Home Cookies-Bars Carrot & Zucchini Bars with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Carrot & Zucchini Bars with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

(1 vote)
76 Comments3 minutes
September 16, 2022
Carole Jones

Cookies-Bars

Jump to Recipe·Print Recipe

A zucchini recipe that uses shredded carrots and zucchini together, so you know that these bars are going to be super moist and tender! Think of them as if your favorite zucchini bread and carrot cake had a baby. My kids call these zucchini brownies, but I’m not sure that fits since there is no chocolate. The slather of yummy cream cheese frosting over each bar really makes these fabulous, but don’t you dare skip my secret ingredient in the frosting….

Carrot and Zucchini Bars with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

I’ve been blogging for over 4 years now and the whole experience never fails to surprise me.

In less than 5 days, my post last week, Parmesan Chicken Bake became the most viewed recipe of all my 240 posts spanning 51 months. I completely have Pinterest to thank, but it is still so mind-boggling to me how one simple post can take my blog to where I never thought possible.

I guess I should work on more chicken recipes 🙂

With my garden beginning it’s annual boom of goodies, I am overcome with zucchini and needed some new zucchini recipes. I couldn’t wait to try these bars. I am in love with all baked goods with shredded carrots or zucchini. They are always so moist which makes it hard to step away from them. A few extra miles on the treadmill are worth every bite. The lemon cream cheese frosting just puts these zucchini bars over the top! Think about these as if your favorite zucchini bread had a baby with your favorite carrot cake.

These gems whipped together extremely quickly, and I didn’t even use a single appliance to make them. A quick grate on the box grater instead of the KitchenAid and I mixed everything together in a bowl, even the frosting. This is my kind of easy zucchini recipe!

Looking for more zucchini recipes for all that summer bounty? Go grab my favorite Zucchini Cake Recipe with Cream Cheese Frosting!

Carole Jones

Carole Jones is an Arizona-based cookbook author & food blogger. She's authored The 30 Minute Cooking From Frozen Cookbook and the self-published Take 5: Chicken e-cookbook. For the past 15 years, Carole has shared her culinary adventures cooking and baking for her six brutally honest children here on My Kitchen Escapades. Hot, crusty bread is Carole's love language, but her two adorable grandchildren are a close second. Yes, second. Don't judge.

76 comments

i just made this as a cake in a round silicon pan. it was brown on top and fork came out clean after 22 mins but as i tipped it out the insides were all liquidy and spilt out, i used uncle bobs all purpose gluten free baking flour. any ideas why?

Nicky: since the recipe called for a large 9×13 pan and you used a much smaller round pan, you would need to add quite a bit more baking time since the cake will be so much thicker. Also, with your GF baking mix, that might also effect the end result. I would try it again but use the correct pan size.

I did the same thing as Nicky tonight, used an 8×8 (all I had) and used GF flour. I cooked it longer and it was done but it is too moist. I am looking for advice on GF baking. Anyone? Should I eliminate/reduce the oil? I also will try the larger pan to see if that helps even out the moisture. The flavor is amazing, just need help working out the GF conversion. Also my 2+ year old LOVED them. While yes it has veggies this def falls in the dessert category . 🙂

Rachael – I wish gluten free baking was as simple as substituting GF flour for regular flour, but it never is that easy. I have never tried to make a GF version of this recipe, so I really can’t give you advice but my experiences with GF baking has taught me how difficult it is to convert recipes successfully -Carole

Hi-
I bake GF all the time. The correct pan size is important as well as the need for a little more protein in the batter. Add either a tsp unflavored gelatin with the dry ingredients or a little powdered flax seed. Also, make sure the zucchini has been well pressed to remove the moisture. You may also want to add just a 1/4 c more flour mix. This recipe would probably make great cupcakes!

Thanks so much Chris for all your great tips! -Carole

thanks for this recipe will try it…

I’d like to make them into muffins

What would be the carrot measurement if you decided to use all carrots and omit the zucchini. They look delicious, can’t wait to try!!

. Flavor is mild- not sure what it’s missing. I would definitely double the salt or use salted butter to enhance rathe than oil. Not very carrot tasting at all. Like the lemon cream cheese frosting though. Good suggestion!

can I use applesauce in place of eggs?

okay to make as muffins?

You could try subbing in applesauce for eggs, but your result will be quite different texture wise. Let me know how it goes!

I think these would be perfect as muffins!

Made it with coconut oil and then put an orange glaze on! Yummmmmm!!

How much coconut oil did u use?

Hi Amy! I didn’t use coconut oil for this recipe but you could certainly make that substitution if you would like -Carole

Related Recipes

Cookies-Bars Desserts Air Fryer

Air Fryer S'mores

Air Fryer S'mores are the perfect dessert idea when the weather or time isn't cooperating for building a fire. Making a s'more in the air fryer creates a perfectly toasted marshmallow and melts the milk...