This classic homemade blueberry bread recipe tastes like eating a giant fluffy blueberry muffin or a slice of blueberry cake!
The best blueberry bread recipe
You will fall in love with the soft and delicious texture of this blueberry loaf.
It’s one of my favorite recipes to prepare for company, because guests always think it came straight from the local bakery!
Yet the quick bread is super easy to make, with no bread machine and no oil required. Plus you can use fresh or frozen blueberries.
This sweet blueberry loaf is the perfect healthy breakfast, snack, or dessert.
You may also like this Blueberry Banana Bread
Step by step blueberry loaf video
Key ingredients
Blueberries – You can use either fresh or frozen blueberries. Fresh blueberries yield a loaf lighter in color, but I think the extra purple from frozen berries is quite pretty in its own right.
Flour – The recipe works well with whole grain spelt flour, all purpose white flour, or gluten free all purpose flour. Use a food scale for most precise measurements.
I have not tried almond flour, coconut flour, oat flour, or whole wheat flour here and therefore cannot recommend them.
Sugar – Granulated white sugar will give you the lightest, fluffiest baked good. You may substitute xylitol for an added sugar free recipe.
If you swap the sugar for pure maple syrup or honey, the bread texture will be much denser but still tasty.
Oil – I love the buttery coconut flavor of coconut oil here. You may also go with vegetable oil or melted butter.
For oil free blueberry bread, replace all of the oil with three tablespoons of mashed banana or applesauce.
Other ingredients – The recipe also calls for salt, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, water, an egg or flax egg, and pure vanilla extract.
How to make blueberry bread
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan well with oil or fat free spray. I like to also line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper, for easy removal after baking.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients and stir well. Add in all remaining ingredients except for the berries, and stir until just evenly combined.
- Very gently, fold in all but a tablespoon or two of the blueberries. Spread the batter into your prepared baking pan.
- Press remaining blueberries on top. Optionally, sprinkle on a handful of shredded coconut, chopped walnuts, or mini chocolate chips as well.
- Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for one hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out mostly clean.
- Carefully remove from the oven and let cool. Once fully cooled, go around the sides of the pan with a knife and pop out the loaf.
- Slice and enjoy, or loosely cover leftovers with a towel and let sit overnight. If you can wait, the taste and texture are even better the next day!
- For optimal freshness, any leftovers after one day should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to five days. Or slice and freeze leftovers for up to two months, and thaw or reheat before serving.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use other fruit?
Feel free to change up the flavor. Try raspberries, blackberries, chopped strawberries, chopped apple (as in this Apple Bread recipe), or a combination of different fruits instead of just blueberries.
You can also add two teaspoons of orange or lemon zest along with the wet ingredients if desired.
Will the blueberries sink to the bottom?
Many blueberry baked good recipes, including quick breads, cakes, and muffins, recommend coating the blueberries in flour to help them not sink to the bottom.
I never bother with this unnecessary extra step. As shown in the video above, the blueberries still stay beautifully in place.
Does the bread need frosting?
Enjoy the recipe plain or topped with almond butter or cream cheese for breakfast. Or add vanilla icing, powdered sugar glaze, or Coconut Butter for dessert.
Is the recipe vegan or gluten free?
Use oil and water or flax egg for an egg free and vegan blueberry bread. The loaf is already naturally dairy free.
It can be gluten free if you choose all purpose gluten free flour. For best results, I highly recommend following the gram measurements given.
The recipe was adapted from my Carrot Bread and this Cranberry Orange Bread.
Blueberry Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour (240g) (Here's a Keto Blueberry Bread)
- 3/4 cup sugar (150g)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)
- 2 cups blueberries (240g)
- 1 cup water (240g)
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract (10g)
- 3 tbsp oil or unsalted butter, or mashed banana for low fat (36g)
- 1 egg or flax egg, or 2 tbsp additional water
Instructions
- The recipe works well with spelt, white, or gluten free all purpose flour.Preheat your oven to 350 F. Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan, and line the bottom with parchment paper. Stir all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in all remaining ingredients except berries to form a batter. Very gently fold in most of the blueberries. Spread batter into the prepared pan. Press remaining blueberries on top. Bake 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean. Let cool. If you can wait, the blueberry bread taste and texture are even better the next day.View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
More recipes with blueberries
Legit drooling over my screen! The blueberry bread looks absolutely delish! Thanks for the recipe!
OMG and it IS delish! I made four mini loaves of it last night and did not make any icing. You really don’t need any. I just cut slices and buttered it warmed. OMG soooooo yummy! For the sugar I used the Walmart brand Great Value sugar substitute in the ziploc bag, just 1/2 cp and only used 1 cup of frozen blueberries. I don’t make the large loafs, I have a 4 loaf mini pan and it is awesome! I use it for everything, that way I can give away breads, egg dish loaves, whatever. People are so glad to get my breads! I gave this one to my Sr. Ctr. Mgr. She almost ate the whole thing during our stay there today! Didn’t even want to take it home to hubby! LOL Don’t fret about the vinegar either, I just used Rice Wine vinegar instead and it’s perfectly fine.
is there a specific brand or brands of GF All purpose flour that work for this recipe? I tried making your Vegan lemon bread this past weekend with Bob’s 1 to 1 flour and it didn’t turn out right. The inside was kind of doughy. My son said it tastes like lemon meringue in a loaf and it is being eaten, but I couldn’t serve that to anyone. I would really like to try this recipe for my blueberry loving husband.
Oh no! So sorry about that! We actually used that brand for the gf test and it worked fine. What yogurt, sugar, and oil did you use? And is your oven gas or electric? Did it just possibly need more time in the oven?
Jason (media relations)
Hi Jason,
I have an electric oven and I actually baked it for about 15 minutes extra. I used a plain coconut yogurt (PC brand), Lakanto (erythritol/monk fruit blend) and coconut oil. Could it be the coconut oil maybe?
We don’t have erythritol listed as an option in the recipe, and it’s for a reason. One of Katie’s testers tried it and did not get a good result. Unfortunately changing ingredients or using one that isn’t listed is always a risk – sometimes it turns out well, but sometimes not at all! If you try it again with regular sugar, I’d be super curious to see if that solves your issue, especially since others have also used that same flour with good results. As far as gf flours go, we really do think Bob’s is the best one we’ve found for yielding good results without having to add any xanthan gum or other binders. Oh, and coconut oil is totally fine 🙂
Could you use coconut sugar?
You can! I don’t know about your other question as to coconut flour though. For sure, you’d at least have to change the liquid amount in the recipe. If you experiment, be sure to report back!
Just plain ol’ All purpose flour from Walmart is fine. Go up and read my post above. As long as you get the basics in baking you can substitute here and there.
Where is the recipe for the topping?
Christine, the lemon loaf is the only recipe I have never been able to work! I have tried 4 times. I also always make everything gluten free. I usually use rice flour but I tried comboinations of rice flour, oat flour, tapioca starch. In place of the yogurt I tried overripe bananas, and applesauce. Even where other recipes call for yogurt, I have still found success using non-dairy alternatives (living in China, there is no such thing as a dairy/soy free yogurt), but the success of the lemon loaf recipe still eludes me. Good luck to you! Its the one recipe I was so excited for.
Hi Lindsay,
I haven’t made this particular bread yet but, when I became allergic to wheat, and started experimenting with alternative flours, I learned that you can’t simply substitute rice flour instead of wheat flour. Rice flour just won’t work alone. Give Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten Free Baking Flour a try and I’m sure your luck will improve.
Hi – where is the oil-free version? I don’t see it. Thanks
It’s oil free by using almond butter instead of oil 🙂
This looks amazing! It looks sooo light and fluffy. I’m wondering if using almond butter changes that texture.
Katie always has someone test every variation she posts. This time, her mom tested the almond butter version ?. She said it was just as soft as if you were using oil (and her mom is not one of those people who likes oil free baked goods, which is why Katie wanted her thoughts especially on this one). (She used spelt flour)
Jason (media relations)
Go down and see my pics of what I made, mini loaves and I had enough left over for a cake pan cookie. Delish!
I made this and it’s delicious. I used spelt flour and almond butter. So good. The texture was perfect.
How do you use coconut butter as frosting?
Just spread it on, melt it, mix it with something sweet?
Any of those can work! Katie usually will just melt it (you have to melt it carefully, such as putting it in a turned-off oven that is cooling down from having just baked something). If it’s too dry, mixing in a little melted coconut oil can make it smoother. Or you can definitely add sweetener of choice.
OMG and it IS delish! I made four mini loaves of it last night and did not make any icing. You really don’t need any. I just cut slices and buttered it warmed. OMG soooooo yummy!
For the flour, just plain ol’ Walmart brand Great Value All Purpose Flour works fine.
For the sugar I used the Walmart brand Great Value sugar substitute in the ziploc bag, just 1/2 cp and only used 1 cup of frozen blueberries. I don’t make the large loafs, I have a 4 loaf mini pan and it is awesome! I use it for everything, that way I can give away breads, egg dish loaves, whatever. People are so glad to get my breads! I gave this one to my Sr. Ctr. Mgr. She almost ate the whole thing during our stay there today! Didn’t even want to take it home to hubby! LOL
Don’t fret about the vinegar either, I just used Rice Wine vinegar instead and it’s perfectly fine.
Those are so cute! I love the mini loaves!
I used a snack-sized container of apple sauce instead of oil/almond butter, King Arthur GF flour, and a scant 1/4 SweatLeaf SugarLeaf blend, and it turned out fabulous. No frosting needed!
Hey, Katie I just wanted to say I love your website.
When I was younger, I loved to bake. It was kind of my thing. Then sometime through puberty, I developed an eating disorder. I stopped baking because everything is too many calories. Now I’m in recovery. What I tell myself is that if I’m eating healthy, it is okay. I don’t eat any animal products, and I avoid sugar and carbs. It’s really funny that that’s all it took for me to have a healthy relationship with food again. I just wanted to say thank you for this website, because of it I started to mess around in the kitchen again ?
Okay sorry, long rant… I’m done now lol
Hi Katie,
your healthy blueberry bread looks so great! I really love blueberries 🙂 Definitely need to try this recipe! And beautiful pictures btw.
Have a great day!