This recipe is for the bagel purists. There are so many recipes on the Internet for paleo bagels, but most of them are just savory muffin batter baked in doughnut pans. Forgive me, but that just isn’t a bagel. I feel like if you’re going to eat bread, or a bagel, or a pancake, or anything else for that matter, it needs to taste like what you’re trying to create. You need to have non-paleo people try your recipe and be like, “This is really good!”
That was my goal with this recipe. A true bagel is a yeast bread that is formed into bagel shapes and then boiled in a mixture of water and honey, then baked until golden. It needs a slightly crispy outside, a chewy inside, and a subtle sweetness and yeasty taste.
In order to achieve my perfect paleo bagels recipe, I knew that I needed to use yeast to create that yummy bready taste. I also knew that there would be no gluten of course, so I needed to replace that elasticity with something. So I used tapioca starch, which has a fairly elasticy texture. As a result, this recipe is not low-carb, so if you take issue with that fact, you can send your hate mail to cookituppaleo@gmail.com.
As for the rest of you, I’m pretty sure you are going to be in love with this recipe. Like head over heels in love. The moment these bagels came out of the oven, my family was begging me to eat them. I could barely take pictures before the entire batch was gobbled up. I will definitely be making these again, perhaps for a nice brunch with an egg casserole. Delicious!
Shared at Naturally Sweet Recipe Roundup, Round Tuit, Much Ado About Monday, Fat Tuesday
- lukewarm water – 6 tablespoons
- maple syrup or honey – 1 tablespoon
- extra-virgin olive oil – 2 tablespoons
- active dry yeast – 2 teaspoons
- egg – 1*
- blanched almond flour – 2 cups
- tapioca flour – 1 cup
- coconut flour – 1/4 cup
- salt – 1/2 teaspoon
- Water Bath:
- water – 1-2 quarts
- maple syrup or honey – 1/4 cup per 1 quart of water
- poppy seeds – for sprinkling
- In a large bowl, combine the water with the honey and olive oil. Sprinkle the yeast on top and let sit a couple minutes.
- Whisk in the egg.
- Stir in the flours and salt. Dough should come together and be very stiff.
- Separate the dough into 6 balls, and make bagel shapes from each.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit and grease a large baking sheet with some coconut oil.
- Combine the water and honey or maple syrup in the large saucepan and bring to a boil.
- Boil the bagels, one or two at a time, for 1 minute or so, or until they rise to the top. Repeat until all the bagels have been boiled. After they come out of the water. Place on the prepared baking sheet and sprinkle with poppy seeds.
- Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown.
- *To make this recipe egg-free, use a “gelatin egg” instead of the egg, and increase the almond flour to 2-1/2 cups. The “gelatin egg” recipe can be found here: http://hewontknowitspaleo.com/aip-carob-brownies/
I have to admit that I was sceptical about using this recipe to make some bagels for my sis who has a restricted diet. Wow! They exceeded expectations and my sis was over the moon. Going to experiment with different flavours. Thank you for this fab recipe.
Well done!
I just took these out of the oven and have already eaten two of them. They are much better than other recipe I tired. Much closer to the real deal. I made them with asiago cheese and sesame seeds. . I followed the recipe to the T and they came out really good. I read some people were having problems with the dough breaking up and I read where you said to make sure you level off the dry products but don’t pack them when measuring. That may be why my dough came out so good and pliable. I’ll be making them again but this time I’ll mix the asiago cheese in the dough as well as sprinkling on top.
Are you able to freeze these? How long can you keep them? I’m thinking about making a batch at a time.
Yes these should freeze well. I wouldn’t freeze them for more than a couple of weeks.
Hi Heather! Could you make a YouTube video of this recipe? I have found your other videos to be a help in the success of my attempt and baking;).
Just made these today (with sesame seeds rather than poppy, as that is what I had on hand) and they are delicious! The recipe worked perfectly, and the bagels are just what I’ve been craving. Thank you for developing and posting this recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
These bagels are truly Amazing. Thank you Heather. Merry Christmas.
Thank you and Merry Christmas to you as well!
This recipe looks yummy:) I follow the wheat Belly plan and cannot have tapioca flour, you mentioned replacing arrowroot for this, is it an equal replacement? Tks, bunches:)
Yes; equal amount 🙂
What is the best way to store these? I make my kids breakfasts at night, so whatever will keep them for about 9 hrs will work!
For 9 hours they should be fine covered on the counter as long as they are cooled.
Can they be frozen?
That would probably work 🙂
Hi. I made this recipe last night and here are my thoughts. Hope they help.
Right out of the oven they were quite tasty, but very dense. They held up well to cooking, assembly and eating. I managed to get 6 mini bagels of about 7-8cm in diameter.
But take into consideration that I had to double the water and oil intake from the beginning, because the dough was not coming together at all. Two leftover bagels we had this morning very very very hard.
My suggestions for those who will be trying to cook this in the future are:
– double the water and oil quantities
– use two eggs, separated, the whites beaten until soft peaks form and carefully folded into the batter
sorry, i dont have any ideas for the egg-free version…
Taste good, but bottoms burned.
I found I had to add more egg, oil, honey. I also only got 5 bagels.
How about weighing ingredients and then providing the weights for each in the recipe? I have best results when ingredients are weighed.
They are in the oven. I will comment on the taste shortly.
Just made a batch of these, they are a game changer!
Tried my first one with bacon & cream cheese, absolutely delish!
I will be making these forever, thanks Heather xx
I have tried to make these twice, Both times they are incredibly heavy and they just crack and crumble. I would really like to be successful at making these, do you have any suggestions to make these my “perfect paleo bagel”?
I have a couple suggestions:
1) Make sure you are using finely ground blanched almond flour. I recommend Honeyville brand.
2) Bob’s Red Mill tapioca starch
3) Scoop your flours and level off; do not pack them.
4) Your dough should be doughy but still moldable. You could try adding an extra egg or another type of moisture to get the dough the right consistency.
Im not sure how you had your dough come together with only 6 tablespoons of water. I had to add a lot more water to get a dough. The end result was ok. though
Depending on how you measure/humidity/compression of your flour, you might need more or less moisture.
Hi!
Can I sub in cassava flour for the tapioca? Thanks, this looks awesome!
Hi Jean, I haven’t tried it, but if you do let me know 🙂
Jean you’ll be happy to know that cassava/tapioca/yuca/manioc are all the same thing. I am loving this ingredient. I can’t believe I ate fresh yuca boiled for so many decades, never knowing there were so many other wonderful things I could do with it!
It’s true that they all come from the same plant, but cassava flour is the ground peeled cassava root while tapioca starch is the isolated cassava starch, so there are some differences between the two.
Thanks so much! I’m glad for the yeasty flavour as most paleo recipes don’t call for yeast…what a treat! I can’t wait to try them toasted.
I have all the ingredients but tapioca flower – is there I can sub for it?
Thanks!
Arrowroot flour maybe?
Thank you so very much for this recipe!! It is SO GOOD. I’ve always loved bagels and being that I’m paleo and allergic to eggs, I never thought I would have bagels again, but these are amazing! I used ener-G egg replacer and rolled them in a combo of dried minced garlic, onions, salt and poppy seeds. They came out beautifully. Thanks so much again!
Woohoo! So glad you liked them!! *happy dance*
Just came out of the oven amazing!. Thank you for recipe.
Is there a substitute for tapioca flour? I cannot eat it without getting sick.
You could try arrowroot starch?
Can you change the flavor? Add cinnamon and raisins without compromising the recipe?
Totally! Play around and let me know what fun flavors you come up with! 🙂
Tried these today and they were fantastic! Mine has a little different coloring because I used raw almond flour instead of blanched so they have almost a whole wheat appearance. So excited to find a paleo breakfast that doesn’t involve eggs! My fiancé has an egg allergy and poor guy was getting tired of sauage and greens which has been our go to breakfast since figuring out he couldn’t have eggs!
Woot woot! So glad you liked it!!
I’m following AIP. Do you think water chestnut flour would work in place of the almond?
Honestly I can’t say because I’ve never worked with water chestnut flour. If you try it though let me know how it goes!
Will any nut flour work. I cant have Almonds. I have cashew flour.
I haven’t tried it, but cashew flour would probably work as long as it’s fine enough.
Just tried these, and they didn’t turn out anything like a bagel 🙁 I followed the recipe, but it didn’t become doughy, it was crumbly unless pressed firmly together. Boiling them made them fall apart. And after baking them, they fall apart into crumbles if I try to cut them or butter them, and they have no bagel taste. 🙁
I had the same problem…. complete and utter failure! And I am usually a good cook…
These are better than savory-muffins-in-a-donut-pan, but a bagel purist is unlikely to be impressed. Now I know why Zenbelly said, “I’ve tried paleo bagel recipes, and being an east coast bagel snob, I’m not going there.” It’s no reflection on you, but, I’m sad to say, I just don’t think it’s possible for anyone to make a legit paleo bagel.
Just saw you are a teenager…you definitely deserve credit for besting any other paleo “bagels” out there. 🙂
I just made these yesterday and OMG!!!! I used sesame seeds, dried shallots and maldon smoked sea salt. They were the best thing ever!!! I may have eaten 2 when they came out of the oven. I’m so making these again.
Thank you!!
So pumped that you liked them so much!!!!!
Hello, your recipes are wonderful. I have celiac disease and gluten not allowed with no eggs or yeast. In your recipe can replace eggs, but my problem remains yeast, whether there is some other substitute
Thanks a lot
You can probably omit the yeast and use some baking soda.
Wow… those are beautiful. 🙂
Thanks Raia!!
I love bagels – and I especially love this paleo & gluten free recipe, thanks for sharing it!
Thanks Thalia! 🙂
What recipe plugin do you use? It’s super cute. And, I’ll be sharing this recipe with my readers. Great job.
Thanks a lot Glori! And the my recipe template is integrated in my theme: CookingPress.