Your family will never guess that this delicious Mock Apple Crumb Pie is made with slices of zucchini instead of apples! Great for cooking with those huge garden zucchini.
We’ve been growing a variety of summer squash in our back yard garden this summer – zucchini, yellow summer squash, and the striped, Italian cocozelle – and we’ve been picking it (and eating it) as fast as it is ripe!
But it never fails. In spite of our daily visits to the garden to pick our squash while it is still young and tender, at least once a week we discover a baseball bat-sized zucchini that has been hiding under some leaves!
But have no fear – we’ve got the perfect dessert to make with all of that zucchini: This Mock Apple Crumb Pie made with Zucchini!
As we mentioned here, slices of zucchini really do resemble the texture of sliced apples in baked goods, and when they are flavored with some apple pie seasonings – I guarantee – your family will never guess that this Mock Apple Crumb Pie was made with slices of zucchini instead apple slices.
The trick to achieving the perfect mock apple filling for this pie is to peel, seed and slice the zucchini, then sauté the slices in a little bit of lemon juice and salt until the texture of the zucchini resembles the texture of a slice of apple.
This Mock Apple Crumb Pie made with Zucchini is topped with a sweet cinnamon crumb topping that bakes up nice and golden brown. Serve warm with some vanilla ice cream (or for a firmer pie, chill before serving if you prefer) – and the fact that this Mock Apple Crumb Pie is really made with zucchini will be our little secret!
PrintMock Apple Crumb Pie (Made with Zucchini)
Your family will never guess that this delicious Mock Apple Crumb Pie is made with slices of zucchini instead of apples! Great for cooking with those huge garden zucchini.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 40 mins
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 9-inch pie crust, unbaked
Filling
- 2 large zucchini
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
Topping
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- Vanilla ice cream, for serving
Instructions
- Line a deep dish pie plate with the pie crust and crimp the edges. Set aside in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling and the topping. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- To prepare the filling, peel the zucchini and slice in half lengthwise. Using the tip of a spoon, remove all seeds. Slice the zucchini into ¼-inch slices crosswise. You should have approximately 6 cups of zucchini slices.
- Place the zucchini slices into a large skillet along with the lemon juice and salt. Cook over medium heat, tossing frequently until tender-crisp, similar to the texture of a slice of apple. (Also avoid browning the zucchini.) Remove from heat to cool slightly.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cream of tartar and flour. Add the cooked zucchini to the cinnamon mixture and stir to combine. (It’s fine if there are juices in the bottom of the bowl.)
- To prepare the topping, place flour, both sugars, cinnamon and salt into the bowl of a food processor and pulse once or twice to combine. Add the chilled butter to the mixture and pulse again repeatedly until the mixture in the bowl resembles wet sand.
- Pour zucchini filling into the prepared pie crust. Pour the topping mixture evenly over the top of the filling.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and the filling is bubbling thickly at the edges.
- Remove pie from the oven and cool on a wire rack for approximately 1 hour to set.
- Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
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Made this recipe for a family reunion. I added a little bit of lemon zest, and about 1/16 tsp citric acid. Followed the recipe except I used gluten free cup for cup flour and gluten free crust. Everyone that tried it thought for certain there was apples in it or at least apple juice. Only had one piece left of the pie at the end of the reunion, while other pies had not been eaten so well.
So glad the recipe was a hit and thank you for letting us know that gluten free swaps work as well.
Delicious! Would never know it was not made with apples. Just made my 2nd one.
Glad you liked the pie Deanne!
very good
Thanks Emily!
Really good and even better with vanilla icecream
Thanks Isa! (I agree!) 🙂
YUMMY!
Thank you!
I made the Mock Apple Pie yesterday and had it last night with some homemade vanilla ice cream. Delicious!!
Glad you enjoyed the pie Rose!
Unbelievable! Would never know it wasn’t apples. I used yellow squash due to over abundance
Thanks Lisa!
YUM!!! My neighbor blessed me with an overabundance of zucchini from her garden which I love. After all the standard zucchini and sausage, zucchini breads, etc, I wanted to try something new. May skip the apple pie at Thanksgiving this year, substitute this recipe and see if anyone notices! Thanks for a wonderful recipe!!!
Thanks Ducia!
Best “Apple” pie I have ever made. Thank you. I am going to make a bunch of the filling and freeze it to have on hand for holiday pies.
Thanks Natalie!
I was wondering if can be froze. Did you try it? And if so how was it?
We haven’t tried freezing this ourselves Amanda. Sorry! (Let us know how it works out if you try it!?)