This blueberry lemon quick bread is exactly what you need when you’re craving something fresh and homey. Sweet blueberries and bright lemon zest come together in a tender, moist loaf that’s perfect with your morning coffee or as an afternoon pick-me-up. The best part? You probably have most of the ingredients in your kitchen right now.
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My family is crazy about my lemon blueberry coffee cake, so I couldn’t resist turning it into a quick bread that’s quicker and easier to make.
This bread is loaded with blueberries. The batter is thick so you don’t need to worry about the blueberries sinking to the bottom. It has a bright lemon flavor and a crunchy streusel topping making it pretty much irresistible.
I baked the blueberry lemon quick bread in mini loaf pans, which reduces the cook time. In fact, I love the mini loaf pans so much I rarely make quick bread in a large loaf these days. They’re easier to share, or tuck a loaf or two in the freezer for another day.
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Why You’ll Love This Blueberry Lemon Quick Bread Recipe
- Bright Citrus Flavor: The recipe uses fresh lemon zest, giving the bread a vibrant, tangy kick that perfectly balances the sweetness of the blueberries. The citrusy aroma fills your kitchen as it bakes, making it irresistible.
- Moist and Tender Crumb: By adding milk and butter, this bread achieves a rich, soft texture that stays moist for days. Each bite feels like it melts in your mouth.
- Freezer Friendly: The concentrated flavor of frozen blueberries works perfectly here, so you can bake this bread year-round without sacrificing taste or waiting for berry season.
- Size Versatile: The batter easily converts to muffins or mini loaves, requiring just a quick adjustment to baking time – perfect for holiday gifting or breakfast meal prep.
🫐 Every time I make this Lemon blueberry loaf, my house smells like heaven and my neighbors mysteriously start dropping by!
Recipe Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Lemon zest
- Sugar
- Butter — unsalted
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Milk — whole
- Blueberries — fresh or frozen
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Lemon Blueberry Loaf
- Prep Your Kitchen: Preheat your oven to 350°F and prep four mini loaf pans by spraying them with a baking spray that contains flour. The pans should measure 5¾ x 3¼ x 2¼ inches for perfect sizing.
- Create the Foundation: In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt until well combined. This step ensures your leavening agents are evenly distributed throughout the dry ingredients.
- Build the Flavor Base: Start by combining sugar and fresh lemon zest in a large mixing bowl – take a moment to rub them together with your fingers to release the oils. Beat in the softened butter until the mixture becomes light and airy, then incorporate the eggs, vanilla, and milk until smooth.
- Combine with Care: Gently fold the flour mixture into your wet ingredients just until no dry streaks remain – overmixing here will lead to tough bread. With a light hand, fold in your blueberries, being careful not to crush them.
- Make the Topping: For that irresistible streusel, mix sugar and flour in a small bowl. Work in cold butter with your fingertips until you achieve a crumbly texture that holds together when squeezed.
- Final Assembly: Divide the batter evenly among your prepared pans, ensuring they’re filled to roughly the same level. Generously sprinkle each loaf with the streusel topping. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean and the internal temperature reaches about 205°F.
Recipe FAQs
Besides the toothpick test, gently press the center of a loaf with your finger – it should spring back and not leave an indentation. The tops should be golden brown, and you might see some blueberry juice bubbling at the edges. If the streusel is browning too quickly but the center isn’t done, tent the pans with foil.
Grease the loaf pan thoroughly with butter or cooking spray, and consider lining it with parchment paper for easy removal. This helps ensure the bread comes out cleanly.
This usually happens when the butter in your streusel is too warm. Make sure you’re using cold butter and work it into pea-sized crumbs with your fingers. Also, don’t press the topping into the batter – just sprinkle it lightly on top.
Absolutely! You can use orange or lime as a substitute. Keep in mind that the flavor will change slightly, but it will still be delicious.
Expert Tips
- Pan Prep: Don’t skip the flour-based baking spray – regular cooking spray won’t give you the same clean release. If you don’t have baking spray, grease the pans and dust with flour.
- Cooling Method: Let the loaves cool in their pans for exactly 10 minutes – any less and they may break, any more and they might steam and get soggy. Then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Prevent Sinking Berries: Toss blueberries in a tablespoon of flour before adding them to the batter to keep them evenly distributed.
- Do Not Overmix: Mix the wet and dry ingredients just until combined to avoid a dense or tough bread.
Lemon Blueberry Loaf Storage Tips
Once completely cooled, wrap your blueberry lemon quick bread tightly in plastic wrap or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. The streusel topping will stay crunchiest on day one, but the lemon flavor actually intensifies over time.
For longer storage, wrap individual loaves in plastic wrap, then foil, and freeze for up to 3 months – just thaw overnight in the refrigerator when you’re ready to enjoy. If you’re planning to freeze the bread, consider adding the streusel topping after thawing to maintain its crisp texture.
My Favorite Loaf Recipes
Whether you’re craving something sweet or looking to impress your guests, these tried-and-true recipes never disappoint.
- My secret weapon for brightening any gloomy morning is this Lemon Blueberry Loaf recipe – it’s like sunshine in bread form.
- When you need a cozy hug in cake form, this cardamom-orange coffee cake hits all the right notes with its warm, inviting spices.
- I’ve been told my Lemon Blueberry Coffee Cake disappears faster than weekend plans, and honestly, I can’t even blame my guests.
- Every time someone asks for my Chocolate Chip Banana Bread recipe, I smile knowing they’re about to discover their new favorite way to use those overripe bananas sitting on their counter.
More Quick Bread Recipes to Consider
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The Best Blueberry Lemon Quick Bread Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup whole milk
- 1 ½ cups blueberries fresh or frozen
Streusel Topping
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons cold butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Spray four mini loaf pans (5 ¾ x 3 ¼ x 2 ¼) with non-stick cooking spray with flour.*
- For the streusel crumb topping, in a small bowl, combine sugar and flour. Add butter and mix until mixture is crumbly. Set aside.
- For the bread, in a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar and lemon zest. Add butter and beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla and milk.
- Add flour mixture and mix just until combine. Stir in blueberries.
- Spread batter evenly into prepared pan(s). Sprinkle with streusel crumb topping.
- Bake for 30 – 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. An internal temperature of about 205°.
Notes
- Double-check your baking powder’s freshness before starting – this recipe relies heavily on it for the perfect rise since it’s a quick bread without yeast.
- The color of your pan matters – darker metal pans will brown the crust more quickly than light-colored ones, so you may need to adjust baking time accordingly.
- A sprinkle of coarse sugar on top of the streusel before baking adds an extra layer of crunch and a professional bakery finish.
- If your blueberries are particularly juicy or large, cut them in half before folding them into the batter – this helps them distribute more evenly throughout the loaf.
Rebekah Baylus
I’m confused. The notes say to work the COLD butter into the flour to make the streusel, but the recipe and instructions say to MELT the butter. I probably won’t hear back in time as I’m baking right now, but maybe it will help another baker on the future.
Melissa G
Thanks for the heads up, Rebekah! The butter should be cold for making the streusel. The recipe has been fixed!
Nicole
Hello- I the butter in the main recipe is softened not melted- just room temperature and the butter for the topping is cold butter that is mixed with the flour and sugar to form a crumb like texture- hope that helps
Mary Kendall
Streusel topping made with melted butter as indicated produces gooey topping not crumble?
Aditi
I have never used frozen blueberries before but plan on using them for this recipe. Do i thaw and dry them before usung? Also, what if they are sour? Can we coat them in sugar and then add?
Melissa Griffiths
They should be fine if they are a little tart and no, you just throw them in frozen, no issues there.
Roxanne
Hello Ladies 🙂 I was looking for a 4 loaf mini pan bake time and found your site. Tks
Question: your blueberry recipe tho, at the end #8 is missing and #9 says to mix the strus topping. Now, wouldn’t you be baking the loaves with the topping applied already? as the flour would be raw. tks
Melissa Griffiths
Thank you for taking the time to bring that to our attention! We have been moving recipes into a new “recipe card” which digitally formats them for viewing and printing and I think this one just got jumbled up. It’s all fixed now! We appreciate the help on that.
Peg
Can I use 2% milk instead of whole milk without it negatively affecting the recipe?
Barbara Schieving
Hi Peg – yes, it will still work well. I occasionally sub 1% if it’s all I have. Enjoy!
susan papciak
Could I make this in a wilton 8 loaf pan?
Barbara Schieving
Hi Susan – yes, just don’t fill the pan more than 2/3’s full.
Barbara Douglas
Can I substitute the unsalted butter for regular salted butter and maybe decrease the 1/2 tsp. salt the recipe calls for? Thanks,
Barbara Schieving
Hi Barbara – yes, that will work great.
Ashley
can i use almond milk instead of milk?
Barbara Schieving
Hi Ashley – I haven’t tried it, but I think it will work well.
Teresa Malacki
Barbara
I made the mini blueberry muffins last night and they were delicious. Will they be just as good if I make ahead and freeze?
Barbara Schieving
Hi Teresa – the topping isn’t quite as good when it’s frozen and thawed, but I do it all the time and it’s delicious.
Shweta Rai
Can I still use this recipe for a normal size loaf pan? Would it call for a change in temperature or time to cook?
Barbara Schieving
Yes, you can – I’ve updated the recipe with instruction for using a full-size loaf pan. Enjoy!
Shweta
I made it today 😊… baked them as muffins though… accordingly regular size 12 muffin… can’t attach the picture unfortunately. It looked so good… can’t wait to try it! Thank you so much
Barbara Schieving
Great! So glad you loved them and they were picture perfect. If you’re on Instagram post a picture and tag me 🙂
Shweta
Sure! What’s your gram handle?(how do i find you?)
Barbara Schieving
BarbaraBakes – https://www.instagram.com/barbarabakes/
Nissa Chichester
Barbara, I have been making this recipe for about a year now, whenever blueberries are available at Costco. My friends and family thank you and so do I, absolutely DELICIOUS!!!!
Barbara Schieving
That’s great – thanks Nissa!
Kathy
I’ve never made streusel topping before. You list sugar, flour and butter twice in the ingredients. Which measurements are for the bread and which are for the topping?
Barbara Schieving
Hi Kathy – I’ve updated the recipe so it’s clearer. Enjoy!
Peggy
I not sure what went wrong but, I made this recipe today, making sure I would not miss any of the ingredients, followed the instructions exactly, and sorry to say, it was a disaster. The dough was extremely thick, so thick in fact that it couldn’t even be spread into the pans.
It broke my heart to have to toss out good, expensive blueberries as well as all the other ingredients this recipe called for.
Barbara Schieving
Hi Peggy – sorry you had problems with the recipe. Sounds like you may have inadvertently used more flour than the recipe called for.
Nissa Chichester
Peggy this batter is extremely thick!! The first time I made it I thought I too had made a mistake but I went ahead and baked those little loaves up….Delicious one of my family’s favourite. Good luck, worth trying again!
Beckie B
My daughter made this for her FFA farmer’s market. It was a hit! She had rave reviews & sold out.
elisabeth
These look amazing…baking me a batch tonight! Will also try out your other recipe versions and share your website alongside the pics of my mini breads!
Barbara Schieving
Great – thanks Elisabeth! Enjoy 🙂
Carolyn R
I made the lemon blueberry quick bread today and they came out great! Just the right amount of sweetness and mild taste of lemon. I had to cook mine for 40 minutes till the tester came out dry, but even so, they weren’t too brown or too light – Just Perfect! Thanks for the recipe.
Barbara Schieving
Thanks Carolyn! Glad it was a hit 🙂
Carol
If you use frozen blueberries, do you need to thaw them first before adding to batter? Thanks.
Barbara Schieving
Hi Carol – no, you’ll want to add them frozen and increase the cook time slightly.
Carol
Thank you. Can’t wait to try these. They look so good.
Darlene
This looks sooooooo good.
Barbara Schieving
Thanks Darlene – I hope you’ll give them a try.