These whole wheat spinach bagels pack a LOT of nutrition into a bagel. A fantastic, tasty, and healthy base for breakfast bagel sandwiches!
Whole Wheat Spinach Bagels!
I’d say “super appropriate, with St Patrick’s Day just a few days away”, but really... The green colour on them is a bit underwhelming. They start out a pretty green, then it dilutes as the dough rises, and all but disappears in the bake.
Oh well. Win some, lose some... and besides, colour was just a possible side benefit here - not the goal!
My husband loves making breakfast sandwiches, and uses it as an excuse to work spinach into his diet.
It’s not always the most convenient, though - fresh spinach doesn’t necessarily stay fresh in the package. On the other hand, frozen involves a bit of fussing.
So, I offered to make a batch of spinach bagels for him.
He wanted a bit of garlic and onion flavour, but just enough to accent the spinach - not overwhelming. No feta, no oregano, no nutmeg.
They turned out fantastic, and have quickly become a favourite here!
These bagels have a nice, but relatively subtle spinach flavour. It accents whatever you’re serving with, without overpowering other flavours.
They have a great texture, which holds up well to being used to make his breakfast sandwiches. They’d also be fantastic with either plain cream cheese, or almost any kind of savory cream cheese.
Garden veggie cream cheese, anything flavoured with herbs, the garlic cream cheese... even smoked salmon cream cheese.
It’s a great, relatively neutral base for almost anything.
He liked the convenience of having the spinach right in the bagel, rather than fussing with it every morning.
Anyway, let’s get to it!
Ingredients
If you do much in the way of baking, you’ll find that this spinach bagels recipe uses really simple ingredients - most are pantry staples, and everything would be easy to find in most grocery stores.
I do have a few notes for you though:
Flours
This recipe uses both whole wheat flour and all purpose flour.
They both handle water differently - and can wildly affect the texture of your finished bagels - so I don’t recommend messing with the proportions of them.
If you’d like to skip the whole wheat flour and only use all purpose flour, you might need a bit extra. I’d start with 4 ⅓ cups, then see what your dough is like and go from there.
If it’s really sticky, just add a little more flour at a time, til you’re happy with it.
Spinach
I developed this recipe as a way to use up frozen bricks of spinach - 300 grams here in Canada, which is 10.5 oz. If your package is 10 or 11 oz, you’ll be fine!
The key is that you’ll want it thawed, but NOT drained.
The water/juice that forms as the spinach thaws is important for both flavour and moisture content in this recipe!
Everything Else
Rounding out this recipe, you will need:
Active Dry Yeast
Large Egg
Granulated Sugar
Salt
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
... I just really don’t have anything to add, as far as these remaining ingredients go. Like I said - really basic ingredients!
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How to Make Homemade Whole Wheat Spinach Bagels
The full recipe is in the printable recipe card at the end of this post, here is the pictorial walk through:
Make the Bagel Dough
Measure warm water into a glass measuring cup or bowl. Stir in ⅓ cup maple syrup and yeast, allow to stand for 10 minutes – it should get very bubbly.
As the yeast blooms, transfer your thawed brick of spinach - including all liquid - to a mini food processor. Blitz until it’s as smooth as you can get it, set aside.
Mix in pureed spinach and the yeast mixture, stir well to combine.
Alternatively, use a stand mixer with a dough hook for about 7 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic.
Once dough is fully kneaded, place in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise for one hour, or until doubled in size.
Form the Bagels
Once dough has doubled, punch it down, and divide it out.
We divided the mixture into 8 equally sized balls, a medium-large sized bagel. You can divide into 6 for large bagels, or 10- 12 for smaller bagels.
There are two main ways of forming bagels – with roll each lump of dough into a thick “snake” and secure the ends together, or roll each lump into a smooth ball before poking a finger though.
Once you have a hole made, stretch the ring of dough out a bit to enlarge the hole.
Personally, I prefer the latter.
Once you have all of your bagels formed, set them on a baking sheet to rise for another 15 minutes.
Boil and Bake the Bagels
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Turn heat down a little, allowing water to simmer rather than boil. If you're using the optional ¼ cup maple syrup in the boil, stir it in now.
2 or 3 at a time, drop your bagels into the simmering water, allow to cook for 1 minute, then flip each and allow to cook for another minute.
Drain well, place on a lined baking sheet.
Whisk egg together with 1 tablespoon of water, brush over the tops and sides of each bagel.
Bake for about 37-40 minutes (for 6), 35 Minutes (for 8). or 32 minutes (if you're making 10-12), until golden brown.
Once cooled to room temperature, these spinach bagels can be stored in an airtight container on the counter for a few days, or in the fridge for about a week.
More Bagel Recipes
Looking for more fantastic bagels to make? Here are some options for great bagels at home!
Banana Nut Bagels
Blueberry Bagels
Chai Bagels
Everything Bagels
Garden Veggie Bagels
Gluten-Free Bagels
How to Make Bagels
Jalapeno Cheddar Beer Bagels
Marble Rye Bagels
Mini Bagels
Montreal Bagels
Pretzel Bagels
Pumpernickel Everything Bagels
Rainbow Bagels
Red Velvet Bagels
Roasted Garlic Asiago Bagels
Roasted Red Pepper Bagels
Rye Bagels with Caraway Seeds
Seeded Whole Wheat Flax Bagels
Smoky Cheese Bagels
... and a few seasonal / holiday options, too:
Christmas Bagels
Gingerbread Bagels
Heart Shaped Bagels
Hot Cross Bagels
Maple Pumpkin Spice Bagels
Paska Bagels
Homemade Whole Wheat Spinach Bagels
Equipment
- 2 Baking Sheets
- Parchment Paper
- Large pot
Ingredients
- ¾ cup warm - not hot - water
- 1 tablespoon Granulated Sugar
- 4 teaspoon Active Dry Yeast
- 300 gram Brick Spinach thawed NOT drained
- 3 cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 ¼ cups Whole Wheat Flour
- 2 teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1 teaspoon Onion Powder
- 1 Large Egg
- 1 tablespoon Water
Instructions
Make the Dough
- Measure warm water into a glass measuring cup or bowl. Stir in ⅓ cup maple syrup and yeast, allow to stand for 10 minutes – it should get very bubbly.
- As the yeast blooms, transfer your thawed brick of spinach - including all liquid - to a mini food processor. Blitz until it’s as smooth as you can get it, set aside,
- In a large mixing bow - or the bowl of a stand mixer - combine flours, salt, garlic powder, and onion powder.
- Mix in pureed spinach and the yeast mixture, stir well to combine.
- Dump dough out onto a floured surface, knead until soft and elastic, 5-10 minutes.
- Alternatively, use a stand mixer with a dough hook for about 7 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic.
- Once dough is fully kneaded, place in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise for one hour, or until doubled in size.
Form the Bagels
- Once dough has doubled, punch it down, and divide it out.
- We divided the mixture into 8 equally sized balls, a medium-large sized bagel. You can divide into 6 for large bagels, or 10- 12 for smaller bagels.
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- There are two main ways of forming bagels – with roll each lump of dough into a thick “snake” and secure the ends together, or roll each lump into a smooth ball before poking a finger though. Once you have a hole made, stretch the ring of dough out a bit to enlarge the hole. Personally, I prefer the latter.
- Once you have all of your bagels formed, set them on a baking sheet to rise for another 15 minutes.
Boil and Bake the Bagels
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Turn heat down a little, allowing water to simmer rather than boil. If you're using the optional ¼ cup maple syrup in the boil, stir it in now.
- 2 or 3 at a time, drop your bagels into the simmering water, allow to cook for 1 minute, then flip each and allow to cook for another minute.
- Drain well, place on a lined baking sheet.
- Whisk egg together with 1 tablespoon of water, brush over the tops and sides of each bagel.
- Bake for about 37-40 minutes (for 6), 35 Minutes (for 8). or 32 minutes (if you're making 10-12), until golden brown.
Notes
Nutrition
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