This easy and delicious low-carb keto apple crisp doesn’t use any apples! To keep it keto friendly, the recipe is made with zucchini, but your taste buds will never know the difference!
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Sweet and tender pieces of sliced zucchini can have the flavor of apples by adding a sweetened spice blend. You’ll get all the taste you love without the unwanted carbs.
The delicious keto apple dessert is a simple and easy way to enjoy the crunchy, sweet flavor of apples on a low-carb diet. It's also a tasty way to get in your daily does of vegetables.
If you are trying to get your family to eat more veggies, this treat is a great way to do it. They may not even be able to tell you didn't use real granny smith apples or fuji apples in the mock apple filling.
Ingredients
You only need a few basic ingredients and a little time to make this low carb apple crisp recipe. In fact, you may already have everything you need right in the kitchen!
Mock Apple Mixture
For the low-carb apple pie crisp filling, you'll need the following:
- zucchini
- lemon juice
- keto sugar substitute
- cinnamon
- nutmeg
You can also add a keto-friendly thickener like xanthan gum to make a thicker filling and apple extract for a stronger apple flavor.
Apple Crisp Topping
I use a nutty topping for the zucchini apple crisp. It’s just a blend of these ingredients:
- Chopped pecans
- Almond flour
- Oat fiber or coconut flour
- Granulated keto sweetener
- Cinnamon
- Melted butter
Quick Tips
- Keep the zucchini slices at least a quarter inch thick. If you cut them too thin, the squash will get soft and mushy when cooked.
- Use a coarse almond flour. Low carb baked goods are generally better with fine almond flour, but for an apple crisp, a coarser grind works best. You can even use almond meal with the skin still on.
- Add apple extract. The lemon juice provides a fruity taste to the zucchini but you'll get a more believable taste if you add in a little apple flavoring.
- Use a ball shaped squash. There are round ball varieties of zucchini that you can grow yourself. The shape and size is more like an apple.
Instructions
To make the recipe, simply prepare the zucchini mixture then add the crumb topping. Then simply bake it in the oven. That's it!
Before using the zucchini, it needs to be peeled and sliced in half lengthwise. Then the seeds need to be removed using a spoon to scrape them out.
Cut the zucchini into half moon slices to look like apple slices. The summer squash pie filling will look just like apples!
Once the zucchini is sliced, it’s mixed with lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, sweetener and optional apple extract. Then it’s poured into a baking dish.
Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Then cut in the butter using a pastry cutter until the mixture is crumbly.
Sprinkle the topping over the filling and baked until the zucchini is tender. It takes about 45 to 50 minutes to cook completely.
Serving Suggestions
This keto zucchini apple crisp is perfect served warm or cold. When warm, it tastes great with a scoop of keto vanilla ice cream on top. Topping off with some whipped cream is also a great option.
Variations
It’s easy to modify this recipe into a keto mock apple pie. Just add my almond flour crust or coconut flour crust and bake in a pie pan. You’ll end up with a low carb Dutch apple pie!
If you’d rather have a traditional apple pie, add a top crust too.
FAQs
Before getting to the printable recipe card, here are some answered questions people have asked about the keto apple crisp dessert.
Apples are generally avoided on a keto diet because even a small apple can have over 20 grams of carbs. That’s twice the limit for what’s recommended for each low carb meal, and it’s likely to knock you out of ketosis!
I’ve made various keto apple recipes using chayote squash, jicama, and yellow squash in addition to zucchini. I use chayote in my keto apple pie uses chayote and I use jicama in my keto apple pie filling.
Related Recipes
This keto apple crisp is a must try low carb dessert for late summer or early fall! It’s definitely something you'll want to make over and over again. For more delicious treats, try one of these:
- Keto apple bread has all the flavor of apple fritters in an easy loaf recipe.
- Starbucks caramel apple spice recipe is a delicious coffee house drink without all the sugar.
- Keto peach cobbler is made with real peach slices, but carbs are kept low.
- Low carb blueberry cobbler is incredibly easy to make with just a few simple ingredients.
- Keto spice cake zucchini muffins are a perfect sized treat when topped with cream cheese frosting.
Follow us on FACEBOOK, PINTEREST, and INSTAGRAM for even more tasty keto-friendly recipes!
Recipe
Keto Apple Crisp
Video
Ingredients
FILLING:
- 6 cups zucchini peeled and sliced about ½ inch thick
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice can sub half with apple cider vinegar to add apple flavor
- ⅔ cup low carb sugar substitute or 4 tablespoon 2 teaspoon Truvia
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon xanthan gum optional thickener
- 1 teaspoon apple extract optional
TOPPING:
- ½ cup pecans chopped
- ½ cup almond flour
- ¼ cup coconut flour or oat fiber
- ¼ cup low carb sugar substitute or brown sugar substitute
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ cup butter
Instructions
- In medium bowl, combine zucchini, lemon juice, sweetener, cinnamon and nutmeg until well blended. For a stronger apple taste, stir in apple extract too. Pour mixture into a greased 9 x 9-in. baking dish.
- For topping, combine pecans, almond flour, oat fiber, sweetener and cinnamon in a bowl then cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over the zucchini mixture.
- Bake at 350 F for 45-50 minutes or until zucchini is tender.
Notes
Low Carb Sweeteners | Keto Sweetener Conversion Chart
Nutrition
Additional Info
Notes on Nutritional Information
Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts as it has been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
Copyright
© LowCarbYum.com - Unauthorized use of this material without written permission is strictly prohibited unless for personal offline purposes. Single photos may be used, provided that full credit is given to LowCarbYum.com along with a link back to the original content.
First published August 26, 2011. Last updated July 15, 2022, with new images and additional recipe information.
Sandy
OMG! Love this recipe. I had a small homegrown, young, greenish pumpkin that was given to me. It had no flavor so I used it for this recipe. I really didn't think it was going to be good because the recipe is so unusual. It was great! I did use the apple extract and was so impressed. I made half the recipe and ate all of it in one sitting. Yum!
Kate
This is a great recipe Lisa. I only had 3 cups of zucchini but I followed the rest of the recipe as is and it was perfect.
The Low Carb Cook
I'm glad it worked out!
Debi
My husband is picky when it comes to eating my keto stuff. He was as happy as I was with this recipe and I even served it as a dessert for non-keto company! Really great dessert!!!
Teddy
Interesting recipe, very ingenious. I did make this today, with Swerve brown sugar, apple extract, ACV etc, and I mostly liked it. But there was a chemical taste to it that was off-putting. I'm wondering if it was from the apple extract??? Or perhaps the Swerve brown sugar. In any case, I'm going to try making it again without the apple extract and I'll use Lakanto golden sugar, to see if that helps rid this of that chemical taste.
Janice
This was an easy dessert to whip up. Since we have 4 adults in the household eating mostly low carb I am always looking for new takes on recipes. I used yellow squash and cubed it. Topping was tasty and crunchy. This recipe is a keeper!
Karissa
As great as this recipe is (it really does taste like apple crisp!), I would like you to find me someone on this planet who can peel, core, and slice six zucchini in 5 minutes (in addition to the other steps required before this goes in the oven). I think saying 5 minutes of prep time required is a little unreal. The zucchini process alone took 30 minutes. Plan ahead.
Lisa MarcAurele
I'll get that changed. It took me more like 15 minutes.
Shelli
Would replacing the almond flour with pecan meal work?
Lisa MarcAurele
I haven't tried it personally, but it should work out.
Diana
I know my apples. I am an apple crisp lover (instead of birthday cake I prefer apple crisp). Friends and relatives say my apple pie is the best they ever tasted. With this said, I was an absolute skeptic this would taste like apple crisp but thought I'd give it a try. To my surprise it did taste like apples! I took advice of other reviewers and used a 1/4 tsp xanthan gum, ACV for part of the lemon juice and brown sugar swerve in the topping. I did not have apple flavoring (used vanilla) pecans or oat fiber but used coconut flour. Turned out perfect. ( sliced zucchini thin rounds, then halved, salted (waited 20 min) drained and dried with paper towels. Excellent! would make again try to find apple flavoring just to see if it makes a difference.
Lisa MarcAurele
Using apple cider vinegar for some of the lemon juice is a good way to get in a little real apple flavor since apple extract is not that easy to find. I should add that in to the notes. Thanks for sharing!
Marie
This recipe is absolutely delicious. Made it last night for dessert. My husband said he could not believe it was not actual apples.
TMarie
Made a believer out of the skeptics.
This was so good warm and cold.
Used suggestion of ACV and vanilla extract, as that's what I had. Also added a bit of xantham gum to filling. And used 1/2 brown 1/2 granular Swerve in both filling and topping. Thanks for this great recipe!
Tammera Lowe
I made this as written, then again with some changes. We prefer the zucchini to be in bite-sized pieces. I used brown sugar swerve in the topping. I used loran apple flavoring, and needed 1/2 tsp to get the right amount of apple flavor. I also used 1/2 tsp guar gum in the filling. This is definitely a keeper. Thanks so much!
Cindy O'Sullivan
This is delicious. The consistency of the zucchini is so much like apples, especially after cooking that you hardly notice you're not actually eating applies. I tweaked this recipe a bit by adding some Crystal Lite lemonade mix (about a tablespoon) in addition to the lemon juice. I also cooked the zucchini mixture before putting in the baking dish and added a bit of xanthan gum to the liquid as it was cooking. This reduced the filling to about 1/2 but it was thick, not runny. Put the filling in the baking dish and sprinkled topping and baked about 15 minutes til the topping browned. Turned out perfect. Will make many more times in the future I'm certain.
Serena
I'd love to make this, but is there any way I could use buckwheat and oat flour instead of the two suggested ones? Thanks!
Lisa MarcAurele
It should work, but it wouldn't be low carb.
Shelly Presson
I made this today but it's so liquidy. Is that normal?
Lisa MarcAurele
You can offset any thin liquid by adding in some xanthan gum to the filling which will help it gel up and not be an issue if the zucchini releases too much moisture during baking.
Hope Bina
I have a bunch of summer squash (yellow squash) from my garden and wondered if i could use that?
Lisa MarcAurele
Yellow summer squash works well as a mock apple too so feel free to use it in place of zucchini.
Jenn
Sad- I made it and after baking mine is swimming in liquid. Hoping leaving it out to cool will help.
Lisa MarcAurele
The zucchini may have had too much liquid. You can add a thickener like xanthan gum or salt the zucchini for about 10 minutes to get the moisture to come out and then use a towel to soak up the liquid before using.
Sharon Strickland
This recipe sounds interesting. What is the best sweetner that doesn't leave an after taste?
Lisa MarcAurele
I find a blend of sweeteners is best and I prefer blending stevia extract with monk fruit extract. However, preference varies for each individual. Many people like BochaSweet which acts a lot like sugar and doesn't have any aftertaste.
Amy
Recipe looks yummy! I was wondering how many servings this would yield/approximately how much is a serving? Thank you for sharing!
Lisa MarcAurele
I got about 9 half cup or so servings.
Vicki Couvee
Looks delicious!
Stacy
Made this last night, its real good! I too used part ACV for half the lemon juice .I was out of nutmeg, so just used cinnamon, alittle extra. My whole family liked it, an will make again. A nice treat!
Annette Aeberhard
I froze zucchini this summer. Can I use the frozen zucchini for this or does it have to be fresh?
Lisa
I think frozen zucchini would be too mushy but if that doesn't bother you it's worth a try.
Wendy
Can you substitute psyllium husk fiber for the oat fiber? I have a big bag of it to use up.
Lisa
It isn't a one-for-one sub but you might be able to get it to work with other changes.
Heather Nohr
Do you think I could I make this in a crock pot? If so, how long would you think I should cook it for? Low, or high?
Thanks!
Heather
Lisa
You should be able to do either. But, you may want to cover so the condensation doesn't drip onto the topping. Standard times of 3 hrs high or 6 hrs low should work.
Linda
Made this last night and was pleasantly surprised! Tastes exactly like apple crisp. Only difference is that the topping is not hard like crisp. I will def be making this again. Thanks for the amazing recipe!
Lisa MarcAurele
You can place it under the broiler to crisp it up a bit if desired.
Jennifer Schewe
Could you do this in an Instant Pot? How long would you cook it for at what setting?
Lisa
I'm thinking only like 6-8 minutes on the high pressure setting.
EA Phelps
I made this today - excited at the prospect of an “apple crisp” but a bit skeptical too. Picked the zucchini fresh from the garden. Did the 1.5 tbsp Lemon Juice, 1.5 tbsp ACV . . . Used Golden Lakanto for the sweetener . . . This turned out SO WELL even my finicky 11 year old Granddaughter exclaimed “this is SO Delicious!”. I’m expecting it to taste even better after it’s been in the fridge overnight. YUM!
Lisa
The recipe is perfect for those fresh picked zucchini!
Irma
How thick did you slice the zucchini? Like you would apples?
Lisa MarcAurele
I sliced the zucchini as thick as I would for apples.
Nancy
What is ACV?
Lisa MarcAurele
Apple Cider Vinegar.
Lisa
I left out the sweetener and added berries (black, blue, and razz). Still Low-carb is those berries do not turn to sugar. Amazing.
Lisa
Great tip!
Heather
I just made this and while it is not bad, I don’t know that I would make it again. Not very sweet or juicy. Very dry and sort of boring in flavor. Didn’t taste like zucchini or apples. Oh well. I’m glad o have it a try. Thank you for sharing!
Lisa
The results do depend on the zucchini used. We always use ones fresh from the garden.
Jeana
I was making this for my husband, and subbed oats for the pecans, and used Truvia brown sugar for the sweetener. It is SO SO good! Thank you!
Lisa
You're welcome Jeana! Glad it worked out for you.
Beth H
Hi, I was wondering how many servings does it serve? I would assume 6 or is the nutritional info you gave for the whole pan?
Lisa
The number of servings is at the top of the recipe card which says "9 servings"
Angela
I was pleasantly surprised.. this is amazing! Tastes almost exactly like apple pie! Mind blown!
Claire Bridges
I made it with 3 courgettes and its great. I'm type1 diabetic following a low carb way of eating so this is a treat as I do miss apple crumble. I will take some along to our low carb diabetes group this evening and see what everyone else thinks!?
I cooked it at 180 fan for 35mins then covered it up with foil for a further 10mins.
Pat
Since any time I've eaten apple anything, I prefer my apples almost mushed. So knowing that, I sliced the zucchini very thin and then, baked it for an additional 45 minutes, at 300 degrees. I didn't care for this while it was warm but after putting it in the refrigerator, it certainly improved the taste. If you can taste the zucchini and don't like it, wait and cool it and give it a chance. It is great and definitely a recipe I'll repeat over and over. Just think: this is a vegetable!
Lisa
Thanks for the tip!
Nancy Atkins
You might try adding caramel extract/ flavoring too.
Lisa
That's a great idea!
Mary
Thank you so much for the recipe. I really enjoyed it. I used 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice and 1 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar. I also upped the cinnamon a bit. I used small regular zucchini and did not remove the seeds as they were soft and not very well formed. I did not think it tasted like zucchini at all!
Lisa
Thanks for writing in to let us know how it turned out!
Irene
I was wondering I have oat flour and almond flour. Would that work or is oat flour a Nono?
Lisa
Oat flour is fairly high carb. Oat fiber has zero net carbs as it's all fiber.
Lindsay
What is oat fiber?
Lisa
It's fiber from oats. All the carbs are from fiber so if you do net carbs it would be zero net carbs.
Brooke
Has anyone tried using shredded zucchini??? I have frozen shredded zucchini from the garden that needs to be used up and was wondering if it would taste as good as the sliced version with a little tweaking... I would love to try this recipe if it would work well!
Lisa
I'm thinking it's best to use fresh slices. The shredded frozen zucchini is better for breads and cakes.
Mellissa
It would probably be mushy without it being fresh slices.
Missy
No it wouldn't, someone posted a keto zucchini bread recipe that it would be perfect for
Rhonda
my sisters and nieces eat it that way all the time I will find our what the put in it
Jodi
I added 1 1/2 tsp of apple cider vinegar and it tasted like apples. Gave a friend some she thought it was apples couldn't believe it was zucchini.
Lisa
Wow! I never would have thought to add a bit of apple cider vinegar.
Harriet
Was that plus the lemon juice?
Lisa
Sorry, I'm not sure what you are asking.
Cheryl
Did you add the apple cider vinegar in addition to the lemon juice? Or did you cut back on the lemon juice?
Sandy
I will be planting ball zucchini in my garden next spring! Looks so amazing.
Lisa
They are the perfect shape for mock apples! 🙂
Ashley Hibbert
My husband is allergic to almonds so I can't use the flour. Could I use coconut flour instead and how much? Looks delicious especially since we went low carb and can't have my husbands favorite desert, apple crisp!
Lisa
You could try a couple tablespoons of coconut flour, but you may need a bit more butter.
Lena Raffa
Delicious! I made this on a small Scale having only 2 ball zucchini in the fridge.. My husband loved it & has come home with 8 yes 8 ball zucchini.(we live in Thailand opposite the river to a veg market) He wants me to create a Apple slice.. Do you think I can freeze the apple & spice mix once I've cooked it? Thanks for sharing another awesome recipe. ?
Lisa
I'm not sure how it would freeze. You may need to cook a little first and freeze not fully cooked. Then bake after thawed.
Stacey
What is a ball zucchini? I've never heard of or seen one? I have plenty of regular zucchini and summer squash.
Lisa
It's a variety of zucchini that is shaped similar to a pumpkin. I had no idea there was such a thing until my husband brought home a plant from a local nursery. I haven't seen one since that year we grew them in the garden.
Stacey
Could I use regular zucchini or summer squash instead? I don't see any seeds in your picture above.
Lisa
I seeded the zucchini first. You can use any zucchini. Summer squash may work, but I've never tried it.
Michelle
Can this be frozen before baking?
Lisa
Zucchini should be blanched first before freezing. Other than that, should be fine.
HazelP
You are the fox, Lisa. This looks scrumptious! And one could use one apple into the mix that would share its flavor with the zucchini... Who doesn't crave apple crisp?
Lisa
One apple spread about wouldn't hurt.
Cassandra
I made this with extra zucchini we needed to use up, but had to improvise with the topping and use essentially all almond flour - no other nuts no oat fiber etc. It turned out pretty tasty! I only wish I had broiled after it was done so that the topping would firm up, but that may be different with the topping recipe as written.
My husband's father is a retired master chef who was so skeptical when I told him what I was making that he LAUGHED at me!! He snuck some after and confessed it was good. 🙂
Lisa
I served this to my family who were also skeptical, but they were also surprised at how good it tasted. Good to know an all almond flour mix works too. I bet broiling the top a bit would have been a nice touch.
Tina
Just made this recipe and am disappointed. 🙁 I enjoyed the crumb topping and the texture of the zucchini was lovely, but it tasted like zucchini. Nothing like an apple. Maybe some apple extract would help? My boys took a few bites and knew it was zucchini. No one was fooled. I might try this recipe again and play with some apple flavoring.
Lisa
A small amount of apple cider may give a better flavor or you could use an apple flavoring which may be harder to find.
Katie
I've made mock apple crisp with zucchini even before my low carb days. I always find that using enough lemon juice and plenty of cinnamon and nutmeg is the trick. Really, that's all I taste in true apple desserts.
Lisa
I agree! Another thing is to be sure no to overcook the zucchini.
Harriet
What happens when you over cook the zucchini? Does it get runny? I used big zucchini and I am wondering if there is more water in them. How much more coconut flour would a person use??? Great recipe!! Ready to test put on coworkers tonight.
Lisa
It can get mushy if you overcook the zucchini so be carful not to do that. I'm pretty sure the big and small zucchini have similar water content.
Kristi
I found this recipe on pinterest and I have to admit I was skeptical. I should not have been because it is amazing! And as a bonus I have now discovered a new low carb website. Thank you. You've made my day!
Lisa
Hi Kristi! Great to have you here. So glad you gave this recipe a try. I was skeptical at first too when I heard a zucchini could taste like an apple.
Jan
Thanks so much for the speedy clarification! I'm just about to try making it.
Jan
You say 2/3 of a cup of sweetener in the zucchini mix, but then 4 tbl + 2 tsp Truvia, which is 1/3 cup. Typo??
Lisa
Jan,
That is not a typo. The Truvia website gives the equivalent for 1/3 cup sugar as 2 Tbsp + 1 tsp Truvia. So, 2/3 cup sugar equivalent is 4 Tbsp + 2 tsp Truvia.
Jenny
This was incredibly authentic, I wouldn't have guessed the zucchini replaced the apples.
Simply delish.
Lucy
I don't think this is the exact recipe I tried but I have done a mock apple crisp with zucchini and it was fabulous! I totally tricked my husband - he thought I had used apples.
Very Good.
Lisa
I served this to my son and he thought it was apples, too.