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Bursting with flavor, this delicious lemon bread loaf is perfect to serve as a dessert or enjoy as an afternoon snack with a cup of coffee. Glazed with a lemon and honey syrup, it’s a wonderful blend of sweet and tart.
Ingredients to make lemon bread recipe
- Lemons: I use the juice and the zest for a wonderfully strong and fresh lemon flavor in each bite. Pick lemons that have a good squeeze to them.
- Greek yogurt: The yogurt adds a wonderful tang of flavor and helps to make it nice and creamy as well as fluffy and light.
- Olive oil: Olive oil creates a wonderfully moist cake and adds a really nice flavor without needing to use butter.
- Eggs: Use fresh eggs, and organic if you can.
- Dry ingredients: Sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt.
How to make an easy lemon bread
- Mix together the wet ingredients with the sugar.
- Whisk until smooth; although some lumps are fine.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients separately in a small bowl and add them to the bowl of wet ingredients.
- Whisk until just combined.
Pour the batter into a standard loaf tin that’s greased and lined with parchment parchment paper and bake in the preheated oven
You’ll know it’s ready when it looks golden and the sides start to pull away from the loaf pan. You can also test that a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
If you’d like, you can make the honey lemon glaze, but the lemon loaf is delicious on its own! Just combine the ingredients for the syrup on the stovetop. Use a toothpick to make holes in the top of the loaf and pour over the warm syrup.
Tips for making lemon bread
- Grease the loaf pan and use parchment paper for easy removal. When it comes to making quick breads, I love this double greasing method because nothing sticks to the bottom and the overhanging parchment paper makes it so easy to lift from the pan.
- Don’t over mix the batter. The dry ingredients should be just combined, if you over mix it the bread won’t be light and fluffy.
- Place batter in the oven quickly after adding mixing the dry ingredients. You don’t need to rush, but make sure the oven is ready before you begin this final mixing. Baking soda will react immediately with lemon juice, and you want that reaction to happen in the oven.
- Cover the bread with aluminum foil if necessary. If you notice after 30-40 minutes of baking that the top of the bread is browning too quickly, cover it loosely with aluminum foil to help it bake evenly on all sides
Frequently asked questions
Once the bread has cooled, place it in an airtight container. It will keep at room temperature for 2 days and in the fridge for up to a week. Cover it with foil or a plastic bag to prevent it from drying out.
Yes, this bread will freeze well for up to 3 months. Wrap the cooled bread tightly in foil and place in a freezer bag. You can thaw it at room temperature.
Yes, if you can, take out the ingredients 30 minutes before you start making this lemon loaf. Warm ingredients will combine more easily and trap air to create a fluffy bread.
More quick bread recipes:
- Lemon Blueberry Bread
- Strawberry Banana Bread
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bread
- Chocolate Banana Bread
- Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
If you’ve tried this healthy-ish feel good Lemon Bread recipe or any other recipe on FeelGoodFoodie, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below! I would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some shots of it, share it with me on Instagram so I can repost on my stories!
Lemon Bread
Equipment
Ingredients
Bread
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 cup cane sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 3 eggs
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Syrup
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- ¼ cup honey
- Zest of two lemons
Instructions
Make the Bread
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease a loaf pan and line with parchment paper for easier removal.
- In a large bowl, combine yogurt, olive oil, cane sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking until completely smooth.
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk until just combined, but a few lumps are fine.
- Transfer the batter into the loaf pan and place in the oven immediately. Bake for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Cool for 15-20 minutes in the pan before transferring to a cooling rack.
Make the Syrup
- Combine the honey and lemon juice in a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir until honey is dissolved.
- Add lemon zest and bring to a boil for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and allow the bubbles to settle.
- Prick the top of the loaf in several places with a toothpick. Pour the hot syrup over the loaf evenly.
- Allow to cool for at least another 20 minutes before serving.
Video
Notes
- Instead of greek yogurt, you can use sour cream or milk.
- I tested this recipe with a whole wheat white flour, but it will work with any other all purpose flours.
- To make this gluten-free, use an all-purpose gluten-free flour mix. Do not substitute only almond flour or only coconut flour.
- Replace honey with other types of granulated sugar or maple syrup.
Nutrition
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
Thanks for everything you save my day
You’re so welcome!!
It is so delicious, so fluffy, so light.
The best cake for summer!
Thank you so much! It definitely is!
Is it possible to substitute sugar with honey? Or do a mix of both?
It should work! It may however change the texture and flavor slightly.
I had an abundance of oranges from my tree and wanted to make an orange cake to take to a friend’s brunch. I was looking for a recipe that didn’t ask for extract that I’d probably only use once. I just replace the lemon juice and zest with orange 1 for 1 and it was the perfect amount of orange taste. The orange bread wonderful and moist and a big hit with my friends!
So glad you made it work with oranges! I love that!
Hello. Question : why did my batter overflow in the Pan. We followed the directions precisely and the batter overflowed the 1st 10 minutes of cooking. Help! Thank you
Did you use a loaf pan? If anything smaller was used, the batter could’ve overflowed when rising. Or was too much baking powder used? Too much baking powder can cause the batter to rise rapidly.
Made this lemon bread for some friends and we all loved it. So flavorful! Super simple and easy to make.
That’s amazing! I’m so happy to hear it!
Love how simple this recipe is! Super easy and it turned out very moist, but definitely think it could use less oil. Personally I’m going to use 1/4 cup of oil next time I try this and maybe a little bit of another fat instead
Thank you! So glad you enjoyed. Definitely adjust it to your liking next time!
Excellent, made Limoncello and then used the zest and fresh lemons to make the bread. Made double batch using plain Greek yogurt.. Made 1 Loaf and one Bundt, perfect!!!
Thank you! That sounds wonderful!
Beautiful! Needed to use up leftover buttermilk so swapped it for yoghurt, turned out beautifully moist and tasty!
Love that it still worked out that way! Yay!!
Made this lemon bread for some friends and it was a hit, loved by all. Super simple and easy to make.
OMG this cake is amazing! So easy and just delicious!!!!
This has become my new favorite!