Learn how to make the best chewy homemade vegan bagels ever! These easy vegan bagels taste just like a New York style bagel, without leaving home!

Homemade Chewy Vegan Bagels on parchment paper

Chewy Homemade Vegan Bagels from the comfort of your own home:

Growing up near New York City and eventually living there, I’ve tried a few New York bagels in my time, and I can honestly say that these homemade vegan bagels are just like the New York ones…but even better!

Chewy, dense, and soft, this easy vegan bagel recipe yields the best tasting bagels I’ve ever had. And it’s such a good base, I even used it for my cinnamon raisin bagels.

Just simple, good ol’ bagels.

Trust me, you will never go back to store-bought bagels again; this vegan bagel recipe is all you need! Spread with some vegan cream cheese or vegan mascarpone, you have yourself the best bagel around.

sliced vegan bagels on parchment paper

Ingredients + Substitutions

These homemade vegan bagels are entirely oil free, egg free, dairy free, and nut free (if needed!). They’re super simple in ingredients so that anyone can make these homemade bagels!

  • Active dry yeast: I like to use active yeast here, but you can use instant yeast as well. The process will be even faster!
  • Warm water: you’ll need the water to be 110F to properly activate the yeast.
  • Maple syrup: Or you can use brown sugar or coconut sugar, very similar to brown sugar.
  • Flour: you can use all purpose or bread flour here. Bread flour is recommended over all purpose, but you’ll still achieve a very good chewy and dense soft vegan bagel.
  • Arrowroot powder: this helps get that chewy texture!
sliced bagels on parchment paper

How to make homemade vegan bagels

Making these oil free vegan bagels is a lot easier than you might think! It can be broken down into three basic sections: making the dough, shaping and boiling the bagels, and finally, baking the bagels!

A reminder: I have the full instructions with measurements listed down below in the recipe card, but I wanted to make sure we go over them thoroughly here!

Step 1: the bagel dough

The start of the vegan bagel dough is very similar to any bread making process, like in my vegan focaccia recipe or my vegan cinnamon rolls.

Simply activate the yeast by combining the hot water, coconut sugar, and a spoonful of flour. Add in the yeast and cover to activate for 10 minutes. I recommend placing the bowl in a warm area.

Once activated, you’ll add in the remaining ingredients. You can use a stand mixer or do this by hand. If doing by hand, you’ll need more flour.

Either way, you will finish the dough by kneading it by hand for about 5 minutes.

bagel dough

Then place the dough into the bowl, cover, and allow the dough to double in size. Once doubled in size, you can move onto shaping the bagels!

Step 2: shaping & boiling the vegan bagels

You might see some people roll the bagel dough into a long cylinder than pinch it together to make it into a bagel…there is a much better way to do this that’s actually a lot easier.

Plus your bagels will look more bagel-y 😉

Simply divide your proofed dough into 8 even sections. I like to use my pastry cutter. Roll each section into a ball, and lightly press your thumb into the middle of the dough.

dough divided on marble
rolled dough
shaping the vegan badge
shaped vegan bagel

You don’t want a gaping hole, or else your bagels will be sort of flimsy. Simply work your fingers around the dough to create a hole less than an inch wide.

Less is more here.

Then we’ll boil them! To boil the bagels, simply bring a large pot of water to a boil. Use either a spatula or a large spoon with holes in it for draining, and carefully transfer a bagel into the boiling water. It should float.

You’ll cook the bagel for 1 minute on each side. Once cooked, transfer it back to the parchment paper and repeat for the remaining bagels!

Step 3: topping & baking the bagels

If you don’t want just plain bagels, you’ll top the bagels with your desired toppings before baking!

bagels topped and being boiled

You can top your bagels with:

  • sesame seeds
  • poppy seeds
  • everything but the bagel seasoning
  • dried onion
  • flaked sea salt
  • cinnamon sugar

Once your bagels have been topped, you’ll bake them for just 20-23 minutes at 425F.

No need to make any glaze!

sliced vegan bagel

What to serve on your bagels

I personally love a smear of vegan cream cheese, especially my homemade 3-ingredient vegan cream cheese. I also have 7 different flavor variations in that homemade dairy free cream cheese post to keep it fun!

However, if you want a sweeter route, I highly recommend smearing a pat of vegan butter and sprinkling with a bit of cinnamon, sea salt, and a drizzle of maple syrup! My favorite vegan butter to use here is Forager Project.

If you’re not nut-free, you can also use almond butter, cashew butter, peanut butter, or the like. Even coconut butter would be lovely!

How to store homemade bagels

I recommend storing these bagels in an airtight sealed bag. When you’re sealing the bag, squeeze out all of the air so that your bagels stay extra fresh.

You can either refrigerate your bagels for up to 5 days or freeze them for up to 3 months.

To reheat, simply toast them or bake them for a few minutes (about 5-7) in the oven!

sliced vegan bagels with cream cheese

I hope you love these homemade vegan bagels as much as I do!

As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there!

Happy vegan bagel making!

Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!

homemade vegan bagels pinterest pin

If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!

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sliced vegan bagels with cream cheese

Homemade Chewy Vegan Bagels

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.8 from 5 reviews
  • Author: Britt Berlin
  • Prep Time: 60
  • Cook Time: 18
  • Total Time: 1 hour 18 minutes
  • Yield: 8
  • Category: Breakfast
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: American
  • Diet: Vegan
Print Recipe

Description

Learn how to make the best chewy homemade vegan bagels ever! These easy vegan bagels taste just like a New York style bagel, without leaving home!

Ingredients

Scale
  • 2.5 tsp activated dry yeast
  • 1 1/2 cups (375 mL) filtered water, heated to 110F
  • 2 tsp maple syrup, room temperature
  • 4 1/8 cups (520 g) bread flour*
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot starch
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • Desired toppings (see blog post for measurements!)

Instructions

  1. Please read through all instructions before beginning.
  2. Measure out all ingredients before beginning. Make sure that your water is 110F when you bloom the yeast.
  3. Bloom the yeast: to a medium bowl, combine the water, dried yeast and maple syrup. Mix with a wooden spoon, cover and set aside to rest for 10-15 minutes. The yeast should start to form foam at the top of the water and begin to smell yeast like. If it does not, you might need to start from scratch (easier to do it at this stage!). As the yeast is blooming, grease a large clean bowl with olive oil. This will be for the first proof. Set aside.
  4. Make the bagel dough:in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, and salt. Then in a stand mixer with dough attachment or in a large bowl and wooden spoon, add the yeast mixture, vanilla extract, maple syrup, and about 1/3 of the flour mixture. Mix on medium speed for 1 minute, then stop and add in the remaining flour. Mix on medium speed to begin, then to medium-high speed to knead the dough for 2-3 minutes. 
  5. Knead the dough: On a clean floured surface, lightly flour the dough and begin to knead the dough for 5-7 minutes. The dough should be smooth and easily formed into a large ball.
  6. Proof the dough: place the bagel dough into your clean greased bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Place in a warm area that’s at least 85F to proof until doubled in size, about 45-60 minutes. While the dough is rising, line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
  7. Shape the bagels: once the dough has risen, lightly punch down the dough, and flour a clean surface once more. Lightly knead to deflate the dough on the surface, then divide the dough to be 8 even sections using a bench scraper or large kitchen knife. It’s easiest to lightly flour the knife before slicing the dough. Take one piece of bagel dough and lightly knead it into a small and smooth ball. Press your thumb into the middle of the dough ball to form into a bagel. Place the formed bagel onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat for the remaining dough balls, placing four bagels onto each baking sheet spaced apart.
  8. Second proof: cover each baking sheet with a clean kitchen towel, and allow the dough to rise for 30 minutes.
  9. While the bagels are rising: bring a large kitchen pot with 4 quarts of water to a boil. Preheat the oven to 425F.
  10. Once the water is boiling: use a slotted spatula and carefully place one bagel at a time into the boiling water. I place about two bagels into the pot to boil together. Allow the bagels to boil for 1 minute, then carefully remove them with the slotted spatula and place them back onto the baking sheet. They will be very puffy! Repeat for the remaining bagels.
  11. Before baking: Add your toppings (sesame seeds, dried onion, poppy seeds, sea salt, etc.)
  12. Bake the bagels: place the baking sheets into the oven to bake for 20-23 minutes. About half way through, rotate the pan to make sure the tops evenly brown. Remove the bagels once the tops are lightly browned.
  13. Allow the bagels to cool for 10 minutes: give the bagels to cool at room temperature on a cooling rack for 10 minutes before slicing. Then serve with vegan cream cheese, vegan butter, peanut butter, cashew butter, or enjoy as is!
  14. Storage: store any leftover bagels in an airtight bag or container at room temperature for up to 2 days, in the fridge for up to a week, or in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Notes

See blog post for tips & tricks!

homemade vegan bagel on parchment paper