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Lemon zest, freshly squeezed lemon juice, blueberries, vanilla - what's not to love, especially in the Summer! This blueberry lemon bread recipe with lemon glaze combines all these delicious ingredients to produce the ultimate breakfast, brunch, and dessert recipe good for all year around.
Tips and tricks for making perfect lemon bread
- Use 8x4 inch loaf pan.
- Use parchment paper. Line the bottom and two sides of the pan with the parchment paper. This will ensure that your lemon bread will not fall apart when you take it out of the baking pan.
- Use 2 separate bowls for combining dry and wet ingredients. Combine dry ingredients in one bowl. Combine wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Only then, combine the two together.
- Toss blueberries with flour (2 tablespoons) before adding them to the batter. This will help prevent blueberries from sinking.
- Do not overmix. Overmixing will allow gluten to develop more than you want and your bread will be tough and rubbery. For soft and fluffy texture - do not overmix the batter.
- Cool the lemon bread before glazing. Drizzle the top of the bread with the glaze only after the bread has been completely cooled. Otherwise your glaze will be too runny.
Blueberries
- Use fresh or frozen blueberries. You don't have to thaw frozen blueberries, just use them as is.
- Coat blueberries with 2 tablespoons of flour. This will prevent the blueberries from sinking to the bottom of the breading during baking.
The glaze is made from freshly squeezed lemon juice and powdered sugar. There is just enough glaze to cover the top of the lemon bread with a drizzle and not to overwhelm the overall flavor of this dessert! The slice (or two, or three) of this blueberry lemon bread is lovely early in the morning with a hot cup of coffee or tea.
Storing and freezing lemon bread
- Keep lemon bread refrigerated. It keeps fresher and longer this way, plus the glaze keeps better, too. You can refrigerate the blueberry lemon bread after it's completely cooled. To properly store the bread, cover it with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for up to 4 days.
- Freezing lemon bread. This lemon bread freezes well. Place it in a large plastic bag and seal air-tight. You can also wrap it really tightly with a plastic wrap. Then
After you bake the bread, cool it completely before drizzling with lemon glaze. Also, make sure the bread is completely cool before you refrigerate it. Enjoy!
Related dessert recipes with berries
Blueberry vanilla bread with lemon glaze
Ingredients
Blueberry Lemon Bread
- ⅓ cup butter melted
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 eggs
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup milk
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest grated
- 1 cup blueberries fresh or frozen
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Lemon Glaze
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice freshly squeezed
- ½ cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Butter an 8x4 inch loaf pan, line the bottom and two sides of the pan with the parchment paper.
- In a mixing bowl, beat together butter, 1 cup sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt; stir into egg mixture alternately with milk.
- In the same bowl where you combined flour, add blueberries and toss them in 2 tablespoons of flour. This will help prevent blueberries from sinking.
- Fold in lemon zest, and blueberries into the batter. Do it carefully and fast. Pour the lemon bread batter into prepared pan.
- Bake in preheated oven for about 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool bread in pan for 40 minutes on a wire rack. Release the bread from the pan.
Lemon glaze:
- Combine freshly squeezed lemon juice and ½ cup powdered sugar in a small bowl and beat, using electrical mixer, until smooth glaze forms .
- Drizzle the top of the blueberry lemon bread (after it's been completely cooled) with the glaze. Some of the glaze will go down the sides of the bread.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Hi Julia! I made this the other night to take to a pot-luck lunch and it was fabulous! I absolutely love the flavor combination. I only had enough lemon zest for 1 Tablespoon, but I think it was just fine that way, in fact, delicious. I used the icing sparingly. I will definitely be making this again! It will now be in my repertoire! Thank you so much for a fantastic recipe that tastes like a loaf right out of a bakery!
Gigi, thank you for such a nice comment! I am glad you enjoyed the recipe! 🙂 🙂 🙂
I made this bread tonight for the first time and it cooked unevenly. I followed the directions exactly and let it cook for 50 minutes until checking it. It was dark brown but some spots were still very gooey. Help!!
Sounds like it could be because your oven temperature is too hot, so it baked too fast at too high a temperature. Do you have an oven thermometer? I would recommend measuring your oven's temperature to make sure it is really 350 F and not higher. All ovens are different, and some are hotter than others. Either way, I would just continue baking your bread for longer than 60 minutes (maybe, reduce the temperature to 300 F) until the top of the bread springs when touched, and the toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center.
Can I double the recipe for blueberry vanilla bread with lemon glaze
Yes, you can double it and bake it in 2 separate baking pans.
My batter was too soft. I shouldn't have added the milk, but I did, and it never rose. I wonder if it's my flour...
Yummy! It looks as beautiful as it tastes. My family said it's a winner! The aroma made it difficult to wait until it was cool enough to taste. Thank you for posting!
Thank you, Phyllis, I am glad you liked this bread! 🙂
Everything looked great until I poured the glaze over the loaf...the glaze looks nothing like the picture 🙁 mine looks like melted butter and is very liquified, not thick. Did not harden like the picture. Now the loaf is sitting in a pool of glaze that dripped down to the plate.
Make sure to pour the glaze over the bread only once the bread is completely cooled. If the bread is hot or even warm - the glaze will melt. Also, once you make the glaze, you can put it in the freezer for 10 minutes to make it thicker.
I have this in the oven as i am typing, I made one change, I used orange zest instead of lemon, because that's all I had. It smells wonderful! I tasted the batter and it had a great flavor!
Thank you, Danni! Happy to hear that you're enjoying this recipe! 🙂
This didn't take too long and its delicious. Thank you Julia
I made this and its sooo delicious! One problem was my blueberries all sunk to the bottom. Any idea why?
Hello Do I have to put butter instead of vegetable oil How much oil, I hope the answer
I had to bake my loaf about 78 minutes. I checked it at 50, 60 and 70 minutes. It was not done. That was a little too long because the outer part was a little overcooked. My blueberries also sank to the bottom. Maybe if I try this recipe again, I will cook it in a bigger loaf pan. My blueberries were very large in size, maybe that was the issue. Flavor was good.
This looks so fantastic! It looks really moist too! Just printed! Thank you!
Can't wait to try this bread. I didn't have parchment paper but I just sprayed a loaf pan with Pam and left the bread in the pan. Also, I didn't have lemon zest so I just used concentrated lemon juice. Turned out great!
I am going to make this beautiful bread for my mother in law this weekend! I'm sure it's going to be amazing! I was wondering about the butter, is it salted or unsalted?
2 questions -
1) Should I defrost the frozen blueberries first, and drain any liquid? Or leave them frozen?
2) Would this work in muffin tins?