Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Scones

These gluten-free vegan lemon scones are ready in under 30 minutes which makes them so perfect for a springtime brunch. They're easy to make and full of bright, lemon flavor. Get those ovens started lemon lovers!
Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Scones

An aerial view of a rectangle baking cooling rack with three lemon scones with lemon glaze and a bowl of lemon curd, with lemon halves.

Lemon lovers rejoice! These gluten-free vegan lemon scones are bursting with bright lemon flavor! Drizzled with a luscious lemon glaze to make them extra lemony. Perfect for a gluten-free brunch with your girlfriends! They’re light and have a beautiful crumb – you wouldn’t even know they’re gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan.

I recently found myself with a huge bag of lemons leftover from previous recipe testing and went on a day long lemon baking kick to use them up.

With today being Mother’s Day and the royal wedding next week, it only felt fitting to make some of these gluten-free vegan lemon scones. I gave some to my mom this morning and while she’s a self confessed chocolate lover, I think she really enjoyed these lemon scones! Even if she did drizzle some chocolate over them after she got home.

Scones are personally my favorite breakfast treat. They’re perfect for cool spring mornings… just imagine birds chirping, a cool breeze, leaves rustling and a hot cup of tea or coffee with a lightly sweet lemon scone. Perfection.

I really love how simple the lemon flavor is in these scones. It’s pronounced without between too tart. The lemon glaze on top really brings out the freshness of the lemon flavor.

If you’re accustomed to using lemon from the bottle…. it’s time to stop that. You don’t get the fresh lemon flavor that you get from real lemons. Plus, the zest is where the lemon flavor is at!

I have a little baking secret whenever I’m working with lemons or other citrus, like limes, oranges or grapefruit. I zest my lemons and rub it into the granulated sugar in the recipe with my fingers. The oils from the lemon release and give off the most amazing fragrance. It really makes your lemon dessert shine! Try it next time you’re baking with citrus!

Lemon scones are the perfect breakfast or brunch recipe for this spring. Full of bright, lemon flavor and a light and airy crumb. Top with raspberry jam, lemon curd or eat as is. I’ve been working on a vegan lemon curd that I can’t wait to share with you all – you can see my most recent test batch in some of the photos below! Is lemon not your thing? Try using grapefruit or orange, instead!

An aerial view of a baking sheet with white parchment paper with 8 lemon scones and a lemon half.

Tips and Tricks for Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Scones

  • It’s important to keep your butter cold. I cut the amount of butter I need into small cubes and freeze it until it’s solid, for at least 30 minutes before I make my recipe. Cold butter keeps your scones fluffier.
  • Instead of using a dairy-free butter, you can also use coconut oil. Just chill in the freezer so it’s cold and solid.
  • Measure your flour by spooning the flour into your measuring cup and leveling it off with the side of the spoon or a knife. Don’t scoop your measuring cup straight into the bag or pour the flour into your measuring cup from the bag. The flour will get too dense this way and you’ll use more flour than you need, resulting in a dry scone.
  • Don’t overbake these babies. You want the edges to be lightly browned, but if you bake them for too long they’ll be dry. If they end up overbaked and dry, dip them in tea or coffee and they’ll still be delish! (at least I think so!)
  • You can make the scones ahead of time to bake for a rainy day! You can make the dough ahead of time and freeze it – just thaw and bake when you’re ready. You can also freeze the scones after they’re baked. Allow them to come to room temperature and then place in a freezer safe bag or container and freeze up to one month.

Other Gluten-Free Lemon Recipes You May Like…

A straight on view of a stack of three gluten-free vegan lemon scones with lemon glaze dripping down the side.

Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Scones Recipe

Lemon scones are the ultimate springtime brunch treat and are gluten-free and vegan – but you’d never guess! Topped with a tart lemon glaze, they’re full of lemon flavor. Lemon lovers, this gluten-free breakfast recipe is for you!

Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Scones

Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Scones

These gluten-free vegan lemon scones are ready in under 30 minutes which makes them so perfect for a springtime brunch. They're easy to make and full of bright, lemon flavor. Get those ovens started lemon lovers!
5 from 8 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 17 minutes
Total Time: 27 minutes
Servings: 8 scones
Calories: 258kcal
Author: Megan

Ingredients

For the Scones:

  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tbsp lemon zest (from two lemons)
  • 2 cups gluten-free flour blend
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/3 cup dairy-free butter (cold and solid, cut into small cubes)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 - 1/2 cup lemon juice (from two lemons)

For the Glaze:

  • 2 tbsp lemon juice (from one lemon)
  • 2 tsp lemon zest (from one lemon)
  • 1 cup powdered sugar

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 400F.
  • In a small bowl, rub lemon zest into granulated sugar until the fragrances are released and the zest and sugar are thoroughly combined.
  • In a food processor, add the sugar mixture, gluten-free flour, baking powder, and salt. Pulse to combine.
  • Then, add in the very cold butter chunks and pulse until the butter is the size of small peas. If you don't have a food processor you can also do this in a bowl with a pastry blender or two knives. You just want the butter to remain cold and not melt into the flour mixture.
  • Then, add in the vanilla and lemon juice. Start with ⅛ cup of lemon juice and keep adding more until the mixture is slightly wet and can be held together into a dough (I ended up using almost the full 1/2 cup of juice but it will depend on your brand of gluten-free flour).
  • Turn dough out onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Pat the dough into a circle (about 8 inch in diameter). Cut it into 8 wedges.
  • Bake at 400F for 13-17 minutes, until they are a light golden brown.
  • Make the glaze while the scones are in the oven. In a small bowl, combine lemon juice, zest and powdered sugar and whisk until there are no more clumps of powdered sugar. You can add more juice if you want a thinner glaze.
  • Remove the scones from the oven and allow to cool before glazing.
  • Drizzle or spoon the glaze over the scones and allow to set completely before serving.

Notes

  • It's important to keep your butter cold. I cut the amount of butter I need into small cubes and freeze it until it's solid, for at least 30 minutes before I make my recipe. Cold butter keeps your scones fluffier.
  • Instead of using a dairy-free butter, you can also use coconut oil. Just chill in the freezer so it's cold and solid.
  • Measure your flour by spooning the flour into your measuring cup and leveling it off with the side of the spoon or a knife. Don't scoop your measuring cup straight into the bag or pour the flour into your measuring cup from the bag. The flour will get too dense this way and you'll use more flour than you need, resulting in a dry scone.
  • Don't overbake. You want the edges to be lightly browned, but if you bake them for too long they'll be dry.
  • You can make the dough ahead of time and freeze it - just thaw and bake when you're ready. You can also freeze the scones after they're baked. Allow them to come to room temperature and then place in a freezer safe bag or container and freeze up to one month.

Nutrition

Calories: 258kcal | Carbohydrates: 46g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 205mg | Potassium: 151mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 24g | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 87mg | Iron: 1.2mg
Tried this Recipe? Tag me Today!Mention @ADashofMegnut or tag #adashofmegnut!

An aerial view of lemon scones on white parchment paper with fresh lemon glaze dripping off the sides.

about megan

I’m Megan

A gluten-free food blogger from Chicago and lover of all things food, showing you gluten-free can be easy and delicious, too. Let’s make gluten-free stress free together! Read more…

5 from 8 votes (3 ratings without comment)

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17 Comments

  1. Just wondering, add grapefruit juice?

    1. Oops! Lemon juice!! Apparently had grapefruit on my mind when I wrote this. Thank you for catching – I’ve fixed it!

  2. These look really good, but your nutrition facts appear to be way off. There’s no way there is 194 grams of sugar in one scone. More like 26 grams, if you include the icing. I think you accidentally figured it out for the entire recipe instead of per scone.

    1. Hi Rachel, You’re right! Thanks for catching that. It was pulling the full recipe figures instead of per serving. I’ve updated it – Thanks for letting me know 🙂

  3. 5 stars
    Megan – These are amazing! Literally, better than anything I’ve ever purchased. I live in a high altitude environment. I did not need to make any ingredient adjustments. The recipe is perfect as instructed (your note about the butter temperature is important to the recipe’s success).

    1. I’m so happy to hear that, Kimberly!! I’m glad you enjoyed them 🙂

  4. 5 stars
    I read A LOT of scone recipes until I landed on this one. I was looking for a truly lemony one…and this is it. We all loved it. It was so easy and turned out delicious, fresh and lemony. We decided it’s a keeper and is going into the permanent recipe list. I had a request to try it with orange next. ?

  5. Can you make these with regular butter if you are not going for a vegan version?

    1. Hi Cyndi! You can definitely use regular butter in place of the vegan butter. Enjoy!

  6. 5 stars
    Just made these and they are so good!

  7. Made these for a baby shower…they were such a hit! I even used less lemon zest that required and made them into biscuit shapes.
    With some homemade blueberry jam…or blackberry…Amazing! Thanks so much!

    1. I’m so glad you enjoyed these, Sam! Thank you for coming back and sharing!

  8. 5 stars
    I love scones and have been making them gluten free and vegan for the past year. With the warmer weather approaching, I thought lemon scones would fit the bill. Well this scone recipe is one of the best I have tried! They turned out perfectly. I baked them for 13 minutes and they were light and fluffy not to mention delicious! I will definitely be making these again! Thanks for sharing!

  9. Jody Peterson Lodge says:

    5 stars
    A friend made these for me and they were awesome!

    1. So glad you enjoyed these Jody! Thanks for coming back to review them – I appreciate it!

  10. Any tips on what type of gf flour blend to use?

    1. Yes, Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour (in the blue bag), which already contains xanthan gum.