3-Ingredient Easy Homemade Bagels (No Yeast!)

Make bakery-fresh homemade bagels with just a few ingredients! These greek yogurt bagels are relatively low-calorie, high protein, and totally delicious.

Bagels look like they would be hard to make. At least, that’s what I thought for years. Until I saw the viral 2-ingredient bagel recipe on TikTok. It’s an update of the infamous Weight Watchers 2 ingredient bread dough, simply rolled into bagel shapes. It’s an easy bagel recipe that even someone yeast-bread challenged like me could make. 

Unfortunately, the TikTok viral bagels are a little dry and crumbly for my tastes. Since I don’t care about having fat free bagels, I started experimenting and found that adding one more ingredient (egg) changed a dry, sad bagel into a deliciously chewy, just plain good bagel. 

This recipe is super easy — since there’s no yeast, you don’t have to do any proofing or rising. Unlike traditional bagel recipes, you also don’t have to boil these guys. You just make the dough, form the bagels, and bake them. It’s an easy breakfast and a lower-calorie, higher-protein alternative to store-bought bagels. 

What’s in this 3-ingredient bagel recipe?

This is a base recipe that you can customize to create tons of different flavors. The main ingredients you’ll need to create your own bagels are: 

•  Self-Rising Flour: This is the secret to getting a fluffy bagel without yeast. Self-rising flour is made from all purpose flour with baking powder and salt pre-mixed in, so that you can simply measure once and get both flour and leavening agent. If you want to make your own, King Arthur Baking has a great recipe. 
• Greek Yogurt: Greek yogurt gives your bagels enough fat and moisture to create that soft crumb. You can use full-fat or nonfat plain greek yogurt I prefer the texture of bagels made with full-fat greek yogurt — they’re softer and richer!
• Eggs: You will need 2 eggs for this recipe: one to mix in and one to create an egg wash for the tops. The eggs add extra fat, structure, and moisture to your bagels, as well as giving the top that gorgeous golden-brown color as it bakes. 

Making 3-ingredient bagels

​​Step 1 | Make the Dough

In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the flour, greek yogurt, and one of the eggs. This is going to make a VERY sticky dough. Don’t worry — it’s supposed to be like that. Here’s what mine looks like for reference: 

​Step 2 | Knead and Form Your Bagels

Next, turn your extremely sticky dough onto a floured surface. Add a little flour to the top of the dough, then knead it a few times until it picks up enough flour to stop being sticky. Here’s what it should look like: 

Once you’ve got your dough ready, cut it into four even pieces. If you want to make mini bagels, you can simply divide your dough into more even pieces. Roll them into little snakes, then pinch the ends together to make rings. It’s starting to look like a bagel!

Step 3 | Toppings

Once you’ve got your rings, you can place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Now you’re going to top them. Start by beating your remaining egg, then brushing it onto the top of the bagels. This will provide a sticky surface so that your toppings will stay put. It also creates that golden-brown top, so don’t skip it even if you’re going for plain bagels. 

Once you’ve brushed your bagels with egg wash, you can add your toppings. I left half plain and put everything bagel seasoning on the other half.

Step 4 | Bake and Enjoy!

Pop your bagels into the oven at 375° for 25 minutes. Your bagels are done when the tops are golden brown and slightly hard to the touch. Let your bagels cool for a few minutes before slicing and enjoying! I love mine with a little cream cheese, jam, or peanut butter. You can also make a breakfast sandwich from them. I love to pair mine with a protein smoothie for a high-energy start to the day.

Why don’t you boil the bagels? 

Excellent question — most bagel recipes require you to boil them in a baking soda solution in order to get the right texture. When I was testing these, I started by using that standard technique. I discovered that boiling these bagels gives them a rubbery texture, which is somewhat off-putting. Simply baking them without boiling creates a chewy bagel that’s much more appetizing. You can see the difference in texture and shape below: 

Basically, these bagels don’t require that step to get that perfect texture, which makes this recipe super easy — my favorite kind!