Irish Soda Bread Scones

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Hi Bold Bakers!

WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE: My hearty Irish Soda Bread Scones come together so quickly that it’s easy to keep a batch on hand for everyday meals. Although soda bread is often thought of as heavy, these scones are anything but—they’re light, buttery, and truly melt in your mouth. This traditional recipe captures the spirit of real Irish home baking, beautifully simple and authentic. My favorite tip is to multiply the recipe, shape the scones, and freeze them, then whenever I need something sweet for breakfast or afternoon tea, I simply thaw for an hour, glaze, and bake.

• Pantry ingredients: Just 10 ingredients that you probably have on hand.
• Easy to shape: Form into a disk and cut into wedges—that’s it!
• Just 45 minutes! You have to love a baking recipe that’s hot out of the oven in less than an hour.
• Customizable:  Enjoy as-is, or mix in fruit, nuts, spices.
• Gorgeous! These scones bake up tall and wonderfully craggy, with a beautiful golden brown crust.

My Irish Soda Bread Scones are more like a lovely everyday scone compared to my Best-Ever Irish Scones, They are just as sweet, but a little lighter in texture. These hearty soda bread wedges lean sweet or savory, depending on how you use them, and best of all, you can go from mixing to serving in minutes.

My top tips: First, carefully measure and level your baking soda, as too much soda can make the bread bitter and overly dark. Second, handle this dough lightly and bring it together quickly—this dough should go into a hot oven right away. You’ll also love my Irish Brown Soda Bread Recipe, Simple White Irish Soda Bread, Authentic Irish Brown Bread, and Flourless Irish Oat Bread.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This recipe was improved and updated on 3/5/2026, to include a NEW step-by-step tutorial video. 

Table of Contents

• What are Irish Soda Bread Scones?
• Tools You Need
• Key Ingredients and Substitutes
• How to Make Irish Soda Bread Scones
• Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips
• Make-Ahead and Storage Instructions
• Mix-ins and Flavor Variations
• FAQs
• More Scone Recipes

What are Irish Soda Bread Scones?

Irish Soda Bread Scones are hearty, lightly sweet scones inspired by traditional Irish soda bread. Combining buttermilk and baking soda creates a reaction that gives them a quick, gentle lift, yielding a rustic crumb more like soda bread than a traditional scone. Additionally, the buttermilk gives the scones a pleasant tang, and the orange zest adds bright flavor without additional sweetness. Soda bread became popular in Ireland in the mid 1800s after baking soda became widely available. The leavener worked well with Irish whole-wheat flour; Ireland’s famous dairy farms made buttermilk readily available, and the bread could be cooked quickly on a griddle. These soda bread scones are perfect for breakfast, with lunch or dinner, or spread with butter,  your favorite homemade blackberry jam or marmalade, and enjoyed with a cup of tea.

Tools You Need

• Mixing bowls
• Measuring spoons
• Measuring cups
• Glass measuring jug
• Kitchen scale (optional)
• Baking sheet
• Parchment paper
• Pastry blender (optional)
• Whisk
• Pastry brush
• Wire cooling rack

Key Ingredients and Substitutes

All-purpose flour

• All-purpose flour creates scones that have enough structure, but are still soft.
• Substitutes: For gluten-free scones, replace the all-purpose flour with a 1:1 gluten-free baking mix, like my Easy Almond Flour Baking Mix or another gluten-free flour.
• If you make a gluten-free version of these scones, let the dough rest for 10 minutes after mixing to hydrate the flour.
  • Note that gluten-free scones may be more crumbly and delicate than scones made with the original recipe.
• For heartier scones, you can replace half the all-purpose flour with whole-wheat flour.

Granulated sugar

• Granulated sugar gives these scones a light sweetness.
• Importantly, sugar helps keep the scones moist and contributes to the golden-brown color.
• Substitute: Use the same amount of light brown sugar for a note of molasses.

Baking powder

• Baking powder provides extra lift, in addition to the leavening from the combination of baking soda and buttermilk.
• This extra lightness creates a crumb that’s more scone-like instead of bread-like.

Baking soda

• Baking soda, which is alkaline, reacts with buttermilk, an acidic ingredient, to produce carbon dioxide gas, which makes the scones rise quickly.
• This reaction happens instantly, so it’s important to get the scones into the oven quickly.

Salt

• Salt enhances the scones’ flavors.
• In a recipe like this, with a handful of ingredients, salt is vital. Don’t leave it out, or the scones will taste flat.

Orange zest

• Orange zest adds delicate floral sweetness and aroma to the Irish Soda Bread Scones.
• Substitute: For a more tart flavor, use the same amount of lemon zest.

Butter

• Butter gives the scones flakiness and a tender texture, and adds rich flavor.
• I recommend using European butter for superior flavor.
• Substitute: If you prefer a different texture, you can use half butter and half cream. This will yield scones that are less flaky, but more tender.

Egg

• Egg helps hold the dough together, giving the scones structure.
• The egg adds flavor and makes the dough easier to work with.
• Substitute: You can omit the egg for a texture more like soda bread, but the dough will be crumblier and harder to work with.  If you leave out the egg, add 2 more tablespoons of buttermilk.

Buttermilk

• Buttermilk activates the baking soda, which causes the scones to rise. Additionally, this creates a soft crumb.
• Importantly, the buttermilk gives the scones a pleasant, light, tangy flavor.
• Substitute: If you’re out of buttermilk, it’s easy to make my buttermilk substitute.

Egg wash

• Egg wash (one egg mixed with 1 tablespoon of water or milk) brushed on the top of the scones makes them shiny and golden brown.
• Brush egg wash only on the tops of the scones. Using egg wash on the sides could keep the scones from rising.
• Substitute: You can use buttermilk instead.

How to Make Irish Soda Bread Scones

1. Prepare to bake: Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Mix the dry ingredients: In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and orange zest.
3. Add the butter: Rub the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry blender or your fingers until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

4. Whisk the wet ingredients: Whisk the egg and buttermilk together in a small bowl, then stir into the flour mixture.

5. Shape dough into a disk: Mix the dough very lightly until it just comes together, then transfer to the prepared baking sheet and shape into 7 inch (18 cm) disk, about 1-inch (3 cm) high.

6. Cut the scones: Cut into 8 wedges with a knife or a pastry cutter, giving about 1 inch of space between each scone. Brush the tops only with egg wash.

7. Bake and cool: Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to let cool before serving.

FULL (PRINTABLE) RECIPE BELOW!

Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips

• Use very cold butter and liquid in this recipe for the most tender scone.
• Handle the dough as little as possible when making any scone to keep them from being dense.
• Make my easy buttermilk substitute if you don’t have any on hand!
• For a heartier scone, you can replace up to half of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour.
• Bake these soda bread scones as soon as they’re made. For most scones, you can make and assemble them a day ahead of time, but because of the reaction time of the baking soda and buttermilk in this recipe, these scones need to be put in the oven immediately.
• Brush the tops only of these scones. Brushing the sides of these scones will keep them from rising well.

Make-Ahead and Storage Instructions

Make-ahead tips

• These scones are best enjoyed the day they’re baked, but they will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two days.
  • Re-warm the scones at 325°F (165°C) for 8-10 minutes.
• If you want to make the scones in advance, the dough actually freezes well. Make and shape the dough, wrap well, and place in a freezer bag, and freeze for up to eight weeks.
• Bake straight from frozen (they may need a few extra minutes in the oven). The scones are ready when they’re golden brown.

How to store leftovers

• Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two days.

Mix-Ins and Flavor Variations

• I love these scones on the simpler side, served with butter and my favorite jam, but if you’d like another layer of flavor, toss in ½ cup (2 ½ oz/71 g) of currants or raisins.
• For a little crunch, add 2 teaspoons of caraway seeds after you rub the butter in.
• Make these scones a little sweeter by mixing in 1/2 cup (2 1/2 oz/71 g) of diced, dried apple and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.
• For a savory twist, omit the sugar and orange zest and add 3/4 cup (2 1/4 oz/64 g) of grated sharp Irish cheddar cheese and 1 teaspoon of thyme.
• Sprinkle the tops with flaky sea salt.

FAQs

How do I make Irish Soda Bread Scones gluten-free?

• If you’re making gluten-free scones, you should let the dough rest for 10 minutes after mixing to hydrate the flour.
• Gluten-free scones are generally more crumbly and delicate than scones made with all-purpose flour.

How do I make sure my scones aren’t dry?

• Mix the dough only until shaggy—it should look somewhat rough and uneven, with visible streaks of butter. It should not look too smooth or elastic.
• Minimal handling of the dough will limit gluten development, keeping the crumb tender.
• Additionally, bringing the dough together with a light hand protects the carbon dioxide created by the buttermilk and baking soda reaction, which preserves the lift.

What do I do to get the best rise for these scones?

• Use very cold butter and buttermilk.
  • While baking, cold butter creates small steam pockets that make the scones lighter. This makes the scones rise instead of spreading out.
  • Cold buttermilk will delay the reaction with the baking soda slightly, preserving the gas until you put the scones in the oven.
• Don’t let the dough sit after mixing. You’ll lose the carbon dioxide gas that provides the lift.

More Scone Recipes

• Blackberry Scones
• Apple Cinnamon Scones
• Chocolate Scones
• Pizza Scones
• Chocolate Chip Scones

IMPORTANT NOTE: This recipe was improved and updated on 3/5/2026, to include a NEW step-by-step tutorial video. 

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