These are the best zucchini bars! They taste like a moist spice cake with a cream cheese frosting. You’ll find cinnamon, shredded zucchini and carrots, and walnuts in these zucchini bars. This is one of the best zucchini recipes I can think of!
Zucchini Bars
The best, folks. I got this zucchini bars recipe from my aunt and I have to tell you these are amazing. My aunt named this recipe literally “the best zucchini bars.” I can’t argue.
This is a healthy zucchini bars recipe, too. It has to be. It has zucchini AND carrots. I’m kidding! I know it’s not healthy. The bar is cinnamony, moist, nutty, and heavenly. The cream cheese frosting I whipped together was the perfect compliment to these bars. It’s the same frosting I use on my cinnamon rolls. SO perfect.
You can see the bits and pieces of shredded zucchini and carrots in the zucchini bars. I think this is why my husband was hesitant to eat them. The man freaks out anytime a vegetable is involved in baking.
I tried to just say that they were spice bars, but that was a big FAIL. The bits of colorful veggies gave it away. So, I’m not sure how many pieces he ate of this, but myself, mom, and my uncle scarfed these zucchini bars with cream cheese frosting right down.
This zucchini bars recipe makes a huge pan of bars! You can serve a large family dessert with this recipe or eat a dozen yourself. Get yourself a large jelly roll pan.
If you don’t have a jelly roll pan, I would recommend using two square pans but pay close attention that the bars aren’t too thin. They bake up to be about an inch thick. They come to the top of the jelly roll pan when I bake them.
Questions About the Zucchini Bars Recipe
- Do I have to add nuts in these zucchini bars? Of course not!
- Do I have to use shredded carrots? No. You can substitute the carrots for more zucchini.
- Can I leave the cream cheese frosting off of the zucchini bars? Noooo. They’re so good with the frosting.
How to make the best zucchini bars
The Best Zucchini Bars
Ingredients
Zucchini Bars
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. baking powder
- 2 cups zucchini , shredded
- 1 small carrot , shredded
- 3/4 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter , room temperature
- 8 oz . pkg cream cheese , room temperature
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
Bars
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Grease a 17x11x1 or 15x10x1 pan.
- In a large bowl, add oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix with a hand mixer for 1 minute until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, sift flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Whisk to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients in with the wet ingredients. Mix with a hand mixer on low until the dry ingredients are incorporated.
- Fold in the shredded zucchini and carrots.
- Fold in rolled oats and walnuts.
- Spread out on prepared pan. Place in the oven and bake for 24 minutes. Let cool completely and frost.
Frosting
- In a large bowl, combine butter and cream cheese. Beat with the hand mixer until the mixture is smooth and well combined.
- Add in vanilla and powdered sugar. Mix on low until the powdered sugar is well incorporated. Turn mixer on high and mix for an additional minute or two.
- Spread on cooled bars with an offset spatula.
Emma says
September 26, 2013 at 9:29 pmThese look amazing, I love the sound of them. But what is it about guys and veg in baking? My fella won’t eat any bakes with veg in it, recently I had to bend the truth and not tell him my pumpkin rolls had pumpkin in it! “Honey these are just sweet cinnamon rolls” I mean seriously they were orange but if he had got a whiff of there being a veg in there he wouldn’t have touched it. He ate several of them lol… anyway I am definitely going to bookmark this one it looks lovely. Thanks to your auntie for the recipe.
Miranda says
September 30, 2013 at 12:12 amI know! Crazy men anyway. They don’t know what’s good for them.
Christeen says
July 23, 2018 at 6:23 pmThis is a great recipe, substituted the oil with bananas and applesauce, otherwise followed the recipe and it turned out awesome. Really moist and yummy. Its great for the kids too.
Thank you!
Mary says
July 25, 2018 at 3:52 pmYou are absolutely right about not leaving the cream cheese frosting off. Although it looks mighty good alone too.
J says
August 2, 2018 at 3:28 pmThese are very good! Very moisty. I added some raisins and chocolate chips.
Gloria says
August 3, 2018 at 9:22 pmThis is my kind of dessert. Love the savoury and sweet combination. With the amount of fresh zucchini right now, you can never have too many recipes to use it up. This is the perfect dessert to take along to BBQ parties.
Gloria says
August 3, 2018 at 9:24 pmWith the abundance of zucchini right now, you can never have too many recipes to use it in. Love the combination of savoury and sweet. This would be the perfect dessert to take to BBQ parties.
Betty says
August 3, 2018 at 9:56 pmI love this recipe!
Tracy Koslicki says
August 4, 2018 at 11:12 amOh they are TOTALLY healthy! So many veggies as evident by your husband’s hesitation ;P This sounds amazing- and really, add cream cheese frosting to anything and I’m there! Thanks for more inspiration for our garden zucchinis!
Megan Marlowe says
August 5, 2018 at 10:43 pmThese bars look amazing. I love a baked good with zucchini and that cream cheese frosting, gimme, gimme! Next time I have a plethora of zucchini, I’m making these babies!
Amanda says
August 6, 2018 at 7:14 amI always like to tell myself that carrot and zucchini-based breads, cakes, and bars are healthy because, veggies, right? haha. These look SO good and like such a great recipe to use all of the zucchini we’ve gotten at the farmer’s market. The crumb looks so tender and that cream cheese frosting must be absolute perfection with the flavors in the spice cake. I wish I could have this for breakfast right now! 🙂
Carmy says
August 6, 2018 at 8:08 amIf you can get zucchini to taste like cake, I am so in! It looks like a gorgeous melt in your mouth bar and I can’t wait for a pan of this to be cooling on my kitchen table! The frosting is just the perfect touch too – no one has to know the bar’s secretly healthy 😉
Lisa says
August 6, 2018 at 8:09 amMy family was always dubious when I’d make a zucchini bread or carrot cake — because obviously “vegetables don’t belong in dessert” until you put cream cheese frosting on it — and then it’s more than acceptable — it’s fought over. I love that yours puts a double whammy of veg in the batter — and if the recipe from an Aunt, it’s got to be really good!
Marisa Franca says
August 6, 2018 at 8:19 amThis is a fantastic idea — bars instead of bread. I have some extra zucchini and I wanted to make something different but needed some inspiration. What a great idea and this will be nice to cut into bars and share with the family. They’ll love that topping on it.
Dana says
August 6, 2018 at 10:22 amI lovelovelove walnuts in my carrot cake, so in a zucchini bread, it’s a most welcome addition. The contrast of crunch and moist cake is pure perfection! I need to give these a go. What a great way to use up all of that excess zucchini from the garden!
Debra says
August 6, 2018 at 11:00 amI’m totally in for hiding veggies in anything…including this cake! Looks delicious and my crew will eat anything with a yummy cream cheese frosting. I could even pull this off as a birthday cake. Thanks for the recipe.
Jade says
September 18, 2018 at 4:53 pmI made these last night! INCREDIBLE! My boyfriend said it was the best zucchini cake he ever had. I did not have the appropriate pans, so it came out quite thick and like a cake (I had to leave it in the oven for about 10 extra minutes). But, wow. I am totally smitten with this recipe! The addition of the carrot and the walnuts gives it that perfect fall touch. Now to add the cream cheese frosting- I can hardly wait!
Patti Phillips says
October 4, 2018 at 5:30 pmI made this and it was good. I wouldn’t exactly say it was a bar consistency – more like tiny cake squares. But very good. And easier than zucchini bread…didn’t take as long to cook. Next time I’ll try it without the leavening and see if it’s more dense like a bar. Definitely saving the recipe though! Thanks for posting!