Packed with tender oats and gooey chocolate, these zucchini breakfast cookies have an incredible soft and chewy texture and are the best way to start the day!
Introducing your new favorite grab-and-go breakfast that you’re definitely going to want be grabbing a lot of.
These cookies are kinda like a cross between soft zucchini bread and a big loaded oatmeal cookie and it is the BEST of both worlds!
Plus the fact that you get to eat this for breakfast? Unreal.
We’re keeping things super easy and breezy today and mixing up these cookies entirely in one bowl, no chill time necessary, and they bake up in minutes.
Breakfast is won. There’s just no way around it.
These Breakfast Cookies feature…
- A soft and chewy texture
- Hearty oats and toasted walnuts
- Gooey melted chocolate chunks
Making the Breakfast Cookies
(scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe)
Ingredients You Will Need
- Brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Unsalted butter
- Banana
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Oats
- Baking soda
- Cinnamon
- Zucchini
- Walnuts
- Chocolate chunks or chips
Tips for Perfect Breakfast Cookies
- Shred zucchini on large box holes of grater – you will need about 1-1/2 cups shredded zucchini which is about 1 medium zucchini.
- Squeeze water out of zucchini – this prevents extra moisture from getting in the cookies resulting in a soft and chewy texture. Shred the zucchini, gather it in a kitchen towel, and squeeze the water from zucchini until dry.
- Measure flour correctly – we use the spoon-and-level technique for measuring flour as this will prevent over-measuring your flour. Use a spoon to scoop flour into the measuring cup, then level with the back of a knife.
- Gently fold batter – use a light hand when mixing batter and gently fold so as not to overmix.
- Toast nuts – if you choose to use nuts in this bread, take the extra few minutes to toast them on the stovetop until fragrant. This gives them much better flavor and texture.
Recipe Variations
Try these ideas for a different twist on these cookies!
- Try different mix-ins – feel free to dry different nuts, chocolates, or dried fruit.
- Add orange zest – for a kick of citrusy flavor, try adding 1 teaspoon grated orange zest.
- Skip banana – if you’re not a fan of banana flavor, feel free to replace the mashed banana with 1/3 cup applesauce.
Storing and Freezing Cookies
These cookies store well at room temperature in an airtight container up to 3 days. For best results, we recommend reheating cookies in the microwave 10-20 seconds so the chocolate gets gooey.
To freeze cookies, allow them to cool completely, wrap well, and freeze up to 2 months. Thaw cookies and reheat before serving.
If you can resist grabbing two of these cookies, please share your secrets. They’re so insanely soft and loaded with melty chocolate, you’d NEVER guess there’s zucchini hiding inside!
Meet your new favorite breakfast.
Save this recipe using the ‘save to recipe box’ button below. If you make it, please let us know! Leave a comment + star rating below, or take a photo and tag it on Instagram with #wholeandheavenlyoven.
More easy grab-and-go breakfast items to try next!
Zucchini Breakfast Cookies
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Ingredients
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 medium ripe banana, mashed
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
- 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup shredded zucchini (squeezed dry in a kitchen towel)
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
- 1/2 cup semisweet or milk chocolate chunks
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line two medium sheet pans with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix sugars with melted butter, mashed banana, egg, and vanilla until smooth. Fold in flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt until dough is just combined.
- Fold shredded zucchini, walnuts, and chocolate chunks into dough until just combined (dough will be slightly sticky)
- Scoop dough into 1 inch balls and space 2 inches apart on sheet pans. Flatten dough balls slightly.
- Bake cookies at 350F 11-13 minutes until cookies are golden brown around the edges. Allow cookies to cool on sheet pan 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire cooling rack. Enjoy cookies warm!
Notes
Nutrition
This post was updated with new recipe tips and photos on 7/12/23.
Todd says
Can I sub with old fashioned oats?
Sarah says
Yes, that would work fine!
Amy says
Do you happen to have nutritional information on these? They look delicious and like a perfect way to use up our insanely big zucchinis from our garden this summer!
Sarah says
I do not know the nutritional info on this recipe, however, you can easily find out with this website!
Christine says
These have become a new family favorite. I replaced the butter with coconut oil to make them a little healthier, and they are gobbled up by my kids!
I also make some with cranberries and pecans instead of cholcolate and walnuts, and they’re delicious, too!
Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
Hayley says
Hello i made these and there perfect my whole family loves them but I was wondering could you replace the zucchini with anything as I dont always have it? I also used straight wholemeal flour and had to add extra apple sauce and it just took some man handling of the dough as it got very thick quickly.
Sarah says
Hi Hayley. In place of the zucchini, I would recommend using 1/2 cup apple sauce or an additional 1 mashed banana. Good luck!
Celeste says
The batter were just so incredibly sticky. Kinda a big mess even with floured hands. Ugh
Sarah says
So sorry to hear you had trouble with this recipe, Celeste! It sounds as if you didn’t have quite enough flour in your dough. We will retest this recipe as soon as we can to see what the problem is!