Here’s a complete recipe and video tutorial for hot & fresh homemade everything bagels. Skip the store-bought because bagels are easier than you think!
This recipe is brought to you in partnership with Red Star Yeast.
I dedicated the past month to homemade bagels. There are only so many ways to successfully make bagels, so I used a mix of kitchen-tested recipes as inspiration. I tested several recipes before figuring out what I like best. Never in 1 million years did I think I could EVER make New York bakery-style bagels in my own kitchen. It’s possible!
These everything bagels are:
- hot ‘n’ fresh
- extra chewy
- soft in the center
- golden brown
- complete with a salty, crunchy crust
Incredible plain, toasted, with cream cheese, as a turkey sandwich, topped with a fried egg, avocado, and so much more.
Homemade bagels aren’t difficult as long as you take your time. By the 2nd time you make them, you’ll breeze right through all the steps. I promise!
How to Make Homemade Everything Bagels
The first step is to prepare the bagel dough. There’s only 5 ingredients.
- Warm Water: Liquid for the dough.
- Yeast: Allows the dough to rise. I recommend an instant or active dry yeast. Red Star Yeast is my #1 choice. Reference this Baking with Yeast Guide whenever you work with baker’s yeast. I include practical answers to all of your common yeast questions.
- Bread Flour: A high protein flour is necessary for making bagels. We want a dense and chewy texture, not soft and airy like cinnamon rolls. Bread flour is the only solution!
- Brown Sugar: Bakeries use barley malt syrup to sweeten the bagel dough– it can be a little difficult to find, but brown sugar is a fine substitute. Read more in my recipe notes below.
- Salt: Flavor.
The bagel dough is a little dry, dense, and shaggy. This is perfectly normal and exactly what you’re looking for. It will come together as you knead it. I recommend kneading by hand because the dough is VERY heavy and could do damage to your mixer.
After the dough rises, it’s time to shape the bagels. First, divide the ball of dough into 8 equal parts. It does not have to be perfect! Some can be a little smaller than others. Smooth them out as best you can.
How to Shape Bagels
Shaping everything bagels is easier than it looks. Poke your finger through the center of the ball of dough. Make a hole about 1.5 – 2 inches large. That’s it! As you can see, mine aren’t totally perfect looking. Perfection is overrated and the bagels taste the same no matter how awesome they look. 😉
What is the Purpose a Bagel Water Bath?
The bagel water bath is the most crucial step in bagel making. Boil the shaped bagels for 1 minute on each side.
- Boiling bagels give the crust its beautiful shine. But looks aren’t everything. This shine is actually a result of the dough’s starches becoming gelatinized. Cooks Illustrated teaches us that these starches cook to a crisp, shiny coating in the oven.
- Boiling bagels cooks the outer layer of dough, which guarantees they’ll hold their shape when baking.
Honey: Add a little honey to the boiling water. Honey provides extra caramelization on the bagel crust. Barley malt syrup works too– see recipe notes below.
Everything Bagel Seasoning
Before baking, let’s top the bagels. Brush with a little egg white, then coat in everything bagel seasoning. This is a blend of poppy seeds, sesame seeds, dried minced onion, dried garlic flakes, and coarse salt. Feel free to use more of one seasoning than another, or leave one out if you don’t like it. Or use all poppy seeds, all sesame seeds, all coarse salt, etc. You can make so many bagel varieties from this homemade bagel recipe!
Highly recommended: Top homemade soft pretzels with this seasoning!!
Last step is to bake the bagels until golden brown perfection.
After you make the homemade everything bagels, you’ll realize how simple they are! The instructions look overwhelming, but I’m extra thorough so you have the best success. Save your money and make bagels at home!
More Homemade Bread Recipes
- Everything Bagel Pull Apart Bread
- Easy Jalapeño Cheddar Bread
- Homemade Biscuits
- Homemade Cinnamon Raisin Bagels
- Soft Pretzel Bites
Homemade Everything Bagels
- Prep Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 8 bagels
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Here’s a complete recipe and tutorial for hot & fresh homemade everything bagels. Skip the store-bought and bakery because bagels are easier than you think! Don’t skip the water bath and egg wash- both provide an extra chewy and golden brown crust.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (360ml) warm water (between 100-110°F, 38-43°C)
- 2 and 3/4 teaspoons instant or active dry yeast*
- 4 cups (520g) bread flour* (spoon & leveled)
- 1 Tablespoon packed light or dark brown sugar (or barley malt syrup)*
- 2 teaspoons salt
- coating the bowl: nonstick spray or 1 Tablespoon olive oil
Water Bath
- 2 quarts water
- 1/4 cup (85g) honey (or barley malt syrup)*
Topping
- 2 Tablespoons poppy seeds
- 2 Tablespoons sesame seeds
- 1 Tablespoon dried minced onion
- 1 Tablespoon dried garlic flakes
- 1 Tablespoon coarse salt
- egg wash: 1 egg white beaten with 1 Tablespoon water
Instructions
- Prepare the dough: Whisk the warm water and yeast together in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes.
- Add the flour, brown sugar, and salt. Beat on low speed for 2 minutes. The dough is very stiff and will look somewhat dry.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. With lightly floured hands, knead the dough for 6-7 minutes. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading. The dough is too heavy for the mixer to knead it.
- Lightly grease a large bowl with oil or nonstick spray. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 60-90 minutes or until double in size.
- Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Shape the bagels: When the dough is ready, punch it down to release any air bubbles. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. (Just eyeball it– doesn’t need to be perfect!) Shape each piece into a ball. Press your index finger through the center of each ball to make a hole about 1.5 – 2 inches in diameter. Watch video below for a visual. Loosely cover the shaped bagels with kitchen towel and rest for a few minutes as you prepare the water bath.
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C).
- Water bath: Fill a large, wide pot with 2 quarts of water. Whisk in the honey. Bring water to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-high. Drop bagels in, 2-4 at a time, making sure they have enough room to float around. Cook the bagels for 1 minute on each side.
- Combine the everything bagel seasoning ingredients together. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg wash on top and around the sides of each bagel. Dip into the everything bagel seasoning. Place 4 bagels onto each lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. You want the bagels to be a dark golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow bagels to cool on the baking sheets for 20 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Slice, toast, top, whatever you want! Cover leftover bagels tightly and store at room temperature for a few days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Overnight Make Ahead Instructions: Prepare the dough through step 4, but allow the dough to rise overnight in the refrigerator instead of at room temperature for 60-90 minutes. The slow rise gives the bagels wonderful flavor! In the morning, remove the dough from the refrigerator and let the dough rise for 45 minutes at room temperature. Continue with step 5. I don’t recommend shaping the bagels the night before as they may puff up too much overnight.
- Freezing Make Ahead Instructions: Baked bagels freeze wonderfully! Freeze them for up to 3 months, thaw overnight in the refrigerator or at room temperature, then warm to your liking. You can also freeze the bagel dough. After punching down the dough in step 6, wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap, then a layer of aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then punch the dough down again to release any air bubbles. Continue with the rest of step 6.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Stand Mixer | Baking Sheets | Parchment Paper or Silicone Baking Mats | Large Pot (such as a large 5.5 quart dutch oven) | Pastry Brush
- Yeast: Use instant or active dry yeast. If using active dry yeast, the rise time may be up to 2 hours. 1 standard packet is about 2 and 1/4 teaspoons, so you will need a little more than 1 packet of yeast. Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
- Bread Flour: Bagels require a high protein flour. Bread flour is a must. Here are all my recipes using bread flour if you want more recipes to use it up. All-purpose flour can be used in a pinch, but the bagels will taste flimsy and won’t be nearly as chewy.
- Barley Malt Syrup: This ingredient can be a little hard to find, but truly gives bagels that traditional malty flavor we all know and love. Most natural food stores carry it. I offer alternatives such as brown sugar in the dough and honey in the water bath; I’ve made bagels with these alternatives AND with barley malt syrup and honestly love both versions.
- Bread Machine: Place the dough ingredients into the pan of the machine. Program the machine to dough or manual, then start. After 9-10 minutes, the dough will be quite stiff. Allow the machine to complete its cycle, then continue with the recipe.
- Halve or Double: You can halve this dough recipe by simply halving all of the dough ingredients (do not halve the water or honey for the boiling step). No changes to the recipe instructions. For best taste and texture and to not overwhelm your mixer with excess heavy dough, I do not recommend doubling this dough recipe. Instead, make separate batches of dough.
- Adapted from a mix of recipes I’ve tried: King Arthur Flour, Cook’s Illustrated, and Complete Book of Breads
Keywords: everything bagels, bagels
Success and delicious! Thanks! I used this recipe as the first try of my bread machine! In the future I will make some smaller bagels maybe 12 smaller ones with this recipe. I’ll adjust the time accordingly when I bake it. I will also cut back on the salt in the topping some. Do you think I should adjust the boiling time at all?
★★★★★
The boiling time will be about the same for smaller bagels, though you can reduce by about 10 seconds or so.
Hello, I loved this recipe! I grew up in New England and always had fresh bagels they’re one of my favourite! Now I live in India and bagels are nowhere to be found, so glad to have found your recipe and decided to make them it was quite easy! I have one doubt, the onion and garlic flakes that I have available turned out burned by the end of the cook time, is it possible to do another egg wash and dip the bagels half way through, around when you turn the pan?
Hi Becca, we’re so glad to hear you enjoy our bagel recipe! You can try sprinkling the onion and garlic flakes on half-way through, or you can tent foil over the bagels to protect them and/or lower your oven rack. Hope this is helpful!
Hi Sally!
I absolutely love these I make them all the time. I can’t remember the last time I’ve eaten any other bagel!
When I make them they’re perfect. However once I store them weather it’s in a plastic bag for a few days or in the freezer they become wet on the outside. I don’t want to say slimy but I don’t know what word to use lol. They still taste great once they’re toasted. I’m just wondering if there is anything I can do to stop this from happening?
Thanks!!
Nikki
★★★★★
Hi Nikki! Make sure to cool the bagels completely before putting them in a plastic bag. It’s normal for them to get less crisp after the first day. Thank you so much for making these!
Fantastic recipe. I was super successful with it and had not tried a bagel recipe before. Nice and fluffy with a thin, crispy crust when toasted. Thanks so much!
★★★★★
Wupadoo! Tried these, first time ever – nailed. Fam went nuts.
So easy, and so amazing. Thank you, Sally.
★★★★★
Hi Sally- my three girls and I are big fans of your recipes! I recently saw some rainbow-colored bagels (they split the dough and then die it in pieces). Do you have any suggestions for this? I have no idea about how that would affect the resting time or anything else for that matter- any tips?? Thank you for all your inspiration!
Hi Cat, We don’t have a recipe for rainbow bagels but I have actually tried to make them in my own kitchen 🙂 When I tried to add the color to the dough after it was made the result was in overworked dough that was too tough. I have had luck adding color to the dough in step 3 of this bagel recipe when kneading the dough by hand. To do this you can make a few separate batches of dough, each a different color, and then stack and shape them (there are tons of videos online to show you how to do this). Let us know if you try it!
I just made these, and they are amazing! I used molasses in place of honey I’m the boiling water. Worked out perfectly.
★★★★★
Hi Sally, just finished making Cinnamon Raisin & Everything Bagels. Both were delicious! But I’m wondering why my Everythings didn’t come out smooth. Do you have an idea why?
I agree with the previous reviews that the dough is too wet with only 4 cups of flour. I spooned at least 5 or 6 heaping tablespoons while it was mixing in the stand mixer and it was still a lot moister than I expected. Some extra flour while kneaded it by hand helped. Otherwise great tasting bagels.
★★★
Hello! I just made these bagels today and they are amazing! The recipe was super easy to follow and the video helped out a lot. I don’t have a mixer so did it by hand which wasn’t too difficult at all. I will never buy bagels again. Can’t wait to try different variations of it.
Cheers-Sean
★★★★★
Hi, I made this recipe a little while ago and my family and I love bagels. I read the recipe and followed the recipe as written but I ran into one small issue. I boiled and then baked them for 25 minutes like you said but I found my bagels a little under cooked and not crusty enough. I put them in for longer and longer and longer, that it started to get tiring. Is there anything I can do to fix this? Adjust the temperature? The boil time? Anything? Other than that the bagels were great and I want to make them again.
Hi Sofia, so glad that you tried these homemade bagels. You can simply bake the bagels for a little longer to ensure they’re cooked through and so that they’ll have a crispier crust. I recommend another 3-4 minutes.
Thank you so much! I tried that along with boiling them for a half a minute longer and it worked
Hi Sally – can’t wait to try this recipe this weekend! Just one question, if I plan to make them the night before, do I let the dough rise till doubled in size (as in step 4), then put it in the fridge for the night before another 45 minute rise the next morning, or do I put the dough in the fridge immediately after putting the dough in the bowl the night before (omitting the rise but allowing it to rise the next morning)? Thank you!
Hi Anna, After placing the dough in the bowl and covering it, you can place it right in the fridge. It will slowly rise overnight, but will then still need about another 45 minutes at room temperature in the morning. Enjoy!
Hey Sally! My first batch came out flat too – I think it was because you list 4 cups of flour as 500g but it’s actually 600g. With only 500g the dough is too wet.
This was my first attempt at bagels. They came out pretty flat. Should I let them proof for a bit before boiling them? Or did I go wrong somewhere? I also have a question about egg wash. Whenever I make something with an egg wash, it makes its way underneath and forms a gross burnt, crusty egg layer on the bottom. How do I stop that?
Hi Max, For the collapsed/flat bagels– there are 4 things I would look at if you decide to try the recipe again. First, make sure that you’re using enough flour in the dough. You may want to add another couple Tablespoons to create a stronger dough. Second, make sure the dough isn’t over-proofing during that first rise. The dough will deflate if it rises for too long. Third, don’t overwork the bagel dough at any time. Fourth, make sure you aren’t boiling the bagels for too long. See if slightly shortening the time in the boiling water helps– it should. (Try 30 seconds each side.)
For the egg wash try using less (just lightly brush the tops) so that it doesn’t drip down too much. I hope this all helps!
Hi! Is there anything I can use to replace the egg wash because of allergies? Thanks!
★★★★★
Hi Preet, A brush of water or milk works in its place.
Hi Preet, a brush of water or milk works in its place.
Just finished making a batch of bagels and they turned out great. I just had one for lunch with some lox and it was delicious. I will definitely be making this recipe again. The recipe is easy to follow and I was very impressed.
★★★★★
Taste great, but they’re still looking more like pretzels.
Kinda flat looking
I made these with 1/4 wheat flour and 3/4 white flour and they were great! I do think the wheat flour made the dough a little more dry and crumbly so the surface wasn’t very smooth but cracked, so next time I’d add a little more water but the taste was delicious!
★★★★★
Looking forward to making these. Can I use my hand mixer I don’t have a standing mixer
Thank you
Hi Arlene, the dough is too heavy for a hand mixer. You can stir it together with a wooden spoon though, then knead by hand.
I’ve made these a handful of times now and they are incredible! My favorite topping to use is shredded cheddar cheese and jalapeños! One question on the dry toppings though, every time I try to do a different variation – freshly minced garlic or dried minced onion, the toppings seem to burn. Any suggestions?
They looked great but the bottoms stuck to the parchment paper. I had to pick it off and cut some spot cause the paper was so stubbornly on. Maybe too wet after soaking them in the bath water? Maybe next time spray the paper with cooking spray?
★★★★
Hi Maurels, coating the parchment with a light spray of nonstick spray will help for next time. I’m glad you enjoyed these and thank you for reporting back!
Hi Sally! I loved this recipe and my
bagels came out great. However, they were a little tough. Any suggestions for how to fix this next time around? I baked them for 20 minutes. Thanks!
Hi Alex, Next time, try lowering the oven temperature and rotating the pan halfway through bake time. Also, if you find the bottoms are more tough, wait for the bagels to somewhat dry before baking as that would be the water from the boiling step that is burning on the bottoms.
OMG! So much fun to make and so delicious. I made them using the overnight instructions…fresh warm bagels in the morning!
★★★★★
I have made this 2 times, measuring the flour on a scale and it is wayyyyy too wet. Second time I added an additional cup or more of flour. Dough is very difficult to work with.
Can I mix the everything seasoning into the dough?
I can’t see why not!
These bagels were very good. This recipe is not difficult. I will definitely make them again.
Thank yu.
★★★★★
I’ve been baking since I was a kid, and I can say with complete honestly these bagels were the best thing I’ve ever baked in my life. I am a bagel connoisseur, and eating these bagels truly was a hole-y experience. They are soft and delicate on the inside, and sweet and chewy on the outside from the honey bath. 1,000 times better (and fresher!) than anything you could get in a bagel shop. I ate 2 of them right out of the oven and didn’t even have a chance to add cream cheese. A few words of advice: I ended up making 10 bagels from the dough, and if I were to do it again I might increase that to 12, they were pretty big still. A wondering: my bagels nearly got burned (very dark in color) on the bottom side, is there any way to avoid that?
★★★★★
Hi Alisa, I’m so glad that you enjoy these homemade bagels. Truly one of my favorites. The darker bottoms can easily be fixed with your next batch by making a few adjustments in your oven. First, try baking the bagels on a lower oven rack to help promote more even baking. Second, make sure you’re not using a dark metal pan. Finally, you can try lowering the oven temperature and baking for longer (which ALWAYS helps) so the bagels can cook a little more evenly all around.
Can’t wait to make these. But I completely forgot the brown sugar! Will honey or granulated sugar work as a sub?
Hi Jess, regular sugar or honey work as a replacement for the brown sugar in this dough.
Made this twice and It turned out even better the second time. I don’t have a stand mixer so if you’re doing It by hand, it’s SO much easier if you add the flour 1 cup at a time. The last cup split in 1/2 and start mixing with hand. The other 1/2 put on flour surface and just fold and rotate over and over again for 10-15 minutes. I also undercooked just a bit so they were still nice and soft for days. I used Trader Joe’s everything bagel seasoning. Going to see if I can turn these into bagel bites.
★★★★★
I’m from NY and now living in Canada, and I haven’t been able to find bagels to do my city ANY justice. This recipe is just what I was looking for! They bake up very close to NY bagels. My favourite bagels are egg-everything, so the second time I made these, I reduced the water and added in some egg yolks. Perfect!
★★★★★