Can You Freeze Bagels? – The Complete Guide

We love breakfast foods, yes we do! We love breakfast foods, how about you!? Ok so that might be a silly little cheer but doesn’t everyone just love their breakfast foods? Bagels are another delicious breakfast food. 

The best thing about bagels is they come in so many varieties and you can serve them so many ways. You can even make your own bagels at home. Bagels are quick and easy to use, you can have them plain or pop them in the toaster and add toppings to them. 

Bagels usually come in a pack that has several. Sometimes you might even buy in bulk to get a discount or because you’re expecting the guests. There are just times where you might not make it through all of your bagels. 

Can you freeze your bagels to make them last longer? Freezing your bagels is actually better than refrigerating them. Freezing your bagels can help them last for up to 6 months if you need a suitable storage solution. 

In this guide, we will walk you through the process of freezing your bagels. We will also cover some miscellaneous information that everyone should know about bagels just to give you a bit more insight into your bagels. 

Keep reading to learn how to freeze bagels and so much more. 

A Complete Guide to Freezing Bagels

Many restaurants offer breakfast sandwiches that are made with bagels rather than biscuits or some other bread form. This is because bagels are simply awesome and they are versatile so they work quite well for just about any bread, sandwich, or breakfast purpose. 

Bagels can be quite useful. What’s more, is you can enjoy them in so many different ways. For instance, here is a list of types of bagels you might be able to make or purchase:

• Blueberry
• Plain
• Onion
• Poppyseed
• Whole-grain
• Pumpkin
• Chocolate chip
• Cinnamon & raisin
• Cheddar cheese
• Garlic
• Everything

So you see, there are many different flavors of bagels. From there, you can change up how you use them by changing the toppings you add to them. 

Here are some examples for you on that subject. 

• Cream cheese
• Flavored cream cheese
• Eggs/bacon/sausage
• Plain
• Jelly
• Jam
• Fruit
• Chocolate
• Salmon
• Cheese
• Peanut butter
• Chicken salad

The list could really go on and on. You can add whatever you like to the top of your bagel and you can switch it up any way you want to. This gives you the ability to change your bagels a hundred different ways and never tire of them. 

What’s more, is you can also cook your bagels in various different ways. We won’t write you an extensive list for this one. What you should know is you can eat your bagel fresh, microwave it, toast it, bake it, or pop it in a microwave oven. 

No matter how you make your bagel, just enjoy it! 

Making Bagels

You can make your own bagels at home. The best part is that your base ingredients are the same so you can make your bagels up and then separate and add your toppings to make various flavors if you want to. 

Here is a quick walkthrough of a bagel recipe just to give you a general idea of what we are working with as we progress through the steps to freezing your bagels. 

1. To make from scratch you will need water, flour, sugar, salt, instant yeast, and oil. You will also need whatever topping or flavor additions you want to put on/in your bagels as you make them. 
2. Mix together water, flour, sugar, salt, oil, and yeast in a mixing bowl. Once you’ve mixed the ingredients together, knead the dough. You can use a dough mixer attachment for this part if you have one. Knead for about 8-10 minutes. 
3. Let dough rise in a covered bowl for about 2 hours. 
4. Work dough down and prepare to section. Lightly flour your workspace to prevent sticking. Cut the dough into sections. 
5. Taking each section individually, roll into a long line. Then make the ends meet to form a circle and press the ends together. 
6. Let formed bagels rest about 15 minutes. 
7. Bring water to a boil on the stove. Boil the bagels until they rise to the top of the water. This only takes 1-3 minutes. Remove the bagels and set aside. 
8. If you are adding flavor toppings to your bagels, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place your boiled bagels on the sheet and top with desired pieces. 
9. Bake at 475 for about 15 minutes.  

Making bagels at home is relatively simple. This is a general recipe but there are many different recipes out there you can refer to. 

How to Freeze Bagels

Freezing bagels is a very simple process. You don’t have to do any type of pre-freezing process or worry about any special steps that you might miss in the process. 

We mentioned earlier that freezing your bagels is actually better than refrigerating them. When you refrigerate bagels, they are more likely to taste stale when you use them. You can refrigerate them but it’s recommended to store them at room temperature or pop them in the freezer. 

Here are your instructions for freezing bagels. 

1. Place your bagels into a heavy-duty freezer bag or an airtight container. 
2. Close and seal chosen storage method. If you have various flavors, it’s not a bad idea to separate them but you can freeze them together if you prefer.
3. Label and date your bagels. 
4. You can freeze your bagels for up to 6 months. 

Freezing your bagels is truly very easy. There is really no way to mess up the freezing process. Just make sure you get your bagels well sealed. 

You can store your bagels at room temperature for 1-2 weeks or you can place them straight into the freezer and just pull them out as you need them. 

Using Bagels After Freezing

The best part about freezing your bagels is you can take them directly from the freezer to be heated. 

You can allow them to thaw at room temperature for 1-4 hours if you want to but it’s not necessary. Your bagels will heat up just fine straight from the freezer. 

There are a number of ways that you can warm up your frozen bagel. We recommend popping the frozen bagel into the toaster. Many toasters have a bagel setting but if yours does not, you may just need to toast it 1-2 times on a high setting to get it appropriately heated and toasted. 

Otherwise, you can turn to heating your bagel in the oven, the microwave, or in a toaster oven. Any of these methods are very easy and will work with a frozen bagel. Then you can add your desired toppings and proceed to enjoying your bagel as you normally would. 

The best part is, you can enjoy those frozen bagels for several months which makes it a simple solution when you just need something tasty and fast. 

We’re quite sure your taste buds and your stomach will thank you later when you’re enjoying those simple frozen bagels. 

Related Questions

We hope that you have found this guide to freezing bagels to be useful and informative. There are so many ways to enjoy bagels and it is only fair that there is some way to preserve them long term so you can enjoy them later. 

We invite you to take a look at the following question and answer section. There is additional material in these common questions that you might find to be useful. 

Can You Freeze Bagel Dough?

Yes, you can! Freezing the uncooked dough requires a pre-freezing method to set the dough prior to freezing.

It’s a simple process but could take some time to go through all of the steps. You can freeze the dough for about 4 months. 

How Quickly Will a Single Bagel Thaw Out?

At room temperature, you can typically expect a single bagel to be fully thawed within 2 hours. Most of the time, your bagel will be thawed considerably within only about 30 minutes and you can proceed to heating it. 

Are Bagels Unhealthy?

Bagels are not necessarily bad for you. They are certainly not considered a health food. Bagels are a form of bread which means they are rich in carbohydrates. Bagels have little to no fiber which means your body primarily processed them into fat. 

There are healthy bagel alternatives, such as low-carb bagels that you can consider if you need a healthier option. 

What is on an Everything Bagel?

Everything bagels are labeled as such because they literally have everything on them. They are topped with a combination of every bagel topping, including sesame seeds, onion, poppy seeds, salt, garlic, and pepper. 

This is just an example. An everything bagel could contain more or less toppings than what is listed here but this gives you an idea of why it is called an everything bagel.