30-Minute Protein Bagels with 19g Protein

These protein bagels are absolutely delicious.

In fact, I’m willing to bet that you’d never be able to tell that they are secretly packed with 19g of protein!

These protein bagels can be whipped up and ready to eat in under 30 minutes and require only a few key ingredients, which has made them a staple in my weekend breakfast rotation.

Protein bagels are my take on the infamous “two-ingredient” dough that you may have seen for various other recipes out there.

Flour + Greek yogurt combine together to magically form a dough for bagels, bread, pretzels, you name it. The Greek yogurt creates the airiness that you usually need to use yeast to accomplish, making it a much quicker process than messing with yeast.

This trick first burst onto the scene years ago as a Weight Watchers “hack,” but has since been used over and over in recipes.

I’ve used this technique for many of my own recipes, like my Bavarian Pretzel, Pita Bread, and Breakfast Bagel Bombs.

By using this combination of ingredients, it allows us to create a protein bagel that has the same amount of calories as a typical bagel, but with double the protein!

We actually have two versions here: one that utilizes unflavored protein powder to kick the protein content up even higher, and one that does not require any protein powder at all (but is still protein-packed).

Let’s explore them both.

 

Ingredients needed for protein bagels

The traditional “2 ingredient dough” consists of self-rising flour & Greek yogurt, but many people don’t have self-rising flour laying around.

Self-rising flour is simply all-purpose flour that has baking powder and salt added to it. When you use it in recipes, it eliminates the need for any kind of leavening agent because the baking powder is already included.

I know it’s not a super common ingredient, so we’re rolling with regular all-purpose flour in these protein bagels. Don’t worry, if you DO prefer self-rising flour, the recipe includes directions for either.

 

Protein bagels without protein powder (the original recipe)

These bagels are what I make most often since the ingredients are very minimal. If you follow this version of the recipe, you’ll have bagels with 180 calories and about 10g of protein.

For the original protein bagels, we keep things very simple. We need:

• All-Purpose Flour
• Baking Powder
• Salt
• Plain Nonfat Greek Yogurt

Easy, huh?

If you have self-rising flour, you can simply omit the baking powder, then the rest of the recipe will be the same.

 

Protein bagels with protein powder (new & improved recipe)

I was curious about what would happen if I swapped out a little bit of the flour for unflavored protein powder.

Not only can you not taste the protein powder in the slightest, but it bumps the protein content of each bagel up to 19g!

The ingredients for this high-protein version are exactly the same, with one key addition. For this protein bagel recipe, we’re going to use one fewer serving of all-purpose flour, and instead add in a scoop of unflavored protein powder.

We don’t want to add too much protein powder because it will severely dry out the bagels, so one scoop is the limit here.

When I originally developed this recipe, I used Quest Nutrition’s Multipurpose Protein, which worked great.

Since then, PEScience (the brand I use in all my recipes) released their own unflavored protein powder, so that is what I use now! Any unflavored protein powder should work in this recipe, but it’s important to note that both Quest and PEScience are whey & casein blends, so they will bake slightly differently than 100% whey protein.

Don’t forget that if you want to grab some PEScience protein powder, my code “Matt” will save you 10% on any order.

 

Can you use cottage cheese instead of Greek yogurt?

I was curious to find out the answer for myself, so I ran an experiment to find out what would make the best substitute for Greek yogurt.

It turns out that not only does cottage cheese work amazingly well as a replacement, but it also creates a bagel that is arguably even fluffier.

I combined self rising flour with some cottage cheese, and I was left with a super soft and fluffy bagel. Along with cottage cheese, sour cream worked surprisingly well too.

If you find yourself without any Greek yogurt for this recipe, check out the full experiment to find the best replacement.

 

How to make protein bagels

Whether you choose to go with the original protein bagels, or the version with extra protein (my personal favorite), the process for making these protein bagels will be exactly the same.

Step 1: Mix all of your ingredients together in a bowl until dough forms. You’ll need to get in there with your hands for it to all come together.

Step 2: Break the dough up into 3 roughly equal-sized pieces.

Step 3: Knead each ball of dough for about 30 seconds or so until they smooth out. See the difference in this photo between the bagel dough that I kneaded (on the right) and the one that I did not. It doesn’t need to be completely smooth, but we want to work out any large cracks in the dough.

Step 4: Roll out each piece of dough into ropes. Once you form them into a bagel shape, you’ll be able to see if you need to roll them out longer. Pinch the edges together to create the bagel shape.

Step 5: Brush each bagel with an egg wash, then add the bagel seasoning of your choice.

Step 6: Air fry at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. After 8 minutes, flip the bagels to cook them for the final 2 minutes. As you can see in the below photo, the bottoms of the bagels are light, so flipping them for the final 2 minutes allows the entire bagel to have an even cook.

Step 7: Let the protein bagels sit for 10-15 minutes so they firm up inside before slicing.

Once cooled, slice the bagels and enjoy! Spread butter or cream cheese on your bagel, of cook up some eggs to create a bagel sandwich.

Even with the addition of protein powder into these bagels, the inside stays soft and tender, exactly the way a bagel should be…

 

Can you bake protein bagels in the oven?

Using an air fryer allows us to accomplish a slightly crispy exterior and fluffy interior, which is what we want in a bagel. But if you don’t have an air fryer, the oven works quite well for this healthy recipe!

Prep your protein bagels the same way, place them on a baking sheet, and bake at 375 degrees F for about 15 minutes.

The air fryer cooks much quicker than a standard oven, so you’ll want to allow for some extra time. Keep an eye on the bagels as you may need slightly less or more time depending on your oven, but I found 15 minutes to be perfect.

 

Toppings and Variations for Protein Bagels

If a regular bagel is boring to you, I have a ton of inspiration for you. I love a traditional bagel, but if you’re looking for more, I’ve got you covered.

Lower Calorie Bagels

If you prefer bagels with fewer calories, you can use this same recipe to make 4 bagels instead of 3.

For 4 bagels instead of 3, each bagel will have 180 calories, 0g Fat, 30g Carbs, and 14g protein.

The bagels will be slightly smaller than a traditional bagel, but still plenty big.

 

Vegan Protein Bagels

While I don’t recommend swapping out whey protein powder for vegan protein powder, you can easily make this recipe vegan by using a plant-based yogurt alternative.

Plant-based yogurt tends to be lower in protein, so don’t expect quite as much protein in your bagels, but they’ll hold up quite well.

Check out my full protein bagel experiment to see which yogurt worked the best.

 

Cinnamon Crunch & Cinamon Raisin Bagels

While I love everything bagels the most, sometimes I’m just in the mood for a sweeter alternative.

Cinnamon raisin bagels are vastly underrated, and I recommend you give them a try! Simply toss some raisins into your dough with a couple of dashes of cinnamon and you’re good to go.

If you want to take things one step further, you can also turn this recipe into Cinnamon Crunch bagels like they serve up at Panera.

 

Breakfast Sandwiches

There’s no better breakfast out there than a bagel sandwich. Slice and toast your protein bagel, fry up an egg, and top with some American cheese.

I’ll admit I might enjoy a McGriddle a tiny bit more than a bagel sandwich, but they’re 1A and 1B on my breakfast sandwich list.

 

Pizza Bagel Bites

Last but certainly not least, use this recipe to make high protein pizza bagels! We all know and love bagel bites, so why not create a super easy high-protein version?

You can get creative with the pizza toppings you choose, but I like to keep things classic.

 

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