Lemon Brownies are my new favorite dessert. Topped with a delicious lemon glaze, they are just the right mix of fresh lemon and sweetness. Here is not one, but two ways to make this delicious treat.
We’ve made some other great lemon recipes like Lemon Blueberry Donuts, Mini Lemon Bundt Cakes and Lemon Sweet Rolls. Go check those out next!
As much as I am crazy for chocolate, I do love finding new ways to bake without that classic ingredient. It’s fun to spice it up and try something new! Lemon is a fun way to do that.
Why Call These Lemon Brownies?
These lemon bars have more of a brownie texture: they’re moist and dense. This recipe is going to look a lot like your usual brownie recipe, but of course no cocoa or chocolate chips. We. They’re both delicious! We also included an easier version using a cake mix for when you are in a hurry. Both are delicious!
Ingredients for Homemade Brownies
Butter – unsalted and softened.
Sugar – every good dessert needs it.
Lemon Zest – see about for notes on zesting.
Fresh Lemon Juice – straight from a lemon has the best flavor.
Flour – all purpose.
Baking Soda– to make the mixture rise.
Eggs– this will bind the ingredients together.
Lemon Zest
If you’re new to lemon zesting, it is easiest to use the tool made for this job: a lemon zester. (Genius name, right?) But if you don’t have one and are in a pinch a veggie peeler will work. Make sure you wash your lemon before.
Lemon Brownies Glaze
This is the most yummy part of all – the glaze! All you need is three ingredients: lemon zest, lemon juice and powdered sugar. It’s very sweet and a bit tangy at the same time.
How To Make Homemade Lemon Brownies
- Mix together the dry ingredients and wet ingredients (minus the egg) separately.
- Combine the two mixtures then add one egg at a time.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes and let it cool.
- Make the glaze and pour over the cooled brownies.
Ingredients for Lemon Cake Mix Brownies
- Yellow Cake Mix
- Lemon Instant Pudding
- Eggs
- Lemon Juice
- Lemon Zest
How To Make Lemon Cake Mix Brownies
- Mix all five ingredients together in a bowl.
- Pour into an 8×8 baking dish and bake for 22-24 minutes.
- Make the glaze and pour over the cooled brownies.
You’re going to adore these lemon brownies recipes, and all your friends will be begging for the recipe!
Other Lemon Desserts You Will Love
Pink Lemonade Cheesecake Bites
Lemon Brownies
Ingredients
Brownie Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest
- 4 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
Lemon Glaze Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 4 tablespoons lemon zest
Cake Mix Version
Ingredients
- 15.25 ounces box yellow cake mix
- 1 box lemon pudding
- 1/3 cup lemon juice
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
Instructions
Directions for Homemade
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 9×13 baking pan with parchment paper.
- Using a large bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder.
- Using a standing mixer, beat together the butter, sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest until light and fluffy.
- Beat in eggs, one at a time until combined.
- Gradually beat in the dry ingredients until combined.
- Pour batter into the baking pan and bake in the oven for 25-28 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs. Make sure to not over bake.
- Allow to completely cool on the counter.
Lemon Glaze
- Using a large mixing bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest until combined.
- Pour the glaze over the lemon bars and spread evenly.
- Allow to harden overnight before enjoying!
Directions for Cake Mix
- Line an 8” square baking dish with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray so that the brownies lift out easily.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- With a hand mixer, combine the cake mix, pudding, lemon juice, eggs, and lemon zest in a medium sized mixing bowl. Pour batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.
- Bake for 22-24 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted in the center and come out clean or with only crumbs (no wet batter). Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes.
- Proceed as directed above for glaze.
Last Step:
Please leave a rating and comment letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business to thrive and continue providing free, high-quality recipes for you.Nutrition
Leave a Review!
We LOVE hearing from you! Submit your question or comment here.
Your email address will not be published.
265 comments on “Lemon Brownies”
My niece LOVES lemon but she needs Gluten Free can this recipe be made Gluten Free?
YES! I use Pilsbury gluten free yellow cake mix for all baking flours…works great for banana bread, or even carrot cakes too. It’s by far the least expensive option and best tasting, it’s only about 2.50 a box! Leave off the baking powder, it’s already in there.
Thanks for the info..
How would white chocolate chips taste in this? Anyone tried it?
That sounds like a great idea Peggy!
I have everything for the lemon brownies but unsalted butter. I do however have salted. Can I use that?
If that is what you have, go ahead and use it but you might have a salty aftertaste. I prefer to buy unsalted to ensure I can regulate how much salt is going into my food.
I used salted butter but I think it made them rise more, still tasted great.
I’m vegan and I really want to make these! Can I use Bob’s red mills egg replacement in place of eggs and vegan butter I’m place of butter?
If you look up at April 7, 2019 Pat said she made them and veaganized them.
These look scrumdiddlyumptious!
Is there a reason the butter is unsalted?
We use unsalted butter to control the amount of salt in the recipe.
I will be making this for sure thank you
Hola estoy muy fascinado con esa Receta de Brawniees. es excelente muchas Felicidades.
Mouth is watering just reading this recipe!
Can you use gluten free flour ?
Hi Stephanie, I honestly have no idea about that. Would love for any of you gluten free bakers to chime in on this. Thanks!
We do gluten-free all the time. Quick breads and cookies work really well with any gluten-free blend. We use Mama’s Almond Blend. It has a little bit of a gooey texture instead of chewy.
King Arthur Flour makes a Gluten free flour that measure scoop for scoop and can supposedly be used for everything except yeast breads or recipes calling for yeast
I have found that Bob’s Red Mill Cup for Cup works the best in my Gluten Free Baking. It already has Xanthen Gum in the Mix.
I just tried this gluten free with a couple other substitutions. I used Pamela’s all-purpose flour mix, used 1/2 tsp lemon oil because I didn’t have lemon zest, and used ~2/3C packed brown sugar ~1/3C cane sugar. I ended up with a lovely lemon pound cake, so clearly something I did made it too fluffy. I plan to experiment a bit with this recipe and some other fudgy brownie recipes I know work gluten free to see if I can make my own gluten free lemon brownies.
These are amazing ……tried these yesterday and my nephews wenr crazy over them
Thanks for giving us feedback. Now I really want to make these. They look Divine.
These are delicious!
Glad you liked them!
These are delicious I made some today wish I could post a picture
Do you put in fridge overnight or jut lt it sit on the counter?
The counter is fine
Is there a way to pin your recipe to my Pinterest account?
We have a pin it button on every photo.
Can I use Meyer lemons?
I have some in the oven right now with Meyer lemons. I’ll let you know tomorrow.
i can hardly wait to try….ty for sharing
What is sweet cream butter and can I use plane unsalted butter ?
Yes…unsalted is fine
The lemon brownie was good, however next time I will either frost with lemon curd or mix lemon curd with cream cheese. The powdered sugar glaze was blah.yes
Thanks for your suggestion! I frosted mine with cream cheese and 2/2 jar of lemon curd and it was excellent!!
Sweet cream butter is just regular butter
Can you make this ahead of time and freeze ?
I wondered this too!
I am also wondering if these are o.k. to freeze.
I can’t figure out how to print this recipe…help!
@ Martha…me too!
These were crazy good. A huge hit for our Easter celebration.
I did tweak the recipe a bit. If I make something with lemon flavor, I want to make sure it has a large lemon flavor.
I doubled the lemon zest
I added lemon extract and dried lemon peel.
OMG they were so moist and the lemon flavor . . . Amazing
I will make these often
*** I see there are questions on how to print
At the actual recipe page, under the picture there is the “Print” option
Kristin thanks for the hint, I to like it extra lemony I will try adding in the extra zest.
Kristen,
Thanks for actually reviewing the RECIPE instead of talking about being vegan. Appreciate it! Looking forward to trying the RECIPE as is….plus extra lemon!!!
Excellent! If you love lemon, you will L O V E this recipe!
*I agree, comments are only necessary about recipe reviews!*
Highlight recipe, then send it to yourself is one way to print.
Or
Highlight & hit copy and print option should pop up
If you look in the box where the recipe is, you’ll see a print icon to click on!
you see the picture right next to the recipe? there’s a print button just below it!
There’s a print bottom to the right of the word “ingredients.” It’s light pink. You may have to save it or open it in a browser and print from there…that’s what I just did.
If you can’t print the recipe for whatever reason try taking a screen shot with your computer (on a Mac you would hit either SHIFT + COMMAND + 3 or…..SHIFT + COMMAND + 4; press all three keys at the same time you will hear what sounds like a camera sound effect for the first one and you will have a screen shot of what is on your screen which you can then print. For the second option you will get a little cross-hair symbol where your cursor/pointer once was. Then you use your mouse or track pad and hold the mouse down and drag diagonally across what you’d like to screen shot (this takes only the image you “outline” then you can print that as well!))
I am making these brownies right now as I write this I am waiting for the oven timer to go off!
Hit the print button under the picture
Right next to the recipe is a picture (on the rigth side) of the brownie. “Print” is in a box under the picture.
right click. chose save as or print…destination is your choice of printer or PDF and where it goes.
Can I use either almond flour or coconut flour instead of AP flour? We are on the keto diet to help my husbands diabetes.
This brownies looks so delicious! Can’t wait to try it.
I made this recipe today and Veganized it because we are plant based! No oil, dairy, and I use Erytritol in place of cane sugar. I did make an exception with the icing. The Lemon Brownies were great and my hubby loved them. He said he will want more.
Would you be willing to share what you did? I’m lactovegetarian and daughter is vegan…I haven’t baked much since changing diets.
You should buy the books from chef Chloe. She’s vegan and has one only about vegan desserts. I’m not vegan and find them delicious!
I love love7
I am also interested to know how you veganized this recipe and made it oil free. Thank you.
Use apple sauce instead of oil.. on any cake or brownie recipe. Equal amounts
Can you let me know what you used instead of oil and dairy. I’m on a very low fat diet and desperately miss sweets.
I need to make a vegan dessert for my daughters wedding this week and would love to know what your vegan recipe was.
Thanks