Keto Lemon Poppy Seed Bread - Easy

This Keto Lemon Poppy Seed Bread is a simple gluten-free, low carb and sugar-free recipe that is perfect for a weekday breakfast or dressed up with a delicious sugar-free lemon glaze for a fancy afternoon treat or dessert. No matter how or when you serve it, this keto quick bread recipe is perfectly moist and tender, packed with delicious lemony flavours and sprinkled with just the right amount of poppy seeds.

Keto Quick Bread Recipe

I am so happy to share with you my perfect gluten-free lemon loaf recipe!

I’ve been working on this recipe for quite some time (actually a few years now since I posted my Low Carb Lemon Poppy Seed Bread) and I finally obtained the results I was looking for: a rich, buttery and moist lemon poppy seed loaf, with just the right amount of poppy seed.

And although the original was delicious, some readers asked me if I could create a new keto lemon poppy seed quick bread that did not contain any ricotta like my original lemon poppy seed recipe.

The result is absolutely insane … and no one will ever guess that it is gluten-free, sugar-free and low carb!

Being pretty picky in terms of texture and taste, I have tried several different ways of making a lemon seed poppy loaf and they ended up either slightly too cakey or too dry because most keto and gluten-free recipes rely on coconut flour.

If you haven't baked with coconut flour, let me tell you, it is the trickiest keto and gluten-free flour to bake with. You need enough moisture to keep it from drying out but too much moisture and you end up with a stoggy keto quick bread.

However, after tweaking a couple of things, such as decreasing the number of poppy seeds as well as eliminating the coconut flour and replacing it with whey protein powder, the perfect texture and taste were created!

Why Make this Easy Keto Recipe?

Because it is:

• Comes together quickly in just 1 bowl
• Gluten-free, sugar-free and low in carbs
• Perfectly rich and buttery
• Super tender with just the right amount of moisture
• Bursting with lemon flavour
• A perfect balance of sweet and sour

All about this Keto Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

• Flavor: The lemon is not too tart or too sweet. It is perfectly balanced and although you don't need to add the glaze, the glaze did add an extra pop of lemon as well as moisture.
• Texture: This bread is soft and moist without being crumbly
• Ease: Many quick breads require creaming butter and sweeter together, but not in this recipe! Simply melt the coconut oil, allow it to cool slightly and then whisk together the eggs, sweeteners and lemon juice. You don't even need a hand held mixer for this recipe!
• Time: Since this is a quick bread and not a bread made with yeast, this loaf bakes in about 60 minutes. You will the oven to 425 degrees F. and then drop the temperature down to the standard 350 degrees F. as soon as you put your loaf in the oven. You will know the bread is baked when you can insert a toothpick in the center and in comes out clean.

Lemon Poppy Seed Bread Main Ingredients

Dry Ingredients - A combination of almond and plain whey protein powder is used in this easy keto quick bread recipe. The almond flour produces a texture that closely resembles recipes made with all-purpose flour. Whey protein powder is higher in protein and will help give the bread rise and structure. Baking powder is added to help give the bread an added little lift. Baking powder will react well with the acidity of the lemon juice. Lastly, poppy seeds are added for their unique flavour and crunchy texture. Make sure that your poppy seeds are fresh as they will go rancid after about 6 months to a year if not stored in the freezer.

Wet Ingredients - Melted coconut oil is used in this recipe and is combined with sweeteners. Make sure that your melted coconut oil is not too hot because if it is, you could end up cooking the eggs when the two are mixed. Coconut oils' high-fat content is what gives baked goods their texture and a ton of flavour. Large eggs are also added to help hold the quick bread together as well as to produce a nice rise to the bread. Finally, fresh lemon juice and some lemon zest are an absolute must so PLEASE do not use anything but freshly squeezed lemon juice. However, if you don't want to zest your lemons, you can replace the zest with about ¼ teaspoon of lemon extract.

Making Keto Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

• Whisk the dry ingredients together and set them to the side
• Whisk together melted coconut oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, eggs and sweeteners
• Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until combined
• Pour the mixture into the loaf pan, place the loaf in the oven and bake for 8 minutes before and reducing the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
• Bake for about 60 minutes

How do you know this Gluten-free Lemon Loaf is fully baked?

You will know when the keto lemon poppy seed bread is baked when a toothpick comes out clean when poked into the center of the bread.

If you have a baking thermometer, you will want the internal temperature to be 195-200 degrees F. Most quick bread recipes say to wait until the internal temperature is about 210 degrees F. but since gluten-free and keto recipes tend to be a bit on the drier side, I like to remove the gluten-free lemon loaf a couple of degrees before it is fully baked.

This ensures that this sugar-free recipe maintains a lot of moisture and does not dry out.

Easy Keto Quick Bread Recipe Tips

1. Room Temperature Ingredients: Bring your cold ingredients like the eggs and sour cream to room temperature before you get started. Room temperature ingredients bond together easily since they’re warmer, creating a seamless and evenly textured batter. A smooth batter means a uniformly textured baked good. Also, if the ingredients are cold, they can cause the oil to solidify and be difficult to incorporate.
2. Amount of Sweetener: Make sure that you double and triple check the sweetener you are using. Some sweeteners are twice as sweet as sugar whereby others are only 75 % as sweet as sugar. For this recipe, I used Lakanto Classic, which is an erythritol-based sweetener that has a 1:1 ration to regular sugar. If you’re looking for something not quite as sweet, stick with ¾ cup (especially if you are adding the creamy lemon glaze topping!)
3. Extra Glaze: The amount of lemon glaze/icing written in the recipe below yields a fairly large amount of glaze (in my opinion!). Feel free to half the ingredients for a thinner glaze.
4. Not too Many Poppy Seeds: Poppy seeds add an additional challenge to your baking recipes as they tend to absorb all the moisture, resulting in tough and dry texture. So the idea is to use just the right amount, not too much, not too little, and spread them out evenly in the batter. Most lemon poppy seed loaf recipes call for 3 tablespoons poppy seeds in the batter but I found 2 tablespoons to be the perfect amount. If you want, you can always add an extra tablespoon of poppy seeds to the glaze ingredients.
5. Greasing the Loaf Pan - The loaf pan should first be lined with parchment paper and then spray it with non-stick cooking easy removal of the quick bread. Keto and gluten-free bread have a tendency to stick to do not try to bake this bread without parchment paper.
6. 2 Different Baking Temperatures - Instead of baking this quick bread at one steady temperature throughout, use two temperatures to produce tall, rounded loaf with a lightly crisped top and a pillow-soft center. Start by baking the lemon poppy seed bread for about eight minutes at 425°F, then lower the oven temperature to 350°F for the remainder of the cook time.
7. Cover with aluminum foil - Unlike regular all-purpose flour, almond flour (as well as sugar-substitutes!) have a tendency to brown quickly. After the first 30 minutes, tent aluminum foil over the loaf for the remainder of the bake.
8. Type of pan - I used an 8 x 4 inch loaf pan. You can use a larger 9 x 5 inch loaf pan but your loaf will not be quite a high as in the pictures. BE CAREFUL if you are using an aluminum loaf pan to make sure that EVERY side is covered with parchment paper as the lemon juice can react with the aluminum and create a metallic taste (trust me on this one as it has happened to me!). If you are using a ceramic loaf pan, the cooking time may increase as it takes longer to heat the ceramic pan.

Why does my Keto Quick Bread Crack on the Top?

Believe it or not, this is actually a good thing!

A large crack down the center of your quick bread loaf is actually a sign that your bread expanded properly.

Why does this happen? Since the top of the bread will naturally cook and set quicker than the center the air from the center of the bread escapes out of the top creating a defined crack either in the center or slightly off-center.

What if quick bread doesn’t really have a large crack down the center? Don't worry about it! There are so many variables that come into play while baking that with or without a crack, this lemon poppy seed loaf is still absolutely delicious!

Plus, since you are going to cover this keto lemon poppy seed bread with a sugar-free lemon glaze, the cracking helps to allow the lemon glaze to penetrate deep into the bread!

More Easy Keto Recipes

• Nordic Nut and Seed Bread - Keto, Whole30, Paleo
• Easy Keto Strawberry Shortcake - Gluten-free Sponge Cake
• Easy Keto Coconut Cream Pie - A Blender Recipe
• The BEST Keto Funfetti Macaroons - Only 3 Basic Ingredients
• Keto Carrot Cream Cheese Cake - Gluten-free and Sugar-free

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