Soft and moist Lemon Poppy Seed Bread is so simple and so full of flavor it’s sure to be gone in minutes! It’s one tasty quick bread!
If you’re a fan of the tangy flavor combination of lemon and poppy seeds in this bread, you’ll certainly enjoy Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes and Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins!
A family favorite!
Today’s recipe is a Lemon Poppy Seed Bread that the entire family is obsessed with!
We’ve always been fans of the lemon and poppy seed combo and knew a bread form would be great (we are already big fans of our Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins).
This particular bread was super soft and perfectly sweet. It may have helped that we added 1 cup of sour cream and a little extra lemon flavor for more flavor making it one of our favorite quick bread recipes.
We were glad we added extract to the lemon glaze because the bread, itself, wasn’t too lemony. Give it a whirl and let us know how you like it!! Whether it’s a dessert or not is up for debate. 😉
Just mix and bake!!
PREP. Preheat oven to 350°F, grease 3 8×4 inch loaf pans (or line with parchment paper for easy removal).
DRY INGREDIENTS. Whisk together your flour, salt, baking powder, poppy seeds and 2½ cups white sugar in a large bowl or stand mixer.
WET INGREDIENTS. Add the eggs, milk, oil, sour cream, vanilla, and lemon extract until smooth.
BAKE. Distribute batter evenly into three 8×4 inch prepared pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes. Cool loaves in pans for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.
FROSTING. Mix together orange juice, powdered sugar and lemon extract until well combined. Pour over your loaves while they are still hot. Allow to cool completely before serving.
Tips + Variations
Room temperature: Bring the cold ingredients like the eggs, milk, and sour cream to room temperature first, they will bond better when you mix them together making a smoother batter and more evenly textured bread.
Crack on top of your bread: that is a good sign! It just means the bread expanded properly to let out heat when it was cooking. If you don’t notice a crack on top, no worries, sometimes this can be due to the baking powder being past the expiration date, or any number of factors in the baking process. It will usually taste just as good.
Substitute plain yogurt: replace plain yogurt for sour cream, just make sure it isn’t the fat free variety.
Garnish: Add some thinly sliced lemons or some lemon zest to the top of the bread as a pretty garnish before serving.
Make Ahead & Store
Make this bread ahead of time and FREEZE for up to 6 months! It’s best to wrap it in plastic wrap and then store it in a Ziploc freezer bag or wrapped in aluminum foil.
We also recommend waiting to add the glaze until after you have thawed it in the fridge overnight.
One more thing to note – make sure if you are going to be glazing it that you have brought it to room temperature first.
STORE this Lemon Poppy Seed loaf in an airtight container on the counter for up to 3 days. For longer storage, keep it in the fridge.
For more lemon treats:
Lemon Poppy Seed Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tbsp poppy seeds
- 2 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 1/8 cups vegetable oil
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 cup milk
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tsp lemon extract
Frosting
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp lemon extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F, grease 3 8×4 inch loaf pans.
- Mix together your flour, salt, baking powder, poppy seeds and 2½ cups white sugar in a large bowl or kitchen aid. Add the eggs, milk, oil, sour cream, vanilla, and lemon extract until smooth. Distribute batter evenly into 3 greased 8×4 inch pans.
- Bake at 350° for 50-55 minutes. Cool loaves in pans for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.
- Frosting: Mix together orange juice, powdered sugar and lemon extract until well combined. Pour over your loafs while they are still hot. Allow to cool completely before serving.
Video
Adapted from allrecipes.
wonderful recipe, like that this isn’t a cake, the bread loaves seem a lot easier to maintain smaller serving sizes for some reason, love lemon-cake flavor so thank you for adapting it into a bread recipe!
You are so welcome!! Thank you for sharing!
This is a really sumptuous looking loaf of bread. Thanks for sharing Kristyn.
It is, it’s one of my favorites!! I’d love for you to try it!
I must be completely lame!! I made this and it did not turn out. The batter was very runny and the frosting I just mixed together- it was orange and not white like in the picture. are you supposed to cook it? Help!!!
I’m sorry it did not turn out! The batter shouldn’t have been too runny. I’m not sure what could have gone wrong. I changed that “still” to “mix”. Sorry, that would have been confusing! No, you do not cook it. I wish I knew what could have caused the problems. Thank you for trying it though! Hope it doesn’t discourage you from trying it again.
Perhaps Gen used soured cream. That would be the consistency of cream and make the batter runny. I assume you meant the sour cream we buy in tubs like cottage cheese that is thick. I substitute lemon juice for the orange and skip the extract. This also does well as muffins.
One more thing, what does still together mean? Can’t find it on the Internet
Poppy seed muffins are my favorite and you can never go wrong with adding a little lemon glaze so I can’t wait to make this all in a yummy bread!
Is the nutrition per loaf? What is nutrition per slice per loaf?
The nutrition value is always per serving, on store bought and Luna’s. At the top of the recipe she has servings. You would cut each loaf in that many slices and each slice would have the values of the nutritional info. I can see the confusion, as she says it makes 3 loaves where it says servings 🙂 My husband was an executive chef. Whenever he was teaching me something he told me every little thing. One day I asked his why he treated me like an idiot 🙂 He said NEVER, EVER assume someone knows something or it sinks the ship….LOL. I always remembered that little tip! Luna’s slices appear pretty thin. You need to bear that in mind. I’d guess a serving would be about the size of a normal sized muffin. Not a mini, or a giant 🙂 Now Luna can come along and tell me I am an idiot…LOL. I call her Luna, because her column was originally “Lil’ Luna’s”
I do not have 3 8×4 loaf pans. Is there a substitute for that? Thanks.
I’m not sure what size of pans you do have at home. You could use mini loaf pans, if you have some of those? Here’s an article that has some helpful tips on how to adapt baking recipes for different pan sizes. Maybe this can help! https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/baking-pan-conversions/
We devour this bread! It reminds me of spring and the glaze just puts it over the top.
Mmmm…I could eat the whole loaf!! So fresh & moist!! I’ve got it on my to-do list this week!
This lemon poppy seed bread recipe is AMAZING!!!! Love how delicious this bread is, we loving it in the morning with coffee!
I love this bread so much.The second time I made it I added blueberries!
this loaf is amazing and i love the bright lemon flavor! thank you so much for sharing this recipe
My dad has to avoid poppyseeds due to his job, but he recently retired and I made him this bread for a celebration treat. It was easy to make and make and delicious.
Made this loaf today..recipe called for 2 loaf pans equally pored in…well not good …almost pancake like …did not rise good…taste not too bad
Disappointed😔
Can you make it without the glaze?
Absolutely!!