Easy Homemade Cinnamon Raisin Bagels | Vegan
These super chewy, soft, and sweet homemade cinnamon raisin bagels are the homemade bagel recipe to make! With swirls of sweet cinnamon and chewy raisins in every bite, these naturally vegan bagels are made with the simplest ingredients and taste better than a bakery!
Why you’ll love these homemade cinnamon raisin bagels
If you loved warm and toasted cinnamon raisin bagels growing up as a kid, then you’re going to absolutely become obsessed with these homemade cinnamon raisin bagels. Full of cinnamon sugar swirls and fresh raisins in every bite, these classic homemade bagels are every bit of nostalgia and sweetness.
The bagel itself is baked to perfection: super chewy, doughy, and just lightly sweet with a hint of vanilla. They’re perfect for kids and adults alike, and taste amazing toasted with smears of vegan cream cheese and cinnamon or melted vegan butter!
Oh, and guess what? This homemade bagel recipe is naturally vegan and easily refined sugar free! With the simplest ingredients and perfect in the morning for breakfast or brunch or as an afternoon snack!
Are bagels vegan?
In theory, a bagel should be vegan. The base recipe for a bagel is water, flour, yeast, and sea salt. All vegan ingredients! However, some bakeries use an egg wash on the top of the bagels before going into the oven. This makes a bagel not vegan.
If you’re buying a bagel out, always feel free to ask the baker whether or not the bagel contains any egg, milk, or cheese. Sometimes when you say “vegan” to people who are unfamiliar with the specifics of eating/living a vegan lifestyle, they can get confused as to what you mean!
But this homemade cinnamon bagel recipe is indeed vegan, so rest assured, you’re getting a great homemade bagel recipe here that anyone can enjoy.
Homemade Bagel Recipe Ingredients:
As I mentioned above, homemade bagels are typically vegan in the dough. I’ll go into more description as to what we’ll use for the vegan “egg wash,” but a cinnamon bagel recipe will consist of:
- Activated dry yeast
- Water
- Maple syrup & coconut sugar: Maple syrup is my swap for malt syrup, traditionally found in bagel recipes. And to keep with the theme of refined sugar free, I used coconut sugar for the cinnamon sugar swirl. However, you can also use brown sugar instead!
- Flour: I used all purpose flour with a touch of cornstarch, but you can also use bread flour just fine!
- Salt
- Vanilla extract
- Cinnamon
- Raisins: dried cranberries will also work if you don’t have raisins on hand!
Now to imitate that beautiful sheen on a baked bagel, we’ll use a combination of melted vegan butter or coconut oil with maple syrup. This together will help give that shine to vegan bagels once baked.
How to make homemade cinnamon raisin bagels (overview)
For the full written instructions and ingredient measurements, see the bottom of this post in the recipe card. You can also hit the “jump to recipe” button at the top of this post! Here, we’ll go over a brief overview of the steps, along with providing visuals for a better understanding of the recipe.
Whether you’re an experienced bread baker or a first timer, making these vegan bagels is actually quite simple! Here’s what you’ll do:
- Bloom the yeast: The most important step as to whether or not your dough will rise! Simply heat the water to 110F and add in the yeast, maple syrup, and a touch of flour. The temperature of the water is super important, as too hot or too cold, and your dough won’t rise. Cover the yeast mixture and set aside to rest in a warm area. Here’s a great article on how to know when your yeast is ready.
- Make the cinnamon raisin dough: now that the yeast is bloomed, it’s time to make the dough. You can use either a stand mixer or make these bagels by hand. Either works, and I’ve done both with success. You’ll mix in the raisins just as the dough is finished forming, then move to a clean surface to knead the cinnamon sugar mixture into the dough. This part will take about 12 minutes total!
- Proof the dough: This part is super simple. Once the dough is kneaded, simply place the dough into an oiled boil, cover and allow the dough to double in size in a warm area. The warm area is the crucial part. If it’s warm enough outside (85F or above) and you have a safe spot away from any outside critters, you can place the bowl on a ledge to rise. Otherwise, inside an oven with the oven light on or if your oven has a “proof” setting works just as well!
- Shape the bagels: Shaping bagels is actually quite easy. You’ll simply divide the dough into 8 even sections. Shape each into a ball, and lightly press your thumb through the middle of the ball. Work your hands around the bagel to just slightly stretch the bagel, then place it onto your baking sheet to rest before boiling.
- Boil the bagels: This step is crucial if you want a classic tasting bagel, like from a bake shop. It takes just 1 minute per bagel to boil, and trust me, the results are worth it!
- Bake the cinnamon raisin bagels! Last but not least, we’ll brush our homemade vegan “egg wash” over the bagels and place them into the oven to bake. You’ll notice they’re ready when they lightly brown on top. Then you can remove them from the oven and allow them to cool for 10-15 minutes before slicing and enjoying!
Do you have to boil bagels?
In order to get that delicious chewy texture that bagels are known for, it’s imperative that you do the bagel water bath. Otherwise, your bagels will be more like baked cinnamon raisin rolls rather than bagels! During the water bath, the raw bagels absorbs more water, and becomes very dough-like, even while baking. They retain way more moisture and create that delicious chewy texture.
Storage & Freezing Cinnamon Raisin Bagels
Once you’ve baked your cinnamon raisin bagels, you can store any leftovers for later!
Fridge: cover the bagels and store them in an airtight bag or container at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the fridge for up to a week.
Freezer: store the bagels in an airtight bag or container in the freezer for up to 2 months. When ready to thaw, simply place the bagels in the fridge overnight or heat them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet at 350F for 5-7 minutes.
Delicious Vegan Bagel Topping Ideas:
If you’re vegan or are incorporating more vegan foods into your diet, here are some great vegan bagel toppings for you to try:
- Vegan cream cheese: I recommend Violife!
- Melted vegan butter: My favorite brand is Flora Plant Butter!
- Sprinkle of cinnamon and brown sugar to be paired with the melted butter or cream cheese
- Peanut butter
- Cashew butter
- Homemade vegan Nutella
- Vegan yogurt with sliced banana and berries: My favorite brand is Forager Project!
- Mashed banana & cinnamon
You are just going to absolutely love these easy vegan cinnamon raisin bagels! They’re so fun to make and just taste out of this world amazing!
The best bagels are the ones fresh out of the oven right? 😉
Happy bagel baking!
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!
More vegan bread recipes you’ll love:
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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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Easy Homemade Cinnamon Raisin Bagels | Vegan
- Prep Time: 30
- 90 minutes rise time: 10 minutes boiling
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 0 hours
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These super chewy, soft, and sweet homemade cinnamon raisin bagels are the homemade bagel recipe to make! With swirls of sweet cinnamon and chewy raisins in every bite, these naturally vegan bagels are made with the simplest ingredients and taste better than a bakery!
Ingredients
- 2.5 tsp activated dry yeast
- 375 mL filtered water, heated to 110F
- 1 tsp maple syrup, room temperature
- 1 tbsp flour
- 520 grams all-purpose flour or bread flour*
- 1 tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot starch
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 145 grams raisins, no sugar added
- 3 tbsp brown sugar or coconut sugar
- 2 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp melted vegan butter with 1 tbsp maple syrup
Instructions
- Please read through all instructions before beginning.
- Measure out all ingredients before beginning. Make sure that your water is 110F when you bloom the yeast.
- Bloom the yeast: to a medium bowl, combine the water, dried yeast, 1 tsp maple syrup, and 1 tbsp flour. 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.
- Make the raisin 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. Add in the raisins as the dough is being mixed until they’re evenly distributed throughout the dough.
- Knead the dough with the cinnamon sugar: in a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside. On a clean floured surface, lightly flour the dough and begin to knead the dough for 5-7 minutes. As you take more flour to knead, take a few tbsp of cinnamon sugar mixture and knead it into the dough, folding it and kneading. Knead until you’ve used up all of the cinnamon sugar mixture, about 5-7 minutes. The dough should be smooth and easily formed into a large ball.
- Proof the dough: place the cinnamon raising 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.
- 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.
- Second proof: cover each baking sheet with a clean kitchen towel, and allow the dough to rise for 30 minutes.
- While the bagels are rising: bring a large kitchen pot with 4 quarts of water to a boil. Preheat the oven to 425F.
- 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.
- Before baking: brush each bagel top with the melted vegan butter and maple syrup combination.
- 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.
- 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!
- 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.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bagel, no vegan "egg wash"
- Calories: 337
- Sugar: 17.8 g
- Sodium: 153.1 mg
- Fat: 0.9 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 75 g
- Fiber: 3.8 g
- Protein: 8 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
These are amazing!! I used craisins and followed the recipe otherwise…yum! Better than a bakery 🥯
This is so wonderful to hear!! Thank you so much for giving them a try 🙂 Enjoy!