Use up your garden-fresh zucchini with this Zucchini Crisp recipe, a delectable dessert with apple flavoring and lots of delicious ingredients. We’re talking brown sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon! It’s a healthy summer dessert everyone will love.

So you have a few zucchini lying around, and you’re not sure how to use them. I have just the recipe for you — Zucchini Dessert Crisp! This unique and delicious treat is the perfect way to use up your veggies and enjoy true culinary magic.
Zucchini is sort of like tofu and eggplant. It can stand alone and be great, or you can do a bunch of sneaky cooking things to it and transform it into something else. Today we’ll turn the humble, healthy zucchini into apples…zucchini apples, that is!
Reader rating
“Just made this on a whim because we have sooooo many zucchini’s. Don’t tell my kids though because they asked for seconds! Great recipe! Thank You” —Amber
Ingredients in zucchini dessert crisp
To turn our zucchini into an apple-tasting dessert, we’ll be using everything from sugar and lemon juice to rolled oats and butter. It’s an interesting combo, and it works!
- Zucchini: First up, you’ll need 6 cups of zucchini. You can reach that with about 5 medium-sized zuccs.
- Sugar: Next, set aside ½ cup of sugar. We’re making a dessert, remember?
- Lemon Juice: To add a tangy zest, include ⅓ cup of lemon juice.
- Flour: 1 cup of all-purpose flour become the base to our crumble topping
- Rolled Oats: Use 1 cup of rolled oats to add density, protein, and fiber to our crumble topping!
- Brown Sugar: 1 cup of brown sugar contributes to the delicious flavor. It’s a must.
- Cinnamon: Include 1 tsp of cinnamon helps to trick your brain into thinking that the zucchini is apple.
- Salt: Add ½ tsp of salt, which will actually help amplify the sweet flavors we have going on.
- Butter: Finally, use ½ cup (1 stick) of butter to bind together the crumble topping. You can also use a vegan type if preferred. Either way, it needs to be cold and cubed.
How to make veggie-packed zucchini mock apple crisp
The most important part of this zucchini mock apple crisp is cooking the zucchini pieces with sugar until they bring on a delicious, sweet flavor. After that, it’s smooth sailing with mixing the rest of the ingredients and assembling the dish! Total prep time is about 10 minutes and cooking time is 1 hour.
Step 1: Cook the zucchini
Preheat the oven to 350ºF (176ºC). Peel and chop the zucchinis into bite-sized pieces (you can leave the skin on for a boost of fiber, but removing that green peel is helpful in tricking your brain into thinking this is apple!).
In an uncovered saucepan, bring the zucchini, sugar, and lemon juice to a simmer over medium heat. Cook the zucchini for about 15 to 20 minutes until it becomes soft and tastes sweet. Once cooked, transfer the zucchini and liquid to a 9×13 inch (or similarly sized) baking dish.
Step 2: Create the crumble
Mix the flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt together in a large bowl. Add cubes of cold butter to the flour mixture and blend with your hands until everything is evenly distributed. The dough will be very crumbly. Sprinkle it over the zucchini mixture.
Step 3: Bake
Bake for 30 to 45 minutes, or until the juices are bubbly and the top is golden brown.
Can You Make Zucchini Into A Sweet Dessert?
By this point in the recipe, you already know the answer — heck yes! But how does zucchini crisp work? What’s the science?
Well, by adding lemon juice and sugar to chopped zucchini and then cooking it, you arrive at a flavor that tastes exactly like apples. Like if you closed your eyes, you would think apples. The acidity of the lemon juice turns the chlorophyll in the zucchini to an olive green color so… they look a little like pickles. But I promise you, this is so good. With a crumble crust and a scoop of old-fashioned ice cream on top, oooh Sugar Honey Iced Tea it’s good!
More mouth watering zucchini bites
Can’t get enough zucchini recipes? I can’t either. Here are some easy go-to recipes that use up my extra zuccs and give my body the veggies that it needs.
- Zucchini Cheddar Bites
- Zucchini Corn Salad
- Spiralized Zucchini Caprese Salad in a Jar
- Whipped Feta, Corn, and Zucchini Crostini
Ingredients
- 6 cups zucchini about 5 medium zucchinis
- ½ cup sugar 100 g
- ⅓ cup lemon juice 80 mL
- 1 cup all-purpose flour 120 g
- 1 cup rolled oats 100 g
- 1 cup brown sugar 100 g
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup butter 1 stick, can use vegan variety, cold and cubed
Instructions
- Zucchini: Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C). Peel and chop zucchini into bite-sized pieces. In an uncovered saucepan, bring zucchini, sugar, and lemon juice to a simmer over medium heat. Cook about 15 to 20 minutes, until zucchini is soft and tastes sweet. Transfer zucchini and liquid to a 9×13 inch (or similarly sized) baking dish.
- Crust: Mix flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt together in a large bowl. Add cubes of cold butter to flour mixture and blend with hands until evenly distributed. Dough will be very crumbly. Sprinkle over the zucchini mixture.
- Bake: For 30 to 45 minutes, or until juices are bubbly and top is golden brown.
Sierra says
Thank you for this! I love crisps but I’m allergic to apples. Definitely gonna try this recipe.
Kari says
Some of the photos it looks like you used a green zucchini. Others look like you used a yellow one. Did you use 2 different types of squash or does the squash really change color after cooking and baking?
Sarah says
Nope, this is all green zucchini! The color changes to yellow once you cook it with the lemon juice 😀
Amber says
Just made this on a whim because we have sooooo many zucchini’s. Don’t tell my kids though because they asked for seconds! Great recipe! Thank You
Sarah Bond says
I’m so happy to hear it Amber! Sounds like a tasty problem to have 😀
Melissa says
Oh my goodness!! We have tons of zucchini to use up (first time growing it!) so I’ve been searching out different recipes to try. This is by far my favorite so far! DELICIOUS!
Sarah Bond says
YAY! So glad you enjoyed it, Melissa! Happy zucchini season!
Barbara says
I printed this and plan to make soon because I have a lot of zukes coming in the garden. Does the sugar act as a thickener, or could I use stevia as a substitute for the white sugar part?
Also, why is it that every recipe has this format? I hate that half the page is taken up with stuff like cuisine: American or prep time + cook time and then total time! This always forces the recipe to go onto two pages. I always have to copy and paste and rework the entire thing. Can the print pages be more editable? Anyway, the recipe looks great and I’m looking forward to making it.
Sarah Bond says
The sugar is simply for sweetness, so you could us stevia! I’ll look into ways of customizing the print page – thanks for your feedback, Barbara!
Cassandra says
Can you freeze this dessert?
Sarah Bond says
I haven’t tried freezing this zucchini crisp, but I think the texture would be impacted.
marion says
Can this be made the day before and then baked the morning of?
Also does this need to be refrigerated?
Sarah Bond says
Yes you could make it in advance, just keep the crumble topping and the zucchini filling separate until ready to make. And yes to refrigeration! 😀
Londa says
OMG This recipe is delicious! I did add a little pumpkin pie spice in the apples just for the heck of it. This dish is definitely going with me for Thanksgiving potluck. Thank you for sharing.
Sarah Bond says
So happy to hear it, Londa! Enjoy!
Charlotte Knott says
I have made a similar recipe for years. I have never cooked the zucchini on the stove before hand though. Everyone always loves it when I make it.
Sarah Bond says
Cooking the zucchini on the stove helps to get some extra moisture out and infuse it with sweet flavors! 😀
M. Grimm says
Love, love this recipe!! Followed the exact directions (which I never do, lol) , but it’s perfect! Just like apple crisp for sure.
Fran Johnson says
I tried this recipe because I had a huge zucchini . Had to cook about 40 minutes to get soft . Also used gluten free brown sugar . End result . It was delicious .