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 are very tasty blueberry bagels. I have never made bagels before and found it to be easier than expected. I would like to know if there’s any way to make them a little less tough to chew. Maybe I just need practice.
Following Sally’s Blueberry Bagel recipe couldn’t be easier! This was my first time making bagels, and they turned out perfect. Even my Jersey-bagel snob partner loved these bagels!
I just made these today and they turned out fabulous! I’ve attempted to make blueberry bagels in the past and failed, so I decided to give this recipe a try and I’m so glad I did. Also, a bonus is how pretty the dough is : )
I have never made bagels before, so I was a bit intimidated approaching this recipe. However, they were surprisingly not that difficult to make. You definitely get the blueberry flavor, and they taste so much better than store-bought bagels!
These were so easy to make. I did an overnight rise in the fridge and it really helped develop the flavor of the dough!
I love blueberry bagels and these were so easy to make and turned out delicious! I made the dough the night before which simplified it even more 🙂
This recipe was perfect! Super easy to follow as well. Love how deep purple the bagels turned out. I didn’t have dried blueberries so I left them out and they still packed a big blueberry punch! Thanks for all your easy to follow recipes Sally!!
This was a fun baking project! I did not have bread flour on hand so I used all-purpose flour. The bagels were the best I have ever had. They had a lovely crispy exterior and a soft, chewy interior. Thank you for the excellent recipe!
Great recipe!
These bagels are incredible! I have baked Sally’s Bagels in the past but these are another level of amazing. I loved having both the fresh blueberry sauce with the chunky blueberries and also the dried blueberries that add a touch of sweetness and a nice bite to them. I use the extra blueberry sauce to mix into cream cheese to smear them with blueberry cream cheese and it was delightful! Thank you Sally for another amazing recipe!
I baked my bagels for 26 minutes as the recipe states and they came out burnt on the bottom. I cannot express how disappointed I am. The blueberry flavor is good, but it wasn’t worth the effort and time spent on this recipe to end up with burnt bottoms and a very chewy bagel.
They’re delicious. The texture is great, with a crunchy crust and lots of flavor inside. I thought cooking them would be more complicated, but it was actually very easy to make them, and I’ll definitely do it again!
These were fine, but not amazing given the extra work of reducing blueberries, etc. I thought they were a little too sweet. Also, I’d probably prefer the dried blueberries to be a bit smaller so they dispersed more evenly throughout the dough.
This is a great easy recipe.
What a fun project! I too found that my bagels baked too quickly – after about 21 minutes at 425, a couple were quite dark. Next time I will keep a closer eye on them and/or reduce the heat to 400. These have a great flavor and texture.
Thank you to the commenter who mentioned that they used the leftover blueberry sauce to make blueberry cream cheese! We did this and it was delicious!
Absolutely loved making these blueberry bagels, the recipe was very detailed and made it very easy and the flavor is amazing!!
Next time, I’ll cut the sugar back but otherwise they are really good for my first time making bagels. They weren’t very pretty but they got rave reviews. They had the right amount of chew and blueberry flavor.
This recipe couldn’t have been easier for my first time trying homemade bagels! Delicious and easy to follow.
I was so scared to try this challenge! I’ve never made bagels before but as always, Sally and her team rocked it! These turned out amazing!! Huge hit for my whole family. Will definitely make again!
Delicious! Always bought these from the shops never thought about making them myself.
Amazing blueberry flavor and the color is just beautiful! Easy to follow directions and I didn’t have to adjust anything for high altitude which is always a bonus. (I’m at 7300’)
So happy to read this, Kate!
This recipe was fantastic- loved the crispy edges and chewy inner layer. Used craisins instead of dried blueberries and loved the results!
Great recipe!
My son has always loved blueberry bagels but I never thought to make them. These were delicious! Great blueberry flavor with the dried blueberries – they came out better than the bagel bakery! Recipe was easy to follow on all the steps but watch the done-ness. Mine didn’t need the full 26 minutes of bake time
I don’t ever order blueberry bagels; more of an everything bagel girl. But I wanted to do the challenge. Wowza! These are delicious. Bursting with flavor. I followed others and reduced baking time. For me, 24 minutes was perfect. I went easy on the cream cheese so the blueberry flavor bursts through.
We’re so happy to read this, KJ! Thanks for giving these bagels a try!
Great texture and awesome blueberry flavor! I am a lover of blueberry bagels and these may have the best flavor of any I’ve tasted. I did weigh the dough and they didn’t quite make eight.
These bagels are so good and packed with flavor. I put 4 stars because despite weighing everything precisely, I did not end up with 8 bagels at 130g each. My last two bagels were about 106g each.
Made these for the challenge. The recipe was really easy to follow. The blueberry sauce was brilliant. Made an incredibly flavored bagel. Beautiful too.
I love this recipe. The blueberry sauce gave the bagels a great taste. The inside was soft and flavorful, the outsude was crunchy. The recipe was easy to follow. I’ll be baking these again.
I used pre made blueberry jam to flavor mine. They turned out delicious! I think next time I’ll use sweetened dried blueberries!
INSANE! Make these at your own risk. I don’t even like blueberry bagels, but I saw the new recipe posted and my boyfriend was interested, so I figured why not give it a go. I’ve only made bagels once before and they were burnt and dense. This recipe blows any professional bagel you could find out of the water. I am simply obsessed, and the recipe couldn’t be simpler. The bagels turned out fluffy, crispy on the outside, and perfect crumb on the inside with that dense chew feeling when you really get into it. I’m eating my second one of the day as I type this. This recipe is truly incredible! My only note is I did 3.5 cups of bread flour instead of 3.75. I’m up in Boston and it’s frigid and very dry here, so I assume that’s why I ended up needing less flour. These are perfect!! Thank you, Sally!
Thank you so much for writing this, Jessica! We are SO happy you love these bagels as much as we do!
These were good, but not stellar. I did the overnight rise, but didn’t feel like I got enough rise – they were very dense. They were a nice flavor and chewy. I wish I’d skipped the egg wash – it left a very hard crust on the bottom of the bagel where the egg wash ran down. We had to cut that off because it was so hard. I also forgot to buy the dried blueberries so I threw in some cranberries I had on hand. I felt the directions on making the blueberry reduction jam were too vague and I may have got mine too thick. OK for the experience of making them, but not likely to make these bagels again.