Bagel Bites

Recently, they discontinued Bagel Bites here in Canada.

Those bite-sized bagel mini pizzas were such a beloved quick snack - especially as an after school snack - I’m honestly kind of shocked that they were discontinued.

I was pretty lazy with them, and would microwave the pepperoni pizza snacks as an easy snack when studying, or when taking a quick break from work.

Just never had the time or patience to bake or toast them for a crispy finish!

The bagel bites cheese - and pepperoni, for that matter - wasn’t the best quality, but hey, sometimes the taste buds just want that “trashy good” flavor, you know?

Anyway, enough half-assed eulogy, I’m a solutions person!

As I learned when living in the USA - pretty much any food can be made at home, if you’re desperate/creative enough... and those mini pizza bagels are no exception.

After designing a recipe for mini bagels, I set about making my own bagel bites - and you can, too!

Sure, these homemade pizza bagel bites don’t come with a convenient microwavable crisping tray, but what they DO have is great flavour, AND they’re endlessly customizable!

Once you’ve got the mini bagels on hand - whether my Homemade Mini Bagels, or store-bought ones - this recipe is just a little bit of easy prep.

You can even do them up as homemade air fryer bagel bites - an option that I hadn’t even considered before designing this recipe.

I guess the advent of air fryers got rid of the need for patience!

Anyway, let’s get to that recipe!

Ingredients

This recipe uses only a few simple ingredients that should be easy to find at most grocery stores. A few notes for you:

Mini Bagels

I used my Homemade Mini Bagels for to make these mini pepperoni pizza bagels.

I definitely recommend making these if you can - fresh is always so much nicer than mass-produced, and you can avoid things like ... invert cane syrup and high fructose corn syrup - but you can definitely use store-bought if you prefer.

This makes enough for about 40 mini bagels (split, so 80 halves), but that’ll depend on the sizing.

Pizza Sauce

Use your favourite tomato sauce or marinara sauce.

Note: If you want these to taste amazing, season your sauce well!

If you want them to taste accurate, use a really cheap, basic sauce off the shelf

Cheese

I used a pizza mozzarella for this, cut into small cubes for authenticity.

That said, you can use whatever cheese you like - real cheese, ideally!

Part-skim mozzarella cheese, an Italian cheese blend, cheddar cheese, Parmesan cheese, or a blend are all great options - just use what you like!

Pizza Toppings

Going with the default, I like to use pepperoni sticks, rather than pepperoni slices. I like cutting them into cubes, to be more like the source material!

If you use pepperoni slices, just be sure to cut them into really tiny pieces. Think “pepperoni confetti”!

Beyond the pepperoni default, just use your favorite pizza toppings.

I like to make deluxe bagel bite pizzas, with green peppers, mushrooms, onions, and sometimes black olives - all finely chopped, of course.

Cooked Italian sausage - finely chopped - and crumbled bacon are other good options

How to Make Homemade Bagel Bites

The full recipe is in the recipe card at the end of this post, here is a pictorial walk through.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees f, line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Prepare your toppings: Cut pepperoni sticks and cheese into small cubes, finely chop any other toppings you’re using (mushrooms, green peppers, onions, black olives, etc.)

Add a rounded teaspoon of sauce to each bagel half, use the bag of a spoon to spread over the cut surface of each bagel.

In a medium bowl, mix together the cheese and pepperoni cubes (and any other toppings you may be using).

Place a tablespoon or so of topping on each sauced bagel.

Bake in preheated oven for 12-14 minutes, or until warmed through and cheese is bubbly. Serve hot.

Leftovers

Leftover cooked bagel bites can be transferred to an airtight container and kept in the fridge for a few days, if needed.

Reheat in a microwave, or for a few minutes in an airfryer.

To Freeze Bagel Bites

If you don’t want to eat them right away, you can freeze them after assembling.

Note: I recommend mixing the sauce with the toppings before scooping them on to bagel bites that you intend to freeze. It helps everything stick together better!

Arrange unbaked, assembled pizza bites in a single layer on a shallow pan. Freeze until frozen through - several hours or overnight.

Transfer to a freezer bag, remove as much air as possible, and return to the freeze until you’re ready to use them.

Cooking Instructions for Frozen Bagel Bites

Whichever way you want to reheat them, keep them frozen until ready to use - don’t let them thaw first!

Also, let them sit for a minute or so before eating, and use caution - they’ll be HOT!

Conventional Oven

Preheat oven to 450 F.

Arrange frozen pizza bites in a single layer on a baking sheet, bake for 10-12 minutes.

Toaster Oven

Preheat toaster oven to 400 F.

Arrange frozen bagel bites on a toaster oven tray. Place tray in toaster, bake 15-17 minutes.

Air Fryer

Preheat air fryer to 380 F.

Arrange frozen bagel bites in a single layer in the air fryer basket, air fry for 8-10 minutes.

Microwave (Softer Bagels)

Arrange frozen bagel bites in a single layer on a microwave safe plate.

Heat 10 or fewer bagel halves for 4-5 minutes on medium heat, or more bagels for 4 - 6 minutes on high heat.

If your microwave doesn’t have a turntable, rotate the plate of bagel snacks halfway through the cooking time.

Keep an eye on it, the actual needed time will vary between microwaves!

More Finger Food Recipes

Looking for more appetizer recipes for your next party, or the big game? Here are some fun ideas!

Air Fryer Cream Cheese Wontons
Air Fryer Jalapeno Poppers
Antipasto Skewers
Armadillo Eggs
Chicken Satay
Crispy Smoked Chicken Wings
Easy Air Fryer Frozen Pierogi
Gluten Free Pizza Bites
Greek Salad Skewers
Hot Dog Sliders
Jalapeno Popper Stuffed Pretzels
Keto Mozzarella Sticks
Loaded Potato Skins
Piroshki
Reuben Egg Rolls
Smoked French Fries
Smoked Jalapeno Poppers
Smoked Salmon Bagel Bites
Smoky Dry Rub Wings
Spanakopita Triangles

Share the Love!

Before you chow down, be sure to take some pics of your handiwork! If you Instagram it, be sure to tag me - @CelebrationGenerationCA - or post it to My Facebook Page - so I can cheer you on!

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