Oh hiiiii all my lemon lovers! For some reason, a lot of AK readers go absolutely nuts over lemon. I say this because every time I post something lemony, it tends to go viral; this leads me to the conclusion that there are A LOT of you who simply LOVE lemon.
This lemon poppy seed bread was something I dreamt up years ago, and couldn’t stop making over and over again. I had to reshare it this season because it’s just that good! It’s SO moist (I said it), gluten-free, easily dairy-free, healthy thanks to a mix of oat flour and almond flour and perfectly naturally sweetened with honey. I MEAN FLUFFY, TENDER, AND OH-SO-GOOD with a little butter or extra drizzle of honey on top. Perfection.
Add this to your brunch menu or just celebrate spring & summer with a gorgeous loaf.
What makes this lemon poppy seed bread healthy?
As I mentioned before, traditional lemon poppy seed bread recipes tend to be made with extra oil, butter, and refined sugars. We’re giving this one a makeover with easy swaps to make it the BEST healthy lemon poppy seed loaf ever!
- Oil free. There’s zero oil in this bread! It’s moist from the protein-packed greek yogurt and contains healthy fats thanks to almond flour.
- Naturally sweetened. It’s naturally sweetened with honey!
- Gluten-free. This bread is gluten-free thanks to the combo of almond flour and gluten-free oat flour.
- Easily dairy-free. You can easily make it dairy-free using your favorite dairy-free yogurt. We love siggi’s plant based cups.
- Healthy fats + protein. There are additional healthy fats from the almond flour, and a boost of protein from the yogurt and eggs.
Trust me when I say this lemon poppy seed bread tastes just as indulgent as that loaf you’ve been eyeing at Starbucks, but it’s nutritious enough for breakfast or a snack.
Ingredients in this healthy lemon poppy seed bread
This delicious and easy lemon poppy seed loaf is made with better-for-you ingredients than your traditional one, yet it still tastes just like a moist lemon cake! Here’s what you’ll need:
- Greek yogurt: for a delicious boost of protein and moisture. Feel free to use plain or vanilla, and/or your favorite dairy free yogurt if you’d like. We love siggi’s dairy free coconut plant based cups!
- Eggs: you’ll just need 2 eggs for the whole loaf.
- Honey: as I mentioned, this bread is naturally sweetened with honey.
- Lemon juice & zest: for the ultimate, bright lemon flavor.
- Almond extract: a bit of almond extract truly gives it that traditional lemon poppy seed flavor.
- Flours: we’re using a mix of gluten free oat flour and fine, blanched almond flour to keep the bread gluten free. See below for an easy way to make your own oat flour at home!
- Poppy seeds: what’s a lemon poppy seed bread without the poppy seeds? You can also sub chia seeds if you’d like.
- Baking soda & salt: for proper baking.
- For the lemon glaze: we’re using some powdered sugar and more fresh lemon juice, plus almond extract if you’d like. However, the bread is still amazing without it!
How to make homemade oat flour
You can easily make your own gluten-free oat flour by simply placing gluten-free oats into a blender and blending or pulsing until they’re smooth and resemble flour. This is a super easy & affordable option. Get my full tutorial on how to make oat flour here, and be sure to measure out 1 cup of your oat flour after making it! It’s also important to make sure your oat flour is VERY fine. Feel free to check out all of our recipes using oat flour.
Can I use a different flour?
If you don’t have oat flour, I think regular all purpose flour or 1:1 gluten-free all purpose flour would work well. Please do not substitute another flour for the almond flour. The almond flour contains moisture and fat, which help give the bread proper flavor and texture.
How to make lemon poppy seed bread (in one bowl!)
The best part about this bread? It’s made in just one bowl! Here’s how to do it:
- Prep your pan. Preheat your oven and line an 8×4-inch loaf pan with parchment paper. I also recommend spraying it with nonstick cooking spray to prevent sticking.
- Mix the wet. In a large bowl, whisk together all of the wet ingredients until well combined.
- Add in the dry. In the same bowl, mix the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon until well combined.
- Bake it up. Pour the batter into your loaf pan and bake it up until a toothpick comes out clean! Be sure to let the bread cool in the pan and then on a wire rack before adding the glaze.
- Add the glaze & serve. Mix your glaze together in a medium bowl. You may need to add more lemon juice if it is too thick (start with a teaspoon at a time). Pour over bread and spread with a spoon if necessary. Top with a little extra lemon zest if you have any for a pretty effect, and enjoy!
Our best tips for baking quick bread
- Follow the recipe. The best way to ensure the success of this lemon poppy seed bread is to follow the recipe and use the exact ingredients as written (unless I note specific substitutes).
- Pack your almond flour. Be sure to pack your almond flour as you would do with brown sugar. Do not pack your oat flour.
- Use fresh baking soda. If your baking soda is older than 3 months, I suggest grabbing a new one for the best baking results.
- Line your loaf pan. I recommend lining your loaf pan with parchment paper AND spraying it with nonstick cooking spray so that your bread comes out easily.
Storing & freezing tips
- To store: this healthy lemon poppy seed bread should be kept well-covered in foil or plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 3 days, then I recommend transferring it to the fridge or freezer.
- To freeze: this loaf freezes well! Simply wrap in plastic, then tightly in foil, and finally place in a freezer-friendly bag for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature once you are ready to eat. You can also feel free to freeze individual slices for a quick on-the-go treat. Feel free to freeze it without the glaze and then top it once it is thawed out.
Our fav bread-baking tools
Get all of my go-to kitchen tools here!
More delicious bread recipes
- Paleo Orange-Kissed Loaf with Dark Chocolate Glaze
- Pistachio Poppy Seed Orange Yogurt Bread
- Healthy Zucchini Bread
- Fresh Strawberry Shortcake Bread with Strawberry Glaze
- Paleo Lemon Blueberry Bread
Get even more of our bread recipes here!
If you make this healthy lemon poppy seed bread recipe, be sure to leave a comment below and rate the recipe! You can also snap and picture and post it on Instagram using the hashtag #ambitiouskitchen. xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Healthy Lemon Poppy Seed Bread
Ingredients
- Wet ingredients:
- ½ cup (113g) plain or vanilla greek yogurt (or sub plant based yogurt of choice such as almond or coconut yogurt)
- 2 eggs
- ⅓ cup (112g) honey
- zest from 2 lemons
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- Dry ingredients:
- 1 cup (92g) oat flour, gluten free if desired
- 1 cup (112g) packed blanched fine almond flour
- 1 tablespoon poppyseeds (or sub chia seeds)
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- For the glaze:
- ½ cup (57g) powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- Optional: 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 x 4 loaf pan with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray to prevent sticking.
- Mix the wet ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the following ingredients until well combined: yogurt, eggs, honey, lemon zest, lemon juice and almond extract.
- Add dry ingredients to the bowl: oat flour, almond flour, poppyseeds, baking soda and salt; mixing with a wooden spoon until well combined. pour into prepared loaf pan. bake for 35-45 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool bread in pan for 5 mins then remove and transfer to a wire rack; allow bread to cool completely before adding the glaze.
- Make the glaze: add powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice and almond extract in a medium bowl. Stir to combine. You may need to add in more lemon juice if it is too thick (start with a teaspoon at a time). Glaze should be somewhat thick. Pour over bread and spread with a spoon if necessary. Top with a little extra lemon zest if you have any for a pretty effect. Cut bread into 8 slices and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on July 20th, 2020, republished on February 25th, 2021, republished on April 14th, 2022, republished on May 15th, 2023, republished on April 10th, 2024, and republished on April 7th, 2026.
Ambitious kitchen is so reliable! This loaf is moist and zingy, and easy to whip up. I subbed sour cream and almond milk for the yogurt and subbed vanilla extract and maple syrup, still came out yummy.
Amazing! My recipes are meant to be easy and flexible 🙂 Glad you enjoyed this one!
Delicious! I added blueberries in mine. Thank you so much for the link to your video on how to make oat flour. I would like to know if baking powder can be added? It would be nice to have this loaf rise while baking.
Perfect! I haven’t tested this with baking powder, just baking soda, so I’m not 100% sure how the bread will change (rise and flavor-wise). Let me know if you experiment!
I’m very interested in trying this for a farmers market themed party! Is it possible to make this recipe into mini loafs?
Thanks!
Yes, that should work! I’m just not 100% sure on bake time as I haven’t personally tried it, so I’d suggest checking them around 20-25 minutes.
I’ve made this more times that I can count and every time it’s a hit with my family. Love it with coffee or hot tea.
The perfect spring loaf!
Can I use unblanched almond flour?
Sure! The bread just might have a grittier texture.
So moist and delicious! Used vanilla extract instead of almond in the glaze, and added raspberries and edible flowers on top. 10/10
The perfect spring treat! Edible flowers sound gorgeous.
Hi Monique
Awesome recipe, but I want it to be more sweeter, how much tbsp honey can I increase and maintain same texture of cake?
I think you can get away with adding 1-2 tablespoons – let me know how it goes!
I searched for a lemon poppyseed bread without a ton of refined sugar and found this one. Have just finished a piece with my morning coffee and it’s perfect. So happy to have this recipe. I’m sure I’ll make it many times. It’s also quite flexible because I worked with what I had: baking flour instead of oat flour, lime instead of lemon. And I don’t like lots of icing so I added way less powdered sugar, a bit more juice, and drizzled rather than spread it.
I’m so glad you found this one! Perfect with a cup of coffee 🙂
Okay I don’t normally comment on recipes. I have been trying to feed my kids healthier foods. I search for recipes but when I make a healthier version of a food that my kids like, they don’t like it. But guys, this recipe is legit. It is so moist and yummy and no would ever guess that this is healthy. My super picky 7 year old who loves starbucks lemon bread loves this version and mommy here has no guilt in feeding my kiddo a bread filled with fiber and probiotics. Win win.
So happy to hear that! Such a perfect snack 🙂
I would really like to see the 106 reviews before I make this recipe, sorry have been burned before…
Hi! Feel free to click “show comments” to see them all 🙂
It’s delicious! Thank you! Only thing is that I do find it’s not the fluffiest, more dense cake-like. Only change I made was using regular flour over oat flour. Wondering if that is why? Or if you have a recommendation on how to make it lighter in texture?
Hi! Yes, the oat flour will give the bread the proper texture, so I recommend sticking with the recipe as written!
Would it be possible to double this recipe, or would I have to make two separate batches? Any advice is appreciated!
I’d recommend making two separate batches!
I am confused about how one slice could have 24.5 g of sugar, Is that a typo? There’s hardly that much in the whole cake.
The whole loaf makes only 8 slices, and the honey and powdered sugar in the icing contribute to the sugar content. I’ve updated the nutrition as well after re-running it, and it’s about 20g 🙂
This recipe is one of my favs and go-tos! Just wondering if it’s possible to use the same batter for muffins?
So happy to hear that! And yes, that should work 🙂
I made the mistake of not reading the notes before stating. I only had 1/4 cup of almond flour and just added oat flour for the rest. It lacked moisture so added more yogurt. It turned out fine- more of a scone than a bread. But I’ll follow directions/notes next time.
I’m glad it still turned out okay! Let me know how it goes the second time around 🙂
I found your chocolate chip banana bread recipe first and it was divine. I’ve made in 100x at least! I am looking for an almond poppyseed recipe, but there aren’t many options online. Do you think I could remove the lemon juice from this recipe, skip the glaze, and call it a day? Or would that negatively impact the moisture content? Thanks for any advice you have!
So glad you loved that one! Hmm I haven’t tried omitting the lemon juice in this recipe — the acidity help activate the baking soda so that the bread bakes up nicely, but let me know if you give it a try and if the texture is the same!
Good morning Monique, greetings from Sydney Australia. Thank you so very much for using metric measurements, I made it this morning and also added 153 g of blueberries to the batter. On several of them I also topped with flaked almonds. So delicious! My preference was to make this into individual muffins and made a total of 14. I also serve this with my home-made blueberry Chia jam. Looking forward to trying many more of your recipes and hopefully more will have the metric measurements.😊
Amazing! All sounds delicious. So glad you’re loving the recipes here – we’re working on adding metrics to all baking recipes!
Loved this! Used natural unbalanced almond flour, the zest of 3 lemons, and 1/3 T poppyseeds + 2/3 T chia (because it’s what I had). Also, baked in 3 mini loaf pans for 25 minutes—& perfect. They were a bit mealy because of the natural almond flour, but I didn’t mind it; made me feel healthier (haha) & it was still so moist! Huge fan—will make this again and again when I have lemons I need to use up. 😀
Love it! So happy you enjoyed (and the mini loaf pans sound so cute!)
I want to make this but my son is allergic to nuts. Is there anything I can replace the almond flour with? Thanks
Unfortunately I can’t recommend a swap for the almond flour in this recipe – sorry!
This recipe I’ve made several times and I finally cracked it. Key tip? Use LIME juice instead of lemon, but still use lemon zest. Lemon is more mellow than lime, so for me this was always missing that “punch”. Lime is more acidic and most of the flavour comes from the zest anyhow, so this doesn’t taste at all like lime muffins 🙂 I also do 3 TBSP of juice instead of 2, and just use a bit less yogurt. I don’t find it needs the glaze now that the base is more zippy!
Oo I’ve never tried that – I’ll have to! Glad you enjoyed!
So good! Made this for my GF seven year old and he LOVED IT! He is very picky, so I think that says a lot!. My husband also loved it, definitely making again.
So happy to hear that!
My family really enjoyed this loaf! Thanks for posting in grams! I started using a digital scale and it’s the best! I added the poppyseeds to the wet ingredients to let them soak a little bit. I used plain greek yogurt so I wonder if I should add some vanilla extract if I’m not using vanilla greek yogurt?
Absolutely! So glad they enjoyed. Feel free to add a bit of vanilla extract to get extra vanilla flavor (but it will still be delicious with plain yogurt!)
Hi! I made this bread several times, I love it!! Would the recipe still work if I add some matcha tea powder and some white chocolate chips?
Thanks 🙂
So glad you love it! Hmm I haven’t tested it so I’m not 100% sure how the match powder will taste or how much to use. You can definitely add white chocolate chips to the recipe as is! Let me know if you experiment 🙂
Just made it once again, delicious as always ❤️ my favourite recipe of yours, right after cinnamon buns! Thank you! 😍❤️
So happy to hear that!
This was moist and delicious! It even allowed me to sneak chia seeds past my unsuspecting husband! Thanks for providing the weights for the flours. That was really helpful.
Love that! Glad you both enjoyed!
This was delicious and so satisfying. I love your breads that use oat flour and almond flour combo- so filling, great texture and perfect for a gf girlie like me!
I did think the almond exact flavor was strong but enjoyable, may make it next time without it and add an extra lemon worth of zest.
Thank you again!
Love that combo, too! And yes, feel free to reduce the almond a bit if you’d like 🙂
I’m not a big fan of almond extract so I used vanilla instead & it turned out great!
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed!
I just made this and it is SO GOOD. I’m temporarily grain free and refined sugar free, so it’s been hard to find things I can bake, let alone something AMAZING! This is great even without the icing. I used plain Greek yogurt and added 1/2 tsp each of vanilla and lemon extract. Loved how easy this was to make and it absolutely hit the spot. Thanks for the great recipe!
So glad you found this one! Perfect treat or snack 🙂
Hi, looking forward to trying this out. Just wondering, what brand do you use for your oat and almond flours? Or do you make them yourself. Please let me know!
Hi! I typically use Bob’s Red Mill oat flour and almond flour 🙂
Can i double this recipe? 🙂
if there is no oil or butter in this recipe why is the calorie count so high for a single slice?
Hi! I opted to use gluten free flours, like almond flour, which has higher fat content than all purpose flour. It provides the bread with healthy fats without the need for oil or butter.
This bread/muffins (muffins are easier in our house) is awesome! I don’t normally leave reviews, but this was exceptional and all three of my Littles loved it. I’ve made it with plain Greek and planted based yogurts, and it works either way.
So happy to hear that!
Can these be made as muffins also? I love lemon poppy seed bread and look forward to trying yours with it’s more healthy ingredients.
Yes, that should work! Or you can try my lemon poppy seed muffins here 🙂
Turned out delicous, Thanks for the recipe!
Do you have a recommendation for subsistuting honey? I don‘t like the taste of it in bake goods.
Used rice syrup instead, but that resulted in a bread which wasn‘t quite sweet enough for my taste,
I think maple syrup should work well!
I like the taste, I’ve made it 2x but it won’t rise properly for me. The 2nd time I used flax eggs so maybe that contributed but 1st time I did use eggs. Any suggestions? Does the yogurt need to have some fat?? My Greek yogurt is non fat. THANKS!! Love your recipes.
Hi! Because this bread using gluten free flours it won’t bake as “tall” as breads using regular flour. However, it shouldn’t be extremely flat so double check that your baking soda is fresh and that you’re packing your almond flour.
It was delicious and easy to make! The glaze wasn’t as thick because I added too much lemon juice and will prob not add the almond ext next time. Either way, it was a tasty sweet treat to have for the family. Thank you!
Ps I was wondering if the base of this recipe could be used to make the bread portion and add in something else like chocolate chips?
Glad everyone enjoyed! And yes, feel free to add some yummy mix-ins instead of the glaze 🙂
EXCELLENT!!! First I made a lemon poppyseed muffin recipe that was gluten, dairy free, etc. from a different website and it wasn’t great but then I tried THIS recipe and SOO GOOD!!! Exactly what I was looking for. The bread doesn’t rise a ton but it is moist, delicious, with an incredible lemon flavor. (Instead of eggs I used liquid vegan JUSTeggs and Pillars vanilla dairy-free coconut milk yogurt (it’s my absolute favorite cause it’s so rich and creamy).
Thank you ambitious kitchen! All recipes I’ve tried from you so far have been absolutely fabulous!
Amazing! So glad you loved this one!