This gluten-free lemon blueberry bread is a moist, fluffy loaf that is perfect as a breakfast treat or snack. Yogurt gives this recipe a wonderful rich texture. Dairy-free options are included.
Check out more of my gluten-free quick breads including my gluten-free banana bread, gluten-free vegan pumpkin bread bread and my most popular gluten-free sour cream coffee cake with the perfect cinnamon crumb,
Blueberries
Fresh organic, summer blueberries are definitely my preference. But I wouldn’t want to miss out on this delicious loaf during the rest of the year. So frozen blueberries are the next best option. Frozen blues are packaged at the height of ripeness so they are usually sweet and flavorful. There’s no need to thaw the blueberries but to keep the batter from turning purple, they will get a quick rinse under cold water.
Gluten-Free Flour Blends
King Arthur Gluten-Free Measure for Measure Flour is my go-to for a store-bought blend. It is available in so many grocery stores (a great deal on Amazon), is certified gluten-free and works well in almost all of my gluten-free recipes. Be sure to check out more of my Gluten-Free Recipes with King Arthur Flour.
Pamela’s All Purpose Artisan Blend is similar and will work too. Cup4Cup is a good blend but contains milk powder so I don’t test with it. Both of these blends are also certified gluten-free.
Mixing up your own gluten-free flour blend is an excellent way to experiment with different types of flour. So many gluten-free products are rice-based and people on a gf diet would benefit from expanding beyond rice. My favorite blend contains sorghum and millet flours. See my post on the best gluten-free flours for baking for more info on DIY flour blends and ready-made options.
Other Ingredients
This recipe has a triple dose of lemon to be sure that the flavor comes through. Lemon zest, lemon juice and lemon extract all add to the mix.
Lemon zest is a great way to get lemon flavor into baked goods. The zest is the the colorful outer peel of the fruit and has a strong pop of lemon aroma. Since there’s no liquid and no acid in the peel, it thankfully doesn’t have much effect on the chemistry of baking. See my post for a quick tutorial on How to Zest a Lemon with or without a Zester. Freshly squeezed lemon juice adds some tang and lemon extract brings the lemon flavor to just the right level.
I use 2 specific ingredients to make this recipe super moist and rich. Oil is my favorite way to add moisture to baked goods. Avocado, light olive oil, sunflower, safflower, canola or other neutral flavored oils will work. Although I love the flavor of butter, it just doesn’t do as a good a job of making baked goods moist-especially gluten-free baked goods.
Unsweetened plain dairy or plant-based yogurt adds a wonderful richness to the loaf. I use plant-based yogurt because I avoid most dairy. Kite Hill Almond Milk Yogurt is my favorite.
Dairy yogurt works well too and makes this loaf brown nicely. I prefer plain, low-fat or whole milk yogurt – not non-fat and not Greek yogurt. Unfortunately the grocery store shelves these days are mostly Greek yogurt. So if you can’t find regular yogurt, use Greek yogurt and mix in a little water to thin it out. See the recipe card below for specifics.
Icing
My favorite topping on for this bread is a lemon-blueberry icing. Smashed blueberries, lemon juice, butter and powdered sugar make a pretty topping and enhance the lemon flavor. See the recipe card below for the recipe.
A simple powdered sugar icing also adds a nice drizzle. Mix 1 cup powdered sugar with 1 Tbsp water.
A no sugar icing option uses coconut cream as the base. See my Icing without powdered sugar recipe.
Moist, Fluffy Gluten-Free Lemon Blueberry Bread
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Ingredients
- ΒΎ c unsweetened yogurt (plain whole milk or low-fat)*or plant-based yogurt, Kite Hill Almond Milk is my favorite
- 2 lemons
- 2 large eggs, room temperature, place in a bowl of warm water to bring to room temp
- ΒΎ c sugar
- Β½ c oil
- 1 tsp lemon extract
- 1Β½ c gluten-free flour blend
- 1ΒΌ tsp baking powder
- Β½ tsp salt
- ΒΌ tsp baking soda
- 1ΒΌ c fresh or frozen blueberries
Lemon Blueberry Icing
- 10 blueberries
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp water
- 1 Tbsp melted butter (dairy-free options ok)
- 1 c powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350Β°F and line an 8×4 loaf pan with parchment as shown. Grease the sides of the pan not covered with parchment. Or grease the whole pan with soft butter (vegan butter ok) and leave out the parchment.
- Zest the 2 lemons into a small microwave safe bowl. See my post How to Zest a Lemon for a quick tutorial. Juice the lemon and add 2 Tbps juice to the bowl.
- If using frozen blueberries: Place them in a colander or strainer and rinse under COLD water for about 30 seconds. Place on an absorbent kitchen towel to drain.
- Add the yogurt and stir. Microwave for about 15 seconds to warm it. This will help to get the zest to give up its flavor to the yogurt.
- Combine the dry ingredients in a small mixing bowl and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, oil and lemon extract together until smooth and creamy.
- Stir in the yogurt mixture.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix until smooth.
- Spread a thin layer of batter on the bottom of the pan.
- Add the blueberries to the remaining batter and gently stir.
- Pour the batter into the pan and smooth the top.
- Place in the oven with the short sides of the pan parallel with the sides of the oven. Bake for one hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. IMPORTANT NOTE: If using dairy yogurt you will need to place a foil tent over the pan after about 35 minutes of baking. This will prevent the top from over browning.
- Cool the loaf in the pan for 5-10 minutes. Then remove from the pan and cool on a wire rack for about 2 hours.
Make the Lemon Blueberry Icing (optional)
- Place the blueberries in a fine mesh strainer and mash, pushing pulp and juice out until you are left with mostly peel.
- Add the lemon juice and water.
- Add the powdered sugar and stir until smooth. Stir in the melted butter.
- If it's too runny, add more powdered sugar. If it's too thick, add water a half teaspoon at a time – a little goes a long way. Drizzle over completely cooled loaf.
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