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Make High Protein Bagels
Did you know you can make high protein bagels with cottage cheese and flour? You’ll just need cottage cheese and self rising flour (which is really easy to make at home) and you’ll need to knead for a few minutes. But that’s it, just mix and form into a bagel shape to make cottage cheese bagels with 11 grams of protein per bagel!
I first learned about cottage cheese bagels from Skinnytaste and was so impressed with how fluffy and delicious the bagels looked while still being high in protein. I had to try them and I loved the results!
Cottage Cheese Bagel Ingredients
- Cottage cheese: Use full fat cottage cheese for best results, but you can also swap with low fat 1% or 2% cottage cheese. They may have more moisture so you may need to add more flour.
- Self-rising flour: Self rising flour is just all-purpose flour with baking powder and salt. Grab my ratio for how to make self rising flour or you can buy it that way.
- Egg: This is for brushing the cottage cheese bagels after your form them so they get a nice golden crust to them. You can also brush the bagels with olive oil or milk, but I like using a beaten egg for best results.
My Best Cottage Cheese Bagel Tips
- Blend the cottage cheese. I’ve made these bagels before without blending cottage cheese and they work just fine, but the consistency is so much better blended because it combines more easily with the flour and creates a smoother bagel without the bumps.
- Look for the right consistency before shaping. You want the dough to feel damp to the touch but not sticky. Feel free to adjust as you’re mixing by hand to add more flour if it’s too wet or more cottage cheese if it’s too dry. I find that I usually need to add 3-4 more tablespoons as I’m mixing it.
Serving Ideas
- Eggs: cook your favorite style of fried eggs, or try cloud eggs or crispy feta eggs.
- Spreads: pistachio cream, whipped cream cheese, strawberry chia jam
Recipe Help & FAQs
You can store the bagels in the fridge in a ziptop bag for up to 5 days. Reheat them in the microwave for soft bagels or toast them as you would any bread or bagel.
Yes, I recommend letting the bagels cool down completely and slicing them in half. Then freeze the halved bagels in a freezer safe container or ziptop bag for up to 6 months. You can reheat them in the toaster for a couple minutes.
More Cottage Cheese Recipes:
- Cottage Cheese Cookie Dough
- Cottage Cheese Pizza
- Mac and Cottage Cheese
- Scrambled Eggs with Cottage Cheese
- Cottage Cheese Pancakes
- Whipped Cottage Cheese
If you try this Cottage Cheese Bagel recipe or any other recipe on Feel Good Foodie, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave a comment below! It helps others who are thinking of making the recipe. I would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some shots, share it on Instagram so we can repost on Stories!
Cottage Cheese Bagels
Ingredients
- 1 cup full-fat cottage cheese excess liquid drained
- 1 cup self-rising flour plus more as needed
- 1 large egg beaten
- Toppings: everything bagel seasoning sesame seeds or other
- Nonstick cooking spray
Instructions
- Place the cottage cheese in a blender and blend on high until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed, about 1 minute.
- Transfer the blended cottage cheese to a large bowl and add the flour and mix together with a wooden spoon until all the ingredients are well combined.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for 5 minutes until the dough feels smooth, but some bumps are ok. Add more flour as needed to ensure the dough in not sticky
- Divide the ball into 4 equal parts, about 80-90 grams each. Roll each ball out into a 6-7-inch rope, about 1-inch thick. Join the ends to make a circle and pinch the seam tightly to seal. Brush the tops with a beaten egg and top with your seasoning of choice.
- Air Fryer Method: Preheat the air fryer to 350°F. Spray the air fryer basket with nonstick spray and air fry for 13-15 minutes, or until puffed and golden brown. Allow it to cool for 15 minutes, and then slice and serve.
- Oven Method: Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Bake on the top rack of the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until puffed and golden brown. Allow them to cool for 15 minutes, and then slice and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
Just made these and it was so simple! But they did not puff up much, if at all, and are pretty dense. What did I do wrong?
Oh no, so sorry to hear that! My first thought is that your bagels may have been under-kneaded. How long did you knead your dough for and what was the consistency like when you divided it into equal parts?
I think a few minutes. I was afraid of over kneading. The dough was not sticky and I was able to divide it easily. Not shaggy.
Hmm, sounds like you kneaded the dough enough so I don’t think that was the problem. Is it possible your self-rising flour was expired? Over time, the leavening agent can lose its potency and not give the proper rise in your baked goods.
Just realized I used bread flour and not self rising flour 🤦🏻♀️
Will they work ok with wholemeal self-rising flour?
Hi there! I haven’t tried making this recipe with whole wheat self-rising flour yet but I think it would work well. Please let me know how it turns out if you end up trying it!
This recipe looks great! Can you use gluten-free flour?
So sorry, I haven’t tried it with gluten-free flour yet. If you decide to test it out, I suggest using all-purpose GF flour and adding baking powder and salt to make your own self-rising flour: How to Make Self-Rising Flour
Can you freeze these?
Yes, you can! Let the bagels cool down completely and slice them in half. Then, freeze the halved bagels in a freezer-safe container or ziptop bag for up to 6 months. To reheat them, put them in the toaster for a couple minutes.