This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Jump to Section
Try My Lemon Bread!
I’m obsessed with this lemon bread that is literally bursting with lemon flavor from the zest and juice in the bread to the lemony glaze on top. If you’re a home baker like me and you’re looking for a simple bread to bake especially during the spring, this lemon bread is a must try.
It’s a standard type of quick sweet bread recipe with easy pantry ingredients. And I think what makes it special is that I rub the lemon zest with the sugar before adding the rest of the wet ingredients. That step alone is a) so therapeutic and b) totally worth it to infuse the lemon flavor into the every crumb of the lemon bread. And if you try it and love it, make it using mini loaves for gifting!
Lemon Bread Ingredients
- Lemons: I use the juice and the zest to really bring out the fresh lemon flavor. Pick lemons that have a good squeeze to them. By the way, you can actually try this with oranges! One reader was successful in swapping out lemon juice and zest for orange juice and zest for a whole new flavor profile.
- Greek yogurt: I use plain whole milk Greek yogurt, but you can swap it for a lemon flavor yogurt for a more lemony flavor. You can also swap it out entirely for sour cream.
- Olive oil: I love the combination of olive oil with lemon, but you can also make this with melted butter or avocado oil.
- Eggs: You can help to make this recipe vegan by using a flax egg.
- Dry ingredients: Sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt.
“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!!!” – Melissa
How to Make Lemon Bread
Lemon Bread
Video
Ingredients
For the Bread
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1 cup full-fat whole milk greek yogurt room temperature
- ½ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup lemon juice
For the lemon glaze
- 1 ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line an 8×4-inch loaf pan with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In another large bowl, place the sugar and lemon zest and use your fingers to rub them together until well blended and fragrant. Add the eggs, yogurt, olive oil and lemon juice and whisk to combine.
- Transfer the dry ingredients on top of the wet ingredients and mix until no streaks remain.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 55-65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. If necessary, tent the pan with foil after 45 minutes of baking to prevent the top from browning too much.
- Remove from the oven and allow the bread to cool completely in the pan, set on a wire rack before slicing.
- Meanwhile, make the glaze. Whisk all ingredients until smooth. Drizzle glaze over cooled bread and serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
If you try this Lemon Bread recipe or any other recipe on Feel Good Foodie, please rate the recipe and leave a comment below! It helps others who are thinking of making the recipe.
Lemon Bread Variations
- Use brown butter instead of olive oil: If you have time to brown some butter on the stovetop, you can use melt and brown 1 stick and it really adds a richness that goes so well with the lemon flavor.
- Add lavender or thyme: A small amount of dried lavender or fresh thyme adds a subtle floral or herbal note. It makes it a lot more aromatic, which is great for gifting!
- Fold in pistachios: Maybe it’s the Lebanese in me, but I love pistachios with lemons, and this lemon bread would be so delicious with an added crunch from some pistachios. You can use up to ½ cup of chopped pistachios.
- Change the glaze for frosting: If you want it to be more decadent like the Starbucks lemon loaf, try using frosting instead of the glaze. You can buy frosting or try my easy homemade frosting recipe.
Recipe Tips
- Grease the loaf pan and use parchment paper for easy removal. I love this double greasing method for quick breads 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.
- Don’t skip the lemon zest and sugar rubbing. Use your hands and rub them together until the sugar almost looks yellow. This step really will give you the best lemon flavor in this bread.
- 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.
FAQs
Once the bread is cooled, place it in an airtight container. It will keep at room temperature for 2 days or in the fridge for up to 7 days. 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.
There could be a few reasons for this: possibly underbaking the bread, an oven temperature that was too low, using expired baking powder or possibly over mixing the batter.
If you can, take out the ingredients 30 minutes before you start making this lemon loaf that will help because warm ingredients will combine more easily and trap air to create a fluffy bread. But if you’re in a rush, it will still turn out fine…it may just have more cracks in it.
“Beautiful! Needed to use up leftover buttermilk, so swapped it for yogurt, turned out beautifully moist and tasty!” – Caitlin
Terrific!
Thanks, Lori! So glad you liked it!!
Will it be possible to use powered lemon zest?
Yes, that will work! You should use 2 teaspoons (1/3 of the amount of lemon zest recommended in this recipe). Let me know how it turns out!
The loaf turned out perfect, was so flavourful and tasted like sunshine in my mouth. I didn’t bother icing/glazing and it was still sweet enough. I do have one question though. Baking soda is mentioned several times in your post but did not see it listed in the ingredients and therefore did not add (just baking powder). Should it be? Thanks.
Aww, so happy you liked it! I recently updated this recipe and decided to remove baking soda but forgot to update the copy to remove mentions. I just edited the post and appreciate you pointing this out to me! Thanks so much, Maude!!
Can I use lemon juice instead of real lemons and no lemon zest or will it not work?
Yes, you absolutely can! Fresh lemons give the best flavor but bottled lemon juice will work if you don’t have fresh lemons available.
Your recipe mentions honey. There is no honey in the ingredients list or in the instructions. Lovely cake though.
Thanks so much for pointing this out, Linda! I changed the recipe but forgot to remove mentions of honey. I just updated the post, it should be all set now!
Delicious lemon cake. Crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. I halved the amount of sugar, and it’s not too sweet. Fragrant lemon flavour.
So happy you liked it, Kyna!! Thank you!
This lemon bread is my go to. Everyone who’s ever tried it cannot get enough so thank you for this recipe. Question though – I’ve made this recipe so many times I know it by heart but lately the bread falls after I take it out of the oven and I cannot figure out what’s changed or what I need to do for it not to happen. Any advice?
P.S. Love your book!
Thanks so much, Kat! Hmm, sounds like it could be an issue of overmixing the batter? Or maybe not putting the batter in the oven right away after mixing in the dry ingredients? (The baking soda works better when it’s added to the batter and then put in the preheated oven shortly after.)
If I don’t have a loaf pan, could I replace it with silicon muffin cups?
Thank you!
Hi Andrea, you can, but I am not sure what the exact baking time would be – probably around 20-30 minutes, so just make sure you are keeping an eye on them. If you do make them in the muffin pan, let me know how they turned out and the bake time!
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!
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!
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 for posting this comment. I was hoping someone would say something about almond milk instead of yogurt. I appreciate it! 😀
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!
i love it so much!!! i made an icing instead of the honey and lemon syrup and it turned out amazing!!
Oh I bet the icing made it even more amazing!!
Delicious moist, lemony flavor not too sweet and not too tart! It lasted 5 days sealed on the countertop…( even though I wanted to eat it all in 1 day;)
That’s awesome! So glad to hear you enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing your feedback!!
I’ve made this soo many times and everyone loves it. I dont add the lemon zest and skip the syrup too. And its still lovely.
Thank you
I’m so glad to hear it! I usually skip the syrup too. Thanks so much for your comment!
I tried this lemon cake! It is awesome.
So glad you liked it! Thank you!
Thank you for the recipe. Lemon bread turned out so well. Its perfect with milk tea.
So glad to hear it! Thank you!
My parents and I loved it. We’ll be eating it with tea everyday. It was first time baking a lemon bread. (I substituted greek yogurt with half cup milk and half cup plain yogurt). It turned out really soft, light and yummy. My mother wants me to bake 2 loaves tomorrow for our relatives. 😂♥️
Can I substitute plain yoghurt for greek yoghurt or is milk better instead? Please reply thank you.
Either plain yogurt or milk will work. I recommend milk though. Hope you like it!
Hi there. This looks amazing. Can I try half almond flour & half all purpose flour?
Almond flour is gluten free and reacts differently in baking recipes. This recipe was not made for almond flour unfortunately. You’ll have to adjust the liquid if you do that but I haven’t tested it before.
Made this and subbed unsweetened almond milk for the greek yogurt. Turned out great! Highly recommend.
So glad to hear that! And thanks for sharing the substitution you tried!
This is by far one of the best recipes. It’s really simple and easy to follow and tastes AMAZING! Everyone couldn’t believe that I baked it because it’s so moist. Definitely making it again.
Yay, I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks so much Janet!
Worked great with Bob’s Red Mill GF flour & Kite Hill plain unsweetened almond yogurt to make DF & GF! Just needed to cook a tad longer.
Yay, great feedback!! Thank you so much!
Thank you so much for this lemon bread recipe. My kids had fun recreating it.
So glad to hear it! Thank you so much!
Followed the recipe exactly and it turned out great! My daughter and I cant stop eating it!
Can I also add blueberries and nuts to this?
Yay! I’m so glad to hear it! Thanks so much! And yes you can add blueberries and nuts to it!
I did the lemon 🍋 cake again except with oranges 🍊 and yummy yummy 🤤 I can’t stop cooking with you thank you for your great recipes
Ohhh yumm!! Love the orange flavor idea! So glad it worked out well!!
I absolutely love this recipe well all of them I cook with you often lol my family went crazy. I used half sour cream half Greek yogurt yummy. Question I wonder if I can swap the lemon for oranges and make it a orange cake any feedback wish I could show pictures of my cake
So glad you loved the recipe Monica! And yes, I think it would definitely work with orange instead of lemon! Let me know if you try it!
Hi! I love your recipes 🙂
I think the olive oil is missing from the method when you hit “jump to recipe”. Any way to salvage this if it went into the oven without olive oil?
Asking for a friend! 😀
Oh no, I’m so sorry I made a typo but fixed it last week after a couple people mentioned it. How did you come out?
It was actually pretty good! Just a little drier I guess. I can’t wait to try again with the oil this time. Thanks for asking!
My New fav bread! Even better than banana bread. Prefect for summer!
Yay, so glad you loved it! Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
Excellent recipe!! Great hit with the family.
So glad to hear it! Thank you!
Can you add blueberries…
Yup! You can also try this
https://feelgoodfoodie.net/recipe/lemon-blueberry-bread/
This lemon bread is delicious! The recipe was easy and the instructions were clear and thorough. The extra information and pictures were also so helpful! Thank you!
So happy to hear that!! Thank you!
Made this incredible lemon bread 2 days ago! Healthy and super tasty! I used oat milk rather than Greek yogurt and came out perfect 😋 If you love lemon, you have to make this loaf guys. Thank you Yumna! Always great recipes
Yay, so glad you made it and loved it. Thank you!!
I made the recipe and it was perfect. My husband and I ate half the loaf before I had a chance to make the glaze. I will next time. The recipe was easy to follow
So glad you enjoyed it! Thank you so much!! I think you don’t even need the glaze honestly, but it’s a nice touch if you have time!
Made this yesterday and it is AMAZING! I did make it with the glaze on top but I don’t think it needs it. Planning to make it again this week and trial it without the glaze. Can’t get enough! Thank you so much Yumna…your recipes are amazing!
Yay, I’m so glad you loved it!! I agree, I prefer it without the glaze but it does add a nice sweetness on top!
This lemon bread was soooo yummy! So light, fluffy, and lemony. Fantastic recipe, I love Yumna’s recipes and this was one of my absolute favorites! Actually the same morning she posted it I went straight to the kitchen and made it haha. And most of the ingredients can be found easily in your home.
Aww thank you so much!! I’m so glad that you enjoyed this one!! 🙂
I made this recipe and it came out so good it looks exactly like the picture very moist and delicious thanks for sharing
I’m so happy to hear that! And I love when a recipe looks exactly like the picture — yay!!!
can we talk about how easy and how insanely good this recipe is???
Thank you Yumna for another recipe I didn’t need to know how to make because I am now addicted to how good it is… 💖💖💖
Hahaha!! The lemon bread you didn’t know you needed in your life!! LOL Thank you!
Delicious! Best recipe out there.
Yay, so glad to hear it! Thanks for leaving feedback 🙂
Hi! Can I use butter instead of olive oil? Thank you
Absolutely! Hope you like it!
I just made this and it’s absolutely delicious!!!
Yay! So excited you loved it. Thank you!!
You’re so welcome!
Oh my goodness I can’t wait to try this recipe, we love anything LEMON, so I’m very excited to make this bread. I will let you know how mine turns I out. 😊
Yay! Please report back!! 🙂
My new go to lemon bread recipe!!! Made it with gluten free flour for my gluten free kid & you can’t tell. It’s so good!!
Yay! I’m so glad it worked out so well even with the gluten free flour! Thanks so much for sharing!!