Almond Flour Lemon Poppy Seed Bread is a lovely burst of vibrant lemon flavor with delicious poppy seeds for a rustic treat. Grain-free, refined sugar-free and dairy-free, this simple lemon poppy seed bread recipe is lovely for serving with brunch, dessert, or a nice snack.
If you made my Almond Flour Lemon Cake, you’re already an expert on this loaf.
I modeled the recipe for this moist and delicious almond flour lemon poppy seed bread off of my lemon cake recipe because it just has the loveliest texture and amazing lemon flavor.
Because the combination of lemon and poppy seeds is just too good to pass up, I decided everyone needs this loaf in their lives.
Made grain-free, refined sugar-free and dairy-free, this yummy loaf is suitable for folks with dietary restrictions such as gluten allergy or lactose intolerance.
If you follow a low carb diet or a keto diet, make my Keto Lemon Poppy Seed Bread.
The way I see it, a lemon poppy seed loaf like this is excellent for serving at brunch or as a dessert with whipped cream and fresh berries.
It is also a great midday feel-good treat alongside a mug of tea.
Let’s discuss the ingredients for this delicious paleo lemon poppy seed bread.
Ingredients for Almond Flour Lemon Poppy Seed Bread:
Almond Flour and Tapioca Flour: Taking the place of all-purpose flour, the combination of almond flour and tapioca flour is the grain-free base of this recipe. Together, these flours make a lovely light texture that is very similar to regular flour.
I recommend using finely ground almond flour (such as Bob’s Red Mill) for the best results, but almond meal works too.
The tapioca flour can be replaced with arrowroot starch, potato starch, or more almond flour.
Coconut flour cannot be used to replace almond flour in a 1:1 replacement. Because it is so absorbent and dense, coconut flour requires more liquid and more eggs. For this reason if you’re looking for a coconut flour lemon bread, I would recommend searching for a different recipe to ensure it turns out right.
Poppy Seeds: The all star ingredient that adds those tiny little pops of joy! Poppy seeds bring fun flavor and texture to baked goods. If you’re not into them, you can easily skip them and make a regular lemon bread.
Lemons: We need the zest and juice of three fresh lemons for this recipe. Lemon zest is crucial because it is what is responsible for the most outrageous fresh lemon flavor. If you don’t have a hand zester or grater, no sweat. You can use the fine side of a box grater to zest lemons.
Zest the lemons first, then slice them in half to squeeze out the fresh lemon juice.
Pure Maple Syrup: In keeping this recipe refined sugar-free, we use pure maple syrup to sweeten the bread.
The recipe as written is not lightning bolt sweet, so if you want a sweeter bread, add 1 to 4 tablespoons of coconut sugar, brown sugar, white sugar, or monk fruit sweetener to the recipe. Or, you can follow the instructions to make a powder sugar glaze below.
Eggs: Used to bring a big rise to the bread, large eggs help make the bread fluffy. Take them out of the refrigerator 10 minutes before baking to bring them to room temperature if you have the forethought to do so.
I haven’t tested this recipe with an egg replacer like flax eggs for an egg-free vegan option. In grain-free recipes like this, egg replacers can be tricky as the texture often ends up very dense.
Avocado Oil: Adding moisture to the bread for a tender crumb and moist texture, avocado oil is my fat of choice in these almond flour muffins. I like using avocado oil because it has a neutral flavor (you can’t detect it), and has healthy fat content.
You can replace the avocado oil with olive oil if you like the flavor of olive oil in baked treats. Melted coconut oil works great too. You can also use two sticks (1 cup) of melted butter if you aren’t dairy-free.
Almond Extract and Vanilla Extract (optional): Almond extract is often added to poppy seed treats to bring a warm nutty almond flavor. I find almond extract adds marvelous nuance to the flavor profile here, but you can skip it if you don’t like it.
If you have vanilla extract on hand, add 1 to 2 teaspoons to bring a bit of warmth to the bread.
Baking Powder: Used as the leavening agent here, baking powder helps ensure the bread bakes evenly and holds together nicely once sliced. I don’t recommend using baking soda for leavening because it reacts aggressively with all of the lemon juice and causes the bread to rise too quickly, then sink in the middle.
Sea Salt: A pinch of salt helps level up the flavors of the bread and makes it taste sweeter without the need for more sweetener.
Now that we’re familiar with the simple ingredients for lemon poppy seed bread, let’s make it!
How to Make Almond Flour Lemon Poppy Seed Bread:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 9” x 5” loaf pan with parchment paper. The parchment paper makes for easy removal of the bread from the pan once it has cooled following baking.
Whisk together the avocado oil, pure maple syrup, eggs, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl until well-combined (wet ingredients).
In a separate large bowl, stir together the almond flour, tapioca flour, baking powder, and sea salt (dry ingredients).
Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients and stir well until a smooth batter forms.
Stir in the poppy seeds until they’re well-distributed throughout the batter.
Transfer the mixture to the prepared loaf pan and cover it with foil.
Bake for 40 minutes with the foil on, then remove the foil and bake for an additional 20 to 35 minutes, or until the bread is golden-brown and tests clean.
Baked goods are considered fully cooked when they have reached an internal temperature of 190 degrees Fahrenheit.
If you have an instant read thermometer (or meat thermometer), insert it into the thickest part of the bread and wait until the numbers stop moving for an accurate read.
Allow the grain free lemon poppy seed bread to cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing and serving.
Optional Lemon Glaze:
If you’d like to drizzle a sweet glaze over this moist bread, stir together 1 cup of confectioner’s sweetener (powdered sugar) and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or water in a small bowl until a creamy glaze forms. Drizzle the glaze over the top of the loaf before serving.
For a sugar-free glaze, use sugar-free confectioner’s sweetener.
You can also serve lemon poppy seed bread with homemade whipped cream (or coconut milk whipped cream for a dairy-free option) or Greek yogurt and fresh fruit such as blueberries and strawberries.
The lemon pairs so nicely with creamy flavors, so even a scoop of vanilla ice cream is lovely here.
How to Store Lemon Poppy Seed Bread:
Cover the loaf pan with plastic wrap and store it on the counter at room temperature for up to 3 days. If you live in a very humid area, transfer the bread to the refrigerator within the same day of baking.
You can also store the lemon poppy seed bread in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Cut any remaining loaf into slices and store in a zip lock bag in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins:
Turn this recipe into muffins by lining a muffin tray with muffin papers. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until the muffin tops are golden brown and the muffins test clean.
I hope you enjoy this healthy lemon poppy seed bread as much as we do!
If you love sweet quick bread recipes like this, also try some of these timeless classics.
More Quick Bread Recipes:
- Paleo Morning Glory Quick Bread
- Oatmeal Blueberry Banana Bread
- Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffin Bread with Streusel Topping
- Gluten-Free Apple Bread
- Healthy Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread
- Chocolate Oatmeal Banana Bread
Enjoy this burst of bright citrus flavor!
Almond Flour Lemon Poppy Seed Bread
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup avocado oil*
- 2/3 cup pure maple syrup
- 3 lemons zested and juiced (about ⅓ cup of juice and over 1 Tbsp of zest)
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract optional
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 3 cups almond flour
- ½ cup tapioca flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp poppy seeds
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 9” x 5” loaf pan with parchment paper. The parchment paper makes for easy removal of the bread from the pan once it has cooled following baking.
- Whisk together the avocado oil, pure maple syrup, eggs, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl until well-combined (wet ingredients).
- In a separate large bowl, stir together the almond flour, tapioca flour, baking powder, and sea salt (dry ingredients). Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients and stir well until a smooth batter forms.
- Stir in the poppy seeds until they’re well-distributed throughout the batter.
- Transfer the mixture to the prepared loaf pan and cover it with foil.
- Bake for 40 minutes with the foil on, then remove the foil and bake for an additional 20 to 35 minutes, or until the bread is golden-brown and tests clean.
- Baked goods are considered fully cooked when they have reached an internal temperature of 190 degrees Fahrenheit. If you have an instant read thermometer (or meat thermometer), insert it into the thickest part of the bread and wait until the numbers stop moving for an accurate read.
- Allow the grain free lemon poppy seed bread to cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing and serving.
I LOVE your recipes. Is there a way you can make them printable without 5 pages? I know I can pick and choose which pages to print, and I also know I should probably save it to a file or something, but it would be helpful to make it printable on one or two pages. Thanks!
Hi Julie! If you click the ‘Print’ button on the recipe card, a new window will pop up with just the recipe. Most recipes will print on just one sheet of paper, but some will print on two sheets. Any recipe card that contains photos can be printed without the photos by unchecking the “recipe images” box at the top of the page. I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions! xo
I absolutely loved this recipe! The cake is beautiful and moist. The only mishap was that, during the first bake with the foil, the batter stuck a bit to it as it was rising and I didn’t get that uniform golden top. I wonder how can I prevent that from happening in the future? Other than that, the recipe is a winner!
Hi Jacqueline! To avoid the foil from sticking to the top, you can tent it over the loaf pan so that there’s a little room above the pan for the bread to grow. For a uniform golden top, you can take the foil off a little sooner or bake the bread a little longer 🙂 Hope this helps! xoxo
*If you prefer baking with butter, use 14 tablespoons (a little a stick and a half) of melted butter.
Can I just say that in New Zealand we don’t have sticks of butter, so this is unhelpful weight-wise. How much does a stick weigh? I’m hardly going to fill 14 tablespoons with solid butter, or melt an approximate amount to find out.
Hi Ange! There are a lot of helpful resources on the internet for converting U.S. measurements to weighted measurements. After a quick google, I found this article for a butter conversion: https://www.errenskitchen.com/cooking-conversions/butter-measurement-weight-conversions/ To jump right to the answer, I calculated that 14 tablespoons of butter weighs 141.8 grams, or 5 ounces. I hope this helps.
I’m trying today! Looks yummy
Yaay! Hope you enjoy it!
Can this be made with polenta(cornmeal) instead of Tapioca flour?
Hi Joan! I wish I had a better answer for you, but I have no experience baking with polenta, so I’m not sure if you would need to make any additional changes to the recipe. If you’ve used it as a replacement for tapioca flour or regular flour in the past and had success, I would imagine it would work. Let me know if you try it!
Can this be made without the tapioca flour?
Hi there! You can replace the tapioca flour with more almond flour or use cornstarch or arrowroot flour as a 1:1 substitute for tapioca flour. Hope you enjoy! xo
Thank you for this lovely (and comprehensive) recipe! I can’t wait to make it!
My pleasure!! I hope you enjoy it, Diane! xo
Avocado doesn’t like me, and butter is not good for my heart. Would either ghee or melted vegan butter (Earth Balance) work just as well? Same quantity (melted) as the avocado oil?
Thank you!
This looks and sounds delicious! 🙂
Hi Jean! Both ghee and Earth Balance butter will work great! I would add slightly more than the avocado oil measurement – I would do 14 tablespoons, which is around 3/4 cup rather than 2/3. Hope you enjoy! xo
For the baking recipe like this, I would like to ask you to display the measurement size in grams for powder and solid stuff, and cc (or ml) for liquid stuff.
Thank you.
Hi Keiko! Thanks so much for your input!