This glazed Lemon Blueberry Bread recipe is a tender lemon loaf cake packed with blueberries and topped with a sweet sugar glaze. Enjoy this lemon blueberry loaf with coffee or tea for breakfast, afternoon snack or dessert. It’s also a nice loaf cake to slice and display for a brunch or shower.
You might also like to try our recipes for blueberry lemon loaf cake, raspberry cinnamon loaf cake and banana blueberry bread.
Picture a sweet lemon loaf cake that is bursting with blueberries and topped with a simple glaze to add an extra pop of lemon flavor. This is an easy quick bread recipe that takes less than 15 minutes of prep time. It’s perfectly moist and flavorful. Lemon and blueberry are a classic combination.
Ingredients Needed:
- The Basics: All purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, butter and salt.
- Eggs: Use large eggs.
- Milk: I find that using full fat milk works best.
- Powdered Sugar: This is used for the glaze. If you have a fine sieve, run the powdered sugar through the sieve to remove any lumps.
- Lemon: You’ll need both zest and juice.
How to make Lemon Blueberry Bread:
The complete, printable recipe is in the recipe card at the end of this post. Here is a brief overview.
- Use an electric mixer to combine the sugar, butter, eggs and lemon juice. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- Mix in half of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Then mix in the milk. Then add the remaining dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated.
- Toss damp blueberries with 1 tablespoon of flour. This will help the blueberries stay suspended in the batter and they won’t all float to the bottom. Stir the blueberries and lemon zest gently into the batter.
- Scrape the batter into a metal loaf pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake for an hour and test for doneness. Let the lemon blueberry bread cool completely before adding the glaze on top.
Recipe Tips for making a moist lemon blueberry bread:
- Use whole milk to keep this lemon blueberry bread as moist as possible. The fat in the milk will help with that!
- Always zest lemons first before squeezing the juice out of them.
- Don’t over mix the batter, and your bread will turn out to be light and fluffy. Over mixing activates the gluten in the flour, creating a more dense and chewy texture.
- Frozen blueberries can be used but they’re likely to “bleed” into the bread batter, leaving weird blueberry streaks. Using fresh blueberries is your best bet.
- Using a metal pan ensures that you’ll have more of a dome in the center of the baked bread. Using a glass pan can produce bread that has a flatter, more even top.
- An 8×4-inch pan rather than the larger 9×5-inch loaf pan will yield a taller loaf.
- Let the bread cool completely before drizzling the sweet and tangy glaze on top. If you try to add the glaze while the bread is still warm, the glaze tends to seep into the bread rather than creating a nice, thick layer of glaze on top.
Change-Up Ideas:
- Plain Greek yogurt or sour cream may be substituted for the milk. The batter will be thicker, but they will serve the same purpose.
- Try substituting blackberries, raspberries or chopped strawberries for the blueberries.
- Use lime instead of lemon for a different flavor that is also delicious!
How to store Lemon Blueberry Bread:
If eating right way, lemon blueberry bread can be stored in an airtight container and kept on your kitchen counter or in the refrigerator. Eat the whole loaf within 3 days.
To freeze the whole loaf, wrap it in plastic wrap and then foil. Drop the foil-wrapped loaf into a freezer zip baggie, and freeze for up to 3 months. If you’d like to freeze slices, that’s easy to do. Wrap each slice in plastic wrap and then foil. Drop the foil-wrapped slices into a freezer zip baggie, and freeze for up to 3 months.
What You’ll Love About This Lemon Blueberry Loaf:
- It’s super simple to make.
- Eating a slice of this lemon blueberry bread for breakfast is the best way to start your day!
- It’s easy to freeze and enjoy later! I like to freeze individual slices so I can nibble on a slice when I’m craving one without taking out the whole loaf.
If you are interesting in trying more of our lemon treats, bake some lemon bars, lemon brownies or this easy lemon pie.
Lemon Blueberry Bread
Ingredients
LOAF:
- 1 cup granulated white sugar
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup milk
- 1 cup fresh blueberries, rinsed and drained
- 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
GLAZE:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons salted butter, melted
- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
- water, as needed
Instructions
PREPARE THE LOAF:
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Spray an 8×4-inch METAL loaf pan with nonstick spray.
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to combine the sugar, butter, eggs and lemon juice. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix in half of the dry mixture to the wet ingredients. Mix in the milk. Then beat in the remaining flour mixture just until incorporated.
- Add the blueberries to a small bowl. Sprinkle the flour over the blueberries and gently toss. Gently STIR in the flour-coated blueberries and lemon zest. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 60 to 70 minutes. Check for doneness at 60 minutes to see if a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with only a few crumbs attached. If needed, bake for 5 to 10 more minutes. Let cool in the pan on the counter for 20 minutes, then flip onto a rack to cool completely. Place a piece of waxed paper or parchment paper under the rack.
ADD THE GLAZE:
- When the loaf has cooled, add the glaze. In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, melted butter and lemon juice. Whisk in 1 teaspoon of water at a time until you have reached a nice, thick glaze consistency. Drizzle the glaze on top of the loaf. Let set before slicing.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
