Moist, biscuit-like Lemon Scones made gluten-free and filled with chia seeds, for a fun Spring or Summer breakfast treat!
Do you prefer more dry or biscuit-like scones?
I like both. I think there’s a time and place for either. However.. I’m pretty addicted to scones made with Greek yogurt, producing a soft, biscuit-like scone that feels like a warm hug for breakfast! 😉
But, Greek yogurt isn’t dairy-free, and several of my recipes are dairy-free.
I don’t eat dairy-free, but I do eat less dairy than I used to. My sensitive stomach seems to thank me for it, so I no longer grab cheese sticks at snack time or pile cheese shreds on my lunches and dinners. In fact my sister has recently started having some severe digestive issues and went dairy-free.
Thinking of her and other people with dietary issues, I wanted to make my scones for people that can’t have gluten AND dairy in their diet at ALL. I was determined!
So, I made these Lemon Chia Scones with Coconut Milk yogurt and was pleasantly surprised! Although I think they spread a little more than with Greek yogurt, the scones still turned out fabulous! 🙂
Winning: A soft scone filled with bursts of fresh lemon flavor, that’s both gluten-free and dairy-free!
When you make scones, do you like to top them with a glaze?
My favorite scones, Cinnamon Sugar, aren’t topped with a glaze and are topped instead with cinnamon sugar. (Delicious!!)
But, I like a nice light glaze for a fruity scone, like these Lemon Chia Scones. The glaze itself is incredibly easy to make too. You simply whisk the ingredients together and then drizzle them over the scone. Ta da! A little extra pizzazz with minimal effort.
I did a little drizzle of the glaze over each scone and it basically sucked it up and gave the scones even more lemon flavor. Yum 🙂
These scones are a little tricky to make, unlike the glaze. There are a few things to keep in mind…
Make sure your coconut oil is in a solid state before chopping it up and adding it to your dry ingredients. My favorite way to do this is to stick my coconut oil in the fridge for a little bit, while I’m preparing the rest of the ingredients. If you have a cold pantry, or it’s winter time, this may not be necessary for you.
Lightly “knead” your dough together to form your scones. However, do not over knead your dough, as kneading it too much will give you the wrong texture. Gently push the dough from a mound of ingredients into a disc-like shape, about an inch tall. You’ll then need to cut the scones prior to baking them.
I cut these Lemon Chia Scones into 6 pieces, but they turn out pretty big. I’d recommend cutting them into 6 or 8 pieces. The dough made with Coconut Milk Yogurt was more sticky to me, so I had to wipe my knife off in between cutting each section, to ensure the scones stayed together and didn’t end up with too much sticking on my knife.
Lastly, Chia Seeds. You either love them or hate them, I think! Feel free to omit them from the recipe and the scones will turn out just fine. I prefer to use them for a Lemon Poppy seed look, but in healthier form.
If you’re both gluten-free and dairy-free, and needing a good Scone recipe, I hope this one works well for you!
I can’t get over the soft texture of these Lemon Chia Scones. Let’s just say I’m in love and leave it at that! 🙂
Need other gluten-free, dairy-free breakfast ideas? Check out my Chocolate Banana Breakfast Cookies, Blueberry Swirl Oat Bread (a personal favorite!), or Lemon Chia Oat Muffins.
I recommend using this Coconut Milk yogurt (plain or vanilla) in this recipe.
- 1/3 cup coconut oil, solid
- 2 cups gluten-free flour (I use Bob's Red Mill gluten-free 1-to-1 flour)
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt (or coconut yogurt, if dairy-free)
- 2 tbsp almond milk (or milk of choice)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- Zest of 2 lemons
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp water
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To begin, measure out your coconut oil and place it in the fridge. Preheat your oven to 350 and line a pan with parchment paper.
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In a large mixing bowl, add your flour, sugar, baking powder, chia seeds and salt and stir them together.
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In a separate, small mixing bowl, add your Greek yogurt, almond milk, lemon juice and zest, and whisk them together till all is combined.
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Now, remove your coconut oil from the fridge and scoop it out of your measuring cup onto a cutting board. Cut your coconut oil into small, pea-sized balls and add them to your large mixing bowl, with dry ingredients. Stir them into your dry ingredients.
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Finally, pour your wet ingredients on top of your dry ingredients, and stir till you have a dough. It will still be a little crumbly.
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Pour your scone dough onto your baking pan and work the dough lightly with your hands, pressing it together. Gently press it together till it can form a large disc, about an inch tall.
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Using a large, sharp knife, cut your scones (into either 6 or 8) evenly out of the dough. Spread the scones apart a couple inches away from each other.
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Bake in the oven for 15-17 minutes, or till the tops of your scones are set and when you gently push on the scones they feel solid.
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While the scones are baking, whisk together your lemon glaze in a small bowl, till smooth.
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Let your scones cool and then top them with your lemon glaze. Devour!
I recommend storing these scones in an airtight container in the fridge and they will last about a week. I like to lightly reheat mine in the microwave before eating for that “just baked” feel!
This was really tasty, but the texture was odd. My challenge is having to avoid brown rice, which is in so may GF flours. I used GF Jules, which is I think heavy on tapioca flour. Would I be better off using almond flour? I can’t find another flour without brown rice.
Hi there. I wouldn’t recommend using almond flour, unfortunately. You would need a different amount of almond flour and extra binders for it to work properly. I’ve never used GF Jules flour, and I recommend (and use) King Arthur Measure for Measure which I know has brown rice flour in it. I’m sorry to say you’ve got me stumped! I’m not sure what else to recommend to you. Sorry, Janice!
Can I use honey instead of sugar?
These scones turned out so amazing, you can’t even tell they’re gluten free! I made my own gluten free flour mix and used about 1 tsp of psyllium husk powder to hold it together. I would also like to mention, I live at 9,000 ft elevation and these beauties turned out beautiful ❤ thank you so much for the recipe!
So happy to hear that, Hope! Thank you for the sweet comment.
Would love to know your flour recipe!
Can I substitute butter for the coconut oil? Or vegetable oil?
Thank you!
Hi Alice, Yes both butter or coconut oil can work in this recipe.
Hi there,
Thanks for the great recipe, I’m excited to try it!
I don’t usually have a gluten-free flour blend in the house. I always have almond or coconut on hand.
What would you suggest if I wanted to make with these flours instead? Thanks in advance ????
Hi Miranda, no problem! I haven’t made those scones in particular with almond or coconut flour. I definitely would not recommend coconut flour, but almond flour may work… I have an Almond Joy Scones recipe that uses almond flour, but it doesn’t have Greek yogurt or milk in it, so if you did try and use almond flour in this recipe it would probably need a lot more. I would recommend sticking to all purpose gluten-free flour, or even trying the Almond Joy Scones! http://www.milehighmitts.com/almond-joy-scones/ Hope this helps, good luck!
I have never made scones before but this gluten free recipes seems like a great place to start. The pictures look soooo good! Thanks for sharing this and keep up the good work on your fantastic blog.
Thank you, David!! I hope you love them too if you make them 🙂