The London side had been hanging on - with goalkeeper Robert Green making a series of good saves - before Zamora pounced on an error from Derby defender Richard Keogh to score just his fourth goal of the season with Rangers' only shot on target.
Harry Redknapp's side had been reduced to 10 men just before the hour when Gary O'Neil was red carded for a late challenge on Johnny Russell, who was closing down on goal.
Derby were already in the ascendancy by then and looked likely to go on and win the contest after assuming a numerical advantage. But Rangers defended with courage and organisation and struck decisively through Zamora, as boss Redknapp ended his first play-off campaign with promotion.
QPR had laboured through periods of the Championship season and won just four of their previous 10 games coming into the Wembley final.
But they can now start planning for a return to the top flight, with the club set to benefit by £80m according to one estimate from Sport Business Group Deloitte.
However, it may not all be plain sailing for Rangers, who made a £65.4m loss during the 2012-13 season and could yet face a huge fine at the end of the year under the Football League's financial fair play regulations if they suffer another heavy loss for the campaign just finished.
Derby lined up 4-3-3 with Will Hughes retaining his place in midfield despite the return to fitness of Craig Bryson as both teams were unchanged from their semi-final second-leg fixtures.
At first, the Rams looked like a young team suffering stage fright before slowly starting to impose themselves on the contest.
Craig Forsyth headed wide and the increasingly influential Hughes thought he had been caught inside the area by Richard Dunne after pulling off a Cruyff turn but his protests were ignored by referee Lee Mason.
The nearest the game came to a goal before the end of a poor opening half was through a Jamie Ward free-kick that everybody missed except for Hoops keeper Green, who made a good scrambling save.
Austin shot wide after the restart but, that aside, Derby were clearly on top and the odds moved further in their favour when O'Neil was dismissed for his challenge on Russell just short of the penalty area. Rangers lost possession in midfield and O'Neil unquestionably snuffed out a goalscoring opportunity.
By now the momentum was firmly in Derby's favour and Green made a trio of saves to deny substitutes Craig Bryson and Simon Dawkins as well as Chris Martin.
It was one team holding on, another punching holes in the opposition defence and looking to strike a decisive blow but, after Derby failed to clear a throw-in and the soon-to-be inconsolable Rams captain Keogh scuffed his clearance, Zamora buried his effort from 10 yards as Rangers snatched victory.
Source: BBC
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