The Best Zucchini Bars
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 complement 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.
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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 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 cups shredded zucchini
- 1 small carrot shredded
- ¾ cup rolled oats
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
Cream Cheese Frosting
- ½ cup salted butter room temperature
- 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 1 teaspoon 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.
Nutrition
(Nutrition facts are an estimate and not guaranteed to be accurate. Please see a registered dietitian for special diet advice.)
I 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! 🙂
These 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!
Oh 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!
I love this recipe!
With 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.
This 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.
These are very good! Very moisty. I added some raisins and chocolate chips.
You are absolutely right about not leaving the cream cheese frosting off. Although it looks mighty good alone too.
This 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!
These 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.
I know! Crazy men anyway. They don't know what's good for them.