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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
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
I made this today and used almond milk in place of yogurt. It was absolutely delicious! Perfect amount of sweetness.
I’m glad it still turned out good that way! Yay!!
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. First time I tried it last year and loved it! And now it’s my favorite lemon loaf recipe! It’s super moist and delicious 😋♥️♥️♥️
You’re so welcome! That makes me so happy to hear!!
Whoah, I think it’s enough for iftar food tomorrow. I will buy the ingredients and cook this tomorrow after work.
Thanks for sharing this inspiration 🙂
Hope you enjoy! Ramadan Mubarak!
I made this for my Dad and Stepmom for Easter and it came out wonderful; the texture and flavor were so nice and just felt like spring. It was so good I had to make more for myself the next weekend. I’d never made anything with fresh lemons before but feel inspired to try some of your other lemon recipes now.
The recipe calls for all-purpose flour, which to me means standard white flour, but you said you tested it with whole wheat white flour. I use white whole wheat flour (not whole wheat white flour – are they the same thing?) to make whole-wheat bread, which is quite heavy and requires plenty of gluten, yeast and diastatic malt to lighten it up. Since I’m going to make it right now because I want some right now, I’ll use white all-purpose flour.
Turned out great! I use lime instead of lemon, and more than the recipe calls for because we love lime, and used grapeseed because I wasn’t sure about using our strong olive oil, but otherwise I actually followed the recipe! Wonders will never cease. I kept it refrigerated, but it never got dried out over about 3-4 days. I’m glad it was with oil instead of butter – not quite as rich and a different texture, but still excellent, especially with lime glaze, and no saturated fat. So I could eat more. (A reward for myself for making such a great dessert – I was having dessert for lunch AND dinner ;-}
Thank you! I’m glad it still worked out with the substitutions you made. I can’t blame you for that!!
This bread turned out just perfectly!!!! Great recipe 🙂
I followed the recipe exactly as is and it came out so good! Thank you so much for sharing!
Yay! You’re so welcome!!
Wow!!!!! That’s my number one favorite now!!!! I am lemon cake lover but never tried to make it myself. Thank you very much for the recipe! Will recommend to my friends)))
P.S. I used limes instead of lemons and baked it in the muffin pan. Took 35 mins. Came out perfect!
I’m so happy you finally gave it a try! Thank you!!
Love this recipe! So easy, so delicious! I used whole fat plain yogurt and regular sugar. So good!
I made this today. It was easy to prepare and super moist. I look forward to making versions with other types of citrus. Thanks for an awesome, healthyish dessert!
Thank you! Let me know what other versions you give a go!