the wet ingredients. Add the oats, and then add the shredded zucchini. Mix until the dough is combined.
- Use a two-tablespoon cookie scoop to drop the cookie dough onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake the cookies at 350°F for 11 to 14 minutes or until the tops of the cookies are no longer wet.
- Leave the cookies on the sheets for 10 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool.
Variations
While we love these with semi-sweet chocolate chips you can also switch up the flavors:
- Make oatmeal zucchini oatmeal cookies with raisins or white chocolate chips.
- Or add some nuts like chopped pecans, walnuts, or macadamia nuts
- Turn them from zucchini chocolate chip cookies to m&m cookies
- Skip adding the chocolate chips and instead frost these with cream cheese frosting or chocolate buttercream.
Expert Tips
- You only need to pat the zucchini dry or squeeze out excess liquid if the zucchini has been thawed from frozen and seems extra wet.
- The cookies are done when they’ve just lost their glossy sheen and look a little crisp around the edges.
Storage
Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. Refrigerated cookies will last a few days longer. You can freeze cookies in a large gallon size bag or container for several months.
Recipe FAQs
The best way to shred it is with a box grater using the large holes.
Frozen zucchini has a lot more moisture when it’s thawed, so you will need to squeeze the water out before adding the zucchini to the dough.
Chocolate Oatmeal Zucchini Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter
- ¼ cup (59ml) vegetable oil
- ½ cup (100g) packed brown sugar
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup (124g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ cup (20g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 cups (240g) quick oats
- 1 cup (about 102g) shredded zucchini (about 1 small)
- 1 cup (170g) chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper (or spray them with nonstick cooking spray).
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and cocoa. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter, oil, and sugars. Add egg and vanilla and mix on low speed until combined. Slowly mix in dry ingredients.
- Add oats and mix on low speed. Continue mixing on low speed and add zucchini. Mix until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
- Scoop uniform balls onto cookie sheets. (I used a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop.) Bake 11-14 minutes until center of cookie no longer looks wet. Cool 10 minutes on cookie sheets before removing.
Recipe Nutrition
Use up that zucchini to make chocolate zucchini cookies! Oatmeal Zucchini Cookies with chocolate chips are the perfect soft and chewy cookie recipe – everyone loves these!
These look really great! Have you ever tried subbing AP GF flour for the regular flour? I just pulled 2 baseball bats out of the garden after a weekend away, so I’m thinking I might try out a zucchini gratin for dinner with a followup of these cookies for dessert. 🙂
I’ ve never used GF flour, but if you use it I’d love to hear how it turns out!!
I just made these today, and they were very good.
Absolutely right that the cookies were not sweet – perfect for my wife, not so much for me. Luckily I had a little cookie dough left over (it didn’t all fit on my cookie sheets in one batch), so I added about a tablespoon of honey to the cup or so of raw dough that was remaining. The extra-sweetened cookies were perfect for me, but the less-sweet cookies were also still good and had a great chocolate flavor.
Also I mistakenly added 1/2 cup of coconut oil instead of 1/4 cup, so the cookies were a little too soft, but still good.
Someone after my own heart! Nothing is ever too sweet, and my husband loved those cookies for the same reason as your wife. 🙂 Thanks for your comment!
Hi Dorothy! I was searching for a good Chocolate zucchini cookie recipe to share on my garden blog and yours was the best! Made them tonight to take to work tomorrow! Wrote a short post and took a quick photo and plan to publish on Monday…linked to your recipe so everyone can enjoy them…thanks,yum!
Thanks Donna!
wait a second…zucchini…chocolate…and oatmeal? OK I don’t want to be unpolite, but this as a sure stomach ache, I mean that ingredients, the chocolate and the oatmeal are enough, but zucchini? oh boy!
@GStaples
I hope you enjoy them! Thank you for reading and for your comment. 🙂
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