These chewy, tender, golden yellow egg bagels are so easy to make at home. Top them with poppy seeds, nigella seeds, or black sesame seeds and serve with your favorite sandwich fillings.
Egg bagels get their gorgeous yellow color from egg yolks added to the dough. Those egg yolks also enrich the dough, for bagels that are soft and chewy.
Like all of my bagel recipes, this egg bagel recipe uses my easy 3-hour bagel recipe, these egg bagels get their gorgeous golden yellow color and tender, chewy crumb from the addition of egg yolks to the dough.
So if you've been wondering how to make homemade egg bagels, you're in the right place.
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Why I Like This Recipe
Lenders' frozen egg bagels were the standard in my house growing up. And as a kid I always assumed egg bagels were superior to plain bagels the same way egg matzah is superior to plain matzah. For much of my early childhood, egg bagels were the only bagel as far as I was concerned.
These days I'm more adventurous in my bagel eating. I love a rosemary olive oil bagel, a pumpkin bagel, garlic and fennel bagels, pepperoni pizza bagels, you name it. And most bagels use a plain (aka water) bagel as the base.
But every now and then I find myself craving a good old fashioned egg bagel — the kind that rises high with a chewy exterior that sticks in your teeth. So I started tinkering with my favorite bagel recipe to see if I could adapt it to work with eggs. And I could! Which means you can too.
🥯 What is an egg bagel?
Egg bagels get their yellow color and chewy, airy texture from the addition of eggs — specifically, egg yolks. The egg yolks enrich the bagel dough with fat which gives them a texture slightly more similar to a challah bread. But the shiny, gelatinized crust and the low hydration makes them unmistakably bagels.
A good egg bagel, in my opinion, should have a deliciously chewy and light texture with a thin crust and that distinctive yellow color (without any help from food coloring).
People tend to either love or hate egg bagels. Those who love them (hello!) enjoy their softer texture and slightly sweeter flavor. They pair well with other sweet fillings like jams and jellies but also provide a nice contrast to salty lox, bacon, or capers.
📋 Why This Recipe Works
Most of the egg bagel recipes I saw in my research used eight or more (!!!) whole egg yolks. But I didn't want you to end up with eight leftover egg whites. I wanted to use the fewest number of egg yolks possible to still produce a bagel that was unmistakably an egg bagel.
I swapped some of the water in my plain bagel recipe for egg yolks, increasing the number of yolks with each batch until I landed on ratio that gives you that perfect golden yellow color and just-right amount of chewiness.
The final recipe uses 3 egg yolks and 3 whole eggs. The fat from the 6 egg yolks gives the bagels their tenderness and yellow color. Including the 3 egg whites (which are 90% water) help keep the water content in the recipe balanced.
You will end up with three extra egg whites, there's no way around that. But you can use them to make my crispy meringue s'mores! So in a way... you're welcome.
📖 Ingredients and Equipment
Here's what you'll need to make these homemade egg bagels. See recipe card at the end of the post for quantities.
Ingredients
- All-purpose flour - Though bread flour is traditionally used for bagels all purpose works better here because the eggs add a lot of that chewiness you usually get from the bread flour.
- Brown sugar - Dark or light brown sugar, doesn't matter which. Plain granulated sugar will also work, but I like the stronger flavor you get from the brown sugar.
- Salt - I use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt which is half as salty as other brands of salt. If you're using a different brand, cut the amount of salt the recipe calls for in half.
- Instant yeast - Instant yeast can be added right to your dry ingredients and doesn't need to be "bloomed" first in water as long as you're sure it's good. If you only have active dry yeast, you can use it the exact same way. Your dough might just take a little longer to double in size.
- 3 whole eggs - Large eggs, at room temperature.
- 3 egg yolks - Large egg yolks, at room temperature.
- Water - Lukewarm to warm, but not hot.
- Poppy seeds - I like these blue poppy seeds from The Spice House, but you can also use black sesame seeds or nigella seeds!
Equipment
- Stand mixer with dough hook - You can also mix and knead the dough by hand. See the notes in the recipe cards for details!
- Kitchen scale - You'll get the best results from the dough if you measure the ingredients by weight. The scale is also useful for dividing the dough into 8 equal pieces so your bagels are all the same size.
- Bench scraper - For dividing the dough. Try not to tear the dough, you'll undo some of the work you put into creating those gluten strands that give the dough structure. It's easier to combine pieces of dough when you cut them cleanly.
- Large high-sided skillet - You'll need at least 2-3" of water to boil the bagels. You can also use a deeper pot, but a wide skillet will give you more room so you can fit 3-5 bagels at once.
- Wire spider - The wide, shallow depth of a wire spider does a better job supporting the weight of a boiled bagel than a slotted spoon does. It also creates less splashing when you have to flip the bagels in the water.
- Sheet pan - For baking your bagels.
- Pastry brush - For the egg wash.
🔪 How to make egg bagels
Just like my other bagel recipes, making egg bagels is very easy. The eggs change the texture of the dough slightly, so you may need to adjust the rising times during the shaping process.
Mix the dough. Start by mixing the dry ingredients together in the bowl of a stand mixer, then beat the eggs, egg yolks, and water together and add them to the dry ingredients.
Even though you'll be using the dough hook for this step, you're still just "mixing" the dough.
Pour the egg mixture into the center of the dry ingredients and attach the dough hook.
After mixing the dough has cleared the sides of the bowl and collected on the dough hook but will look lumpy.
Knead the dough. Once the dough clears the sides of the bowl and collects on the dough hook, increase the speed to medium and knead for 2-3 minutes until the dough is smooth, soft, and elastic.
This step is where the dough will smooth out and become elastic; it will develop strength and structure so that the bagels hold their shape later!
If the dough is too wet, dust in flour. If the dough is too dry, drizzle in water half a teaspoon at a time giving the dough plenty of time to knead in between additions.
Let it rise. Shape the dough into a ball, cover and let rise somewhere warm (72-75F) for about an hour. It may not completely double in size, but it should expand and look airier.
The best way to test if the dough is ready to shape, use the finger poke test. When you press a finger into the dough, the indentation should spring back slightly but not fill in all the way. If it immediately fills in all the way, let the dough rise a little longer and check again in about 15-20 minutes.
Shape the dough in to a smooth ball and let it rise.
After about an hour the dough will be airier and have expanded in size.
Deflate the dough. Bagels are pretty dense inside and now your egg bagel dough is full of air. Use a fist to gently deflate the dough in the bowl to press the air out. Cover and let it rest for 10 minutes.
Shape the bagels. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces, shape them into balls, let the balls rest for 10 minutes. Then poke holes in the balls, stretch them out, and let them rest for 10 minutes. (The full bagel shaping process is below with videos, don't worry if this sounds confusing!)
Boil the bagels. A quick bath in some boiling water gelatinizes the crust of the bagels giving them their classic shiny exterior. (If they're not boiled, they're not bagels!)
Bake the bagels. Brush the bagels with egg wash, top with black sesame seeds or nigella seeds, and bake for 20 minutes.
🥯 How to Shape Bagels
Here's a quick refresher on how to shape bagels. Unlike plain bagels, egg bagels need to rest for 10 minutes after you shape them into rounds (step 3) and before you poke the holes (step 4).
- Divide the dough into equal sized pieces. If you're combining a few pieces of dough, stack them on top of each other with the smallest one are on top.
- Fold all the edges up over the center, hiding any smaller pieces in the middle. The smooth side of the dough should be against the counter. The seam side of the bagel dough should be up.
- Flip the dough over so the seam side is down. Cup your hand around the dough and slide it toward you. The dough will take on an oval shape. Rotate it 90 degrees and repeat to turn the oval into a round circle. (If this doesn't work for you, you can cup your hand around the dough and move it in a circular counterclockwise motion, keeping your pinkie on the counter.) Always do this on an unfloured surface.
- Once the dough has been shaped into balls, coat your hands in flour and stick 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.
- Keep going, gently stretching (not tearing!) and rotating until the bagel hole is at least the same width as the sides of the bagel if not bigger. If the dough is fighting you or feels like it's tearing, let it rest for a few minutes, then resume stretching.
![[gif] a thumb pokes a hole through the bottom of a round ball of dough](https://thepracticalkitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/How-to-Shape-a-Bagel-4.gif)
![[gif] two thumbs through the hole in the bagel dough rotating it and gentle stretching it](https://thepracticalkitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/How-to-Shape-a-Bagel-5.gif)
![[gif] a fully stretched out round of bagel dough](https://thepracticalkitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/How-to-Shape-a-Bagel-6.gif)
🍽 How to Serve Egg Bagels
While you really can serve egg bagels however you want, their softer texture makes them perfect for softer sandwich fillings that might otherwise squish out of a firmer bagel. And their slightly sweeter flavor is perfect for sweet toppings like jams or cinnamon sugar but also provides a nice contrast to salty fillings like bacon, lox, or cream cheese.
- Toasted with butter and cinnamon sugar
- Cream cheese and bacon
- Cream cheese and lox with capers
- Strawberry cream cheese or other sweet cream cheeses
- With classic BLT toppings: bacon, lettuce, and tomato
- With a fried egg and thinly sliced avocado
- As a bacon egg and cheese breakfast sandwich
How else do you like to eat egg bagels? Let me know in the comments!
💭 Practical Tips & Recipe Notes
- Large egg yolks weigh 18 grams and whole large eggs (minus the shell) weigh 50 grams. If you want eggier egg bagels with an even bolder yellow color, you can use up to 8 egg yolks and no egg whites. Just adjust the water content appropriately!
- Boiling the bagels helps set the crust before they bake. You'll notice the outside texture of the bagel becomes slightly gelatinous after boiling. The longer you boil them the thicker that crust will be. I like a thinner, chewier crust on my egg bagels, so I boil them for 30-60 seconds per side. If you prefer a thicker crust, you can boil them for up to 2 minutes per side.
- You want the bagels to be as smooth as possible before you boil them. If the underside of your bagels have visible seams where the dough hasn't fully stuck back to itself, let the bagels rest 10-15 more minutes before boiling to give the dough time to smooth out.
- When shaping the dough into rounds before you poke the holes in them, use an unfloured surface and don't flour your hands. You want the dough to stick slightly to the counter to help create tension and give the dough rounds a smooth exterior.
- If you want to refrigerate the bagels overnight, reduce the amount of yeast to 1½ teaspoon and cover them with a damp paper towel and then loosely with plastic wrap so they don't dry out.
- Save one of the egg whites to use as an egg wash for the egg bagels, and you can save the other egg whites for making a scramble, for crispy swiss meringue s'mores, or to make a standard meringue for a pavlova. You can also freeze egg whites in an airtight container if you aren't planning to use them right away.
- The most traditional egg bagel topping is poppy seeds (I used black sesame seeds for these photos because I didn't have poppy seeds) but you can really use any topping you like, including everything bagel topping. Use an egg wash whether or not you use a topping to get a nice shiny exterior.
Recipe FAQ
You'll want to replace the weight of the egg whites (3 egg whites = 96 grams) with water but subtract the amount of weight the two additional egg yolks add (2 yolks = 36 grams) from the water. So 96 - 36 = 60 grams of water.
So instead of 100 grams water, you'll have 160 grams (~4 tablespoons) water. You may need to adjust with more or less water depending on humidity, etc. You may also want to boil them for less time (30 seconds per side) so that they're firmer and more bagel-like.
Instant yeast does not need to be bloomed in water first as long as you're sure it's good. If you're not sure the yeast is good, you can stir it into a portion of the warm water the recipe calls for; if it gets bubbly, it's good!
If you're using active dry yeast, it can be used exactly the same way as instant yeast, but because active dry yeast has a little shell around it that needs to dissolve, it sometimes takes a little longer to activate in the dough. So your dough might rise a little more slowly than if you use instant yeast.
As always, I recommend storing your yeast in the freezer — that way you know it's good!
Yep! See my ingredient notes above for why I recommend all-purpose for these egg bagels. But bread flour will also work just fine.
📖 Recipe
Homemade Egg Bagels
Ingredients
- 500 grams flour
- 19 grams brown sugar (1½ tablespoons)
- 11 grams diamond crystal kosher salt (1½ teaspoons)
- 6 grams instant yeast (2 teaspoons)
- 100 grams lukewarm water (95-110°F)
- 3 large eggs (150 grams)
- 3 large egg yolks (54 grams)
- ⅛ cup poppy seeds (optional, for topping)
Instructions
- Whisk together flour, brown sugar, salt, and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, egg yolks, and water until well combined. Reserve one egg white to use as an egg wash later.
- Add the eggs and water to the center of the dry ingredients. Run the mixer with the dough hook on a low-medium speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed until a shaggy, messy dough forms. Then increase the speed to medium and knead the dough for 2-3 minutes until it becomes smooth, elastic, and slightly tacky (but not sticky) to the touch. If the dough is clinging to the walls of the bowl, dust in more flour. If the dough seems dry, drizzle in water ½ teaspoon at a time letting the mixer run for at least 30 seconds between additions.
- Shape the dough into a ball and let it rest, covered, in a lightly greased bowl for 1 hour or until doubled in size. When you press a finger into it, the indentation should spring back slightly but not all the way. If the indentation fills in immediately and completely, let rise for an additional 10-20 minutes. Gently deflate the dough in the container, then cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
- Divide the dough into eight equal pieces, using a kitchen scale to be precise.
- To shape the dough into rounds, gently flatten a piece of dough on a clean, unfloured surface. Fold the edges of the dough up over the center, pinching together at the top. Flip the dough ball over so that you have a smooth surface facing up, and the pinched together "seam" is on the counter.Gently cup your hand around the dough with your pinkie against the counter. Slide your hand in a straight line toward your body to pull the dough ball closer to you. This will increase the surface tension on top of the dough and shape it into an oval. Rotate the dough 90° and repeat the sliding motion to turn the oval into a circle. Repeat as needed until the dough ball feels tight and smooth. Cover bagel balls with a damp paper towel and let rest 10 minutes.
- Dip your thumb in flour and poke it through the bottom seam of the dough and out the other side. Slide your other thumb in next to it and stretch the dough by squeezing and rotating it through your hands until the center hole is at least the same width as the outside of the bagel. Don't squeeze too hard or tear the dough; gentle pressure as you rotate the bagel through your hands will slowly stretch it just fine.Cover the shaped bagels with a damp paper towel and let rest 10 minutes.
- While the bagels rest, fill a large, high-sided skillet about halfway with water and preheat the oven to 425°F with rack in the middle of the oven. Line a sheet pan with parchment or a silicone mat.
- Working in batches, boil the bagels 1 minute per side. Remove the boiled bagels to the sheet pan.
- Whisk together one of the leftover egg whites with a splash of water and pinch of salt to make an egg wash. Brush the boiled bagels with the egg wash and sprinkle with your preferred toppings.
- Bake the bagels for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.
RECIPE NOTES
- If the dough seems dry during the kneading step, add water ½ teaspoon at a time, kneading between additions. If the dough seems too wet, add flour 2 tablespoons at a time, kneading between additions. This is a low hydration dough, so try not to add water unless you really think you need to.
- If kneading the dough by hand, it will take about 8-10 minutes of hand kneading on a lightly floured countertop for the dough to come together.
- Store bagels in an airtight bag or container. They'll stay good for 3-4 days. You can also slice them almost all the way through and freeze them.
YOUR NOTES
This post was originally published on 6/25/2020.
Amanda Marks
Hi Rebecca! I want to make this recipe super eggy (ie 'up to 8 egg yolks'). How much additional water should I include? Thanks! Amanda
Rebecca
Hi Amanda! Thanks for asking. If you want to increase the eggs then you actually want to *decrease* the water because the eggs replace water in the dough. If you want to add two more large egg yolks, decrease the water by 36 grams. If you want to add two more whole large eggs, decrease the water by 100 grams. Let me know how that works for you! Good luck 🙂
Amanda Marks
One more question! I'm trying to recreate a recipe for a half-baked egg bagel from a deli that no longer exists. I'm going to be some experimenting with what half-baked means but what would happen if we skip the boiling process and just go straight to baking?
Rebecca
You know, I’ve never actually tried that. My guess is it would work but the bagel wouldn’t have the nice shiny crust. The boiling process creates a gel-like exterior on the bagels that sets the crust in place before baking. It also helps make them chewy. I’ve never heard of a half-baked bagel! I know I’ve seen a pretzel bagel recipe where you remove the bagels from the oven halfway through baking to apply butter + salt but I don’t know what that would look like for egg bagels. Keep me posted on your experiments! I’m so curious to know what you find!
Amanda Marks
I ended up needing to add like additional 4 tablespoons of water btw. In order to try and remake the half-baked bagels from that deli, the ones that taste the most like it are the ones where I boiled for 90 seconds each side and then baked for only 10 minutes on 375 convection. I mean, if you saw and tasted them you'd probably be like "that's not a bagel". But it's closest I've come to replicating it based on your recipe with modifications.
Rebecca
That’s great! And yeah, it doesn’t totally surprise me that you needed more water — the base recipe can need up to 1/4 cup extra water depending on how humid it is in your kitchen. Better always to start with less water and add more as needed! So fascinating to hear about this “half-baked” bagel phenomenon — I’ll have to give it a try sometime! Glad it worked for you and thanks for reporting back. 🙂
Gabby
Do you recommend using All Purpose Flour or Bread Flour? Also can you add in an extra yolk to the recipe as it stands?
Rebecca
You can use either flour. Bread will give you slightly chewier results but I use AP flour most of the time! And if you read the notes above the recipe card I explained how to add more egg yolks. You’ll just need to reduce the amount of water slightly or, if you don’t do that, you might find you need to add more flour while kneading to get the dough to the right texture.
Lia
My dough is not doubling in size. Was I supposed to let the yeast activate in water first?
Rebecca
What kind of yeast did you use? If instant yeast, no. If active dry then you can activate it in water first but it should also work if you didn’t (if you’re sure it’s still good). Active dry yeast is basically the same as instant only it has a little protective shell around it. If you don’t activate it in water first it just takes a little longer for that shell to dissolve in the dough and your dough might take a little longer to double in size. I would put the dough in a nice warm spot (if your kitchen is cool this may actually be the issue you’re having, rather than the yeast!) and give it another 30 mins or so. If it doesn’t double then, your yeast may have gone bad and no amount of activation would’ve fixed it. It’s also ok if the dough doesn’t completely double — it may be more like 75% or so.
Rick
Made exactly to recipe. Bagels were perfect looking, but pretty dry and not very chewy. Will try to modify with extra yolks. Is there an internal temp I could check for doneness to prevent overtaking? I took them out of the oven at 19 minutes.
Rebecca
I would recommend modifying with additional water (or including an additional egg white), rather than additional egg yolks. It's possible you live somewhere a bit drier than I do and your dough just needed a little more water in the mixing process.
Internal temp for doneness for pretty much any bread/baked good is 190-200F.
Rick
Thank you for the reply. I tried the recipe again with one extra egg and a tablespoon more water. They looked perfect and tasted very good but I would like to have them chewier. They just aren’t the egg bagel I ate from a local bakery a long time ago. Not sure how to get chewy.
Rebecca
In that case I’d recommend trying bread flour next! I found that made them too chewy for me, but if really chewy is what you’re looking for that may be the perfect solution!
Krystal
The 1st time i tried this recipe it was a total flop. As I am human and can make an error I wanted to give it one more try. My daughter figured out my error. I use duck eggs. So I should have increased my flour.
Today I just weighed my eggs. Turned out great. The dough was easy to work with and the bite on point.
Rebecca Eisenberg
Measuring by weight and using the right size eggs is so important in any recipe! So glad your daughter was able to help you troubleshoot and that they turned out well!
annette
I was excited to try this recipe as my husband loves egg bagels. I am usually a good baker and make excellent baguettes etc. but this was a disaster! The dough was really sticky to work with. I have no idea why, but the bagels, once put in the boiling water doubled in size. The flavor is good and eggy!
Rebecca Eisenberg
I'm sorry it didn't work for you! It sounds like you may have measured something incorrectly at some stage or maybe used eggs that were the wrong size — did you measure the ingredients by weight and what size eggs did you use? The bagels definitely should grow in the water, but doubling in size is way too much. If you do give the recipe another try and the dough is still sticky, keep kneading in more flour until the dough isn't sticky anymore. Best of luck!