Quick & Easy 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 exactly the same.

 

Protein bagels with protein powder (new & improved recipe)

I was curious 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.

 

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.

Watch the quick 1-minute video below for a simple walkthrough (note that the video walkthrough will make 4 slightly smaller bagels), or keep scrolling down for some easy step-by-step instructions.

Step 1: Mix all your ingredients together in a ball until it becomes a dough. 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 seasoning/topping 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, then slice and enjoy!

 

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

 

How to make smaller bagels with fewer calories

The only problem (if you can call it that) with this recipe is that the bagels may be higher in calories than you might like.

Don’t worry, you can EASILY follow this same recipe to make 4 slightly smaller bagels!

Instead of forming 3 bagels with this recipe, make 4 bagels instead.

When you turn this recipe into 4 protein bagels, the calories will be slightly lower, and the protein will still be plenty high.

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! In fact, this is the size I chose to go with for my Cinnamon Crunch Bagels.

And don’t forget that you can get creative with the types of bagels you make, too. 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.

Not to toot my own horn, but the interior of these bagels is just perfect. Normally high-protein baked goods are dry, but these bagels are as authentic as you could hope for.

And if you find yourself with leftover protein bagels from this recipe, check out my Bagel Chips Recipe to put ’em to good use!