If you love bagels, you’ll want to make these festive Air Fryer Christmas Bagels for the holidays. They’re all decked out in red and green, ready for a sweet or savory topping. They’re perfect for brunch or as an appetizer for parties. Oh, and they’re so easy to make!
If you’re thinking that making bagels requires dough hooks for mixing and wait time for the yeasty dough to rise, then think again! This 2-ingredient one-bowl recipe makes all that work vanish. And get this, you can mix the dough with a fork!
I know it sounds too good to be true, but with the help of self-rising flour and yogurt, all the science that makes dough rise is contained in those two ingredients. All you have to do is mix, add some food coloring, combine the red and green dough into a rope-like form, and shape it into a circle and air fryer. The result? A delicious Christmas bagel is ready for you to enjoy with your choice of topping.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- 2-ingredient recipe
- No heavy equipment or wait time required
- Customizable with lots of flavor variations to up-level plain bagels
- Minimal prep time and less than 10 minutes cook time
Ingredients Needed
Self-Rising Flour – Make sure you’re using self-rising and not all-purpose The self-rising contains baking powder, which is the active ingredient that helps the dough rise.
Plain Greek Yogurt – You can use either full fat or reduced, but make sure it’s plain flavored. The acidity in the yogurt helps make the bagel dough soft and tender when it’s air fried.
Food Coloring – You’ll need red and green gel coloring.
Extra Flour – You’ll need the extra to help when rolling the dough out to mix and shape it.
How To Make Air Fryer Christmas Bagels
Note: This is a summary of the recipe steps. For complete instructions, see the recipe card down below.
STEP 1: Mix the flour and yogurt in a bowl, using a fork.
STEP 2: Briefly knead the dough on a floured surface until it becomes less sticky. Add flour, as needed and form into a round.
STEP 3: Cut the dough into 2 pieces and add red food coloring to one and green to the other.
STEP 4: Knead each piece of colored dough to ensure the color is mixed thoroughly and form into a ball.
STEP 5: Cut each colored ball into 4 pieces.
STEP 6: Take one green piece and one red piece and roll them out into a rope and twist the two ropes together. Do the same for the remaining pieces.
STEP 7: Take each twisted rope and pinch the ends together making a circle.
STEP 8: Line the bottom of your air fryer with a parchment square and place bagels, two at a time, on the paper.
STEP 9: Air fry at 350 for 8-10 minutes, checking for doneness depending on your air fryer. Repeat with the remaining bagels.
Pro Tips
- Want a shiny look on top of your bagels? Use an egg white mixed with a little water and brush over the tops before air frying.
- Leave space between the bagels in your air fryer. They will expand as they cook.
- Every air fryer is different, so keep an eye on your bagels to make sure you aren’t leaving them in too long.
- If your bagels rise up so much that they end up without a hole in the middle, no worries! You can always carefully cut one out with a sharp knife.
Mix-Ins
While this recipe is written for the flavor to be plain, or at least slightly tangy from yogurt flavor, you can make these as savory or as sweet as you want. You can also leave out food coloring if you’re not making them for the holidays. Here are some ideas.
- Add vanilla extract to the dough for a sweeter taste
- You can add in fruits, such as fresh blueberries
- Add in garlic and/or onion powder for a savory taste.
Topping Ideas
I think you get a lot more variation by adding toppings to the plain bagel recipe. That way, the flavors bake on the top, leaving the inner dough untouched and able to rise and bake without being compromised. Here are some topping ideas.
Cheese – To the top, add your favorite cheese, such as parmesan, asiago, or cheddar
Seasoning – You can’t go wrong with Everything Bagel seasoning!
Seeds – Sprinkle on sesame, sunflower, or poppy seeds
Spices – Sprinkle on cinnamon sugar, Italian herbs, or garlic and onion powders.
How To Serve These Bagels
Whipped Cream – because it’s the holidays, I like to serve these red and green bagels with whipped cream and festive sprinkles.
Cream Cheese – cream cheese spread is also delicious. Plain is always in style, but chive and onion, garlic and herbs, honey pecan, garden veggie, or even strawberry flavored would also work with these Christmas bagels.
Butters – whether plain or nut butter, these spreads are always a hit.
Jams – Jams, jellies, and honey in all flavors are popular toppings for bagels.
Storage
Store on the countertop or in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days. You can also freeze the air-fried and cooled bagels in a Ziploc bag for up to 3 months. Thaw on the countertop before slicing.
More Easy Bread Recipes
Air Fryer Christmas Bagels
If you love bagels, you'll want to make these festive Air Fryer Christmas Bagels for the holidays. They're all decked out in red and green, ready for a sweet or savory topping. They're perfect for brunch or as an appetizer for parties. Oh, and they're so easy to make!
Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cup self-rising flour
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- Red food coloring
- Green food coloring
- Extra flour for rolling
Instructions
- Gather all of the ingredients.
- In a large mixing bowl combine self-rising flour and yogurt with a fork until it comes together.
- Start to knead the dough until it really comes together and becomes less sticky, you will need to add a little more flour to help with the stickiness.
- Form into a round, and cut into two pieces.
- Dye one round with red coloring and the other with green.
- Knead the color into the dough using more flour if needed to help with any stickiness.
- Cut each ball into 4 pieces.
- Take one green piece and one red piece and roll them out into a rope and twist the two ropes together.
- Take the twisted rope and pinch the ends together making a circle.
- Set aside and repeat with the others.
- Place a parchment square into the bottom of your air fryer.
- Place the bagels into your air fryer 2 at a time and do not let them touch.
- Air fry at 350 for 8-10 minutes, checking for doneness depending on your air fryer.
- Repeat with the other bagels.
- Serve!
Notes
Tips and Tricks
- You can use an egg white mixed with a little water to create an egg wash to make the tops shiny.
- I serve these with whipped cream and a little holiday sprinkles.
- These bagels only have 2 ingredients and are easy to work with, if the dough is too sticky add in more flour, if the dough is too dry just add in a little more yogurt.
- You can flavor these bagels up any way you like by flavoring the dough. You could add vanilla for sweetness or garlic salt for savory.
- Every air fryer is different so just keep an eye on your bagels.
- Do not try to crowd all the bagels in the air fryer, they will expand.
- Because of the self-rising flour and quick cook time my bagels usually end up with no middle hole. For me, that is perfectly fine (more surface area for cream cheese lol) but if you like you can punch out a hole after baking.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
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Ifuerte 10-Piece Stainless Steel Measuring Cups and Spoons Set -
Mixing Bowls -
COSORI Air Fryer Oven Combo 5.8QT Max Xl Large Cooker (Cookbook with 100 Recipes), One-Touch Screen with 11 Precise Presets and Shake Reminder, Nonstick and Dishwasher-Safe Square Design Basket, Black -
Gold Medal Self Rising Flour, 5 lbs -
Chobani Non-fat Greek Yogurt, Plain 32oz
Nutrition Information
Yield
4Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 294Total Fat 1gSaturated Fat 0gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 3mgSodium 517mgCarbohydrates 57gFiber 2gSugar 2gProtein 13g
