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Pairing the tart flavor of lemon with the sweet flavor of blueberries, this lemon blueberry poppy seed loaf is so good. It’s the perfect recipe for berry season when you can enjoy all kinds of abundant berries from the farmers’ markets. In British Columbia where I live, we have the biggest highbush blueberry growing region on the planet! This quick bread is moist, tender, and just bursting with fresh blueberries!
Making muffins, loaves and cakes is a great way to use juicy, fresh blueberries, but this loaf is in a league of its own. Lemon and blueberry contrast so well!
Also try raspberry hazelnut cookies, strawberry tartlets, blueberry cream cheese muffins, or lemon poppy seed loaf.
Why You’ll Love Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf with Blueberries
- Delicious: This loaf is literally bursting with fresh blueberries, poppy seeds and tangy lemon. Not only do you get a wonderful harmony of flavours but the crunch from the poppy seeds is also great. Nobody will refuse a second slice of this!
- Nutritious: Not every sweet treat offers vitamins and minerals, but this one does. Half a cup of blueberries gives you 10% of your daily Vitamin C intake and has just 44 calories. They’re also rich in antioxidants. And then you have calcium from the milk, sour cream and butter, along with iron, zinc, copper, manganese, magnesium, and phosphorus from the poppy seeds.
- Easy: Making a lemon blueberry loaf is so simple. It’s mainly a case of just combining ingredients together and then baking the loaf.
Lemon Blueberry Loaf Ingredients
This tasty loaf is made with fresh blueberries. You could use thawed but honestly, the results are so much better with fresh, so use those if possible!
You will also need flour, poppy seeds, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla, sour cream, and milk. You will also need fresh lemons for the lemon juice and lemon zest.
How to Make Lemon and Blueberry Loaf
For more detailed instructions, with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card.
Combine the dry ingredients: Mix the flour with the poppy seeds, baking soda and baking powder.
Beat the rest of the ingredients: Mix the sugar, lemon zest and butter with the eggs and vanilla, and the milk with the sour cream.
Add the blueberries: Gently stir in the fresh blueberries.
Bake the loaf: Transfer the mixture into a loaf pan and bake until done, then cool on a wire rack.
Substitutions and Variations
Little changes you could make include swapping the lemon zest and juice for orange or lime zest and juice, or changing the vanilla for another flavour. You can boost the lemon flavour by adding a lemon glaze. Mini loaf pans could be used, with an adjustment in the bake time.
If you don’t like or don’t have poppy seeds, feel free to leave them out. If you are a poppy seed fan though, try this Starbucks style lemon poppy seed loaf. I bet you’d also love these blueberry muffins.
What to Serve with Blueberry Lemon Poppy Seed Bread
I like this with coffee in the morning or tea in the afternoon. I made an extra loaf once and took it to a bachelorette viewing night at a friend’s house and it disappeared so fast. It makes a great treat with wine if you really want to indulge.
Storage Instructions
Store: Keep any leftovers in an airtight container or Ziploc bag for 2 or 3 days at room temperature.
Freeze: You can freeze the loaf (cut it into slices first so you only have to thaw what you need) for a couple of months.
Lemon Blueberry Poppy Seed Loaf FAQs
A handy trick for this is to dust your plump blueberries with some flour. This helps to suspend them in the batter so they end up evenly spread through the lemon blueberry poppy seed bread.
Poppy seeds aren’t exactly an ingredient you will use every day, so you might be wondering whether they can go bad. The answer is yes they can. If there’s any mold or discoloration, then throw it out. Otherwise, just crush a few between your fingers. If they barely have any aroma or smell strange, you should buy some fresh ones.
Quick bread is loaves and coffee cakes that use baking powder or baking soda for leavening agents. You don’t need to wait for it to rise and no kneading is required. Berries, fruits, nuts, vegetables, and spices can add flavor to a loaf.
Lemon Blueberry Poppy Seed Loaf Recipe
Lemon Blueberry Poppy Seed Loaf
Ingredients
- 1 2/3 Cups all purpose flour
- 1 Cup blueberries, fresh
- 2 Tablespoon poppy seeds
- 1 Teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 Teaspoon baking soda
- 1 Cup granulated sugar
- 3 Tablespoon lemon zest
- 1/2 Cup butter, unsalted, room temperature
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 Teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 Cup sour cream
- 1/4 Cup milk
- 4 Tablespoon lemon juice, fresh
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a loaf pan and set it aside.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, poppy seeds, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
- Add sugar and lemon juice and zest to the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a paddle. Mix. Add butter to sugar mixture and mix on medium speed.
- Mix in eggs one at a time, adding in vanilla and the last egg.
- In a microwave safe bowl whisk together the milk with sour cream. Heat mixture in microwave just until room temperature.
- Mix all ingredients (flour mixture and wet ingredients) adding gradually and not over-mixing. Add the blueberries and mix lightly so the berries don’t break.
- Bake in preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool 5 minutes in the loaf pan before turning out onto a wire rack.
Nutrition
Lemon blueberry poppy seed loaf is easy to make and truly tasty. It’s a memorable lemon poppy seed cake with blueberries boasting tangy lemon, sweet blueberries and the crunch of poppy seeds in every bite. This lemon blueberry poppy seed oaf cake is great for any occasion.
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Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti is a Canadian-based syndicated food, travel, and lifestyle writer, photographer, and creator at xoxoBella. She founded xoxoBella in 2015, where she shares her love for food, dogs, sustainability, fitness, crafts, outdoor adventures, travel, and philanthropy to encourage others to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places, and stand for a cause. Bella creates stress-free and family-friendly recipes for weeknight dinners and festive feasts.
Made this yesterday, so tasty! My loaf pan is glass and might be smaller than yours- think the batter was deeper in mine. I had to cook longer and it was slightly dry towards the ends when I got it to a color similar to yours. Middle, moister sections were delicious. Will make again!
In love with this recipe! I’ve made it maybe 4 times now for family and work. A few changes for me: 3 tbsp of poppy seeds (I love the crunch), I did 3 lemons worth of zest (didn’t measure) and definitely more than a cup of blueberries.
I also wanted to mention that the sour cream is blank on the ingredients and the lemon juice is sort of left out in the instructions. It just says combine all ingredients. (I forgot the lemon juice the first time!)
Otherwise in love with this recipe. Adding to my repertoire. 🙂
HI! thanks for letting me know, I changed the recipe format and some things didn’t change over correctly.
You have officially hit us in our soft spot, we are obsessed with anything that has lemons and blueberries! We’ve never made a loaf before but are suddenly inspired to try this out!
ISA Professional
Oh my word, girl! THis looks AMAZING. Yummmmmm! Adding this to my recipe list for sure.
I love lemon poppy seed anything. I’ve never tried it with blueberry before but I have to try it asap! Looks fantastic!
omg so gorgeous and I bet so very tasty as well! Blueberries are my absolute favorite , totally baking this
This looks SO good! I love trying new recipes, need to try this one!
Yum this looks exceptional, I can’t wait to try it! Delish 🙂
It looks amazing! I bet it’s delicious. Does it have the texture of a muffin? Blueberry muffins are my favorite ever and I can imagine that this loaf is a biiiiiiig blueberry muffin.
I love your food posts, they’re always so inspiring. Blueberries are so delicious right now, I’m going to have to give this one a go (great to know it goes with wine haha!)