Light, soft, and irresistibly moist, this super easy vegan lemon bread is sure to be a hit with friends and family!
Frosted Vegan Lemon Loaf
This delicious recipe is perfect for breakfast or brunch.
If you are a fan of the popular classic lemon cake from Starbucks, hopefully you will love this one too!
It calls for only basic ingredients, comes together without much fuss, and can be enjoyed all week long. Leftovers can also be frozen for later.
Also be sure to try these Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
This iced lemon bread recipe has been a long time in the making.
It was inspired by reader feedback I received on a Healthy Lemon Cake I posted a few years ago. People loved the subtly tart and sweet flavor of that cake, but many of you were saying the same thing: that you wanted a lemon cake that was taller, with a much lighter and fluffier texture.
So here it finally is – a bigger, fatter, bolder vegan lemon loaf!
I thought about simply doubling the ingredients of the original to make a larger loaf. But with half a cup of lemon juice already in the recipe, I feared this might make things way too acidic.
So I played around and was even able to cut down the oil in the process.
Currently Trending: Almond Milk Ice Cream – 5 Flavors
I made the recipe for a brunch last Sunday, because of course I did.
You know how much I love brunch!
(For the record, brunch is always lunch for me. No way I can go until after noon before eating any food.)
Our potluck brunch also included english muffins, frosted donuts, roasted potatoes, Vegan Mac And Cheese, and vegan lasagna soup… so, um, lots of carbs.
While I do love all of the Keto Dessert Recipes on the blog, we also really love carbs over here.
This secretly vegan lemon bread recipe can be soy free, gluten free, and oil free (although I personally prefer the version with oil).
Because so many readers ask about using almond flour in my recipes, I did go ahead and test it here. The results were delicious but not very attractive.
The recipe will also work as Vegan Lemon Cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350 F, and bake 17 minutes or until the cupcakes have risen and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out mostly clean.
If you make the lemon bread, please feel free to leave a comment or share photos and let me know your thoughts.
When you guys make my recipes, it is my favorite part of what I do.
Watch the vegan lemon bread recipe video above
Vegan Lemon Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour (For flourless, make this Keto Lemon Bread)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup sugar, or xylitol for sugar free
- 3/4 cup milk of choice
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt, such as almondmilk yogurt
- 1/4 cup oil, or sub applesauce for fat free
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- zest of 1 large or 2 small lemons (1 tbsp total – don’t omit)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- The recipe works with spelt, white, or oat flour. It technically works with almond flour (and tastes delicious) but won’t rise or look pretty. Gluten free all purpose flour can work but will be much denser. I prefer the oil version’s flavor and texture, but if you’re used to the texture of oil free baked goods it’s fine to sub applesauce.Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9×5 loaf pan. In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Whisk liquid ingredients in a separate bowl, combine wet and dry, then stir until just evenly mixed. Spread into the pan. Bake 50-55 minutes, or until loaf has risen and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If desired, frost with either melted Coconut Butter or 1/2 cup powdered sugar combined with 1 tbsp milk of choice.View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
Currently Trending Vegan Recipes:
(20 Healthy Recipes)
Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies
I made this the other day. It tasted good but the texture was weird. I followed the recipe and even gave it a bit longer in the oven and it still didn’t rise properly and turned kind of sticky in the middle? Still yummy anyway
Hi! What flour did you use, and what yogurt, sugar, and oil? Also do you have a gas or electric oven?
Jason
Hey i used spelt flour, sugar free vanilla yogurt and i didn’t use oil i used applesauce. I have an electric oven 🙂 maybe some of these factors changed the result
Oh and i used Erythriol maybe thats the changing factor! xylitol is not to come buy where im from
Yes erythritol would definitely change the texture, and we didn’t list it because we don’t recommend it here. Katie also states in the recipe that using applesauce instead of oil will give it that notorious gummy fat-free texture.
gotta make due with what i’ve got access to as a poor student haha but i’ve used erythritol in other cakes with lots of success and no gummy texture (also oil free) 🙂 the gummy texture doesn’t offend me it would just have been nice for it to rise a bit more i think.
I used erythritol and plain natural yoghurt and it came out delicious
Oh excellent, so happy it worked for you! Baking as a science is so strange, and it’s both frustrating and often fascinating that two people in different locations can bake the same recipes and often get different results. (Or depending on climate/weather, sometimes it can even happen that you make the same recipe a second time and get different results, yourself!)
Just a heads up, I used greek yogurt and the cake was really dense, next time I will try regular plain yogurt and hope to get a lighter texture. It was still delicious! I also used 3/4 cup of sugar instead of a full cup and it was plenty sweet. I might even add more lemon zest next time. Thanks so much for offering these amazing recipes!
Stacey
Awesome to know it works with even less sugar!
Has anyone tried this with coconut flour?
Made this today with plain Greek yogurt and almond milk, it came out perfectly! I can definitely taste the lemon, but might add a bit more lemon juice in the future to make it even tangier. I topped it with lemon curd and it was refreshing and delicious.
I made this for Easter . Not sure what went wrong – I substituted apple sauce for the oil, used 1/2cup each of oat flour and spelt, and 1/2cup Trivia. Everything else was as the recipe directs. The bread was about 1 1/2 inches high, very dense. Flavor was excellent; that said, my husband loved the texture and wants me to make it again. I want to know why it didn’t rise???? BTW the dates on the baking powder are good.
Unfortunately truvia does not work in this recipe (which is why it isn’t listed as an option). That would be why it didn’t rise, but glad the flavor was good at least!!
Jason
I’ve made the vegan lemon loaf twice now, once with a glaze and once without. Easy to make and so delicious. I highly recommend!
LEMON BREAD, YES! I have vegan lime yogurt that I am hoping will work in this recipe. Wish me luck!
I made the vegan lemon loaf for Easter dessert and everyone absolutely loved it! I’ve never had such a moist delicious lemon loaf in my life! There is no way anyone would ever know it’s vegan. Simply amazing recipe yet again Katie!
Thank you so much for making it!
Made this last week – absolutely delicious!! Can’t wait to make it again!
About to make this tonight. Can it be put in muffin tins instead of a loaf pan?
We haven’t tried so can’t personally say, but a few people have left comments on social media saying they did and it worked great. One person made them into blueberry lemon muffins and said that worked well too. If you try muffins, definitely be sure to report back!
Jason (media relations)
Hi Christi, I made 2 loafs and some muffins. The mini muffins didn`t work but the normal ones were really nice.
My vegan breads keep coming out gummy. I’m thinking it’s the Swerve that I use because everything else is exact to the recipe. Has anyone tried coconut sugar?
Coconut sugar is great here!
Has anyone tried making this ahead without the glaze and freezing, then defrosting when needed and glazing?
I’m not much of a baker, but I made this today with plain, non-fat Greek yoghurt and unrefined raw brown sugar. It came out perfectly, so I will keep this recipe. Gave some to a baker friend, who loved it and asked for the recipe. Not sure how to rate your recipe on this site, but I give it 5 stars!
Thanks!
I made this lemon bread with gluten free flour.
I added lemon flavoring instead of vanilla.
I did not get a yellow loaf but a creamy colored one.
The rice floursnin the mix make it gummy but nitnunderdone more of a springy texture.
Toasting might do the trick.
Either way it was delicious! I’d add orange juice next time and try cassava or garbanzo bean flour next time.
So awesome to know it works with a rice-flour-based gf mix!
I was wondering what to use instead of powdered sugar. I’ve heard from vegan friends that the process of making powdered sugar is not vegan. Thanks!
Powder sugar =sugar +cornstarch It’s vegan. You can make your own powder sugar if you don’t want to use store bought.
I’ve made a LOT of vegan loafs in my day… I practically gave up bc they are just always gummy/chewy… I decided to go in a different direction than usual and try this lemon loaf and oh my heavens…. it’s PERFECT!!!! Moist, light, fluffy yet firm… the texture is the best I have EVER achieved in vegan loaf baking … you are my queen Katie… your vegan choc cupcakes with yogurt are my fav vegan chocolate recipe ever and now the utilization of yogurt here is obviously a game changer! For reference I used monkfruit sweetener, kite hill unsweetened plain yogurt, refined coconut oil and AP flour. A permanent recipe !
So excited to know this works with monk fruit sweetener!
The place i stay doesn’t sell yogurt, is there a way to substitute it with other ingredient, such as vinegar? If so, how much is the amount? Thanks.
It’s half a cup of yogurt so you definitely cannot sub vinegar. I would try and experiment with coconut cream, cream cheese, or something like that… be sure to report back if you experiment!
Jason