These Zucchini Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies are big and thick with golden brown crispy edges and super soft, chewy, cake-like centers that are flavored with cinnamon and a little nutmeg and packed with semi-sweet chocolate chips, shredded zucchini, and old-fashioned oats! They're absolutely delicious and with no chilling required for the dough, these make a great last-minute treat to whip up for your next get-together!
Table of Contents
Why You'll Love these Zucchini Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
- They're super soft and moist with chewy centers.
- Your classic chocolate chip cookie combined with an oatmeal cookie—the best!
- A great way to use up zucchini from your garden!
- Flavors of cinnamon and a little nutmeg in each bite.
- Cookie dough can be frozen to make for later.
- Loaded with semi-sweet chocolate chips.
- Makes 14, 3-4 inch diameter cookies—perfect for a small crowd.
Recipe Ingredients
Below are all of the ingredients needed to make these zucchini chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.
- Shredded Zucchini
- All-Purpose Flour
- Almond Flour
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Cinnamon
- Nutmeg
- Unsalted Butter
- Light Brown Sugar
- Granulated Sugar
- An Egg
- Vanilla Extract
- Old-Fashioned Oats
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Substitutions
All-Purpose Flour. You can sub out the ½ cup of almond flour, for ½ cup all-purpose flour. I do not recommend subbing all of the all-purpose flour for almond flour as they will spread out too thin.
Nutmeg. I include nutmeg in the cookies to give them a little extra spice, but not too much. It's only ¼ teaspoon. If you don't like nutmeg, you can certainly leave it out.
Granulated Sugar. You can sub out the 1/ cup of light brown sugar for ½ cup of granulated sugar (or pure cane organic sugar). I do not recommend using all light brown sugar.
Chocolate Chips. You can swap out the semi-sweet chocolate chips for chocolate chunks or milk chocolate chips.
I did not test this recipe with any egg substitutions and do not recommend using quick oats in place of old-fashioned oats. Rolled out, however, can be used. Which I think are basically the same thing as old-fashioned oats.
The Best Baking Tools
Here are the recommended baking tools needed to make these zucchini chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.
Let's Make the Cookies!
Below is a brief overview of how to make this easy zucchini chocolate chip oatmeal cookie recipe. For the detailed version keep scrolling!
Shred the zucchini. Do this first to avoid having to leave your ingredients sitting in the bowl for too long. After shredding the zucchini, pat off most of the excess liquid, but not all of it. You can use paper towels to do this or a mesh sieve.
Whisk your dry ingredients. This includes all-purpose flour, almond flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisk it until it is well combined and there are no big lumps from the almond flour. If you prefer, you can sift the almond flour into the bowl.
Mix the wet ingredients. In the recipe, I say to use a stand mixer or hand mixer, but honestly, the hand mixer is the easiest. Make sure your unsalted butter is at room temperature making it easier for it to blend together with light brown sugar and granulated sugar. Add in the egg then the vanilla extract.
Add the dry to the wet. You will also add in your shredded zucchini at this part of the recipe. After it's well combined, then you will add in the old-fashioned oats. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula to avoid the chips getting broken up in the cookie dough.
Scoop then bake. No chilling is needed for this recipe, so you can scoop the zucchini chocolate oatmeal cookie dough onto the parchment paper-lined baking sheet, then bake! I used a 3.4 tablespoon-size cookie scoop for this recipe making them 3-4 inches in diameter when baked. For smaller size cookies, reduce the baking times to 10-12 minutes.
Give the cookies 2-3 inches of space because they will spread out, but not so much they'll be thin.
The recommended baking time is 350ºF for 14-16 minutes. They should have a nice medium golden brown edge to them, but be on the thicker side with a soft, cake-like texture.
Cookie Recipe FAQs
I used my 3.4 tablespoon-size cookie scoop.
No, not for this recipe.
You need to drain the excess liquid off the shredded zucchini for this cookie recipe to avoid the dough being too runny which will cause your cookies to spread out a lot! You want to make sure most of the excess liquid is off, but not all of it. A little bit left is good!
No, I don't recommend using those in this recipe.
I used a medium grater from Microplane to shred my zucchini.
The metric weight noted is before the zucchini has been drained of most of the liquid.
Of course! If you're using a smaller size cookie scoop you will need to reduce your baking time to 10-12 minutes. Because every oven is different, make sure you begin checking them at the earliest recommended bake time.
Yes, absolutely. I would suggest scooping it out onto a wax paper-lined baking sheet, freeze until almost solid, then place into a well-sealed freezer bag or food container. When it's time to bake them, do not bring them to room temperature. Simply add 1-2 minutes to your baking time.
More Delicious Cookie Recipes to Try!
Zucchini Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Author:Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups Shredded Zucchini, measure/weigh, then drain liquid
- 1 cup All-Purpose Flour
- ½ cup Almond Flour
- ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Nutmeg
- ½ cup Unsalted Butter, room temperature
- ½ cup Light Brown Sugar, lightly packed
- ½ cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 Large Egg
- 2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Old-fashioned Oats
- 1 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Instructions
- Adjust your oven rack to the 2nd level position (just above center), preheat your oven to 350ºF, then lined 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Shred the zucchini into a small bowl, then remove most of the liquid either by patting it with a paper towel or a mesh sieve. A little liquid still remaining is okay!
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, almond flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg until well blended.
- Using your hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the unsalted butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light in color and fluffy in texture.
- Add in the egg and vanilla extract and continue to mix until they're fully incorporated into the cookie dough.
- Switching the mixer speed to low, add in the whisked dry mixture followed by the shredded zucchini and old-fashioned oats, mixing until just combined. Then fold in the chocolate chips. The cookie dough will be thick, but easily scoopable. It does not need to be refrigerated.
- With a 3.4 tablespoon-size cookie scoop, place 4-6 cookie balls onto the parchment paper, leaving about 2-3 inches in between them. They will spread out as they bake, but not so much they will be thin.
- Bake for 14-16 minutes or until the edges are a medium golden brown. The cookies will be on the thicker side and roughly 3 to 4 inches in diameter. If you wish to make the cookies all the same round shape, immediately after bringing them out of the oven, shape each cookie using a circle cookie cutter. For added garnish, you may wish to top each cookie with some more semi-sweet chocolate chips.
- Allow the cookies to cool for 5-10 minutes on the cookie sheets before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
- The cookies can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Cookies may be kept frozen when double wrapped in plastic wrap and kept in a freezer bag or food container. Make sure the cookies have cooled fully before freezing.
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