What’s Inside: With a chewy interior and the crispy exterior bagel-lovers adore, you won’t believe these almond flour everything bagels are paleo-friendly and gluten-free. No gluten, no grains, no egg wash. This recipe is a reader favorite!
Homemade Almond Flour Bagels
Sometimes you just need a bagel. Being a New Yorker, I think it might be required by the state for me to have one at least once a quarter… it’s like a Vitamin IV drip for the soul! If you’ve ever had a very real hankering for a bagel but felt limited because of your food sensitivities and allergies, you’re not alone. That’s why I made this recipe for us! These almond flour bagels are paleo and gluten-free, and you don’t need eggs either. It checks all the boxes.
My favorites bagel flavors are everything and cinnamon raisin (in that order). I had an everything spice blend that was just begging to be used. So, I dabbled with this flavor first. If you’ve never tried making your own hand-rolled, boiled bagels before, let me tell you that it is FUN. I enjoyed them even more after putting some love and work into them. I suspect you will too.
If you have an egg-sensitivity, you’ve probably been on Pinterest rolling your eyes at a lot of egg-heavy Paleo baked recipes and maybe need a break like I do! I’ve been sensitive to eggs in the past through my healing journey and need to rotate them. Luckily, a few common ingredients give these everything bagels the lift and richness it would otherwise be given by eggs. And hey, if eggs aren’t an issue for you, brush some on the tops for a nice egg-wash or simply use olive oil!
Key Ingredients for Gluten-free & Paleo Everything Bagels
- Almond flour – This is the base of the recipe and is easy to work with. I love using this brand.
- Warm water – this helps it all “gel” into a dough, read the recipe notes for how much to add, and go slow to ensure your dough forms well so you can mold it.
- Baking powder, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup or honey – this helps with leavening
- A brush of olive oil – for a little color on top and so the everything seasonings will stick!
- Everything spice blend – for topping! you’ll need poppy seeds, sesame seeds, onion flakes, and garlic flakes or you can find a pre-made blend at Trader Joe’s or here!
Flavor alternatives: You can make this your own by skipping the spice blends for plain bagels or top with just sesame seeds, just poppy seeds, etc.
Best Ways to Enjoy Paleo Everything Bagels
As for toppings, I love using these bagels as a vehicle for sliced avocado, almond cream cheese (like my fave, Kite Hill), coconut yogurt, or ghee. Spread your favorite schmear on them, or use them as bread to step up your sandwich game. I grew up using bagels for everything and anything. The sky’s the limit!
Storing Gluten-free Paleo Bagels
After being disappointed by dry, crumbly gluten-free bagels here in NYC… homemade felt like the next logical step. But it’s also not something I have the time to do every weekend! The answer is to make them in batches and store them so you can enjoy them whenever a craving strikes or an impromptu homemade brunch ensues.
The crispy exterior and pillowy soft interior will keep even when you re-heat them.
- Slice, Refrigerate or Freeze: You can slice these ahead of time and store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4-5 days or freezer for up to 1-month.
- Reheat: Using a toaster oven or first nuke them in the microwave to soften for 15-20 seconds (one-by-one) and then split them open, adding them to toaster slots for a quicker re-heating option.
More Paleo Breakfast Ideas
- Easy Oven-Baked Breakfast Sausage Patties (Paleo, AIP-friendly, Whole30)
- Easy Grain-Free Porridge (Paleo, Gluten-free, Whole30, Vegan)
- Grain-free Cocoa Granola (No added sugar, Gluten-free, Paleo, Low-carb)
- Tortilla Española with Sweet Red Peppers (Spanish Omelette) (Whole30, Paleo-friendly)
- Low Sugar Smoothie Template (anti-bloat, digestion-friendly)
Gluten-free & Paleo Everything Bagels (egg-free)
Ingredients
- 2+ quarts water
- 1/3 cup warm water, divided*
- 1 1/2 cups almond flour
- 1/4 cup arrowroot flour/starch
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 Tbsp maple syrup or honey
- 1 Tbsp olive oil to brush on top for spices, or if you are using eggs, you can do yolk egg-wash for more color
Everything Spice Blend Topping:
- 1 tsp poppy seeds
- 1/2 tsp white sesame seeds
- 1/2 tsp black sesame seeds
- 1 tsp dried onion flakes
- 1 tsp dried garlic flakes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Fill a large pot half full of water, cover and bring to a boil. Once the water has come to a boil, reduce heat slightly to keep water at a gentle boil.
- Combine the almond flour, arrowroot flour, baking powder, and sea salt in a large bowl. In a measuring cup, add 1/4 cup warm water,* vinegar, and syrup and lightly mix. Add the wet mixture to the dry and mix with a wooden spoon until you have a dough. Have extra water on hand to pour in little by little if needed to form the dough (use as needed).
- Lay out a piece of parchment paper on your counter. Sprinkle generously with more arrowroot flour, and rub your hands with some, too. Pick up the dough ball and place onto parchment paper. Divide dough into 3-4 equal portions.
- For each piece, roll with your hands (into a cylinder shape) approximately 7 inches long. Make it as even as you can, patching up any cracks with your fingers. If the dough is too wet, simply keep dusting with arrowroot. Once you’ve rolled it, make the ends meet in a circle so there’s a hole in the middle and do some surgery to patch it up with your fingers. Repeat this until all dough has turned into your bagels.
- Carefully drop 1-2 bagels in the boiling water for 1 minute (or until they float). Remove with slotted spoon and place them on the lined baking sheet. Repeat until all bagels have been boiled. Bake the boiled bagels for 10 minutes.
- While bagels are cooking, combine the Everything Spice Blend ingredients in a small bowl.
- Remove bagels from oven, brush with olive oil, and top each bagel with approx. 1 tsp of Everything Spice Blend. Return bagels to the oven and cook an additional 15-20 minutes until crisp and lightly golden (if using egg-wash, it will be darker, with olive oil it’s lighter)
- Let bagels rest on a cookie rack for 10-15 minutes.
- Slice, top, and enjoy!
Yay bagels! I’ve been craving bagels like I used to eat as a kid lately, so this couldn’t have come at a better time. Looking forward to trying this over the weekend!
Oh yessss! Excited for you to try!
[…] 2 TBSP granulated garlic, and 1 tsp Himalayan sea salt.**Recipe adapted from The Glowing Fridge and Food by Mars 3.5.3251 Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, meaning I earn a commission if you […]
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Can you substitute the arrowroot for something like cassava? I don’t have it and want to make these today!!!
hi! did you end up trying that? it may very well work but haven’t tried it myself.
Possible almond flour substitutes?
You could try any nut flour or perhaps even Tigernut.
Aw. This was so much fun to make! And they taste great. I can’t wait to try them as a hamburger bun. Is there way to make a donut out of these ingredients? Hmm. Im book marketing this!
I had to come back to comment. This is officially my favorite aip bread-like thing. Yum!! I put cinnamon on mine with an agave drizzle. Put cashew butter and the best apple sauce I’ve found.. heaven. I just need something crunchy on top… well done with this recipe!
So happy you’re enjoying the Paleo bagels, Maya! thanks for the comment, that sounds lovely!
These keep disintegrating as soon as they go into the boiling water. What am I doing wrong?
I don’t know 🙂 perhaps ingredients are expired or not binding for some reason?
I had the same issue… I tried adding some more arrowroot, but still kept falling apart in the water 🙁 so after 2 tries, i had 3 small bagels formed and just put them in the oven for 10 minutes twice, put the seasoning on in between and it worked quite well!
Thanks for sharing, Tam!
These bagels HIT THE SPOT! I’ve been looking for a trusty bread replacement… I have found it. I’m so pumped.
Do you think these bagels will hold up well frozen and then thawed?
Wonderful, so glad! They should hold up fine frozen and then heated up in a toaster oven.
What do you mean by 2+ quarts of water, how do I measure that
You can google a conversion for whatever measurement you’d prefer like cups.
How many calories are in a bagel?
I don’t calculate it but you’re welcome to using myfitnesspal or something similar.
I just made these and the dough was extremely wet and unmanageable. I had to add much more almond flour and arrow root and was not able to roll into bagels. Did anyone else experience this? Should I add less than 1/3 cup warm water? they still turned out delicious but were just blobs of dough. Would love any help to be able to make actual bagels.
Out of curiosity, what state are you in? (high altitude? or humidity?) I ask bc I find those in humid areas seem to have a very wet dough or perhaps it’s just different brand products. I’m going to mention this in the post too, but I think adding the liquid in batches and stopping when the ddough has formed is the best bet to help with these wildcard factors! So yes, try less liquid next time! Hope it helps.