These Easy Homemade New York Style Bagels are the BEST homemade bagels! They’re perfectly dense and chewy and they’re SO easy to make with no special equipment or ingredients, and no refined sugar!
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Homemade bagels are one of the best comfort foods around! We can’t get bagels where we live (bagels aren’t a thing here in Europe), so our only choice is to make them at home! These Easy Homemade New York-Style Bagels are our favourite homemade bagel recipe and you’re going to love them too!
Homemade bagels are such a staple bread recipe, right up there with No Knead Dutch Oven Bread and my good old trusty Sandwich Loaf Bread. But homemade bagels aren’t nearly as hard to make as they might seem! This Easy Homemade New York-Style Bagels are perfectly dense and chewy with the perfect classic bagel crust – they toast up so nicely, and top them with cream cheese and you’ll be in homemade bagel heaven!!
Ingredients for Easy Homemade Bagels
To make homemade New York-Style Bagels you’ll need:
-
- water
- liquid honey
- yeast
- flour
- salt
- an egg
That’s it! This homemade bagel recipe is made with basic, simple ingredients that you probably already have in your kitchen!
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How to Make Homemade Bagels
Making homemade bagels is actually very simple and easy enough for beginning bakers. Follow my simple tips below for the perfect homemade bagels!
- Make the dough. Making bagel dough is SO easy. Simply combine the flour, water, honey, yeast and salt and knead the dough for about 2 minutes. Let the dough rise for about an hour.
- Shape the bagels. Punch the dough down and divide it into 8 pieces. Roll them into balls and make a hole in the middle of each one with your fingers.
- Boil in honey water. Add honey to lightly boiling water and boil each bagel for about 1 and a half to 2 minutes per side. Boiling the bagels is what gives them that perfectly chewy texture, so don’t skip this step!!
- Brush with egg wash. Place the bagels on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and brush the tops with egg wash.
- Bake to perfection. Bake for about 15-18 minutes and enjoy!
Looking for more delicious brunch recipes? Try this Skillet Croissant French Toast Casserole or this Honey Lime Fruit Salad?
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I hope you love this bagel recipe as much as we do! Let me know in the comments below, what’s your favourite bagel and cream cheese combination? I’d love to know!
KITCHEN PRODUCTS I RECOMMEND:
Looking for even more delicious bread recipes? You’ll LOVE these:
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Garlic Butter Dinner Rolls
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Healthier Cornbread
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Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins
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Easy No Knead Artisan Bread
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Easy No Knead Cinnamon Raisin Artisan Bread
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No Knead Honey Cranberry Walnut Artisan Bread
Recipe Video
Watch the video below to see exactly how I make this recipe. You can find more delicious recipe videos on my YouTube channel
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Get my guide to Easy No-Fail Homemade Bread!
Easy Homemade New York-Style Bagels
Ingredients
For the bagels:
- 2 1/4 cups warm water
- 4 teaspoons liquid honey
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast or use instant yeast
- 5 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 2 1/4 teaspoons sea salt
For boiling:
- 10 cups water
- 1/4 cup liquid honey
For the egg wash:
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Add the water, honey and yeast to a liquid measuring cup and set aside for the yeast to begin to grow (about 5 minutes).
- Measure the flour and salt into a large bowl and whisk together.
- Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture and mix together well with a wooden spoon or a rubber spatula until a rough dough forms.
- Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface and knead for about 10-15 turns until the dough forms a ball and isn't too sticky.
- Add the dough ball back into the bowl and cover with plastic wrap, letting it rise for about 60-90 minutes or until the dough doubles in size.
- Once the dough has risen, turn it out onto your work surface (flour the work surface a little bit, but this dough is a bit on the dry side to don't add too much flour!)
- Add the water and honey to a pot and let it come to a low boil, turning the heat to medium after it boils to maintain a very gentle boil.
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare 2 baking sheets by lining them with parchment paper.
- As you wait for the water to boil, divide the dough into 12 pieces (as evenly sized as possible). Roll each piece into a ball with a smooth surface.
- To form a bagel shape, press your middle and ring finger (together) into the centre of one ball to make a hole right through the middle. Move your fingers gently in a circular motion to make the hole a little bit bigger.
- Then, holding the bagel with your thumbs inside the hole, pick it up off the work surface and stretch it gently to make the hole bigger. The goal is to make the hole a little bigger than you actually want it, as the dough will shrink back slightly during baking.
- Let the bagels you've formed sit on the work surface for about 5 minutes before gently lowering them into the boiling honey water 1 or 2 at a time.
- Let the bagels boil for about 1 and a half to 2 minutes per side. Don't skip this step! This is what gives bagels their chewy texture and perfect crust and baking them without boiling will not give you the same result.
- After boiling, place the bagels on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet (6 bagels per large baking sheet).
- Whisk the egg and water together and brush the mixture lightly over the tops of the bagels.
- Bake at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15-18 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Let the bagels cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Enjoy with some cream cheese, toasted, or however you like!
MARYANA says
I love making bagels at home – it’s definitely more delicious than store-bought. Yours look so delicious!
The Busy Baker says
We agree, they definitely are! Thanks Maryana!!🙂
Ela says
Thanks for the great recipe!! These are awesome. Just made them for lunch today yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Chrissie says
Thanks so much!!!
Meghan McMorrow says
I made these today and Wow!!! They are delicious and so easy with your recipes and instructions. Thanks Chrissie!
The Busy Baker says
You’re welcome Meghan!!🙂
Pol says
They were so much easier to bake than I thought they would be and they came out perfect and delicious the first try. I may never buy bagels again!
Chrissie says
Homemade are so much better!! 🙂
Dara says
These were delicious!! The recipe was so easy to follow. I still can’t believe I made bagels!!
Chrissie says
I’m so glad!! 🙂
Inna says
I have another bagel recipe, but it is way more time intensive and the results aren’t nearly as good. I’m definitely keeping your recipe!
Chrissie says
I’m so glad you enjoyed them and found them simple to make!! 🙂
Linda Renzelmann says
We really like these – I have tried other bagel recipes in the past but this is the best one I have found to date. Sometimes I put everything bagel topping on them along with an egg wash. Today I am doing cheese and garlic at my husbands request. I hope they turn out. 🙂
The Busy Baker says
I love that addition! Thanks so much for your positive feedback on the recipe!
Lynn says
We have egg allergies in our family. What can I use as a replacement?
The Busy Baker says
You can brush some heavy cream or half and half on the bagels. Enjoy ☺️
Phillip says
Thank you for the recipe, though I have not yet made the bagels. Most bagel recipes I see call for more extensive kneading,
but yours took only a couple minutes, almost like a no-knead recipe. Can you explain how the kneading time can be so short? Also, can you estimate how much additional water would be needed if I wanted to make 100% whole wheat bagels?
The Busy Baker says
Well, gluten forms through kneading but also through letting the dough rest. There’s a longer raise time which helps with gluten development. As for the whole wheat bagels, unfortunately I couldn’t tell you as I have never tried that substitution in this recipe. If you do try that, please let us know!
Jan Hill says
I am on a salt restriction. Can we cut back on the salt with this recipe and if so by how much. These look delicious.
The Busy Baker says
Salt has no function in this recipe other than adding flavour, so you can feel free to leave it out completely. Happy baking ☺️
Traci Lessman says
HEllo, I just made these and they definitely didn’t turn out looking as nice as yours but are tasty! I am wondering though as mine aren’t quite as crunchy on the outside as they are supposed to be and they are a bit doughy on the inside so i’m thinking I didn’t bake them long enough. What do you think? Thanks!
The Busy Baker Team says
It sounds like they could’ve used a bit more baking time!