Bagels are a great breakfast staple that is highly favored because of their flexibility. It pairs extremely well with a wide range of spreads and toppings -- from natural peanut butter, cream cheese to the more savory lox or smoked salmon.
But if you’ve recently switched to a vegan lifestyle or have been at it for years, you may be wondering: are bagels vegan? Can I, as a vegan, eat bagels? Which vegan bagel brand can I purchase from the grocery store? We’ll break it to you here.
What are Bagels?
Bagels are often classified as “just bread,” but the difference lies in how these two products are created. Bread is made from a mixture of flour, yeast, and water and baked in an oven for a few minutes until it’s brown in color and soft and fluffy in texture.
Bagels, just like bread, are made from the same base mixture of flour, yeast, and water, but they go through a boiling stage and are dried before they are baked.
As a result, a bagel’s exterior is shiny and crisp, with a chewy and dense interior. Bagels typically follow a doughnut shape and are almost always adorned with a peppering of sesame, sunflower, or poppy seed, on its brown surface.
Bagels, or beigels, originated from the Jewish communities of Poland and have been around since the 16th century. This bread was a staple in Polish cuisine and was brought to America by immigrant Polish Jews.
Basic Bagel Ingredients
Bagels are traditionally made from flour, water, yeast, sugar, salt, and vegetable shortening. So yes, vegans can eat bagels.
Yeast
Yeast is a crucial part of making bagels and bread as it causes the dough to rise. If the dough doesn’t rise, the final product will be quite dense and not at all flavorful.
Flour
Wheat flour or bread flour is commonly used in bagels, but whole wheat, whole grains, and multigrain flour have been making rounds today.
Salt
Not only does salt add flavor to the bagel, but it also regulates the yeast (which is needed for the dough to rise).
Fat
Bagels typically call for a little bit of fat, like vegetable oil or shortening, to enhance the softness and tenderness of the bagel mouthfeel.
Liquid
Water acts as a binder for all the dry ingredients to bring everything together. Without liquid, you’ll have some dry ingredients all lumped together inside a bowl.
Sweetener
Most bagels are typically sweet -- thanks to sweeteners [1] like sugar, barley malt syrup, molasses, high fructose corn syrup, or malt extract. However, other non-vegan bagel brands use honey, so you must carefully check if you consider honey non-vegan.
Additional Ingredients
Aside from these base ingredients, most bagels will have a few additional ingredients to bring forth extraordinary flavor and texture -- the most popular of which are herbs and spices, dried fruits, seeds, grains, nuts, berries, and even vegetables -- which make bagels perfect for our regular vegetable sandwich and Carrot Lox and Vegan Cream Cheese Bagel recipe!
What Makes It Non-Vegan
However, in the effort to create better-tasting bagels, some producers add a few animal-derived ingredients to their base, which means that not all bagels are vegan. We’ll list down exactly what these ingredients are.
Milk
Some bagels add milk to the bagel dough instead of water to create a more creamy and milky bagel.
Eggs
An egg wash is sometimes brushed on top of bagels to give them that distinctive shine or are added to the dough for added flavor and color. Eggs are also known to make the bagel softer and lighter.
Honey
Instead of sugar or molasses, some manufacturers use honey as a sweetening agent instead. Many think it’s a healthier alternative, but vegans can’t get past how mass honey productions are exploitative to bees.
L-Cysteine
L-cysteine, made from human hair and poultry feathers, is one of the most common non-vegan additives in baked goods. It is known as a dough conditioner and makes dough a lot easier to handle, such as reducing its mix time and improving its extensibility. Personally, we can never get behind putting human hair in any of our food.
Toppings & Fillings
And of course, some traditional bagel toppings and fillings are not considered vegan, including (but not limited to):
- Dairy products: like cheese, cream cheese, whipped cream, etc.
- Eggs: regular eggs or egg-based spreads like mayonnaise and hollandaise
- Meats: ham, beef, turkey, chicken, etc.
- Fish: like tuna, smoked salmon, caviar, etc.
Tips to Make Sure You’re Eating Vegan Bagel
Since we wouldn’t be able to control commercial bagel products, here are a few tips we have for you to make sure that the bagel you’re consuming is 100 percent vegan-approved:
Make Your Own
It’s fairly easy to Make Your Own homemade bagels! Plenty of instructions are widely available online, and most of them are fit for the vegan diet. It’s also a great way to incorporate the exact flavors you want on your bagel.
Fancy the quirky, savory ensemble of onions, almonds, rosemary, tofu, and vegan cream cheese? That’s honestly a weird flavor combination -- thus might not be available in the market commercially -- so why not whip this bad boy up on your own and see what you come up with flavor-wise!
Check Vegan Certification
Most countries don’t require vegan products to be clearly labeled as such on the packaging, but some independent organizations, like Certified Vegan, are more than happy to label if a food item is or isn’t vegan.
However, these independent organizations will have vastly different criteria and requirements, so it’s always better to check and see if these organizations are in line with your personal views.
Furthermore, some vegan products don’t have any certifications or vegan labels in the packaging, so it’s still ultimately a good idea to read through the product label.
Read Product Labels
When in doubt, the only way to make sure you’re only eating vegan bagels is to carefully read the product labels when you’re buying them from the store. Here at Kathy’s Vegan Kitchen, we strongly believe that the product label is our best friend when it comes to eating clean and green.
Watch out for these common non-vegan ingredients in your bagels, like eggs, honey, milk, or milk-derived products like whey, lactose, and casein. L-cysteine should be labeled as such or with their designated number E920.
Restaurant & Grocery Stores Vegan Bagel Options
Bruegger’s
Many of Bruegger’s Bagels are vegan-approved! This authentic New York-style bagel house carries 15 different vegan bagels, including classics like blueberry, original, and everything bagels.
Einstein Bros. Bagels
Are Einstein bagels vegan friendly? Yup, they are!
Einstein Bros. Bagels are vegan friendly and the place is a choice stopover if you need vegan bagels on the go. All of Einstein Bros. classic bagels and most of their signature bagels have no animal products and are 100 percent vegan friendly.
Starbucks
Are Starbucks bagels vegan friendly? Absolutely!
Starbucks carries vegan-friendly bagels! According to the Starbucks website, their vegan options for Starbucks bagels include blueberry, sprouted grain, raisin, and plain bagel. A sprouted grain bagel with a cup of Starbucks coffee sounds like a great breakfast meal to us!
Dunkin Donuts
Are Dunkin Donuts bagels vegan friendly? Yes!
Dunkin Donuts’ bagels are vegan-friendly! The largest donut chain in the world has a wide range of options from sweet to savories like cinnamon raisin, everything, garlic, onion, plain, poppy seed, salt, and sesame.
Savor your morning bagel with Dunkin’s signature brewed coffee, which they serve with almond milk or coconut milk for vegan customers!
Panera Bread
Are Panera Bagels vegan? Yes, they are! In fact, Panera Bread specifically markets their bagels to be meeting strict vegan standards.
Noah’s
Noah’s bagels weren’t vegan-friendly at first as the recipe contained L-cysteine, but they took a page out of Einstein Bros.'s (a sister company) book and removed this non-vegan ingredient altogether. They also provide a complete list of allergen information so the customers can easily identify their vegan options.
Trader Joe’s
Trader Joe’s brand offers vegan bagels in whole wheat and classic variants. This vegan bagel brand is more often than not available in your local grocery store.
Also Read: Is Krispy Kreme Vegan?
Tim Horton’s
The standard bagels at Tim Horton’s are all vegan-friendly! Choose from classic vegan flavors like blueberry, cinnamon raisin, everything, plain, and sesame seed. The 12-grain bagel, however, might contain honey in some locations, so you may want to double confirm with the staff when you visit.
Other vegan options for bagel brands available in the grocery store are:
Thomas Bagels (Thomas Bagel Thins, Cinnamon Swirl, Cinnamon Raisin, and Mini Bagels are vegan approved), Sara Lee’s Bagels (all Sara Lee bagels except for the Soft and Smooth variants are vegan approved), and Dave’s Killer Bread Bagels, like the cinnamon raisin variant (only the Honey Oats and Flax Bread are not vegan friendly).
FAQs
It depends. It’s safe to assume that most store-bought bagels mostly have vegan ingredients. However, it’s also important to remember that this rule does not apply to all bagel flavors. The most popular non-vegan additives are honey, eggs, and milk, so it’s a good idea to double-check before buying anything. The classic bagel, we find, is your safest bet.
Yes, Whole Foods bagels are great vegan bagel options! Most grocery stores will also carry bagels that are gluten-free. So if you want gluten-free, vegan varieties, this is where to get your bagel supply.
In Summary
So, in summary, most classic bagels are vegan unless they include milk, honey, and eggs in the ingredient list. Thankfully, it’s fairly easy to avoid these unwanted ingredients, as most places and grocery stores carry vegan options for bagels!
We also find that buying plain bagels -- which are vegan for sure -- can be exciting! There is a wide array of vegan spreads and toppings available to us that we can incorporate into this bread meal to find a flavor combination that we love and adore.
Personally, we love a plain bagel with a light spreading of dairy-free cream cheese!
Reference:
- https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/healthy-natural-sweeteners
About Author
Hi! My name is Kathy, I am a retired high school English teacher & vegan enthusiast and blogger. My entire blog is fully plant-based vegan. I truly believe what we eat & how we live determines our health & the preservation of our planet! 🙂
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