EASY LEMON BREAD

Easy Lemon Bread is moist, full of lemon flavor and made with only five ingredients! This lemon bread recipe has bright lemon flavor & a sweet-tart lemon glaze that everyone loves!

How to make the easiest lemon bread ever!

Lemon Bread is made with lemon pudding, a lemon cake mix, oil, water and eggs. That’s it! All of the ingredients are mixed together and then divided in half to make two delicious loaves of bread perfect for lemon lovers. The bread has a lovely tender crumb that’s even better the next day.

I know some of you are going to look at the ingredients and realized that there is a cake mix listed. Wait a second, is this lemon dessert a cake or bread? Yes, there is cake mix and pudding in the recipe, so the bread ends up being pretty sweet and a little bit cake-like. But let’s be honest. Aren’t most quick breads pretty much like cake anyways?

Banana bread, zucchini bread….all of these recipes are a little bit more like dessert than bread, but hey, if you put it in a loaf pan, you can call it bread. And doesn’t it just make you feel better to say that you ate 5 slices of bread than half of a cake? If it’s bread, you can eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner and not feel bad about it. Sounds good to me!

Lemon Bread tips

There are a couple of tips that will help you to get the perfect lemon quick bread every time!

1. Make sure to use the right bread pans! The recipe for this quick bread is written for two regular sized bread pans which are 9.5″X5″. You can use three smaller pans if you’d like, just adjust the cooking time to about 45 minutes.
2. I don’t like to use glass pans. For some reason, my bread never cooks very well. If you use non-stick pans, you won’t want to use any cooking spray, but if you are not using non-stick pans, make sure to use a baking spray like this one or line the pans with parchment paper so your bread doesn’t get stuck to the pan! There is nothing worse than making a beautiful loaf of bread and having the whole thing fall apart when you try to get it neatly out of the pan!
3. Make sure to test the middle of the bread at the end of the cooking time – I like to use one of these for that! If your bread is still gooey in the middle, bake for a few more minutes. If the edges and the top are starting to look too brown and the middle isn’t done yet, go ahead and put some foil over the bread for the last few minutes of baking until the bread is done in the center. This will prevent the outside from burning, but still allow the middle to cook all the way through.

What is the Best Bread Pan?

I bake a lot of bread and the pans I prefer are either ceramic, glass or cast iron. These pans will bake bread more evenly and release the bread more easily after baking.  I don’t like using dark or nonstick pans because the bread cooks unevenly. It darkens on the outside before the bread is cooked on the inside, so the coloring is uneven. Read more about which bread pan is the best here!

Ingredients in Lemon Loaf recipe

Here’s what you’ll need to make this easy recipe:

• lemon cake mix- the mix contains most of the dry ingredients you’ll need for the bread like all purpose flour or cake flour, a teaspoon salt, and some type of leavening agent like baking soda or baking powder
• instant lemon pudding – adds great lemony flavor and a soft texture to the bread
• vegetable oil (or melted coconut oil)
• cold water
• 4 large eggs- room temperature eggs preferably (you can cheat a bit and set the whole eggs in warm water for a few minutes to bring them up to room temp!)

Step-by Step Instructions for making Sunshiny-Sweet Lemon Bread

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and beat with a hand mixer for about 3-4 minutes.

Pour into 2 loaf pans that have been greased and floured, or you can do what I do and use a baking spray like this one.

Bake at 350° for about 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Leave in pans for a few minutes before removing the loaves and placing on a wire rack to cool. Slice and serve – enjoy!

Is there a glaze on lemon bread?

You can make a powdered sugar glaze if you want, but I actually prefer this bread without it. The bread is sweet enough without it and I like not having sticky fingers  – it makes it easier to sneak bites without any evidence! My kids devour this every time I make it and it’s the perfect treat for lunches or after school.

How to make a sweet lemon glaze

Mix 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar with about 2-3 tablespoons of lemon juice (fresh or bottled) in a small bowl. Drizzle over the top of the bread after you have removed it from the bread pan. The drizzle can be added while the bread is warm or after it has cooled. You can top the bread with fresh grated lemon zest too, for a stronger lemon flavor if you’d like! I also love adding in 1/4 tsp vanilla extract to the glaze. Lemon zest is just grated lemon peel, for anyone wondering!

Can I use Lemon Oil?

Yes, you can also add some lemon essential oil to this bread and/or the lemon glaze if you’d like. Lemon essential oil gives the bread a fresh lemon flavor without actually using fresh lemons! Just add 2-3 drops to the batter and 1-2 drops to the glaze.

AVOID SUNKEN BREAD

The easiest and best way to avoid sunken bread is to use a cooking thermometer to check the inside of the loaf. Fully cooked bread will register 200°F on a thermometer. My all-time favorite thermometer is the Thermapen. It’s super fast and incredibly durable. Another great cooking thermometer is the ThermoPop which is a more basic version that works just as well!

EASY LEMON BREAD

This amazing recipe for Easy Lemon Bread only calls for five ingredients! The consistency is perfect and the lemon flavor is incredible in this easy quick bread recipe.

4.73 from 22 votes

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Course: bread

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour

Servings: 24

Calories: 129kcal

Author: Jessica & Nellie

Ingredients

• 1 pkg. lemon cake mix 16.5 oz
• 1 pkg. instant lemon pudding mix 3.4 oz
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil or melted coconut oil
• 1 cup cold water
• 4 eggs

Lemon Glaze

• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 2-3 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

• Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and beat with a hand mixer for about 3-4 minutes.
• Pour into 2 loaf pans that have been greased and floured, or you can do what I do and use a baking spray like this one.
• Bake at 350° for about 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Leave in pans for a few minutes before removing the loaves and placing on a wire rack to cool. Slice and serve – enjoy!

Simple Lemon Glaze

• In a small bowl, use a fork to mix the powdered sugar, vanilla extract and lemon juice. Drizzle on top of the bread once it has cooled for at least 15-20 minutes, or even after it is completely cooled so that the glaze doesn't completely melt on the hot bread!

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 129kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 27mg | Sodium: 168mg | Potassium: 20mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 40IU | Calcium: 50mg | Iron: 0.6mg

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What kind of oil is best in lemon bread?

The recipe also calls for vegetable oil, but I actually usually use coconut oil (melted of course!) because it adds a lighter taste to the bread, plus as you can see, I’m all about making my “bread” as healthy as possible. Cue the cake mix and the lemon pudding. Both of these ingredients add the perfect amount of lemon flavor and they just make this recipe so easy to make!

You can also use a light olive oil. I find that EVOO adds a strange tangy flavor, so aim for light instead.

More amazing sweet breads recipes that we love:

• Sweet Coconut Quick Bread
• Pineapple Quick Bread recipe
• Best Zucchini Bread recipe
• Yogurt Banana Bread recipe
• Dutch Apple Quick Bread
• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Quick Bread
• Caramel Banana Nut Bread
• Best Ever Pumpkin Bread
• Lemon Buttermilk Quick Bread
• Caramel Apple Quick Bread
• Cinnamon Raisin Quick Bread
• Peppermint Chocolate Quick Bread
• Cranberry Orange Quick Bread
• Cinnamon Roll Quick Bread

Easy Lemon Bread is moist, full of lemon flavor and made with only five ingredients! This lemon bread recipe has bright lemon flavor & a sweet tart lemon glaze that everyone loves!