Oatmeal Zucchini Cookies
Published 8/30/2022
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These zucchini oatmeal cookies are made with shredded zucchini, oatmeal, cashew butter, and chocolate chips. They are soft, chewy, and the perfect zucchini cookie recipe!
Delicious Oatmeal Zucchini Cookies
There is nothing we love more than a chewy zucchini cookie. These delicious oatmeal zucchini cookies are a delicious spin-off of our flourless monster cookies. Take out the M&Ms and add shredded zucchini and you’ve got a serving of vegetables.
You can make these zucchini cookies with shredded zucchini from your garden or with the zucchini you froze for later. We highly recommend making a double batch of these cookies to freeze some for later, too!
reasons we love these cookies
- They are chewy, soft, and delicious.
- You can freeze them for later.
- You get your veggies in and a sweet treat all at the same time.
- These cookies can be breakfast or dessert!
Ingredients You Need
All of the ingredients for these oatmeal zucchini cookies make up a delicious cookie.
- Zucchini- two medium zucchinis turn out to be about 1 cup of shredded zucchini.
- Unsalted butter– when baking we use unsalted butter.
- Light brown sugar– we use a bit of brown sugar to sweeten up these oatmeal zucchini cookies.
- Maple syrup– we love that adding maple syrup to cookies takes them up a notch!
- Egg– use large eggs, not medium or jumbo.
- Cashew butter– the secret deliciousness of these cookies comes from the drippy cashew butter. We love the Trader Joe or Good & Gather brand cashew butter. As long as it’s drippy and not dry it works!
- Vanilla extract– every cookie needs its vanilla extract.
- Salt– the salt in these cookies enhances all of the flavors in these cookies.
- Quick-cooking oats- we recommend using quick-cooking oats over rolled oats because they hold together better.
- Baking soda– these cookies rise perfectly from a little bit of baking soda.
- Semi sweet chocolate chips– oh baby, the combination of chocolate chips, cashew butter, and zucchini is so delicious!
the best
Baking Sheet
If there’s one thing you need for the perfect cookie is the perfect baking sheet. We love any u003ca href=u0022https://rstyle.me/+OsQ27hRIkOMOgTU-7iU_OAu0022u003eNordic Wareu003c/au003e baking sheet!
#1 Tip for Zucchini Cookies
Our #1 tip to make sure you have perfectly chewy, soft zucchini cookies is to properly remove the moisture from your shredded zucchini.
After you coarsely shred your zucchini, we recommend letting it sit in a lined bowl so that the moisture can draw out.
From there, you can use a tea towel to squeeze out as much moisture as possible. That way, your cookies don’t turn out too mushy with too much liquid!
A Brief Look: How to Make Zucchini Cookies
- Preheat the oven. Spray a baking sheet and preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Shred the zucchini. Using a box grater and using a large grate, grate the medium zucchinis into a bowl. Salt the zucchinis a bit to draw out the moisture from the zucchinis.
- Blot the zucchini. Place the shredded zucchini into a tea towel or paper towel and ring the moisture from the shredded zucchini. Set aside.
- Mix the dough. Whisk together melted butter and brown sugar until there are no lumps. Then, add maple syrup, egg, cashew butter, and vanilla and mix again. Add salt, rolled oats, and baking soda and mix until everything is combined. Add in chocolate chips and mix. Fold in the shredded zucchini until combined.
- Refrigerate the cookie dough. Place the cookie dough in the fridge to chill for 20 minutes.
- Scoop the cookies. Using a tablespoon scoop, scoop a cookie dough ball into your hand and carefully flatten the cookie in-between your hands (the cookies only expand a little bit so don’t skip this step!). Repeat and place the cookies on the greased baking sheet.
- Bake. Place the cookies in the oven and bake for 11-13 minutes.
- Enjoy! Let the cookies cool when you remove them from the oven and then enjoy!
It might help to slightly moisten your hands before rolling the cookie dough and washing your hands in-between balls because the dough is pretty sticky.
Tips & Tricks for Zucchini Cookies
Don’t Forget to Do THIS
Don’t skip blotting the zucchini! If you don’t remove the moisture from the zucchini you will end up with soggy cookies!
Why do I have to refrigerate the cookie dough?
This cookie dough is a wet cookie dough. You let it firm up in the fridge so you can mold the cookie dough in your hands.
What other add-ins can I add to these zucchini cookies?
Want to add more ingredients to these zucchini cookies? Feel free to add in any of the ingredients below in place of the chocolate chips.
- M&Ms
- Shredded coconut
- Raisins
How do I store these cookies?
You can store these cookies in the refrigerator for up to 7 days in an air-tight container or in the freezer for up to 3 months if they’re stored in a freezer-safe bag.
Zucchini Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup shredded zucchini, moisture removed
- 1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup drippy and creamy cashew butter, unsalted (We found the best kind is from Trader Joe’s or Good and Gather/Target. Almond butter works too.)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt, separated
- 3 cups quick cooking rolled oats*, gluten-free if desired
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ cup semi sweet chocolate chips, or chocolate chunks
Instructions
- First, preheat the oven to 350ºF and spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.
- Prepare zucchini by shredding the zucchini using the largest grate.
- Line a large bowl with a paper towel and place the shredded zucchini in the lined bowl and sprinkle a pinch of salt over the zucchini and toss. Let the zucchini sit for 10 minutes.
- Next, whisk together melted butter and brown sugar until there are no lumps. Then, add maple syrup, egg, cashew butter, and vanilla and mix again.
- Add salt, rolled oats, and baking soda and mix until everything is combined. Add in chocolate chips and mix.
- Finally, gather the ends of the paper towel and twist squeezing the excess moisture from the zucchini shreds.
- Add the zucchini to the other ingredients and fold it into the cookie dough.
- Refrigerate dough for 20 minutes to set.
- Scoop 2 tablespoons of batter into your hands and form it into a ball. Place it onto the cookie sheet and slightly press down to form a cookie shape. The batter will feel a bit wet, but they will be so soft and chewy when done baking!*
- Repeat the process above until you’ve fit 6 cookies on your baking sheet.
- Bake cookies at 350ºF for 11-13 minutes or until they begin to turn golden brown.
- Remove cookies and let cool for a couple of minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to continue cooling for at least 20 minutes to firm up.
Tips & Notes
- Option to use old fashioned rolled oats, but they will be a bit chewier. We prefer quick cooking oats to old fashioned oats for this recipe.
- Option to use almond butter in place of the cashew butter.
- This recipe was slightly updated on August 30, 2022.
Watch It
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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These cookies were so delicious! I used almond butter and added coconut as well. I cannot wait to make another batch. 🙂
I love these cookies! They were so easy and so delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
We ate them so fast, I’m making more already!!! 🤤
Delicious! Simple and fulfills the want for something sweet anytime of day. Brought them to the office and everyone wanted the recipe. Sharing is caring 😛
Delicious!! I subbed in sunflower seed butter as that’s what I had and raisins instead of chocolate chips to share with my mom who doesn’t eat chocolate. We were also sadly out of butter (!!) so I had to use coconut oil instead. But Omg, so good!!!! Definitely a keeper recipe.
Thanks so much for sharing that these substitutions worked for you, Kristen!
Soft and chewy – so delicious! Don’t think these will last long 😋. Subbed almond butter and old fashioned oats
Yum!
These cookies were delicious! I made a batch using almond butter and chocolate chunks. I think I could have let them cook a little longer because they were a little soft but my husband and I loved them!
The cookies turned out amazing! They are so delicious, I wish I would have made a double batch right away. They pair perfectly with a cup of coffee for breakfast!
So delish with coffee!
These came out great!! Perfect breakfast cookie!
Beautiful cookies, Melanie!
We made ours with almond butter. Perfect for school lunches and after-school snacks. Really these moist cookies are good anytime. Ready to take the second batch out of the freezer now and use for the rest of the week!
These are so soft and chewy! I will definitely be making them again. I used natural PB in mine since that’s what I had and they turned out great. Also, I’ll be eating them for breakfast tomorrow since there’s oats and a vegetable in it and no one can stop me!
Don’t let anyone stop you from eating these for breakfast!