Do you have an overloaded zucchini plant? These Zucchini Cobbler Bars are an unconventional zucchini dessert, but you will fall head over heels in love with them!
Photos Updated June 2017
Originally posted September 6, 2011: We don’t have our yard in yet, so no garden this year, but that hasn’t stopped me from going crazy on the zucchini recipes already! I have actually been buying zucchini like crazy lately, which led to me making another batch of these Zucchini Cobbler Bars. I have been making them for years now, and really, really love them. When I first started making them, I always removed the skin from the zucchini, but I’ve gotten lazy, and these days I leave it on. I do like that the zucchini doesn’t break down quite as much with the skin on. But this recipe totally works both ways, and if you do remove the skin, it’s easy to fool people into thinking these are apple bars! I hope you fall in love with them as much as I have!
The original post from 2011 follows:
SEE HOW TO MAKE THESE ZUCCHINI COBBLER BARS HERE:
I’ve been through most of the tomatoes that were given to us. And most of the corn. But now, I’m finding zucchini after zucchini that I have stuffed into my refrigerator!! So I have been scouring the internet, looking for different ways to cook up zucchini. I started with cookies, but I didn’t really care for them. And I still had tons of zucchini.
I was at my parent’s house for dinner the other night, and I mentioned to my dad that I needed to use up some zucchini, and he said that my mom had made a zucchini cobbler before that was really good.
What?? What kind of cobbler??
I had never in my life heard of a zucchini cobbler. And it’s not something I would have ever thought to try, either. I asked my mom about it, and she told me how she made it. That night when I got home, I googled it. Turns out quite a few people out there have heard of – and made – zucchini cobblers. Where have I been?
I looked through several recipes, and most were similar. I ended up with a version from Taste of Home that I adapted a bit. The end result wasn’t really a cobbler to me, but more of a bar. I think that if you wanted more of a cobbler, you’d cut way back on the crust/crumble, but really, I wouldn’t change a thing. These were perfect as bars.
And guess what?
They are delicious.
And you would never guess that these cobbler bars are made with zucchini. I would have totally guessed that these were apple bars. Maybe it’s the cinnamon and nutmeg that trick you into thinking that it is an apple filling. These are the perfect late summer/early fall treat!
Looking for more zucchini desserts?
Pineapple Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Glazed Lemon Poppy Seed Zucchini Bread
Chocolate Wave Zucchini Bread
Or check out these recipes from the around the web:
Lemon Zucchini Cupcakes from Spending with Pennies
Zucchini Cookies with Chocolate Chips and Dried Cranberries from Two Peas and Their Pod
Cream Cheese-Swirled Zucchini Bread from Chelsea’s Messy Apron
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Do you have an overloaded zucchini plant? These Zucchini Cobbler Bars are an unconventional zucchini dessert, but you will fall head over heels in love with them!
Ingredients
Filling:
- 4 cups chopped zucchini*
- 1/3 cup lemon juice
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Crust and Topping
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3/4 cup cold butter, cut into cubes
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Lightly grease a 7×11-inch baking dish**, or line with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, stir together the flour, 1 cup of sugar and the cinnamon. Using a pastry cutter or fork, cut the flour into the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Combine the zucchini and lemon juice in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring often, until the zucchini is soft, about 10-15 minutes. Stir in the 1/2 cup sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Cook for an additional minute. Remove from the heat. Stir in 1/2 cup of the crumb mixture.
Press half of the remaining crumb mixture evenly into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Pour the zucchini mixture on top, then sprinkle the remaining crumb mixture over the top.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 35 minutes, or until the top is golden brown. Let the bars cool completely before cutting and serving.
Notes
*You can choose whether or not to peel the zucchini. If you peel the zucchini, the filling looks just like apple filling, and most people won’t be able to tell the difference. But I prefer to keep the peel on for a little texture.
**If you don’t have a 7×11-inch baking dish, you can bake it in a 9” square dish. You will probably have to adjust the baking time.
adapted from Taste of Home
Nutrition information provided as an estimate only. Various brands and products can change the counts.
Nutrition
- Calories: 283
- Sugar: 26 g
- Sodium: 5 mg
- Fat: 12 g
- Saturated Fat: 7 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3 g
- Trans Fat: 0 lg
- Carbohydrates: 43 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Cholesterol: 31 mg
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Alicia K says
September 6, 2011 at 6:24 amI LOVE how you have “pin it” buttons! That is how i save my recipes!
Bev Weidner says
September 6, 2011 at 6:36 amI have never heard of these either, but OMG. Just looking at them made me giddy.
the little kimchi pierogi says
September 6, 2011 at 7:09 amhow great…I would have had the same reaction!
Jess Wakasugi {Life's Simple Measures} says
September 6, 2011 at 7:25 amI have yet to ever make anything with zucchini, but these sound really interesting. I love how you described the flavors and textures (apple bars) for those of us who have never done anything with this veggie. I was always really interested in what baking with zucchini is like and now I know!
Julia says
September 6, 2011 at 9:28 amI’ve never heard of them either, buuuuuut, in the past week I’d actually imagined some up. So to see you make them, oh wow, I’m dang excited to try them. I LOVE zucchini, and well, I also kinda loooove dessert!
Carrie@bakeaholicmama says
September 6, 2011 at 9:38 amOh those look so yummy!!
Annalise says
September 6, 2011 at 9:42 amNever heard of such a thing, but I bet they are delicious! I think you could put just about anything into a sugary, buttery bar form and I’d love it.
Sasha @ The Procrastobaker says
September 6, 2011 at 9:46 amYou should see the beast of a zucch in the kitchen right now, and i was pondering what to make with it but these look PERFECT! I have a soft spot for bar desserts and this looks easy and so yummy, lovely recipe!
Joanne says
September 6, 2011 at 11:09 amI am SO going to trick my brother into eating zucchini with these!
natalie (the sweets life) says
September 6, 2011 at 12:02 pmi have NEVER heard of this but i love the sound of it. i have one zucchini in my fridge–would that be enough do you think?
Alli says
September 6, 2011 at 12:40 pmZuke cobbler … never ever heard of it but, I am so intrigued. I am constantly looking for ways to incorporate zucchini. I am pinning this!
Maria says
September 6, 2011 at 12:41 pmLove this recipe! So creative!
Kim says
September 6, 2011 at 12:49 pmI really love zucchini baked treats like this. Gorgeous!
Katrina says
September 6, 2011 at 12:54 pmWhat a great way to sneak in zucchini! Love this!
Kristy says
September 6, 2011 at 12:58 pmThese both look and sound fabulous! What a fun way to use zucchini. And the crumble on top looks so tasty! If you still need to use some zucchini up, I’ve also found that shredding it and mixing it with some ricotta makes for a great stuffing in baked manicotti. 🙂
teresa says
September 6, 2011 at 1:36 pmoh gosh, i have to send this to my mom, she’s got zucchini coming out of her ears. these look amazing!
Cassie [Bake Your Day] says
September 6, 2011 at 2:29 pmThis sounds so good. I love adding veggies to desserts and this sounds so unique. Looks delicious too!
Ashley says
September 6, 2011 at 2:30 pmWow love the idea of a zucchini cobbler!! I’ve never heard of such a thing. If I keep getting tons of zucchini in my CSA I’ll definitely try making this. Right now I’m making some yeasted zucchini bread with some of my stash.
Alison @ Ingredients, Inc. says
September 6, 2011 at 4:07 pmomg these look amazing
Ann says
September 6, 2011 at 5:56 pmDang….I figured it would have cinnamon (allergic). I wonder how it would be with maple and/or honey and possibly some nutmeg? GREAT idea! Tell dad that I said BRAVO!
newlywed says
September 6, 2011 at 6:19 pmI would have never thought of this — but the bars look and sound great. Thanks for sharing!
Taylor says
September 6, 2011 at 7:44 pmThat’s exactly what I thought when I read the title to this recipe – “WHAT cobbler bars?!” Sounds interesting, looks delicious!
Erin @ Dinners, Dishes and Desserts says
September 6, 2011 at 8:45 pmWow!! Never would have put zucchini in a cobbler. I really wish I had zucchini lying around. I am going to have to find some, so I can try this!
Sandy @EverydaySouthwest says
September 6, 2011 at 9:51 pmI NEVER would have thought of zucchini cobbler! I’m going to try this. Do you think my kids will know? I’m going to have to hide the zucchini peels before they get home.
Cookin' Canuck says
September 6, 2011 at 9:55 pmWell, I love zucchini bread – so why not zucchini cobbler? These bars sound really good to me.
Christine says
September 6, 2011 at 10:21 pmLooks wonderful.
Karly says
September 7, 2011 at 6:30 amFirst up, I’ve never heard of zucchini cobbler and I’m intrigued. That sounds weirdly delicious.
Second up, somehow my subscription to your feed must have gotten deleted! I just stumbled on you and thought “Hey! Where has she been??” Turns out you were here all along, I just didn’t know it! Stupid feed reader.
Tara @ The Butter Dish says
September 7, 2011 at 7:24 amHow lucky for me I just bought a zucchini on a whim the other day at the store.
Dessert sounds perfect Deborah! 🙂
Tres Delicious says
September 7, 2011 at 8:55 amThat looks delish. The Zucchini is one truly amazing stuff with multiple benefits.
sweet road says
September 7, 2011 at 9:50 amI love cooking and baking with zucchini- it is an ingredient that you might never expect to taste as good as it does when added to baked goods!
Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen says
September 8, 2011 at 12:46 amWhat a great idea and a nice change of pace from the ubiquitous zucchini bread recipes.
Valerie M. says
September 11, 2011 at 6:32 pmTotally craving these now. They look really good.
grace says
September 12, 2011 at 12:40 pmterrific. it’s all about the topping for me, anyway. 🙂
Andrea says
November 3, 2012 at 8:04 pmThese are absolutely delicious! Eating one with some vanilla bean ice cream right now!!
Deborah says
November 4, 2012 at 9:13 pm@Andrea, yay! So glad you liked them!
Lisa Tannehill says
August 2, 2013 at 12:03 amThese so rock! They are the bomb! My family still doesn’t believe it’s zucchini only, no apples! Thank you for sharing!
Melinda says
August 11, 2013 at 8:19 pmThese are delicious. I had an over abundance of cantaloupe in my garden this year, and this worked great with that instead. Thanks for sharing.
Katie says
July 21, 2014 at 8:56 pmThese were amazing!!!! Taste like I was eating an apple square 🙂
Donna Wooters says
July 22, 2014 at 1:07 pmI like that it’s so easy to make.1st pan won’t last long ! 🙂
Tanya says
July 26, 2014 at 3:48 pmThese are awesome!
Becky says
August 4, 2014 at 7:30 pmSound delish; any thoughts on making a gluten free version??
Deborah says
August 8, 2014 at 10:33 amHi Becky – unfortunately I don’t normally do gluten free so I’m not familiar with a lot of the substitutions. I would probably try substituting your favorite gluten free flour for the all-purpose. I think they’d be pretty forgiving.
Lori says
August 4, 2014 at 8:40 pmMade these today and were they ever good. Hubby can be a bit picky and even he said “Make sure you save a zucchini to make another batch of these.”.
Kate says
August 7, 2014 at 5:56 amis the sugar in the the topping granulated sugar or brown sugar?
Deborah says
August 8, 2014 at 8:32 amIt is white sugar.
Donna says
August 11, 2014 at 6:54 pmThis was so good. No one knew it was Zucchini. I used a little less sugar though. But, so good.
Deborah says
August 11, 2014 at 9:59 pmI’m so glad you loved them! And I agree – I wouldn’t have known they had zucchini if I wouldn’t have made them myself!
tara says
August 15, 2014 at 2:04 pmJust made these for my family!! My stepson who doesn’t like any veggie just devoured a whole piece and wanted more!!!!
Linda says
September 13, 2014 at 12:48 pmThanks so much for this recipe! I had made stuffed zucchini and had all the “insides” left. I needed a dessert and was fortunate to find your site! I added ONE apple (so I wouldn’t be a liar when I said it was apple cobbler:), along with some dried cranberries. To the crumble (on top only) I added some chopped walnuts. IT CAME OUT GREAT!! No one could believe it wasn’t apple. In fact, it got eaten up faster than my real apple cobbler!! Thanks again!!!
Deborah says
September 14, 2014 at 10:10 pmI love that no one can tell that it’s zucchini. And what a great way to use leftovers!!
Linda says
September 13, 2014 at 1:20 pmOh… forgot to write that I used oil instead of butter b/c we wanted it non-dairy (won’t use margarine). The texture was great!
Corinne says
June 16, 2015 at 6:28 pmThis recipe is the favourite of my family, thank you 🙂
Diane Vesci says
July 30, 2015 at 6:42 pmMy husband was very surprised when he took the first bite of this recipe, he asked me if it was apples.
He was very surprised and thought is was good. I left it in the oven for the about 15 minutes with extra time to see if the crumble would brown up a little more but it didn’t. I cut the serving size down to 4, as I wasn’t sure if this was going to be something that DH was going to like.
Will for sure make this again and for more people, DH stated that I needed to let the zucchini cook a little bit longer.
Thanks for the recipes.
bethany baker says
September 26, 2015 at 10:37 amThis recipe looks amazing, and would love to try it. But being allergic to dairy. I was wondering if there was possibility of substituting the butter for coconut oil or another type of oil?
Deborah says
September 27, 2015 at 11:47 pmI haven’t tried it with a substitution, so I can’t say for sure if it would work or not. Sorry!!
patti says
July 4, 2016 at 5:28 pmI made them and they are fantastic! I was skeptical…I did add a pinch of salt to the zucchini mixture along with a 1/2 tsp of maple extract.
Lara says
July 9, 2017 at 3:12 amThese bars are really amazing. Thanks for updating this post Debbie.
Denise says
July 22, 2017 at 7:55 amLovely combination of sweet and sour.
★★★★★