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    Home / Recipes / Kid Friendly

    Zucchini Keto Apple Crisp Recipe

    By Lisa MarcAurele · Jul 4, 2020 · 103 Comments

    42.3K shares
    Jump to Recipe
    keto apple crisp pinterest image
    keto apple crisp pinterest image.
    keto zucchini apple crisp recipe

    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!

    keto apple crisp featured image.
    Article Index
    • Ingredients
    • Quick tips
    • Instructions
    • ️ Serving suggestions
    • Variations
    • FAQs
    • Related recipes
    • Recipe

    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!

    keto apple crisp recipe ingredients.

    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.

    zucchini apple crisp filling mixture in glass mixing bowl.

    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
    butter cut into topping mixture.

    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!

    Mock apple filling

    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.

    zucchini apple crips filling ingredients in glass mixing bowl.
    zucchini apple filling in baking pan.

    Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Then cut in the butter using a pastry cutter until the mixture is crumbly.

    butter added to topping mix.
    stirring crisp topping ingredients together.

    Sprinkle the topping over the filling and baked until the zucchini is tender. It takes about 45 to 50 minutes to cook completely.

    unbaked keto apple crisp in baking pan.
    baked keto apple crisp in pan.

    ️ 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 to questions people have asked about the keto apple crisp dessert.

    keto apple crisp serving in small white bowl.
    Are apples keto friendly?

    Apples are 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!

    What can be used for low carb mock apples?

    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.

    keto apple crisp with fork bite.

    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 featured image.

    Keto Apple Crisp

    4.57 from 39 votes
    Apples are a forbidden fruit on the low-carb diet, but this keto apple crisp using zucchini is a clever way to trick your taste buds when you crave apples.
    Prep Time:15 mins
    Cook Time:50 mins
    Total Time:1 hr 5 mins
    Course: Dessert
    Cuisine: American
    Print Pin Review Recipe Save Recipe View Collections
    Servings: 9 servings
    Calories: 149

    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
    US Customary - Metric

    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

    Do not slice zucchini too thin or it will become mushy and release more water during baking.
    A pie crust can be added along with baking in a pie pan to make a keto friendly Dutch apple pie.
    Chayote squash, jicama, or yellow squash can be used for the mock low carb apples instead of zucchini.

    Low Carb Sweeteners | Keto Sweetener Conversion Chart

    Nutrition

    Calories: 149 | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 14mg | Sodium: 54mg | Potassium: 247mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 328IU | Vitamin C: 17mg | Calcium: 36mg | Iron: 1mg

    Additional Info

    Net Carbs: 4 g | % Carbs: 11 % | % Protein: 8.3 % | % Fat: 80.7 % | SmartPoints: 6
    Values
    Array
    (
        [calories] => 149
        [carbohydrates] => 7
        [protein] => 3
        [fat] => 13
        [saturated_fat] => 4
        [polyunsaturated_fat] => 1
        [monounsaturated_fat] => 4
        [cholesterol] => 14
        [sodium] => 54
        [potassium] => 247
        [fiber] => 3
        [sugar] => 3
        [vitamin_a] => 328
        [vitamin_c] => 17
        [calcium] => 36
        [iron] => 1
        [serving_unit] => g
        [trans_fat] => 0.2
    )
    

    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.

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

      « Previous 1 2 3
    1. Debi

      February 14, 2023 at 3:57 pm

      5 stars
      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!!!

      Reply
    2. Teddy

      October 29, 2022 at 2:32 pm

      4 stars
      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.

      Reply
    3. Janice

      August 17, 2021 at 6:06 pm

      5 stars
      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!

      Reply
    4. Karissa

      September 27, 2020 at 4:32 pm

      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.

      Reply
      • Lisa MarcAurele

        September 28, 2020 at 3:50 pm

        I'll get that changed. It took me more like 15 minutes.

        Reply
    5. Shelli

      September 21, 2020 at 5:03 pm

      Would replacing the almond flour with pecan meal work?

      Reply
      • Lisa MarcAurele

        September 21, 2020 at 6:35 pm

        I haven't tried it personally, but it should work out.

        Reply
    6. Diana

      September 21, 2020 at 12:56 am

      5 stars
      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.

      Reply
      • Lisa MarcAurele

        September 21, 2020 at 9:00 am

        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!

        Reply
    7. Marie

      August 25, 2020 at 4:18 pm

      This recipe is absolutely delicious. Made it last night for dessert. My husband said he could not believe it was not actual apples.

      Reply
    8. TMarie

      July 07, 2020 at 11:57 am

      5 stars
      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!

      Reply
    « Previous 1 2 3

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