This Vegan Lemon Loaf Recipe is soft, moist and completely irresistible. Comes together in one bowl & uses simple pantry ingredients and better for you than the lemon loaf from Starbucks. This healthier version is gluten free, dairy free, egg-free, paleo friendly with low carb & keto options!
PIN HERE for later and follow my boards for more recipe ideas
Updated April 2023
Easy Vegan Lemon Loaf Recipe
Can’t get enough of citrus desserts once spring and summer arrive? This Vegan Lemon Loaf is perfect if you’re a fan of the lemon bread from Starbucks. If you’re not familiar with the Starbucks lemon loaf, it’s an extremely soft slice of dessert bread with a creamy glaze on top. It’s so good! And this homemade version is made with better for you ingredients.
It’s vegan, dairy-free, refined-sugar free and gluten-free so you won’t need any eggs or white flour. And if you’re on a low carb diet, we also have a Vegan Lemon Loaf for you to check out instead.
While this dairy-free lemon bread is delicious as a dessert, it’s definitely healthy enough to eat for breakfast. It’s a great option if you like making your breakfast ahead of time and need an egg-free recipe. And if you don’t want to put the glaze on it, you can just stick with the bread itself.
Why you’ll love this Starbucks Copycat Lemon Loaf
This recipe is not only healthy, but you can also customize it to fit your dietary needs!
- There’s no dairy, no eggs, no white sugar or gluten in the recipe, and if you want to make it paleo or keto, it’ll still taste just as good. We’ve included substitutions in the recipe below!
- An easy one bowl loaf recipe.
- Bakes up soft, fluffy, moist and perfect if you’ve always wanted to try the lemon bread at Starbucks
Recipe Ingredients:
For the Lemon Bread
- Coconut oil: be sure to use refined coconut oil to avoid any hint of coconut flavor. You can also sub with avocado oil or any neutral tasting oil.
- Pure Maple Syrup: Our favorite paleo-friendly sweetener. For low-carb and keto, use Lakanto Sugar-free maple syrup or your preferred liquid sweetener instead.
- Unsweetened applesauce: for low carb, sub with sour cream or keto-friendly yogurt.
- Lemon Juice: You’ll need the juice of 2 large lemons.
- Lemon Zest: About 2 lemon’s worth.
- Baking powder: helps the bread rise.
- Almond flour: our favorite gluten-free and grain-free flour for keto breads. Be sure to use superfine almond flour and not almond meal.
- Tapioca Flour + Coconut Flour: To add structure to supplement the almond flour. You can also sub the tapioca flour with arrowroot starch.
- Fine sea salt: just a pinch to balance out the sweetness
For the Lemon Glaze
- Coconut butter (also known as coconut manna): a spreadable paste made by grinding coconut. We love this brand. You can also sub with powdered sweetener of your choice and mix that with some unsweetened almond milk until it reaches a thick glaze consistency if you don’t have coconut butter.
- Pure Maple Syrup: For low-carb and keto, use Lakanto Sugar-free maple syrup or your preferred liquid sweetener instead.
- Lemon juice + zest for garnish
How to make Vegan Lemon Loaf
- Preheat oven and line your baking pan:Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 8×4 loaf pan with parchment paper.
- Mix the wet ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the melted coconut oil, maple syrup, applesauce, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract and whisk to combine
- Add the dry ingredients: Place a large mesh sieve over bowl and sift in baking powder, almond flour, tapioca flour, coconut flour and salt. Stir until well combined with no lumps.
- Transfer to baking pan:Make sure there are no lumps before you transfer it to the loaf pan.
- Bake: Bake for 35-43 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven & cool for at least 30 minutes to set.
- Mix the glaze: Mix together ingredients for glaze.
- Cut and serve: Drizzle glaze over bread. Cut into slices and enjoy.
Tips for The Best Vegan Lemon Loaf
- Wait for the bread to cool before you add the glaze. This way, it will stay on top of the bread rather than soaking into it.
- You can substitute the granulated maple sugar for coconut sugar or your favorite granulated sweetener. Just note that the color of the bread will come out slightly darker.
- If you don’t have coconut oil, you can use avocado oil or any neutral tasting oil. Either way, the bread will come out soft, moist and delicious!
- Measure Flour Properly: Avoid scooping out the flour with your measuring cup. This packs it into the cup and will result in over-floured batter. Using a food scale to measure the flour by weight is your best bet in terms of accuracy.
- Sift in Flours: Sifting the almond and coconut flours into your batter will help everything combine nicely and prevent any flour clumps from forming.
- Let Cool Completely: Before you frost your lemon bread, it should be completely cooled. If it’s still warm, the icing will melt and make a mess.
Tips for Success
- Don’t Over Bake: Over baking this lemon bread will result in dryness. This lemon loaf cake is supposed to have a moist and tender texture, so be sure to adjust the bake time accordingly if your oven tends to run hot or cold. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few loose crumbs.
- Measure Flour Properly: Avoid scooping out the flour with your measuring cup. This packs it into the cup and will result in over-floured batter. Using a food scale to measure the flour by weight is your best bet in terms of accuracy.
- Sift in Flours: Sifting the almond and coconut flours into your batter will help everything combine nicely and prevent any flour clumps from forming.
- Let Cool Completely: Before you frost your lemon bread, it should be completely cooled. If it’s still warm, the icing will melt and make a mess.
Variations and Serving Suggestions
- Add fruit: Stir in some raspberries. diced strawberries or blueberries to make a Lemon Blueberry Bread.
- Top with Powdered Sugar: Not feeling the creamy frosting? You can lighten this loaf up by leaving it out and opting for a dusting of powdered sugar instead.
- Spread with Nut Butter: Serve with a big schmear of almond butter, cashew butter or any nut or seed butter of choice for a yummy breakfast.
Can this quick bread recipe be made into muffins?
Yes, to make lemon poppy seed muffins, simply divide the batter evenly into muffin pans. Or you can even divide the batter into mini loaf pans for mini bread loaves.
How to Store this homemade bread
Store leftover lemon bread in an airtight container in the fridge. It will stay fresh for about a week. You can also store it tightly wrapped in aluminum foil if it’s unfrosted.
Can I Freeze this loaf recipe?
Yes, this loaf is freezer friendly! You can store the lemon loaf cake in the freezer with or without the frosting. It’s best to store any frosted leftovers in an airtight container with a lid. For an unfrosted loaf, you can either wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and then store in a resealable ziptop bag or in a resealable container.
Frozen lemon bread lasts for up to 2 months. Before you serve it, thaw it overnight in the fridge and bring it back to room temperature.
More Lemon recipes:
We have plenty of go-to vegan recipes to be discovered! Be sure to check out these ones next.
This Vegan Lemon Loaf Recipe is soft, moist and completely irresistible. Comes together in one bowl & uses simple pantry ingredients and better for you than the lemon loaf from Starbucks. This healthier version is gluten free, dairy free, paleo friendly with low carb & keto options!
- 1/4 cup refined coconut oil , melted and cooled. May sub with avocado oil or other neutral oil
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup For low-carb and keto, use Lakanto Sugar-free maple syrup or your preferred liquid sweetener instead.
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce , for low carb, sub with sour cream or keto-friendly yogurt.
- 2 Tbsp lemon zest about 2 lemons
- 1/3 cup lemon juice about 2 lemons
- 2 tsps pure vanilla extract
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 cups superfine almond flour
- 3/4 cup tapioca starch or arrowroot starch
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/3 cup coconut butter (manna) We love this brand. You can also sub with powdered sweetener of your choice and mix that with some unsweetened almond milk until it reaches a thick glaze consistency if you don't have coconut butter.
- 1 tsp pure maple syrup For low-carb and keto, use Lakanto Sugar-free maple syrup or your preferred liquid sweetener instead.
- 1 tsp lemon juice + zest for garnish
Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8x4 loaf pan with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together the melted coconut oil, maple syrup, applesauce, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract and whisk to combine.
Place a large mesh sieve over bowl and sift in baking powder, almond flour, tapioca flour , coconut flour and salt. Stir until well combined with no lumps.
Transfer batter to loaf pan.
Bake for 35-42 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven & cool for at least 30 minutes to set.
Mix together ingredients for glaze.
Drizzle glaze over bread. Cut into slices and enjoy.
How to store
Store leftover lemon bread in an airtight container in the fridge. It will stay fresh for about a week. You can also store it tightly wrapped in aluminum foil if it's unfrosted.
How to freeze
You can store loaf cake in the freezer with or without the frosting. It's best to store any frosted leftovers in an airtight container with a lid. For an unfrosted loaf, you can either wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and then store in a resealable ziptop bag or in a resealable container.
Frozen lemon bread lasts for up to 2 months. Before you serve it, thaw it overnight in the fridge and bring it back to room temperature.
Erica -
Made this for a party over the weekend and it was a hit. Nobody could tell it was vegan, thank you 🙂