Zucchini “Apple” Pie (Mock Apple Pie Made with Zucchini)
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This zucchini apple pie (zapple pie) is a twist on the classic mock apple pie using sliced zucchini. It’s a great way to use up those giant club-sized zucchini.
The first time I made zapple pie, I served it for dessert when the neighbors came to visit. They didn’t believe that the pie was made with zucchini and not apple, because it tasted just like apple pie.
One big zucchini about a foot long should be enough for one nine inch pie. Don’t use young zucchini – they taste too much like veggies.
Table of Contents
How to Make Zucchini Taste Like Apples
The “trick” to getting the zucchini in zapple pie to taste like apple is to precook the zucchini slices with lemon and spices. (You can also use this this technique to make zucchini “apple” crisp.)
You can use all granulated or all brown sugar if you prefer, and adjust the spice level to taste.
I don’t suggest swapping in honey because it would add moisture. Maple sugar, coconut sugar or xylitol should work just fine. You could also cut the sugar a bit, but I wouldn’t trim it too much.
Dusting the top with sugar while baking is optional, but it adds a nice finish to the pie.
A reader noted that it reminded them of Caroline Ingalls’ green pumpkin pie from the The Long Winter. While I haven’t tried green pumpkin pie, I’m sure it would indeed work like a charm.
Zucchinis are about 95% water by weight. Because of this, the pie slices stay together much better if you cool the pie at least a couple hours before serving. If you don’t mind messy slices, scoop it up into bowls while it’s hot and slap some ice cream on to cover the mess.
I prefer glass pie plates to metal, because they are non-reactive. I also use a pie drip pan to catch any overflow, and a pie crust protector to keep the crust from browning to dark.
You can order these items using the links below:
“Zapple Pie” – Zucchini Apple Pie Recipe
Adapted from The Garden Fresh Vegetable Cookbook
Serves 6-8
Ingredients
Pie crust:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup butter or lard
- 6-7 tablespoons cold water
Filling:
- 6 cups peeled, quartered, cored and thinly sliced zucchini or summer squash
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup light or dark brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 tablespoons instant tapioca
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, reserved until end of baking (optional)
Making Your Zucchini Apple Pie
Prepare pie dough by mixing together flour and salt. Cut in fat using a food processor or pie blender until mixture resembles course crumbs. Gently sprinkle water over flour mixture and stir together until dough holds shape – do not overmix. Flatten into two disks and refrigerate.
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If you haven’t already done so, cut up your zucchini. Divide in quarters lengthwise (or chop in sections) and remove the seeds. Slices should be about 1/8 – 1/4 inch thick, so they resemble an apple slice.
Combine the zucchini, lemon juice, and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until you lightly cook the zucchini, about 5 minutes.
Add the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger and simmer for 5 minutes longer.
Remove zucchini from heat. Stir in tapioca and let stand for 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425°F and place a rack in the lower third of the oven.
While zucchini is resting, roll out pie crust. I prefer to roll out my pie crust on lightly floured wax paper so it is easier to move around. Place bottom crust in 9 inch pie plate. Cut small slits in top crust for steam to escape (or wait to cut slits until after the crust is on the pie).
Spoon zucchini pie filling into bottom crust. Place top crust and crimp edges. If you didn’t cut slits earlier, cut them now.
Place pie on rack in lower third of oven. Use pie drip pan and pie crust shield if desired. Bake for 20 minutes.
Reduce heat to 350°F and bake for 30 minutes more. Sprinkle top of pie with reserved sugar, if desired. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, more, until crust is golden and the juices are bubbling through the slits.
Remove your zucchini apple pie from the oven and cool on wire rack.
More Zucchini Recipes
For more recipes beyond zucchini apple pie to use up your zucchini abundance, check out:
- Summer Squash Gummy Candies sweetened with fruit juice
- Cheesy Garlic Zucchini Bread
- Mom’s Best Zucchini Bread Recipe – A Homestyle Country Classic
- How to Make Zucchini “flour”
…and don’t forget to check out “The Best Pie Crust Recipes, Plus Tips for Perfect Pies Every Time“.
PrintZapple Pie – Zucchini Apple Pie – Mock “Apple Pie” Made with Zucchini
This mock apple pie is made with overgrown zucchini or summer squash. It’s so close to the real deal that your family may not believe you when you tell them it’s zucchini.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 6–8 servings 1x
- Category: Dessert
Ingredients
Pie crust:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup butter or lard
- 6–7 tablespoons cold water
Filling:
- 6 cups peeled, quartered, cored and thinly sliced zucchini or summer squash
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup light or dark brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 tablespoons instant tapioca
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, reserved until end of baking
Instructions
- Prepare pie dough by mixing together flour and salt. Cut in fat using a food processor or pie blender until mixture resembles course crumbs. Gently sprinkle water over flour mixture and stir together until dough holds shape. Do not overmix. Flatten into two disks and refrigerate.
- If you haven’t already done so, fillet your zucchini. Slices should be about 1/8 – 1/4 inch thick.
- Combine the zucchini, lemon juice, and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the zucchini starts to soften, about 5 minutes.
- Add the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger and simmer for 5 minutes longer.
- Remove zucchini from heat. Stir in tapioca and let stand for 15 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 425°F and place a rack in the lower third of the oven.
- While zucchini is resting, roll out pie crust. I prefer to roll out my pie crust on lightly floured wax paper so it is easier to move around. Place bottom crust in 9 inch pie plate. Cut small slits in top crust for steam to escape (or wait to cut slits until after the crust is on the pie).
- Spoon zucchini filling into bottom crust. Place top crust and crimp edges. If you didn’t cut slits earlier, cut them now.
- Place pie on rack in lower third of oven. Use pie drip pan and pie crust shield if desired. Bake for 20 minutes.
- Reduce heat to 350°F and bake for 30 minutes more. Sprinkle top of pie with reserved sugar. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, more, until crust is golden and the juices are bubbling through the slits.
- Remove pie from oven and cool on wire rack.
This article is written by Laurie Neverman. Laurie grew up in the kitchen, learning baking and home cooking from her momma. At age 15, she and her mom and two sisters created Irene’s Custom Cakes & Catering. This was her summer job through most of high school and college.
Originally posted in 2017, last updated in 2025.
this is very tasty and grand, we shared it with two friends and they said how of a appole it was. then I told them what it really is. They were amazed
I’m glad it worked out well for you.
Amazing recipe! I had a huge zucchini with no idea what to do with.I’m the only one who will eat veggies in my house.I made this to trick my hubby into eating some veg lol! It’s perfect nobody will know unless you tell them.
I’m glad that it worked well for you, and thank you for taking time to leave a positive review.
I did make the zapple pie, but there’s too many various spices. I use only cinnamon in my apple pie, so next time I will use cinnamon. My family did like it though!😊
The crust turned out beautiful. I used half butter and half lard. The filling tasted great but it was so watery. It needed more thickener. The tapioca was doing its job and thickening it up when i put it in the crust but even with much longer bake time, the filling was just like water. We finally just ate it in a bowl with ice cream. I will try again and try using clearjel in the filling like i do with rhubarb pie. Rhubarb should be close in moisture to zucchini.
Thank you for a good recipe which i will tweak a bit next time.
Has is been raining quite a bit recently? Zucchini will soak up water like a sponge, so heavy rain can throw off the proportions. Thank you for your patience.
We have been watering because it has been very dry for the past few weeks. I did use some smaller zucchini and some big to make the 6 cups. The flavor was fine. I lightly salt the zucchini which gets shredded and let it drain before freeze drying it. It puts out a good bit of liquid. Would this help?
Yes, you can definitely pre-treat the slices with salt to help pull out excess water for a firmer pie.
I must apologize. After many hours of the pie setting, the filling has jelled up a fair amount. Still not enough to cut a piece and have the filling stay in. So maybe with trying to sweat the zucchini and a bit extra tapioca and plenty of set time, it would be perfect. The taste is superb!
I’ve noticed that the larger zucchini tend to be drier than the smaller zucchini, so that may have been a factor, too, since you included some smaller ones to get the six cups. in our climate (northeast Wisconsin), our large zucchini are dry enough that I kept one on my kitchen counter as an experiment, and it lasted from September to the following June, and was still in good condition. I know the smaller ones won’t keep nearly as well.
Laurie,
again i must apologize.
. I think you are absolutely right about the larger zucchini being much dryer in texture. I sautéed some of the large one last night for supper and i could tell it was much dryer. I do think that is the biggest factor of my pie not setting properly. I asked my hubby to leave one to get bigger. He has been trying to catch them smaller so they are more tender. Your recipe is perfect as is. I am the one who didn’t follow directions as you stated! Thanks for a good alternative to apple pie. Our apples run From $ 2.50 to 4.00 a pound year round. My budget does not accommodate those prices.
Thank you for discussing the issue and sharing your experience. I’ve only tried it with the bigger fruit, so hadn’t run into trouble, but now we both know what works best.
Made this today and it is amazing! I honestly didn’t believe it would be even close to an apple pie. You proved me wrong!! Amazing. Thank you!
I’m glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for taking time to leave a positive comment.
First time I ever heard of a mock apple pie made with zucchini. The filling is delicious and I will make again. I had a little trouble with the pie crust recipe, my fault not the recipes. I should have added a bit more water to it.
I added a pinch of salt to to the filling and on the last bake I brushed the crust with milk and sprinkled cinnamon sugar on it.
So good!
I tried this recipe and was VERY pleasantly surprised. It was easy and tasted great.
Thanks for your weekly newsletter. I look forward to it each week. I made the zucchini blueberry bread, also.
I’ll never forget the look on the neighbor’s face when he found out it was zucchini. Ever since then he questions any dessert put in front of him, checking for stealth zucchini.
I’m glad the recipes worked well for you, and thank you for your kindness.
can this be canned lke apple pie filling
No, I do not recommend canning it. I’m not sure the pH is acidic enough, and I know the zucchini would not hold up well to the canning process.
Been making this for years and no one ever guesses it’s zucchini and I get many compliments. Like your version better though. I use refrigerated pie crust when in a hurry.
THIS WAS SOOO DELISH. I just finished cutting up about 20 cups to make for the freezer !!
thank you for Sharing this.
We love it !!
to you thinks its possible to make with yellow squash??
Yellow squash, underripe winter squash – anything with a neutral flavor and firm but juicy texture should work.
I had one zucchini and it made exactly 6 cups. Sliced very thin. Delicious way to eat zucchini!
oh my this is the best substitute for ApplePie . My husband is allergic to apples , we are so happy to find a pie that taste Like Apples. We rate it as a 5-star.
I’m so glad it worked out well for you.
This was fantastic!! I told my husband it was an apple pie, he asked where did you get the apples. I didn’t answer him until he first tried it, he couldn’t believe it was zucchini. I was wondering if you could cook up the filling and then freeze it for later?
I’m glad it was a hit.
I haven’t tried freezing the filling. I think it would get much softer, and possibly weep, but it would still be edible.
I was very skeptical, but it was amazing. I used one of my monster zucchinis from my garden. My only substitution was corn starch instead of tapioca. I gave the pie to my father-in-law. He called and said it was the best apple pie he has had. And when I told him it was Zapple, he couldn’t believe it.
Thank you!!
Glad it worked out well.
Is it possible to ‘can’ this zapple pie filling ?
I wouldn’t recommend it. Zucchini lacks the natural acidity of apple, plus I think the canning process would turn it into goo, since you’d need to somehow figure out a safe processing time for pressure canning.
Freezing would give you softer filling, but it would be safe.
I’ve canned this recipe and it works great! Jar it before the tapioca and reduce the cooking time, because of the hot water bath. Reheat before adding the tapioca.
Robin – have you checked the pH? Even with the added lemon, I’m concerned that the pH is not below 4.6.
We made the “zapple” filling without the tapioca and added a crisp topping. Even knowing it was zucchini no one could believe it. Thanks for the great use for those giant zucchini- I’m so glad to have a use for them!
You’re welcome. Glad it worked out well.
not very likely risk but want to mention anyway that xylitol is very toxic to dogs. as my granddaughter is a vet tech she has seen a couple dogs succumb to injesting xylitol by way of accessing chewing gum. on the chance that some people treat their animals from leftovers i thought it worth mentioning
Thank you for this recepie. Can’t wait to try it.
You’re welcome. You can also experiment with substituting shredded zucchini for applesauce in other baking recipes.
Oh my gosh, I never imagined that you could make a pie out of zucchini. I followed your recipe and made my husband one for Father’s Day. I didn’t tell him what the filling was and asked him what his favorite apple was (to put the thought in his head). He muttered something and I offered him a piece of zucchini pie. He greedily gobbled it up and asked for another slice. Amid yummy sounds and “oh my, this is so good” he asked what kind of apples was the pie made from. I finally told him that the filling was zucchini. He still does not believe me. I’ve managed to trick my son who tells me that he hates zucchini, but can’t get enough of this pie. Thank you for sharing this recipe with me. Your pie recipe has become a cherished addition to our home. God bless.
lol – I’m glad you were able to win over the zucchini haters. 🙂
Would you be able to sub the tapioca with chia seeds?
I have not tried it, but they do gel and hold things together like tapioca, so it should work. You may want to grind them before adding them to the recipe for a smoother texture – unless you enjoy a little extra texture.
Amy, I would actually use a small amount of xanthan gum instead of chia seeds. You might have to test it a bit, but I suspect 1 tsp. would probably do it. It will get nice and thick without the grittyness that can come from the chia seeds. Much closer to traditional pie filling.
Thanks for the suggestion, Lisa.
Is there anything that you can use in place of the tapioca?
You should be able to substitute an equal amount of corn starch, although I haven’t tried it. Mix the cornstarch in with the sugar mix so it blends evenly and doesn’t form lumps.
I used corn starch and ran out and then started using flour. That’s what we always used. Kind if like a roux. It’s gooey and perfect.
Never heard of this, but will have to give it a try!
Hi Sabrina,
I grew up on a farm. We homesteaded before it was a thing since neither parent worked. Literally lived off the land.
My step-mom made zucchini pie all the time. It’s so good. Most people would never know it’s not Apple. I prefer it because it isn’t mushy and gritty like apples are.
I hope you try it!!
Leah
Made this 2 years ago for my husbands co workers they didn’t know the difference till they tasted it and mad mention that the texture was different but the taste was amazing.
Also made a zucchini mock apple crisp and brought to my mother in law and she doesn’t really care for zucchini and loved it.
Thank you so much
You’re welcome, Donna.
Just a note, I noticed you suggested xylitol in your the preamble… As far as I know, other sugar alcohols are all fine for animals but if you spill some xylitol and your animal gets it, it can be deadly. I would not want people to be uninformed of the dangers if they use that particular sugar alcohol. Thank you for the recipe 🙂