Julie Clark
Posted:
Blueberry Bread
This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
Moist quick bread stuffed full of fresh blueberries! This easy blueberry bread recipe is made extra special with the addition of a buttery sugar streusel baked on top.
It’s been too long that I’ve been holding onto this recipe idea. Our quick breads are some of our most popular recipes. Every time I share a picture of one on social media everyone says “Can I make this with blueberries?”
So today we’re making Blueberry Bread with a crumble topping. It’s like a blueberry muffin bread. And it is worth the wait.
Table of Contents
- About this Blueberry Bread Recipe
- What are the health benefits of blueberries?
- Is there a difference between fresh and frozen blueberries?
- Ingredients
- How to Make Blueberry Bread
- Blueberry Bread with Crumb Topping
- Why did my blueberries sink?
- Storage Instructions
- Recipe Variations
- Blueberry Bread Recipe
- Other Quick Bread Recipes
About this Blueberry Bread Recipe
- Flavor: Although it might seem like this bread is overly sweet, it is not. The bread itself doesn’t have a lot of sugar in it, but the crumb topping adds a lot of flavor. You can leave the topping off, but it won’t be as sweet of a bread.
- Texture: This bread is soft and moist, but loaded with texture. The berries soften in the bread and the buttery crumb streusel on top adds just a slight sugary crunch.
Why is this called bread? It’s cake.
Well, true. This is definitely like a blueberry loaf cake. However, this type of dessert is also called a quick bread. Call it whichever you’d like!
What are the health benefits of blueberries?
Is blueberry bread healthy? Not really at all, but blueberries themselves are a super food. They are zero cholesterol and are full of fiber, both of which are good for the heart. They have potassium, Vitamin C and Vitamin B6.
Eat those fresh blueberries by the handful without any guilt, but save a few for this delicious bread recipe that is great for breakfast or brunch. (source)
Is there a difference between fresh and frozen blueberries?
Nutritionally, there is no difference between fresh and frozen berries. Both have the same nutrients. For this recipe, we normally use fresh berries, but you can use frozen berries if you’d like.
If you choose frozen berries, you do not have to defrost the berries before you bake with them unless the recipe you are using calls specifically for defrosted berries.
Ingredients
- Friends have made this with gluten free all-purpose flour and it works well.
- I use canola oil, but vegetable or melted coconut oil work well, too.
- Non-dairy milk can be substituted for 2% milk.
For best results, use a kitchen scale to measure out ingredients when you can.
How to Make Blueberry Bread
This bread has 5 simple steps.
- Mix the wet ingredients.
- Mix the dry ingredients.
- Combine the dry ingredients into the wet. It’s important not to overmix the batter. It’s ok if there are a few lumps. See the picture below!
- Make the streusel and top the bread.
- Bake. The bread will take about 55-70 minutes, depending on the type of pan you use. I use a 1 pound metal loaf pan and it took about 65 minutes.
Blueberry Bread with Crumb Topping
What makes this bread over-the-top is the buttery crumble baked onto the top. It’s just three ingredients: flour, sugar and butter. It gives the top of the bread just a little bit of a crunch and extra sweetness.
The butter should be soft, but not melted. Simply mix the 3 ingredients together. Don’t worry…the mixture will be very crumby but that’s just how you want it. Sprinkle it over the batter before baking.
Why did my blueberries sink?
If you’ve ever baked with blueberries, you know that sometimes the blueberries sink to the bottom of the muffins or breads. That often happens when the batter is not thick enough. This quick bread batter is thick enough to support the blueberries so they should not sink.
If you have trouble with sinking berries, some say you can toss the blueberries in a few tablespoons of all-purpose flour before adding them to the batter. We haven’t found this to be 100% accurate every time, so we found another solution.
Whether you are making bread or muffins, spoon some of the batter into the prepared pan before adding the blueberries to the batter. Then mix in the blueberries to the remaining batter and scoop as you normally would. This is the most foolproof way we’ve found to fix sinking berries.
Storage Instructions
This bread is safe to store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. After that, refrigerate to keep the bread fresh.
Can you freeze blueberry bread? Yes! This bread freezes well. Wrap in plastic wrap, then place the loaf in a freezer bag or another airtight container so that it is double wrapped.
Allow the bread to thaw completely before you open the package. This will keep it fresh.
Recipe Variations
- Make an amazing lemon blueberry bread. Add a tablespoon or two of fresh lemon juice to the measuring cup, then fill the rest of the way with milk. Add lemon zest to the batter when you add the blueberries.
- Love glaze like I do? Drizzle a powdered sugar glaze over the top of the bread.
Blueberry Bread
Moist quick bread stuffed full of fresh blueberries! This easy blueberry bread recipe is made extra special with the addition of a buttery sugar streusel baked on top.
Servings 10
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Ingredients
For the Bread:
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar 150 grams
- 1/2 cup 2% milk 4 ounces
- 1/2 cup canola oil or vegetable or coconut oil, 4 ounces
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 5 grams
- 2 cups all-purpose flour 260 grams
- 2 teaspoons baking powder 8 grams
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups fresh blueberries
For the Crumble:
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar 100 grams
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour 65 grams
- 3 tablespoons salted butter softened, but not melted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, milk, oil, egg and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Do not over mix!
- Fold the blueberries gently into the batter.
- Pour the bread batter into a greased and floured 9"x5" loaf pan. (You can line the pan with parchment paper if you'd like to ensure it removes easily.)
- Make the crumble by mixing together the flour, sugar and butter in a small bowl. This mixture will be crumbly.
- Sprinkle the crumbs evenly on top of the bread batter in the pan.
- Bake for 55-60 minutes. The exact time will depend on the type of pan you have and your oven. If it is a smaller pan, it may take up to 70 minutes in the oven. A toothpick inserted in the center of the bread should come out clean.
- Allow the bread to cool for 10 minutes, then remove the bread to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Video
Notes
- I do not recommend using an electric mixer for this recipe as it would be too easy to overmix the batter. Simply mix by hand with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon.
- If the bread looks like it is getting too brown on top, cover it loosely with a piece of aluminum foil for the remainder of baking.
Nutrition
Calories: 373kcal | Carbohydrates: 54g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 28mg | Sodium: 102mg | Potassium: 160mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 28g | Vitamin A: 170IU | Vitamin C: 2.9mg | Calcium: 58mg | Iron: 1.7mg
Love quick breads? Our cookbook is for you.
Bonus!!! We’ve included our top 5 tips for making any type of quick bread. These will be sure to give you success every time!
Other Quick Bread Recipes
Love quick bread? Try one of these delicious recipes.
I followed this recipe to the T, and I believe the crumble recipe is incorrect. 3 tbsp of butter is too little for the amount of flour. It should be 4 or 5 tbsp—that amount would actually make it buttery as the recipe title implies. Following the recipe as written, I ended up with a flour-y mess on top. I challenge the recipe author to remake the crumble with 3 tbsp of butter. I think that she’ll find that her 3 tbsp is a typo. The consistency of the bread is more like that of a buckle or cake. I… Read more »
This bread was delicious! I substituted almond milk so I had to add slightly more. I also used a combo of regular and brown sugar for the crumble topping. I poured half the batter – then a little of the crumble mix, the other half of the batter and the rest of the crumble on top.
Could you use frozen blueberries?
My bread was undercooked and hard on the outside. Had to continue cook longer. Tasted good but never could get the bread completely done in middle. Outside was hard. What did I do wrong?
This is fantastic! Stumbled upon it when I needed to use some blueberries going off and I’m so happy I did! I made one and we enjoyed it so much I just made a second one! Sprinkled some cinnamon on the top 🙂 Can’t rate this recipe highly enough.
Loved! Made this following exact recipe! Turned out perfectly and got done in the allotted time. Top was lightly browned. Used a Bundt pan. So delicious! Wish I could post pictures, turned out so pretty! My family loved it!
Absolutely love this recipe! It reminded me of an old favorite but much easier. I made it dairy free by subbing flax seed meal and water for the egg and using almond milk. So delicious. This is definitely my favorite blueberry muffin, bread, or coffeecake recipe. Thank you!
Can this bread be frozen?
Made this recipe and added pecans! BEST RECIPE EVER! super easy to make! super moist! my baking mold was deep so I baked for 90 mins. I added flour to the blueberries before adding to the batter and they didnt sink. Thanks for the great recipe!
I made this and followed the directions to the T.
Cooked in an hour at 350, didn’t have problems. It’s a great recipe, without requiring difficult ingredients!
I made this using two smaller pans. Took about 43 minutes to bake. I think the crumble makes it look uncooked because it doesn’t really brown. Next batch I added more butter and cut the floor and sugar back.
Wow! Just pulled this bread out of the oven and it is delicious! The bread isn’t too sweet which will be perfect for breakfast in the morning. The crumble topping is the perfect addition to take the bread up a notch. I used almost 5 tsp of better vs the recommended 3. In my opinion the topping wasn’t crumbly enough with only 3. I also cooked this bread about 60-65 minutes. Other people stated they cooked it for over 90 minutes but I did not encounter this issue. Definitely recommended.
I am not a baker. However, this recipe is fool-proof. Many thanks for taking your time to share. You made my quarantine-day! You are an inspiration.
I found this recipe after getting a different one started and realizing I was missing a main ingredient. So it wasn’t exact and I dislike reviews where the commenter makes changes to the recipe (why even bother reviewing…) but I am reviewing this because it came out so damn good. The best blueberry bread I’ve had. My changes were minimal as follows: instead of oil I used a 1/2 cup of melted butter and added 1 tsp baking soda because I started the earlier recipe – how lucky am I that I continued with this one. I omitted the crumble… Read more »
Can i use raspberries instead of blueberries
What kind of oil for this recipe??