Julie Clark
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Blueberry Bread Recipe
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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. We even have a cookbook full of quick bread 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 a Blueberry Bread recipe with a crumble topping. It’s like a blueberry muffin bread. And oh my, it is worth the wait.
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.
- 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.
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!
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 for Blueberry Bread
- 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.
✨ For full list of ingredients and amounts, see the recipe card below.
How to Make Blueberry Bread
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Greased and flour a 9″x5″ loaf pan. You can line the pan with parchment paper if you’d like to ensure it removes easily.
- In a medium mixing 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! It’s ok if there is still a little dry flour showing.
- Fold the blueberries gently into the batter. Then pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
- Make the crumble by mixing together the sugar, flour 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 loosen the edges and turn it out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
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. Drizzle a simple lemon glaze over the top.
- Love glaze like I do? Drizzle a glaze icing over the top of the bread.
- Add finely chopped pecans or walnuts to the crumble topping.
Other Quick Bread Recipes
Other Blueberry Recipes
Blueberry Bread Recipe
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. Greased and flour a 9"x5" loaf pan. You can line the pan with parchment paper if you'd like to ensure it removes easily.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, milk, oil, egg and vanilla. ¾ cup granulated sugar, ½ cup 2% milk, ½ cup canola oil, 1 large egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 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! 2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ¼ teaspoon salt
- Fold the blueberries gently into the batter. Then pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. 2 cups fresh blueberries
- Make the crumble by mixing together the sugar, flour and butter in a small bowl. This mixture will be crumbly. ⅓ cup granulated sugar, ⅓ cup all-purpose flour, 3 tablespoons salted butter
- 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.
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.
- Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
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
Tried this recipe today. So so easy. Instead of a loaf I put into a jumbo muffin tin. Turned out great.
Fantastic blueberry bread! The bread was so moist. I wasn’t expecting it to rise so much but it came out the oven looking like it belonged in a bakery shop. The flavor was perfection. I will definitely be making this again!
Hi! Should I double the recipe if I plan to use a 9×13 cake Pan? I’m baking for a larger crowd
what do you suggest I do if the sides turned brown/burned but the middle was still gooey? I followed instructions completely and kept putting back in for 5-10 minutes for probably 100 minutes total before I gave up! should I lower the temp of my oven?? i’m not a cook, but i’m desperate to bring something somewhat impressive to thanksgiving!!
Hooooooleeeey sh*tst*cks. I just made this with dairy free butter and oat milk and beeeotches you bettah stay away from my blueberry bread. I. Will. Cut. You.
This is delicious! The crumble is a little sweet…because well, it’s a crumble. I will adapt. I don’t know if this loaf will last the day. daYUM!
I made this and had to add an extra 20 minutes to the baking because even though the toothpick came out dry the bread dough itself was not quite cooked
My batter was a little thick, hard to fold in the berries next time I will add a little more milk as for the topping, it’s delicious and just makes it so good!
Hi! Can I add lemon to this? If so, do I use lemon juice/zest? How much?
This SOOOO did not turn out as I expected. First of all, I had to bake it 90+ minutes to get to “toothpick comes out clean”. Kept putting it back in for 10 more minutes, over and over. Then, the topping. Made exactly as directed and it came out like a 1/4 inch hard shell on the top. It wasn’t crumbly at all, even with loose sugar rolling off with cutting. I think it needs more butter or something. Plus, there was waaaay too much topping altogether. I’d cut that in half. Blueberries sank to the bottom. I should have… Read more »
Can you use sour cream or yogurt instead of oil
Great blueberry bread recipe … easy enough even for me to do it. I did make two slight changes the second time I made it: I used a bundt pan, and instead of your crumb topping I sprinkled on the bottom bits from a package of Trader Joe’s blueberry granola.
I’m a newbie baker; nevertheless, this came out great! Thanks for the recipe. I used coconut oil for the oil. I did had some trouble cutting up the loaf because of the large crumbles on top. When I make this again, I will make my crumbles smaller to make the loaf easier to slice.
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?