Bagels

Bagels can be vegan or non-vegan depending on ingredients, fillings, and toppings. You must check the ingredients/labels when buying packed bagels from a grocery store. Similarly, ask the restaurant staff if a particular bagel is vegan.

Vegan Bagel Ingredients

Regular bagels are mostly vegan. However, they may contain controversial ingredients like sugar, palm oil, and artificial flavors. These ingredients are technically vegan but are linked to animal cruelty in one way or another. Strict vegans usually avoid such controversial ingredients.

A typical vegan bagel has the following ingredients.

• Flour: Wheat flour or bread flour is the go-to flour in most bagel recipes. However, whole wheat, whole grains, and multigrain flour have recently become popular. You may also find bagels made from brown rice flour as gluten-free options.
• Salt: Salt adds flavor and regulates yeast.
• Yeast: It causes the dough to rise. Without yeast, the bagels will be dense and soggy.
• Liquid: Vegan bagels will have water as an ingredient. It combines the ingredients and makes mixing easy. Non-vegan bagels usually have milk as the liquid.
• Sweetener: The common sweeteners in bagels are sugar, barley malt syrup, high fructose corn syrup, or molasses. Organic sugar is 100% vegan, but refined sugar may force some vegans not to eat bagels made with it. Refined sugar is filtered using animal bone char.
• Fat: You may find vegetable oil or shortening in some varieties. It makes bagels soft and enhances their texture.
• Extra Ingredients: There may be some extra ingredients in vegan bagels such as nuts, herbs, spices, seeds, grains, berries, and dried fruits.

How to ensure that your Bagel is 100% Vegan?

Buying: The simplest way to do this is to check the ingredients and labels on the packaging. Vegan bagels mostly have a prominent vegan logo for quick identification. Moreover, you must avoid bagels containing milk, eggs, honey, L-cysteine, and lactose. You can also search online for a particular ingredient if you aren’t sure about it.

Eating Out: Ask the restaurant staff about bagel ingredients. You must also ensure that you get only vegan toppings and fillings for your bagel. Avoid toppings and fillings made with dairy products, eggs, meat, fish, or other non-vegan ingredients. Most bagels are topped with cheese, so make sure you replace it with a vegan cheese variety.

Please note that most store-bought and restaurant bagels have a cross-contamination risk of non-vegan ingredients.

Can I make Vegan Bagels at Home?

Yes. You can easily make vegan bagels at home if you know how to bake and make dough. There are plenty of vegan bagel recipes available online. Homemade bagels are free from cross-contamination risks and controversial ingredients like sugar and palm oil. Moreover, you can also replace ingredients as per your preferences.

Are Bagels Gluten-Free?

No. Most bagels are not gluten-free. However, some brands make gluten-free bagels using rice flour. Please note that gluten-free bagels are not always vegan and may contain milk, eggs, and honey.

Check the posts below to see which brand offers vegan bagels!