Homemade Chocolate Chip Bagel Recipe
This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy here.
Do you love to pick up bagels from the grocery store bakery to have for breakfast? This amazing homemade Chocolate Chip Bagel recipe can give you that bakery-fresh taste right from your own kitchen!
Homemade Chocolate Chip Bagel Recipe
The last time I made Homemade Bagels this thought crossed my mind, “These would be SO good if they were chocolate chip.” So I pondered for a while the best way to make that happen. What I finally ended up with was not only a recipe for chocolate chip bagels but a slightly improved recipe for homemade bagels altogether.
I love my other bagel recipe but I’m not 100% happy with the boiling process, which is necessary for light fluffy bagels on the inside and crispy shell on the outside. So this recipe is not only a recipe for Chocolate Chip Bagels, it’s an improved recipe for homemade bagels overall.
Ingredients for Chocolate Chip BagelsBageBag
What you need:
- Water.
- Oil. I use olive oil in most of my recipes because that’s what I have on hand. I also like to use Safflower Oil for something that’s more mild.
- Bread flour. I use bread flour in this recipe, however, any all-purpose flour will work. I have not yet tested this recipe with gluten-free flour.
- Sugar. This is necessary to feed the yeast and help give your bagels a nice rise. I’ve not yet tested this recipe without sugar, however I have tested other bread recipes with honey instead of cane sugar and they have turned out fine.
- Salt. I use pink salt in all of my recipes because that’s what I have on hand. You can buy it in bulk here.
- Yeast. I use Instant Yeast that I buy in bulk and store in the freezer until I need to “wake it up”.
FAQs About Making Bagels
What goes good on a chocolate chip bagel?
Plain Cream Cheese spread is a nice topping for a chocolate chip bagel. But then again, I’d eat cream cheese on anything….
What is the secret to making bagels?
Do not skip the boiling step! This is the key to making a bagel a bagel, otherwise it’s just a roll or another type of dense yeast bread.
Should bagels be dense or fluffy?
Bagels should be fairly dense but not so dense that they are hard to eat and chew.
What to Serve on a Bagel
- Cream Cheese
- Frosting
- Peanut Butter or Nut Butter
- Jam
- Yogurt Cheese
- Butter
- Honey Butter
- Honey
- Any of these toppings and some crushed nuts
Variations to This Bagel Recipe
- Add dried fruit instead of chocolate chips.
- Leave out the chocolate chips for a plain bagel.
- Add cinnamon instead of chocolate chips.
- Made plain with seasonings sprinkled over the top.
- Use whole wheat flour instead of regular flour for a heartier bagel.
- Add some some unsweetened cocoa as a replacement for a small amount of flour for a double chocolate bagel.
Instructions for Making Homemade Bagels
Add all the ingredients in the order listed into the bread machine.
I’ve had many people ask if they can make the bread machine recipes without a machine and the answer is yes!
To make this without a bread machine, just knead the dough well after you mix the ingredients. Let it rise for at least 30 minutes, punch it down, knead it again and let it rise again for another 30 minutes.
I really love my bread machine. Makes life easy! If you are making the dough in the bread machine, just put the ingredients in and hit the dough setting. Let the bread machine go for its cycle.
After the dough is done in the bread machine or using traditional mixing methods, punch it down. You may need to do this on a lightly floured surface, but I did not.
Now it’s time to add the chocolate chips. You can add other things as well!
Just divide the dough and add whatever to the lump of dough. For this particular batch, I made half regular bagels and half chocolate chip.
Add chocolate chips and fold the dough over to knead them in. I used bittersweet chocolate because I love it, you can use anything you want. 😉
Form the dough into bagel shapes. Put a large hole in the middle. One batch makes about 10 – 12. Let the bagels rise for about 30 mins to 1 hour on a greased cookie sheet with a towel on top of them.
After you let them rise, stick them in the oven on the Broil setting for about 2-3 minutes on each side. They should get a little hard but not brown.
While you are doing this you can heat up the water for the next step. In a saucepan heat up several inches of water with a little sugar added in. Heat until boiling.
After the bagels are done with the broil cycle stick them a few at a time in the boiling water. Boil for 1 minute on each side and then place back on the greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350F in the oven for about 20 – 25 minutes or until lightly brown on the tops. Enjoy with a nice cream cheese spread. Yum!
To re-heat the bagels to serve, you can cut in half and toast in your toaster or on a griddle on the stove top.
Need to print the Chocolate Chip Bagel recipe for your Recipe Binder? Grab it below!
Homemade Chocolate Chip Bagels
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cups warm water
- 1 Tablespoon oil
- 4 cups bread flour
- 4 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoons salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
Instructions
-
Add all the ingredients in the order listed into the bread machine. I've had many people ask if they can make the bread machine recipes without a machine and the answer is yes. Just knead the dough well after you mix the ingredients. Let it rise for at least 30 minutes, punch it down, knead it again and let it rise again for another 30 minutes.
-
After the dough is done. punch it down. Now it's time to add the chocolate chips. You can add other things as well. Just divide the dough and add whatever to the lump of dough. For this particular bath I made half regular bagels and half chocolate chip.
-
Add chocolate chips and fold the dough over to knead them in. I used bittersweet chocolate because I love it, you can use anything you want. 😉
-
Form the dough into bagel shapes. Put a large hole in the middle. One batch makes about 10 - 1Let the bagels rise for about 30 mins to 1 hour on a greased cookie sheet with a towel on top of them. After you let them rise, stick them in the oven on the Broil setting for about 2-3 minutes on each side. They should get a little hard but not brown. While you are doing this you can heat up the water for the next step. In a saucepan heat up several inches of water with a little sugar added in. Heat until boiling.
-
After the bagels are done with the broil cycle stick them a few at a time in the boiling water. Boil for 1 minute on each side and then place back on the greased cookie sheet.
-
Bake at 350F for about 20 - 25 minutes or until lightly brown of the tops. Enjoy with a nice cream cheese spread. Yum!
Dairy Free Chocolate Chip Bagels Recipe
This recipe is naturally dairy free, no need to change it! Just make sure whatever kind of chocolate chips you are using are dairy free as well.
Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Bagels Recipe
I have not yet made this recipe gluten free, however, it should work with a good all purpose gluten free flour that is good for yeast products.
I do not recommend using my personal blend or the Bob’s Red Mill blend. So far I’ve found that Schar has performed the best in my yeast bread trials and I’m working on a recipe to make it myself since it’s pretty expensive. If your gluten free flour mix does not contain a binder (ie: xanthan gum), you will need to add that as well.
An egg wash over the bagels before baking might also help the gluten free version look a little better and not so pale.
Tip: You might also enjoy this Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Bread recipe.
Little House Living’s Bagel Making Tips and Tricks
- You can freeze these bagels once you make them, so make plenty and freeze the extras so you don’t have to go through the process as often. They should last for at least 3-6 months in the freezer if stored in a good bag.
- I think for the most part, bagels are a pretty friendly food for our special needs family members. You might need to leave out the chocolate chips or any “chunks” for those with texture troubles. My kids do not like the dairy free cream cheese so we just top these with jam.
- Utilize your bread machine for this recipe as mentioned in the instructions above to save yourself time in the kitchen. Most of us have these appliances in our cupboards already…put them to work for you!
Love this Chocolate Chip Bagel Recipe? Share it with your friends on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, or by email!
Merissa has been blogging about and living the simple life since 2009 and has internationally published 2 books on the topic. You can read about Merissa’s journey from penniless to the 100-acre farm and ministry on the About Page. You can send her a message any time from the Contact Page.
This Chocolate Chip Bagel recipe was originally posted on Little House Living in July 2011. It has been updated as of January 2023.
Just made these – YUM!! Never have had bagels fresh from the oven and wow…so good. I don’t have a bread maker and it took forever (all day process) to make them but it wasn’t hard, just time consuming. Wonderful recipe – thank you!
I’m glad you liked them! I highly recommend a bread machine, even the inexpensive ones do really well. I use mine all the time when I don’t want to heat up the whole kitchen making a loaf of bread or if I just don’t have time to work on bread!
I’ve made these bagels once before, and they worked out well. I’m currently working on making another batch and am wondering how to store these bagels for a few days without letting them go bad?
I always just stick them in the freezer and pull out what I want to eat:)
Hey there, can I use half whole wheat flour to add some more nutrients? Trying to reduce our white flour and sugar consumption here.. Thanks, these look amazing!
Yes you can!
I’ve made these bagels a few times now and my hubby loves them! We have quadruplets and like to feel like we are splurging without actually spending the money to buy things like this at the store. Thanks for the recipe! It’s cost effective and delicious! 🙂
Oh! And one trick I discovered to help keep the bottoms from getting soggy after boiling them, is to let them sit for a minute on a cooling rack. The heat from boiling evaporates most of the water, but the little drips have a chance to fall away from the bagel. After a minute, they are good to go back on the cookie sheet. Just a little tip that works in my kitchen!
I am so going to try these!
Can I cut the yeast and use self rising flour? Or is the yeast a MUST.
You can try it but I’m not sure how it would work. Let us know if you do!
Well, I did’t try it, I followed the recipe to the T… and OMG… this is an AMAZING recipe… I was trying to get the likeness to Big Apple Bagels because I dont have one close to where I am (closest is 5 hours away). THANK YOU SO MUCH for posting this… these are SO amazing 🙂 🙂 also… try it with the chocolate chip cream cheese topping (I’ll post the link) I’ts my child hood all over again 🙂
here is the link:
http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/chocolate-chip-dip/376D4606-BBC3-4FB4-AFBD-C9BEF8745108?nicam1=paid_search&nichn1=Google&nipkw1=chocolate%20chip%20dip&niseg1=TDCore_PB&nicreatID1=nonbranded&mkwid=s6Dfxxwg6&pcrid=6261755217&gclid=CJnmp8zrtK8CFQpj7AodgGqFjA#
So glad you liked them, thanks for sharing that! If we want to get “fancy” when we top the bagels I mix a little turbinado sugar in with softened cream cheese until it melts. Then we use that as a spread….SO good!
My daughter and I both really love chocolate chip bagels and it gets expensive going to local bakeries to purchase them. Your recipe look really good and has such great reviews the only problem is I do not own a bread machine and at this time can not afford to purchase one . I do have a Kitchenaid Professional 5 mixer and wanted to know if you or anyone have made this recipe with a stand mixer? Did the recipe turn out as good and if you think this will burn out the motor on the mixer. I had someone once tell me making bread had burned out their mixer….
Thanks Janet
I’ve made this recipe in my Bosch Mixer and it turns out just fine. I’m not sure about the KitchenAid, I had one for 2 days and returned it to get the more powerful Bosch:)
Hello!
Just made these with my kitchenaid and
they came out just like the pictures. Takes
a little more time but it’s worth it!
Now this is a must try. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Why do you need to to put the chocolate bagels in water before baking them?
It makes the inside stay night and soft while you bake them!
Hi! I was just trying this recipe, but when I got to the broil part, the bagels caught on fire after 1 minute! Help! Not sure how to broil apparently. I put them on the top rack, was this my mistake? Can you let me know which rack you use.
Thanks!
I keep mine on the top rack but it’s still a ways from the broiler, you have to watch them very very closely though. Mine take a minute or 2 to brown but your oven might be hotter. I would just try again but watch them like a hawk and pull them out as soon as they are brown.
Mine were way too brown even at 2 minutes! But I am excited about this recipe, so next time I will just lower my oven rack and keep a closer eye on them. This time, we wil just slice off any “too brown” parts.
Hi, just found your site and I am glad I did. I want to try this recipe and I have a bread machine that I dont really use. how do i know the dough is ready to be brought out of the bread machine?
Thanks.
Does your bread machine have a dough setting? I usually just put my bread on that and it works pretty good.
Wow I love bagels but have never made them. I have an old fleishman’s yeast recipe for them that doesn’t include the broiling them part. I bet it makes a good difference to broil them. Going to have to make these and compare.
It does make a difference I think, it adds that bubbly, bagel texture that’s so good!
Made these into cinnamon raisin bagels – delicious!
Yum!
Can I add cocoa to make these chocolate chocolate chip bagels?
I don’t see why not. Let us know how they turn out!
how much is a little bit of sugar in the water can i have a measurment please i’d appreciate that thank you.
It’s jut a very small amount, just a pinch with your fingers.
Have you converted this recipe to gluten free?
Not yet Alexandra.
I am going to attempt to make these gluten free. My daughter and I love bagels, but I don’t like paying $5 for a bag of them. I will let you know how they turn out! And thank you for the wonderful recipes! I always go to your site first when trying something new!
I would love to know how they turn out!
I just came across this recipe and would like very much to make them. My questions are: When using the bread machine what setting do you use? Second; How much chocolate chips do you put in?
For the bread machine you will just use the dough setting. And for chocolate chips I usually only use about 1/4 to 1/3 cup.
Made for the first time. Didn’t turn out to good. Dough was too dry. Very disappointed. Gonna try recipe from breadmaker machine.
Good timing! My son loves bagels but has food allergies. We had some safe bread products he could eat but since sesame is now fda required labeling, the companies that never added sesame to their products are doing so now to get around the labeling!! So angry!! I make my own bread and have done bagels before, but looking forward to this recipe!! Thanks!
FOod allergies are so difficult to deal with especially when you’d just love to find yourself or your children something easy to make/eat! I hope you enjoy this recipe.
My kitchen has very little space for projects like bread-making, but I’m really going to have to try these! My oven has two broiler settings — hi and lo. Which would you suggest I use? Thanks, Merissa, and I’ll let you know how these turn out!
I would use the low setting on your broiler.
Dear Merissa,
I have made bagels before and am anxious to try your improvements!
I don’t own a bread machine and work all my bread by hand and don’t foresee any difficulties.
Thanks for the great looking recipe-I gave it 5 stars for your creativity!
Blessings,
Colleen
I’m rating this a 5 even though I’ll never eat it. Celiac! But I love bagels, and I (used to) love chocolate chip muffins. This would be awesome with morning coffee.
This recipe is wonderful. I made 1/2 chocolate chip and 1/2 Everything bagels. While it is time consuming with a few steps, it’s a solid recipe and definitely the best bagel recipe I have tried. Most importantly, fulfills the craving in a frugal way!
what does broiling before boiling do? i have not heard of this and am intrigued.
It just helps them firm up a bit before adding them into the boiling water to help them stay together better. You don’t have to do it but I’ve found it helps!
thanks! i’m going to try that.