Chewy Blueberry Bagels

With a shiny brown crust and bright purple interior, these sweet homemade blueberry bagels are a blueberry bagel lover's dream! The bright purple color comes from real fresh blueberries which are used to hydrate the dough and add lots of flavor, too.

If you love a bagel for breakfast, you're going to love being able to make these blueberry bagels at home. And they're so easy to make!

Just like all my bagel recipes, the base recipe for these blueberry bagels is my standard 3-hour plain bagel recipe.

Much like my fave tomato basil pepperoni bagels and my cinnamon sugar pumpkin bagels, these blueberry bagels get their flavor by replacing a portion of the water in the recipe.

Though the blueberry bagels need a bit more resting time than plain bagel dough, you can still do the whole recipe in less than 3 hours.

These blueberry bagels are so good with cream cheese. But if you're feeling ambitious, try them with a shmear of smooth homemade goat cheese and a drizzle of honey. The slightly tangy and salty goat cheese is really nice with the sweetness from the blueberries!

Jump to:

• 🥘 Ingredients
• 🥣 Instructions
• 🥯 How to shape a bagel
• 🌡️ Boiling & Baking Bagels
• 📖 Substitutions & Variations
• 🍽 Equipment
• ⏲️ Storage
• 👩🏻‍🍳 Expert bagel making tips
• Blueberry Bagel Toppings
• Substituting Active Dry Yeast for Instant Yeast
• A Note on Temperature and Dough Rising
• A Quick Note on Scaling the Recipe with the 2X/3X Buttons
• 💭 Recipe FAQ
• 📖 Recipe
• Food safety
• 💬 Comments

🥘 Ingredients

Here's what you'll need to make these blueberry bagels. Nothing fancy; you should be able to get all of these at your grocery store. See recipe card for quantities.

• Fresh blueberries - Blueberries are in season from April to September, but can usually be found year round. Wash and dry before roasting. See FAQ below for tips on using frozen blueberries.
• Water - Cool to lukewarm in temperature. This will help cool down the hot roasted blueberries before you add them to the dry ingredients.
• Flour - All purpose or bread flour. Either one will work. Bread flour is more traditional for bagels. It will give you slightly chewier texture, and might need a bit more water added to the dough. See substitutions & variations section below for how to use bread flour.
• Sugar - Plain white granulated sugar. This brings out the blueberries' natural sweetness!
• Salt - I use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt which half as salty as other brands. If measuring by weight, it doesn't matter what brand of salt you use. But if you're measuring by volume and using a different brand of salt, even a different brand of kosher salt, cut the amount of salt in half.
• Instant yeast - I swear by SAF Red Instant Yeast. Instant yeast is also sometimes called "rapid rise" yeast. See substitutions & variations section below if you only have active dry yeast.
• Egg - For the egg wash to make the bagels shiny. (Omit if you don't like/can't eat eggs.)

🥣 Instructions

The first step of this recipe is to roast the fresh blueberries. Just 5 to 10 minutes at 400F is enough to intensify their flavor, bring out their juices, and reduce their water content.

Once the blueberries have roasted, transfer them into a container on a kitchen scale. Tare the kitchen scale to zero to cancel out the weight of the container so you get just the weight of the blueberries.

Starting with 240 grams of fresh blueberries, I usually end up with around 180-190 grams of roasted blueberries.

NOTE: Depending on the heat of your oven, how long you roast the blueberries, and how much blueberry juice you're able to scrape into the container, you may end up with slightly more or slightly less than I did.

For these blueberry bagels, we need 320 grams of liquid — and the juicy blueberries are part of that liquid content!

So DO NOT TARE the kitchen scale back to zero after weighing the blueberries. Pour lukewarm to slightly cool water directly into the hot blueberries until the scale reaches 320 grams. The water will help cool down the blueberries so they don't kill the yeast.

Mix the water and blueberries together and set them aside while you measure the rest of the dry ingredients into the bowl of your stand mixer.

With the dough hook attached and the mixer running on low, slowly pour the water and blueberry mixture into the dry ingredients.

It may take several minutes for the bagel dough to come together. Be patient. There's more moisture in the dough than it seems. The blueberries need some time to break down and release all their juices. And the flour will have time to finish hydrating as it rests. Bagel dough is meant to be low hydration and you don't want to add more water unless absolutely necessary.

After 3-4 minutes, if the dough is still looking very dry and hasn't come together, you can add more water ½ teaspoon at a time. Add it directly onto the dry bits in the bowl and let the mixer run 30-45 more seconds before deciding if more water is needed.

Once the dough comes together on the dough hook, increase the speed to low-medium and knead for 3-5 minutes. The dough should be smooth, elastic, and slightly tacky to the touch. If it sticks to the sides of the bowl, dust in more flour until it pulls clear away.

Shape the dough into a ball, place it in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until just about doubled in size.

🥯 How to shape a bagel

On an unfloured counter top, use a kitchen scale to divide the dough into equal portions. If you're combining a few pieces together to make a portion, stack the smaller pieces on top of the bigger pieces.

Tuck the edges up so the dough is smooth against the counter with a seam pinched together on top. Repeat until the dough ball feels fairly tight, but not so tight that it tears.

Then, flip the dough over so the seam side is down against the counter. Cup your hand around the dough and slide it toward you. The dough will take on an oval shape. Rotate 90 degrees and repeat to turn the oval into a round circle.

This blueberry bagel dough can be a bit drier than regular bagel dough, so you'll want to cover the dough balls with a damp paper towel and let them rest for 10-15 minutes before poking the holes. This gives the dough time to relax and for the seam underneath to seal up.

Once the dough balls have rested, coat your hands in flour and poke a thumb through the bottom seam of the dough. Slide your other thumb in and gently squeeze and stretch, rotating the dough through your hands until the bagel hole is at least the same width as the sides of the bagel if not bigger.

Cover the shaped blueberry bagels with a damp paper towel and let them rest another 10-15 minutes before boiling.

You may want to repeat the stretching process again before boiling to keep the hole from closing up in the oven.

🌡️ Boiling & Baking Bagels

Boiling is a mandatory step before baking your bagels. The boiling process gelatinizes the starches in the crust, which is what gives you that classic, shiny, smooth bagel exterior.

To boil your blueberry bagels, fill a large high-sided skillet with about 2-3 inches of water. Enough that the blueberry bagels will have room to float in the water without touching the bottom.

Bring the water to a boil, then reduce to an active simmer. Boil the bagels 1-2 minutes per side. The bagels will start to expand in the water. The longer you boil, the bigger the bagels will be; they will also be chewier with a thicker crust.

Remove the bagels to a lined sheet pan, brush them with an egg wash, and they're ready to bake. All they need is 20 minutes at 420F, and they're done. Let them cool on the pan for a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.

The blueberry bagels will lose their gorgeous purple exterior when you bake them, there's no way around that. But they'll still be beautifully purple inside!

📖 Substitutions & Variations

• Frozen blueberries - Let them defrost before roasting.
• You can either let the active dry yeast "bloom" in the warm blueberry water (aim for 80°F), or just add it directly to the dry ingredients like you do with instant yeast. The dough might rise a little more slowly in that case, but it will still work.
• Bread flour - Bread flour is traditionally used for bagels because it has a higher protein content and makes for chewier bagels. You can definitely use bread flour for these blueberry bagels. You may find you need slightly more water to get your bagel dough to come together, as bread flour absorbs more water than all purpose flour does. Again, bagel dough is meant to be low hydration so resist adding water unless absolutely necessary.

🍽 Equipment

• Kitchen scale - A kitchen scale is worth it for any baking recipe; it's the most accurate way to measure your ingredients. It's also helpful for dividing your bagel dough into eight equal portions. For these blueberry bagels, a kitchen scale is absolutely necessary for getting the right amount of liquid in the dough. You'll need to weigh the roasted blueberries, and then add however much water is needed to equal 320 grams. You can't do this step without a kitchen scale.
• Bench scraper - Super helpful for dividing your bagel dough.
• Wide, high sided skillet - It needs to be deep enough that the bagels can float without touching the bottom. You can use a sauce pot or stock pot if that's all you have. A wide skillet can fit more bagels at once, so I recommend using that if you have one.
• Wire spider - For flipping the bagels in the hot water without splashing it everywhere. The wide, shallow slope of a wire spider is also better at supporting the weight of the bagel evenly without cutting into it.

⏲️ Storage

Store bagels at room temperature in a paper or plastic bag. Do not refrigerate bagels.

Bagels, not just blueberry bagels, will start to harden after 3-4 days. To revive: Run the whole, unsliced bagel under water for 15-20 seconds, then stick it in a 375F oven for 3-4 minutes. This tip for rehydrating stale bagels comes straight from Kenji Lopez-Alt at Serious Eats and it sounds weird, but totally works.

If you want to freeze these blueberry bagels for later, I recommend slicing them almost all the way through first. This way you don't have to try to slice them from frozen.

Day-old blueberry bagels are also great for making homemade bagel chips! Brush them with butter and cinnamon sugar for a sweet, crunchy snack!

👩🏻‍🍳 Expert bagel making tips

• There are lots of factors that can affect how much water your blueberry bagel dough needs. I tested these in a dry, cold environment, and 320 grams of blueberry water was just right. In a very humid environment, you may need less than 320 grams of blueberry water. If you're in a very humid environment and there's lots of moisture in the air, hold back about ⅛ cup (30 grams) blueberry water when you add it to the dough and add it only if needed.
• Bagel dough is meant to be low hydration and should never feel sticky or wet. Add additional water in very small increments only if absolutely necessary to get the dough to come together before kneading.
• Troubleshooting bagel dough texture: If you add too much water and the dough begins to feel sticky, or sticks to the sides of the mixing bowl, dust in more flour until it pulls clear from the sides of the bowl. If the dough is dry and looks like it's tearing rather than kneading smoothly, dip your hand in water and flick droplets gently onto the dough as it kneads.
• For bigger bagel holes: Stretch the bagels again right before you boil them. So you'll poke the hole and stretch the bagels. Then let them rest. Then stretch them again right before dropping them in the water to boil.
• Boil the bagels in batches. The bagels will expand as they boil. I can usually fit about 4 bagels in a skillet at a time. Make sure you leave room so the bagels can grow, and so that you can comfortably flip them.

Blueberry Bagel Toppings

Blueberry bagels have a very strong and distinctly sweet flavor — they're great toasted with cool cream cheese but so good with lots of other creative toppings too.

• Cream Cheese and Honey — A classic combo! The cool, mildly tangy cream cheese nicely contrasts with the sweet blueberry bagels.
• Mascarpone and Honey — Mascarpone is a rich, slightly sweet spreadable cheese often used when making desserts like cannoli or tiramisu. Whisk it with honey or add a honey drizzle when serving with blueberry bagels.
• Goat Cheese — Super tangy chèvre (like my homemade goat cheese) is also really good with the sweetness of blueberry bagels. And yes, you can serve it with a drizzle of honey.
• Nut Butters or Tahini — Peanut butter, almond butter, and cashew butter are right at home with the sweet blueberry flavors here. Nutella is also a great choice here. Add sunflower seeds, sliced bananas, or mini chocolate chips for a little sweetness! The smooth nutty texture and mild sesame flavor of tahini is so good with a blueberry bagel. For more dessert-y vibes, try a dark chocolate tahini spread!
• Whipped Honey Butter — Whip up some homemade honey butter with a pinch of cinnamon or a bit of orange zest. When the fluffy, soft butter melts into a freshly toasted blueberry bagel there's nothing better.
• Salted Butter and Cinnamon Sugar — A lower lift version of whipped honey butter — slather a high quality European-style salted butter over a freshly toasted blueberry bagel and a generous sprinkle of cinnamon sugar. So freaking good!

Substituting Active Dry Yeast for Instant Yeast

Active Dry and Instant yeast are technically the same thing — meaning, they are both saccharomyces cerevisiae, a single-celled living organism used for leavening bread and doughs.

The only difference between the two types of yeast is that Active Dry yeast granules have a little coating around them which needs to be dissolved to reveal the yeast inside.

Because of this extra little shell around the Active Dry yeast granules, you'll need to use slightly more Active Dry yeast to get the same effect as using Instant.

To calculate how much Active Dry yeast to use, increase the amount of Instant yeast by 25%. So for this recipe, you'd be using 7 grams of active dry yeast. You may also notice the dough needs a bit longer of a rise time before it doubles in size.

You can either let the active dry yeast "bloom" in the warm blueberry water (aim for 80°F), or just add it directly to the dry ingredients like you do with instant yeast. The dough might rise a little more slowly in that case, but it will still work.

A Note on Temperature and Dough Rising

Temperature is the main factor in determining how quickly or slowly your dough rises (proofs). This includes the temperature of ingredients in your dough, as well as the ambient temperature of the room where you are leaving your dough to rise.

Depending on how cool or warm your water was, and how cool or warm your kitchen is, your dough may rise faster or slower.

• Warmer temperatures increase yeast activity. (But temperatures over 110F can kill it!)
• Cooler temperatures slow yeast activity. (For a longer, slower proof, put the dough in the fridge.)

If your dough is rising slowly and your kitchen is cold, find somewhere warmer to put your dough to finish rising. If your kitchen is very warm, your dough might be ready to divide and shape before an hour is up.

In baking, "room temperature" is generally somewhere around 70-75°F.

Just because the dough isn't ready right at the times given in the recipe doesn't mean it's not working — there might be other factors affecting how quickly or slowly it gets there!

A Quick Note on Scaling the Recipe with the 2X/3X Buttons

You can use the 2X and 3X buttons in the recipe card below to scale the recipe up, but those buttons will only change the numbers to the left of the ingredients list.

Any numbers in the written recipe instructions will not change. Make sure you adjust those numbers accordingly based on how you're scaling the recipe!

💭 Recipe FAQ

📖 Recipe

Food safety

• Never leave cooking food unattended
• Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove

See more guidelines at USDA.gov.