Glazed Lemon Bread
An easy lemon bread recipe topped with a sweet lemon glaze. This Glazed Lemon Bread is perfect for breakfast, brunch, or dessert!
Does anything scream spring more than a beautiful loaf of lemon bread? Okay, maybe a loaf of lemon bread topped with a lemon glaze? Yep, that sounds a little better.
If you’ve been following for a while, you know how much I adore lemon desserts. And judging by how popular these lemon bars are on my site, I think it’s safe to say a lot of you love lemon too. So, I decided to start February off on the right foot with an easy lemon bread recipe.
Since this is a quick bread, it’s simple to mix together and only takes about 10-15 minutes to get in the oven. To be honest, the hardest part about making this bread is waiting for it to bake and cool.
Ingredients in This Recipe
This lemon quick bread recipe comes together with pantry staples. Here’s what goes into the recipe:
- All-purpose flour: When measuring your flour, make sure to spoon and level your flour instead of scooping it out of the container. I wrote a post about the spoon and level method here, but it’s important to use the right amount of flour so you don’t end up with a super dense loaf.
- Baking powder: Helps the bread rise in the oven.
- Salt: Balances out the sugar in the batter.
- Oil: A neutral oil, like canola or vegetable, is best.
- Granulated sugar: Sweetens the quick bread and complements the sour lemon juice.
- Sour cream: If you don’t have sour cream, then plain Greek yogurt works fine too.
- Lemon juice and zest: Use fresh lemons since you’ll need both the juice and zest.
- Eggs: To help bind everything together.
- Vanilla extract: Use pure vanilla extract, if possible.
- Powdered sugar: Is mixed with lemon juice to make the glaze.
How to Make Lemon Bread with Glaze
To make this lemon bread, you’ll start by whisking together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt.
For the wet ingredients, you’ll whisk together the oil, sugar, sour cream, eggs, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract. The oil and sour cream help keep this bread incredibly moist, even after a few days.
You’ll combine the wet and dry ingredients together, pour the batter into a loaf pan, and bake it. I like to line the pan with some parchment paper and leave a little overhang to make it easier to lift the bread out of the pan. I have a visual of what I mean in this banana bread post.
Once the bread has cooled, you can either leave it plain or top it with a glaze. If you’re a true lemon lover, then I suggest using the lemon glaze. Or if you like things less lemony, you can make a plain glaze by using milk instead of lemon juice!
Can I Add Blueberries?
If you want to make lemon blueberry bread, I recommend following my Lemon Blueberry Bread recipe instead. I’ve tested that recipe many times and know that it works!
Baking Tips
- When measuring your flour, don’t scoop it out of the container with the measuring cup. Instead, stir the flour around, spoon it into your measuring cup, and level it off with the back of a knife.
- Stir the wet and dry ingredients together until just combined, over mixing the batter can lead to a denser loaf.
- You can use sour cream or plain Greek yogurt in this bread, full fat is also best.
More Lemon Desserts to Try!
- Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake Bars
- Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake
- Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes
- Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt Cake
- Classic Lemon Bars
Glazed Lemon Bread
Ingredients
For the lemon bread:
- 1 and 3/4 cups (220 grams) all-purpose flour , spooned & leveled
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (120ml) oil (canola or vegetable)
- 1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (230 grams) sour cream
- 1/4 cup (60ml) fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest (zest of 1 lemon)
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For the lemon glaze:
- 1 cup (120 grams) powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) fresh lemon juice
Instructions
To make the lemon bread:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9x5-inch loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a separate mixing bowl, mix together the oil, sugar, sour cream, lemon juice, lemon zest, eggs, and vanilla until fully combined.
- Combine the wet and dry ingredients together and mix until just combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and spread it around into one even layer. Bake at 350°F for 45-55 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If needed, tent with foil for the last 15-20 minutes of baking to prevent excess browning on top of the bread.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes in the loaf pan. Carefully remove from the loaf pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the lemon glaze:
- Once the bread has cooled, whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice. If the glaze is too thick, add more lemon juice as needed. If the glaze is too thin, add more powdered sugar.
- Pour the glaze on the bread and spread it around to fully cover the top of the bread. Allow the glaze to harden for 15-20 minutes, then slice and enjoy!
This is seriously one perfect-looking lemon bread, Danielle! LOVE that glaze and how insanely moist it looks! This is getting me excited for spring and all things lemon!
I’m definitely excited for spring too! Thank you, Sarah!
This lemon bread is amazing. I have meade it with other recipes but this is far the best. I sometimes add blueberries or raspberries t foro it. My husband loves it! Thank you! kathy
So glad to hear that, Kathy!
Wow, the glazed lemon bread looks simply amazing. Will give it a try. Thanks. 🙂
Thank you, Puja!
I made your Lemon Glazed Bread & just wanted to let you know that my husband & I loved it. The bread was very moist & both the glaze & bread had the perfect lemon zing. I have a new true convection oven ordered & on it’s way; can’t wait to try more of your recipes. By the way, your food photography is beautiful 🙂
So glad you and your husband enjoyed the lemon bread, Darlene! Thank you so much for the kind comment about my photography I really appreciate it! Let me know if you try any other recipes 🙂
Can you use all purpose blend flour
Hi, Chantell. Do you mean a gluten-free all-purpose blend flour or something else?
Wheat flour mixed with all purpose flour.
You can usually do half whole wheat and half all purpose flour in recipes without noticing much of a difference. As long as it’s a 50/50 blend, that should be fine!
Thank you for the best recipes. Everyone recipe you post is absolutely delicious and easy to make. I am so excited to share this site with my family and friends. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Patty! I appreciate it!
This bread was so delicious and easy to make, I had all ingredients on hand. My entire house smells amazing and my family loves this lemony goodness!!
So glad you and your family enjoyed the lemon bread, Tonya!
Hello….could you use lemon extract instead of vanilla? Will it change anyrhing?
That would be fine, Tracy! I don’t think it will change anything, it would just enhance the lemon flavor in the bread.
Cooked the Banana Nut Bread family and friends loved it. Going to try the lemon bread today.Thank you for the easy tasty recipes love them love making them.
So glad everyone enjoyed the banana bread, Elizabeth! I’d love to hear how the lemon bread turns out 🙂
Amazing cake! Recipe is great! I followed all your instructions and it went out great! Many thanks for sharing, and explaining it well for us beginners 🙂
I served it with a scoop of ice cream. Everybody loved it, even my skeptic mum who is not fav of lemon
Serving this with ice cream sounds delicious, Edina! Glad to hear that your mom enjoyed the recipe as well 🙂
Made this today, and it was a huge win! Perfect for hot summer days, we tried it with vanilla ice cream. Dreamy!
So glad you liked the lemon bread, Lucy! I’ll definitely have to try this with some ice cream next time I make a loaf too 🙂
This recipe was perfect! I followed it to the letter and it came out as delicious as advertised. Thank you! Easy and delicious.
So happy to hear that it turned out great for you!
Can bottled lemon juice be used instead?
That would be fine, but since you need lemon zest I would suggest using fresh lemon juice. If you leave out the zest, the bread won’t be quite as lemony.
I made the Glazed Lemon Bread tonight, following the recipe to a T. It was absolutely delicious!! So moist and lemony–simply divine.
Thank you for another fantastic recipe!!!!
So glad you enjoyed the lemon bread, Cheryl!
Made this recipe exactly as you described and it was delicious! Had friends over and it disappeared very quickly! Hubby says I need to make it again soon! ( He only got 1 slice………definitely not enough!)
I’ve been using your recipe for a couple years now, coming back to it time and time again, and I just have to say thank you so much! My whole family loves it! We follow the recipe precisely and it’s just lovely. My four and six year old love helping with this easy recipe.
So happy to hear that, Nancy!
Hey I just made this and it is nice but a bit dense and rubbery…could it be because I used sunflower oil instead of vegetable? Thanks x
The oil shouldn’t make a difference. Typically when something turns out dense/rubbery, it’s because it was overmixed. Did you mix until just combined?
Yeah only mixed until combined 🙁 …like….minimal mixing!
That’s really strange. This loaf is denser, but definitely shouldn’t be rubbery. If you didn’t make any adjustments to the recipe, you could try using a different oil and removing it from the pan sooner and see if that helps. I wish I could be more help, but I’m just not sure why it would be so rubbery if you didn’t overmix it.
I want to make this bread without eggs. Could you tell me what can i replace eggs with ?
I haven’t tried it, but you may be able to use flax eggs.
hey Danielle! I’m a big fan of all your recipes, they always turn out great! I made this lemon bread today and while it tasted exceptional and was gone within an hour, I found it to be a little dense in comparison to other breads (your banana bread for example). am I doing something wrong?
Hi, Tabeer! Since this bread is made with sour cream, it’s a little denser. If you found it was too dense, it could be that there was too much flour or the bread may have been overmixed. If you make it again, be sure to spoon and level your flour and only mix in the dry ingredients until just combined. Hope that helps!
Hi Tabeer!
I’ve been awake since 3:30 this morning, it’s now 4 a.m. and am reading all the comments on this post ( out of sheer BOREDOM!?) and came across this yours.
Just wondering if you’ve discovered how amazing it is to bake with a kitchen scale?
I do not use dry measure cups anymore and always use a scale. My results have been consistently wonderful and I just wanted to offer this suggestion. ☺️
This was just as delicious as it looked! Will definitely make again!
Hi,
If I were to make this and freeze it, would I put the icing on it first and then freeze or make the icing after it thaws out? Thank you!
Either way is fine!
I made your lemon bread recipe just as is, with just a little added lemon zest in the glaze. Wonderful!! Just the ticket to brighten our days.
Hello, Im about to make this bread but wondered if I could substitute the oil with butter? If so how much? I like the taste of butter better than oil in recipes.
Thank you!
I haven’t tried it, but I think it would be okay. I would probably use 1/2 cup of melted butter in place of the oil. It would probably be best to get the other ingredients to room temperature too, otherwise the butter may solidify some when you mix the wet ingredients together.
Thank you! Looks great. I plan to make soon. If we wanted to add frozen blueberries, would you recommend thawing first? When would you recommend adding to the receipt/mixture?
Thank you!
Frozen blueberries would be fine, I wouldn’t thaw them. You can fold them in at the end once the wet and dry ingredients are mixed together.
I tried out the lemon bread recipe for the first time, and it was amazing!!! Came out great.
Could I make this bread as muffins? And if yes, how long do I have to bake then? Also loved the lemon bread, it was delicious!
Yes, absolutely! You can make it into 12 muffins, the baking time will be about 20 minutes at 350°F.
Made this for myself and family for Mother’s Day and it was SO GOOD! The tart to sweet ratio is perfect! Cake stayed moist. Definitely making again!
Made this today and it was delicious! It was the first time I’ve ever made lemon loaf and I loved it! Super simple recipe but tasted just like the one from Starbucks! Will make again!
My autistic son loves the lemon bread from Starbucks and I have been searching in vain for a recipe that he will eat so I can simply make it at home and this is the first one he says tastes good. I cannot thank you enough for this recipe! You have saved me a ton of money and made my picky eater happy. Thank you!
Thank you so much, Ashley! I’m so glad to hear that your son loves the lemon bread recipe!
I love this!!! My family loved it as well. I was wondering if there’s a substitute for the sour cream. Sometimes I just don’t have it on hand.
So happy to hear that Stacey! You could replace it with plain yogurt/Greek yogurt.
This is a delicious recipe! I took it to a dinner and served it as dessert, and people were taking thirds! I will admit I made one tiny change: I doubled the recipe and put it into three pans instead of two. Baked for 40 minutes, and they turned out absolutely beautiful!