This easy homemade bagels recipe proves that you can make deliciously chewy bagels in your own kitchen with only a few basic ingredients and baking tools! Watch the video tutorial before you get started.
Today I’m teaching you how to make homemade bagels with only a few basic ingredients and kitchen tools. Today you’re going to tackle any fears of yeast-bread baking—and I’m right here to guide you along! This recipe is such a fan favorite that I included it in my New York Times best-selling cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
Bagels, crème brûlée, soft pretzels, and French macarons. What do these foods have in common? Each seem really complicated to make at home. That’s why you’ll often find them on your baking bucket list. But secretly, they couldn’t be easier. Homemade bagels taste fresher, are cheaper, and you’ll earn the bragging rights for from-scratch baking. (P.S. Each of those recipes has a video tutorial!)
Bagels Require a Lean Dough
The first step is to make the bagel dough. You need only 5 ingredients:
- Warm Water: Liquid for the dough.
- Yeast: Allows the dough to rise. I recommend an instant or active dry yeast.
- Barley Malt Syrup or Sugar: Bakeries use barley malt syrup to sweeten the bagel dough—it can be a little difficult to find, but either white or brown sugar is a fine substitute.
- Bread Flour: A high-protein flour is necessary for bagels. We want a dense and chewy texture, not soft and airy like cinnamon rolls. Bread flour is the only solution!
- Salt: Flavor.
Notice how there is no fat? This is called a lean dough. Lean dough is ideal for recipes like focaccia, pizza dough, artisan bread, and cranberry nut no-knead bread. Breads like dinner rolls and homemade breadsticks, and sweet bread, such as cinnamon rolls, include fat for richness and flavor.
You can prepare and knead the dough with a stand mixer or by hand. If you’d like a visual of how to knead the dough by hand, you can watch the full video tutorial in my post on How to Knead Dough.
After the dough has been kneaded, let it rise for 60–90 minutes. Punch it down, then divide into 8 sections and shape into bagels.
How to Shape Bagels
Shaping bagels is easier than it looks. Poke your finger through the center of the ball of dough, then use 2 fingers to widen the hole to about 1.5–2 inches. That’s it! I don’t really do anything fancy and the bagels don’t need to be perfect. Mine never are!
Bagel Water Bath
Bagels must cook for 1 minute on each side in a pot of boiling water. This is actually the most important step in the whole recipe. Why?
- Boiling the bagels gives the bagel its beautiful shine. But looks aren’t everything—this shine is actually a result of the dough’s starches gelatinizing which creates a crisp, shiny coating. I learned this from Cooks Illustrated.
- Boiling bagels cooks the outer layer of dough, which guarantees they’ll hold their shape in the oven.
Add honey or barley malt syrup to the water bath. Why? The sugar adds extra caramelization and crisp. Brushing the boiled bagels with egg wash does the same. Don’t skip either!
Homemade Bagel Varieties
- Plain Bagels: Follow the recipe below. These are excellent as the base for breakfast casserole.
- Cinnamon Raisin Bagels: Follow my cinnamon raisin bagels recipe.
- Everything Bagels: Follow my everything bagels recipe.
- Blueberry Bagels: Follow my blueberry bagels recipe.
- Sesame Seed Bagels: Use 1/3 cup sesame seeds. After brushing with egg wash in step 9, top with or dunk each bagel into topping. Use more as needed.
- Poppy Seed Bagels: Use 1/3 cup poppy seeds. After brushing with egg wash in step 9, top with or dunk each bagel into topping. Use more as needed.
- Salt Bagels: Use 1/3 cup coarse sea salt. After brushing with egg wash in step 9, top with or dunk each bagel into topping. These are pretty salty, so feel free to go lighter on the salt.
- Cheese Bagels (Asiago, Cheddar, etc.): Add 1/2 cup of shredded cheese to the dough when you add the flour. After brushing with egg wash in step 9, sprinkle with extra cheese.
- Cinnamon Crunch Bagels: Add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the dough recipe below when you add the salt. Double the cinnamon crunch topping from cinnamon crunch bread. After brushing the bagels with the egg wash in step 9 below, spoon cinnamon crunch topping on each.
Some readers have used this bagel recipe to make whole wheat bagels by replacing half of the bread flour with whole wheat flour. I haven’t tried it, but I do use some whole wheat flour when making homemade English muffins, another breakfast staple!
Homemade Bagels Recipe
- Prep Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 8 bagels
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Make fresh bagels right at home with this tested dough recipe. Don’t skip the water bath and egg wash—both provide an extra chewy and golden brown crust. This recipe is also in my cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (360g/ml) warm water (between 100–110°F/38–43°C)
- 2 and 3/4 teaspoons (8g) instant or active dry yeast*
- 1 Tablespoon barley malt syrup, granulated sugar, or brown sugar*
- 4 cups (520g) bread flour (spooned & leveled), plus more as needed*
- 2 teaspoons salt
- for coating the bowl: nonstick spray, butter, or oil
For Boiling & Topping
- 2 quarts (1.9L) water
- 1/4 cup (85g) barley malt syrup or honey
- egg wash: 1 egg white beaten with 1 Tablespoon water
Instructions
- Prepare the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment, whisk the warm water, barley malt syrup/sugar, and yeast together. Cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes. *If you don’t have a stand mixer, use a large mixing bowl and mix the dough with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula in the next step.*
- Add the flour and salt, and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. If it seems too sticky and clings to the sides of the bowl instead of forming a rough mass around the dough hook or spoon, add more flour, 1 Tablespoon at a time, and continue to mix until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. The dough should be stiff and somewhat dry. If it is crumbly and breaks off in pieces, add more water, 1 teaspoon at a time, mixing well after each addition.
- Knead the dough: When the dough has reached the proper consistency, beat on low speed with the dough hook for an additional 6–7 minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 6–7 minutes, until the dough feels smooth, supple, and elastic. (If you’re new to bread-making, my How to Knead Dough video tutorial can help here.) If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surface/in the bowl to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need because you do not want a dry dough. 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. You can also do a “windowpane test” to see if your dough has been kneaded long enough: tear off a small (roughly golfball-size) piece of dough and gently stretch it out until it’s thin enough for light to pass through it. Hold it up to a window or light. Does light pass through the stretched dough without the dough tearing first? If so, your dough has been kneaded long enough and is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading until it passes the windowpane test.
- Lightly grease a large bowl with nonstick spray, butter, or oil. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 1.5–2 hours, or until doubled in size.
- Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Shape the bagels: When the dough is risen, punch it down to release the air. On a lightly floured surface, divide the dough into 8 equal pieces, about 4 ounces (113g) each. Shape each piece into a ball. Press your index finger through the center of each ball to make a hole, then stretch and widen the hole to about 1.5–2 inches in diameter. Arrange the shaped bagels on the prepared baking sheets. Loosely cover the shaped bagels with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let them rest for 5–10 minutes as you prepare the water bath.
- Preheat the oven to 425°F (218°C).
- Water bath: Fill a large, wide pot with 2 quarts (1.9L) of water. Whisk in the barley malt syrup or honey. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-high. Drop 2 or 3 bagels in at a time, making sure they have enough room to float around. Boil the bagels for 1 minute, then use a spatula to flip each bagel over and boil for 1 minute more. Using a slotted metal spatula, lift the bagels out of the water, letting the excess water drain off. Place the bagels back on the lined baking sheets. Repeat with remaining bagels.
- Using a pastry brush, brush the egg wash on top and around the sides of each bagel. If you’re adding toppings, dip the tops of the bagels into the toppings immediately after applying the egg wash.
- Bake for 20–25 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through, until the bagels are dark golden brown. Allow the bagels to cool on the baking sheets for 20 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Slice, toast, top, enjoy however you want! Cover leftover bagels tightly and store at room temperature for up to 4 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. 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 5- or 6-quart Dutch Oven) | Pastry Brush
- Yeast: Use instant or active dry yeast. If using active dry yeast, the rise time may be closer 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.
- 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 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.
- 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.
- Bagel Varieties: See blog post above for various add-ins and toppings. Note that the toppings are added after the egg wash in step 9. Some readers have used this bagel recipe to make whole wheat bagels by replacing half of the bread flour with whole wheat flour. I haven’t tried it, but let me know if you do!
- 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
Reader Comments and Reviews
This is one of the best bagel recipes out there. Simple and delicious. Had our N.J. friend visiting to N.W.MT., and she said they’re better than what she loved in New Jersey…lol
Hi Sally, loved the recipe. Bagels came out better than I expected. What variations can I make as most in my family do not like toppings
I loved the chocolate chip Cookies made them for my grandson
Love this. I knead in my mixer, and the bagels come out great. I have arm/hand issues. I have loved every recipe I have tried here. Thank you!!
Do you have nice carrot-cake-recipe.
Hi Christine, yes we do! Carrot cake recipe
Loved the Bagel recipe,I make it
frequently for my grandsons lunchbox
Instead of baking, can I put them in my air fryer?
We haven’t tested that!
I wish I could show how beautiful these come out! Only thing I do is instead of a honey bath I use some malt beer and dark brown sugar. Gives it a super amazing aroma.
Loved this!
I used your recipe for my first attempt at making a homemade bread. The bagels turned out amazing, I also used some to wrap sandwich sized smoked sausages. Turned out amazing. Thank you for the easy to follow recipes. Also appreciate the cook mode button to keep my phone awake.
Do you bake both pans at the same time? If so, should I rotate them on different racks midway? If they need to baked separate, should I cover the pan of bagels while the others are baking?
Hi Carol, we usually bake both at the same time – rotate the pans once while baking. Enjoy!
What a great recipe! My family and I love these. I have made them 3x in the last 2 weeks. The only thing I have trouble with is they are always on the thin side. Is this normal or am I doing something wrong? What do you suggest?
Is this normal or am I not letting them rest enough before boiling?
Hi Sharon, we’re so glad you’re enjoying these! Is your dough doubling in size during the rising stage? Yeast recipes/breads will deflate if the dough has risen/proofed too long. Our baking with yeast guide may be a helpful resource as well! Hope that helps for next time!
My kids have an egg allergy – any tips on replacing the egg wash? Thanks!
Hi Courtney, instead of egg wash, you can brush them with some nondairy milk before baking. Enjoy!
My family and I love this bagel recipe. We particularly love the cinnamon crunch recipe. Our only problem is that they get wet when sealed tightly. Any recommendations?
Hi Samantha, leaving the bag/container open just a crack will help prevent excess moisture. So glad your family loves these bagels!
The best one so far!!!
Excellent! I’ve been craving bagels but the store bought ones have so much junk in them. Thank you for making a recipe that was easy to follow and actually enjoyable! My whole family loved them!
Fantastic recipe! I watched the video prior to making the bagels, and it helped a lot. They are seriously better than any bagels I have ever tasted. Thank you!!
I was always terrified of making bagels from scratch. Well any bread for that matter. We have a local bagel shop in town that makes theirs every morning and they are delicious. After a quick google search on how to make homemade bagels i stumbled upon this recipe. I didn’t realize how easy this is! I have made this recipe 3 times in the past 3 days!! I made a jalapeño cheddar bagel. I added the cheddar cheese to the dough and after putting the egg wash on i sprinkled with more cheese and topped with jalapeños. Soooo good!!!
I have made this recipe a couple of times now, and having been a chef for almost 20 years I would just like to add one piece of my own personal advice, add the sugar with the yeast because it gives the yeast a much better bloom 🙂
I have made these multiple times. They are delicious. I only boil 30 seconds per side as they were too tough for us otherwise. So, I would like to make blueberry bagels. Can I just add them in or do I need to make changes?
Hi Anna, for blueberry bagels, you can add dried blueberries in when we add the raisins in our Cinnamon Raisin Bagels. So glad you enjoy these!
Do I bake both pans at the same tome?
Hi Roger, yes if you have the room! Make sure to rotate the pans once during baking.
This recipe and video were very easy to follow. The texture and consistency of the bagel is spot on. My technique for shaping bagels definitely needs improvement! I thin next time I will make 6 bagels instead of 8, as I like a bigger bagel. Thank you for sharing your recipe!
I found your recipe a couple years ago. I had an online food science class and one of the assignments was making bagels. I’ve been using your recipe as written ever since. I use barley malt instead of brown sugar both in the dough and in my water bath. These bagels are so good even after being frozen and reheated they taste like they were just made. I have tried and looked at other bagel recipes but your recipe is the best and as a chef my standard bagel recipe.
If I had known it was this straightforward to make great-tasting bagels at home I would’ve started much sooner. Great recipe, thanks! (I threw baking soda into the honey-water boil but otherwise unaltered). Looking forward to trying new batches / varieties
Found recipe ten days ago and this is fifth batch of bagels I’ve made with ease and consistent results. Thanks
This recipe was amazing! The whole fam loved it! It tasted great without all the usual preservatives. Just to note, when I took them out of the pot, it was dripping wet so I took a paper towel and dabbed it on top of the bagel, to soak up al that water. Was this the right move? Or should I have left it? Either way, these were delicious and gone within seconds!
Hi Celine! That certainly doesn’t hurt. So glad you enjoyed them.
Hi Sally and fellow bakers,
I make bagels with this recipe every few months, and I do have good luck with the dough and boiling process. My issue is always with the formation. No matter what I do, I have cracks on the bottom of the dough. I’ve tried pinching it together, rolling a tight ball, but nothing works. It’s just never smooth. Any tips? I hope this makes sense 🙂
Hi Carla, Thank you for trying this recipe. If your dough is splitting and cracking you could be using too much flour in your dough. How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
Thank you! Yes, I do spoon and level. I do not have a scale, however. Perhaps I’ll look into buying one. Thanks again 🙂
This is such a quick, easy recipe. I am new to baking and the way everything is broken down with possible substitutes really helped. I have now baked several batches using this recipe, even the kids (3 and 2 year olds) love helping! We usually make a batch of 6 big bagels instead of 8 (which are decent sized), and a batch of the 8 sized ones. My husband usually doesn’t get much time for lunch at work, and has found one giant bagel is enough to keep him satisfied until dinner. While it isn’t cheaper than the store brands coin for coin, they are way more filling and taste 1,000 times better, making their overall value better. We have tried a few different flavors, and this recipe just never disappoints!
In addition to my previous review just posted, in the cinnamon raisin recipe, I added the cinnamon and granulated sugar to the dough in the bread machine before starting the dough cycle. Amazing recipe!
I made these with all purpose flour and they are still amazing!
Amazing bagels! I made the cinnamon raisin recipe. I put all the ingredients, except raisins, into my bread machine on the dough cycle. I added the raisins after about 10 minutes. When the dough cycle was done, I just put the dough on a lightly floured surface, divided into 8 pieces, and finished the recipe as written. VERY good and easy!
Is anyone else finding that the dough won’t stick to itself? As I tried to shape them, the dough would not attach to itself, and the boiling water just helped them to puff up and come apart. They are in the oven now, but I’m not sure they are worth saving. I’m so confused.
Hi Rebekah! Did you shape the bagels as instructed above? Also make sure not to measure too much flour in the dough, which could make the dough dry. Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.