This Zucchini Crisp is “faux” apple crisp. By cooking the zucchini a certain way with specific ingredients I was able to transform the zucchini into a dessert that tastes just like Apple Crisp! It’s a magical dessert that we make every summer when we have an abundance of zucchini!
Zucchini Crisp
This, my sweet friends, is Zucchini Crisp. It tastes exactly, and I do mean exactly, like Apple Crisp.
Only better. Cause it’s zucchini and we all know I am a wee bit obsessed with it.
My husband came home one day and was like, “So I was chatting with the guys at work and one of them mentioned having a really delicious zucchini crisp.”
Um, what’s this you say? You can your buddies sit around talking about yummy baked goods?
Well, no. Hubby sometimes brings our extra zucchini to work and someone was thankful and offered up recipe ideas. So, uh, basically, yeah. The boys do talk baking at the office.
Which makes me gloriously happy. I now call him Mr. iambaker.
Anywho, after all that, I was like, “Where is the recipe?”
“He doesn’t have a recipe. He just ate a zucchini crisp he liked.”
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
After doing some hunting online I was able to find a recipe, but I found it to be pretty vague. So through trial and error, I have now found the best possible recipe for Zucchini Crisp.
It’s foolproof I tell you!
How to Make Zucchini Crisp
You can use a smaller pan, like a 9 x 13, but it may overflow. If you need to use a smaller pan I would consider decreasing the recipe size by 1/4.
Using smaller zucchini is not recommended. A smaller zucchini is more flavorful and will have an aftertaste, and may even be slightly bitter. Also, if you use a smaller zucchini you will not need to de-seed it. (But do still peel it.)
I would advise using the mandolin for slicing the zucchini. If you do not have one and need to cut by hand, make sure to take the time and get really uniform slices.
Before cutting in the butter I dice it into small pieces. This works great when you opt to use your hands to mix like I do!
There is a picture above of the cooked zucchini and as you can see there is a lot of liquid. I was nervous to pour that much liquid over the bottom layer of crust, so I decided to bake the crust first. It works like a charm! All that glorious liquid will evaporate and soak back into the zucchini while baking and the bottom layer of crust will be crispy and dry.
I am not kidding, this tastes so much like apple that no one would ever know it is a zucchini!
Served warm is the best option, and serving with vanilla ice cream and caramel is an even better option.
Zucchini Crisp
Ingredients
Filling
- 8 cups peeled zucchini sliced into rings and deseeded if needed
- 2/3 cup lemon juice
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
Crust
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup quick oats
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 1/2 cup butter chilled
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
Instructions
Filling
- Choose a LARGE zucchini only (preferably 12-24 inches long and very thick). Peel the zucchini and then using a mandolin, slice the zucchini into thin slices*. Make sure all seeds are removed.
- In a large saucepan over medium heat add zucchini, lemon juice, white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Cook for about 20 minutes or until zucchini is very soft and tender.
- Remove from heat and set aside.
Crust
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Prepare a 10 x 15 inch baking dish.
- In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, oats, baking powder and cinnamon.
- Crumble chilled butter into flour mixture with hands (you can also use a pastry cutter) until mixture resembles coarse crumbs or pea sized butter bits.
- Stir 1/2 cup of flour mixture into cooled zucchini mixture.
- Press half of remaining butter & flour mixture into the bottom of prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes.
- Carefully remove from oven and spread zucchini mixture over top of crust and sprinkle remaining butter mixture over zucchini.
- Bake for 35-45 minutes or until top is golden brown.
- Serve hot with ice cream or whipped topping.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Thank you for making my recipe! You took pictures, right? Well go ahead and post them on Instagram! Be sure to mention me @iambaker and use the hashtag #YouAreBaker.
Looking for the real deal Apple Crisp? Try this BEST APPLE CRISP!
This looks awesome! My hubby also talks about food at work, it’s kind of funny…he’ll come home and say ‘we were talking and we think you should make x,y,z’ lol!
zucchini that tastes like apples?? whaaaa!? I’m totally intrigued, especially since crisps of all kinds are my absolute favorite this time of year. and this way it counts as a vegetable too, right?
Yes! I hope you make it and are able to see for yourself just how amazing it is… 🙂
Thanks for posting so many zuchini recipes! I have a garden exploding with them, and don’t particularly care for them plain. I made this for my coworkers, and didn’t tell them it was zuchini, and they were all fooled! (And enjoyed it, but fooled was the fun part)
Since it has zucchini, this crisp is healthy, right?
I had a large zucchini left, that I really needed to use up. So I made this the other day before my husband got home (we were having company the next day). I never told him that it was zucchini and not apples. We had it last night after dinner, I still never told anyone, they all thought it was apples. My daughter and I were the only one’s in on it. it was delicious. Thank you.
YAY!! So glad you liked it… and that you got to have the fun moment of surprise! You’ll have to report back what they think once you do spill the beans. 🙂
I’m a Little confused,, first you say to peel and cube the zucchini then it says to use a mondolin and slice it thin., Is either way acceptable?
I sliced my zucchini before I noticed you peel it. Will the peels ruin it?
I’m printing to compare your version with mine. It’s been a real conversation starting dish for years. In my family, we call this ZAPPLE crisp….doncha just love fooling folks with what they’re eating. This is truly an amazing dessert. Thanks for sharing.
Delicious recipe. Will make it again. Took as a dessert to my Amish Friends. They never heard of Zucchini Crisp and it was a total hit. Now she wants the recipe. Absolutely amazing.
This recipe is almost exactly like mine. Mine doesn’t call for oats, so I’m definitely going to add them! I found my recipe online about 15 years ago. I have a way of cutting the zucchini that really makes it even LOOK like apples. After peeling I cut it lengthwise, then cut both halves lengthwise again. It’s then easy to run knife just under the seeds to remove them all at once from each long quarter.. Then I have 4 long zucchini sticks. I lay them one at a time one the cutting board & cut maybe 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces. When these are cut it really looks like apples pieces. 🙂
Amanda, I love your site & enjoy reading thru each of the recipes. I’ve made many of your recipes. One of our favorites is the Ding Dong Cake!
Thank you for all you do!