Learn how to make homemade blueberry bagels completely from scratch. These bagels are chewy on the outside, soft and dense on the inside, and packed with real blueberries. Taste testers said they were the most flavorful blueberry bagels they’d ever had, and we agree—just look at their gorgeous color!
There’s nothing quite like a fresh bagel, especially when it’s warm from the oven, lightly crisp on the outside, and packed with blueberries inside! These homemade blueberry bagels are soft, very chewy, subtly sweet, and boast a gorgeous, naturally violet hue. Best of all, they’re made with simple, real ingredients and the dough can be prepped ahead.
My team and I tested these blueberry bagels many times over the past 2 months to get the texture just right: not too dense, not too bready, and never gummy. The key is a sturdy yet soft dough, a quick boil before baking, and plenty of blueberries in every bite. This was a tall order!
If you’ve ever made homemade bagels, the process will be familiar to you. And if this is your first time, let me assure you: this recipe is very doable, even for beginners.
Yeast Beginners: Start Here
Reference this Baking with Yeast Guide whenever you work with baker’s yeast. I include practical answers to all of your common yeast questions.
Ingredients You Need:
- Fresh or Frozen Blueberries: We’ll flavor and tint the dough with a homemade blueberry reduction. Something similar to this blueberry sauce topping, but not as thick. For the reduction, you can use fresh or frozen blueberries; I use frozen, which are convenient and available year round.
- Granulated Sugar: You’ll need to divide it in half; cook half with the blueberries, and add the remaining half to the yeast and water.
- Warm Water: Liquid for the dough.
- Yeast: Allows the dough to rise. I recommend an instant or active dry yeast.
- Vanilla: A teaspoon of vanilla extract complements and enhances the blueberry flavor.
- Dried Blueberries: Look for the kind that are chewy, like raisins or dried cranberries. We haven’t tested these bagels with freeze-dried blueberries.
- Bread Flour: A high-protein flour is necessary for bagels. We want a dense and chewy texture, not soft and flaky like homemade cinnamon rolls.
- Salt: Can’t make flavorful bread without it!
Step-by-Step: How to Make Blueberry Bagels
Cook the fresh or frozen blueberries with a little sugar until they break down into a loose sauce, about 10 minutes. You should have 1/2 cup (about 130g); do not use more than that in the dough. Let it cool slightly before adding it to the dough (too much heat can kill the yeast).
The blueberry reduction will be looser/thinner than a jam, and even thinner than blueberry sauce topping. This is what you’re going for:
Whisk together the remaining sugar, warm water, and yeast. Cover and let it sit for about 5–10 minutes until foamy and frothy. Mix in the remaining dough ingredients, including the cooled blueberry mixture and dried blueberries, until a dense, slightly tacky dough forms. If it feels dry, add more water, 1 teaspoon at a time.
Knead the dough by hand or use a stand mixer. (Need help? I have a full visual guide in my How to Knead Dough tutorial.)
After the dough has been kneaded, cover it and let it rise until about doubled in size, about 2 hours:
How to Shape Blueberry Bagels
Punch down the dough, then divide it into 8 sections and shape into bagels. If you have a food scale, it’s helpful here for dividing the dough evenly. Our bagels each weighed around 130g.
Poke a hole through the center and gently stretch to about 1.5–2 inches wide. They don’t need to be perfect!
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 them their 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!
Once your bagels are boiled and egg-washed, they’re ready for the oven! Bake until these purple beauties darken on top to a deep golden-brown shade.
Homemade blueberry bagels are one of those baking projects that feel extra rewarding, because they taste infinitely better than store-bought. Slice, toast, slather with cream cheese, enjoy plain… however you like them, they’re always a win.
Homemade Blueberry Bagels
- Prep Time: 2 hours, 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 26 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours, 10 minutes
- Yield: 8 bagels
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These homemade blueberry bagels are wonderfully chewy on the outside, soft and dense on the inside, and packed with real blueberries. The dough is flavored with a quick stovetop blueberry sauce and chewy dried blueberries. Made completely from scratch with simple ingredients and unbeatable flavor! Make-ahead and freezing instructions included below.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (about 200g) fresh or frozen blueberries
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar, divided
- 1 cup (240g/ml) warm water (between 100–110°F/38–43°C)
- 1 Tablespoon instant or active dry yeast*
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup (120g) dried blueberries
- 3 and 3/4 cups (488g) bread flour (spooned & leveled), plus more as needed*
- 2 teaspoons salt
- for coating the bowl: nonstick spray or 2 teaspoons butter or olive oil
For Boiling & Topping
- 2 quarts (1.9L) water
- 1/4 cup (85g) honey or barley malt syrup
- egg wash: 1 egg white beaten with 1 Tablespoon water
Instructions
- Cook the blueberries: Place the blueberries and half of the sugar (2 Tbsp/25g) in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring with a silicone spatula, until you have a blueberry sauce, a little thinner than a jam, about 10 minutes. You should have around 1/2 cup of sauce, or about 130g. Pour into a heat-proof bowl and let cool slightly (to about 110°F or cooler). Feel free to speed it up by placing it in the refrigerator while you continue.
- Prepare the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment, whisk the warm water, remaining 2 Tablespoons of sugar, and yeast together. Cover and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes until foamy and frothy on the surface. *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.*
- To the yeast mixture, add 1/2 cup (130g) of the slightly cooled blueberry sauce (do not exceed that amount), followed by the vanilla extract, dried blueberries, 1 cup of the bread flour, and the salt, then beat on medium speed until incorporated. Add the remaining flour 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. If it is dry or 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 6–8 minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 6–8 minutes, until the dough feels smooth 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.
- 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 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 130g each. Shape each piece into a ball. Press your index finger through the center of each ball and stretch to create a bagel shape with a hole 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 honey or barley malt syrup. 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.
- Bake for 26–30 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through, until the bagels have lightly browned. Allow the bagels to cool on the baking sheets for 20 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Slice, toast, top, whatever you want! Cover leftover bagels tightly and store at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. You can freeze them for up to 3 months.
Notes
- Overnight Make-Ahead Instructions: Prepare the dough through step 5, 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 6. I don’t recommend shaping the bagels the night before as they will 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 7, wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap, then a layer of aluminum foil—or seal it tightly in a freezer bag. 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 7.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Small Saucepan | Stand Mixer | Baking Sheets | Parchment Paper or Silicone Baking Mats | Food Scale | 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 slightly longer. 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.
- Dried Blueberries: Look for the kind that are chewy, like raisins or dried cranberries. You can skip them if needed, but they add concentrated blueberry flavor and chewy texture. Without them, the bagels will be milder in flavor. We haven’t tested these bagels with freeze-dried blueberries.
- 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 be flimsy and not 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.
- 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.
Reader Comments and Reviews
These blueberry bagels were a huge hit. It was worth the time and the extra steps of making the blueberry sauce. So delicious toasted with cream cheese! Will be making again!
These were very easy to make. I made two batches because my family loves bagels.
Thank you so much for giving these bagels a try, Jennifer!
Used the overnight rise method and they came out great. Crispy on the outside and perfectly chewy! Delicious!
These bagels are so good. I used the overnight method and they turned out perfect. I will definitely make these again.
Made the bagels with my daughter. It was so much fun making them and designing the photo for the baking contest (S is for Sally ;)). I don’t think I kneaded the dough enough since it was quite firm but they still came out good — both chewy on the inside and crunchy on the outside. It is our first time making bagels and My husband thinks they are great so I think it was a success. We used the extra blueberry compote as the jam to put on the bagel. I think I’ll make it again in the future and try to knead it longer and see if it comes out a little less chewy.
Thanks so much for giving these a try, Lissa!
Delicious bagels! Easy to follow recipe! Love that they are naturally flavored! Definitely would make them again! 24 minutes in oven was perfect.
I used the over night instructions to make these bagels, and they turned out great. I did have a little bit of trouble finding dried blueberries, but my family loved the flavor so I think it was worth the extra effort. Will make again!
Bursting with flavor and a great texture!
These bagels are delicious! They have a beautiful color and strong blueberry flavor. Very easy to follow recipe. Dough came together perfectly. My family really enjoyed these!!
These bagels were very flavorful! The bottoms of my bagels were a little overdone, so I took them out in 25 minutes. Always look forward to eating them for breakfast!
Just had to add the 5 stars which was forgotten below. 5 ++
Thank you again for inspiring me to Bagel Bake
These bagels are so tasty! I used frozen blueberries for the sauce and ended up with extra, which was delicious mixed with some cream cheese to top my bagel. My family raved about how yummy they are. I will definitely be baking these again very soon.
Amazing!
Definitely a labor of love but the end result is delicious and full of bright blueberry flavor. Perfect for showing a blueberry lover that they are extra special.
I made these today for the monthly challenge recipe. I have NEVER thought to attempt Bagels at home, but Sally you always inspire me to try new baking techniques.
So much fun to make!. I used fresh blueberries instead of frozen and the dried Blueberries in the dough.
They just came out of the oven and smell SO GOOD!
So happy I made these and my husband can’t wait to try them for breakfast in the morning. Thank you!!
Noticed I forgot to rate this Bagel recipe so wanted to add the 5 stars. We loved these bagels! Now I’m feeling confident in making the Bagels from the cookbook! Definitely watch the timing on the bake. Mine needed to come out sooner, at 20 minutes. YUM
So tasty-I ate one right away. I have never made bagels before and following the instructions made it so easy. The bagels are a great color and delicious- I will make these again. Soon!
*Update* – These burned at the 22 minute mark. I would advise checking often after rotating pans. I also think flipping the bagels may help as well in preventing burning. I wish I had known and checked them out around 18 minutes.
Sorry to hear these burnt, Mary Ellen. One of our best recommendations for next time would be to use an oven thermometer to ensure your oven is baking at the correct temperature. Many ovens run a little (or a lot!) off.
Very delicious and fun recipe. We had a little trouble with the bottoms being to dark. We reduced the temp to 400 and reduced the time a little and that helped.
Really delicious! and honestly not that hard if you follow the instructions. I didn’t feel like my dough totally came together right (it felt very sticky) but they still came out super tasty so I think it is very forgiving! The blueberry flavor is nice and they aren’t too sweet. We made some cinnamon cream cheese for topping and they were delicious!
These bagels are delicious! Popping with blueberry flavor. I loved using the blueberry syrup and dried berries. They were easy to prepare as well!
This is the supreme blueberry bagel recipe. The texture is perfectly chewy, the flavor full of blueberry flavor. I will definitely make these again. I am an experienced bagel baker and had no issues with the dough, it was an easy one to work with. I made 12 smaller rather than 8 larger bagels.
These were easy to make even though I was nervous about the blueberry sauce part! Still need more work on my shaping but didn’t impede the taste! Just the right amount of sweet inside. My son loved them!
This was my first time making bagels from scratch, and I feel so successful after reading Sally’s detailed instructions. Though mine aren’t as pretty, they were chewy just how I like my bagels. My kids gobbled up a bagel with cream cheese, even my kiddo who doesn’t like blueberries. I used a dry mixed berry pack since I couldn’t find just dried blueberries, but it worked out fine!
My first time making bagels and thanks to Sally’s easy to follow instructions I’d say it was a success! The taste and smell of these bagels are amazing- you’ll never buy store bought again!
So fun to make! The recipe doesn’t take a lot of active time so you put the ingredients together and let the dough do its thing. Shaping the bagels was easier than I expected and they came out of the oven golden and smelling delicious!
The blueberry bagels are easy to make and taste amazing!
Another winning recipe, these were delicious and the recipe was very easy to follow! They were chewy and sweet, but not overly sweet and I’m obsessed with the purple color that I achieved using the blueberry sauce! Highly recommend, will be trying out more bagel recipes soon!
Great recipe for a Saturday baking challenge! I couldn’t find dried blueberries at my grocery store so just used the frozen blueberries cooked down to flavor the dough but still worked great!
I was always nervous to try a bagel recipe, but everything was laid out so well that it was easy! They turned out so good, that my husband and I couldn’t wait until the morning and instead ate one right away. Amazing flavor!! Will definitely be making more bagels in the future!
These were delicious!
-The bottom ones burned. I would check after 15 minutes with a temperature probe next time.
They reminded me of making homemade pretzels.
Absolutely fabulous! Crispy, chewy, sweet and delicious! So much blueberry flavor, they pop in your mouth! The recipe works perfectly, as usual. Once again Sally hits it out of the park.
These bagels were so easy! I made the overnight version and it was an incredible feeling to wake up and shortly after have fresh bagels! I subbed the dried blueberries for cranberries and that was just as amazing! Thank you Sally!