How To Make Dunkin Donuts Bagel Bites

There are many reasons Dunkin’ Donuts have continued to shine as America’s favourite breakfast stop. One of these reasons is their ability to stay ahead of the curve in offering customers bite-size breakfast treats to get their morning’s going.

Bagel bites are still a relatively new offering, combining the melting middle of a donut with the savoury joy of a breakfast bagel. You might also hear them referred to as stuffed bagel minis.

After hitting Dunkin’ shelves in the Fall of 2020, they’ve proved remarkably popular with diners and bagel lovers across the US, and now look set to stay on the menu for years to come.

Today, we’re going to be taking a tasty look at what these bagel bites are and what you can expect when you order them. We’ll also be looking at a home-made recipe so you can recreate these cream cheese-y devils from the comfort of your own kitchen.

What are Dunkin’ Donuts bagel bites?

What are Dunkin’ Donuts bagel bites
Image Credit: kitchendivas

Imagine a bagel with cream cheese, then imagine a small, bite-sized donut. Now combine the two. You essentially have a bagel bite!

Dunkin’ Donuts started out in the Fall of 2020 offering two flavours – plain and everything. Both involved a small, bite-sized pocket of bagel dough filled with cream cheese. In the case of the ‘everything’, it comes topped with a signature blend of sesame seeds, poppy seeds, toasted onion and garlic.

These bagel bites offer a tasty, convenient alternative to the traditional breakfast bagel. They cause less mess and can be eaten more swiftly! For people having to grab a bite on the go, you might find that the enclosed, creamy centre of the bagel bite is a less messy option than a smeared bagel.

How big are they? Well, each order comes with two bagel bites, each bite being slightly larger than a golf ball. Is this an issue? Are they too small? Take a look at this honest review to find out more!

You might also notice that bagel bites bear more than a passing resemblance to the popular bantam bagels offered by Starbucks. This may not be a coincidence! In fact, it seems likely that Dunkin’ Donuts spotted the success of the Starbucks product and fashioned their own competitive take based on this.

Who knows who really came up with it first? Either way, we now have our bite-sized bagel bites to keep us going, and that’s what matters.

Ingredients

What if you enjoy bagel bites so much that you want to recreate them at home? We’ve got you covered. They’re remarkably simple to make and involve a small set of easy-to-find ingredients.

The following recipe we’re going to follow makes 8 mini bites. Nutrition facts assume that each bagel bite is a serving.

We’ve gone with an air fryer recipe here for convenience and for health reasons. If you don’t have a dedicated air fryer though, there are ways you can use a convection oven to achieve the same results. The trick is to encourage a good circulation of hot air by using a perforated roasting pan, giving your bagel bites plenty of space and turning them during the cooking process.

So, what do we need in terms of ingredients?

1 Cup Self Raising Flour

If you only have plain flour, you can turn this into self raising by adding 2 teaspoons of baking powder and mixing together. Go for whole flour if you want to up the fiber and switch to more complex carbs!

1 Cup Low / Non-Fat (or Full Fat) Greek Yogurt

If you want a thicker, creamier texture to your bagel dough then go for full fat. We’ve gone for low-fat here to cut down on the calories. Be careful not to use regular yogurt, as this is likely to prove far too liquidy for our purposes!

½ Block of Cream Cheese, Cut into 8 Pieces

 1 Egg (Beaten to form a wash)

If you want to omit the egg, you can brush them with water, olive oil, or butter instead. Egg gives them the shiniest, crispiest finish though.

Everything Bagel Seasoning (Optional)

Don’t worry about this if you want to keep your bagel bites plain flavoured.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step-by-Step Instructions
Image Credit: sparklestosprinkles

Step 1

Combine your yogurt and flour in a good-sized mixing bowl. Mix it together by hand or with a plastic mixing paddle until it forms a big ball of dough.

Step 2

Lightly dust a flat surface with plenty of flour. Transfer your dough ball onto the surface and continue kneading it until it no longer sticks to your hands. Add a touch more flour if it’s too sticky.

Step 3

Divide your dough into 8 equal size balls. These are going to form your bagel bites!

Step 4

Take each ball in your hand and create a hole in the centre using your finger.

Step 5

Place a piece of cream cheese into the hole and cover it over with dough. If you don’t have a block of cream cheese cut into cubes, then you can always just take a heaped tablespoon (or however much cream cheese you want) and put it in the bagel bite.

Step 6

Shape the dough into a nice, sealed round ball. You want to try to keep the cheese in the centre and the dough surrounding it evenly.

Step 7

Once you’ve done this with all 8 bagel bites, use a pastry brush to brush them all over with your beaten egg wash.

Step 8

If you want bagel seasoning, now is the time to sprinkle your seasoning of choice over your bagel bites.

Step 9

Heat your air fryer to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Once it’s there, air fry your bagel bites for 10 minutes. You don’t need to turn them if they’re in an air fryer, but if you’re doing them in a convection oven you’ll want to turn them half way through (they may also need a touch longer).

Step 10

Check your bagel bites around the 8 minute mark to see how they’re getting on. Although 10 minutes is recommended you may find that your air fryer does the job slightly quicker than this.

Step 11

Get your bagel bites out, transfer to a wire rack to cool down a touch, then tuck in! Why not post your bite sized feast on Instagram to make your friends jealous?

Nutritional Facts

Nutritional Facts
Image Credit: wholesomeketotreats

The recipe above makes 8 servings. Each stuffed bagel mini is estimated to contain roughly:

Calories – 122kcal

Total Fat – 2g

Saturated fat – 1g

Trans fat – 0g

Unsaturated fat – 1g

Cholesterol – 27mg

Sodium – 314mg

Carbohydrates – 20g

Sugars – 2g

Fiber – 1g

Protein – 7g

Conclusion

A classic American-style breakfast condensed into a bite-size, convenient snack. Great for people in a hurry in the mornings or for those who want to enjoy a traditional bagel taste in an exciting new form.

We hope you enjoy making them at home as much as you do eating them on the road!

FAQs

What else can I stuff into these stuffed bagel bites?

Once you start making these at home, you’ll find you can expand beyond the cream cheese goodness of the original recipe. Like the venerable breakfast bagel itself, these mini bagel bites have a lot of potential.

To start off, why not put some raisins in the dough and dust with cinnamon? And if you wanted to pair cinnamon raisin with a sweeter filling, you could go for a strawberry cream cheese or even a jam of some sort. Granted, this would be pushing it into donut territory, but there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with that!

Some people have also suggested stuffing these with swiss cheese and ham, for a European twist. Why not fill with scallions chopped up with herbs? Alternatively, Nutella or chocolate spread can also be considered if you want to go for a sweeter touch.

What are Dunkin’ offering when it comes to flavours? Well, in addition to the iconic duo of original and everything, they’ve recently introduced a chive and onion option. This version comes stuffed with a chive cream cheese and topped with delicious, crispy, roasted onions and garlic.

How long do Dunkin’ Donuts bagel bites last?

If kept at room temperature, probably only a day or two. However, you’re likely to eat the whole lot before then! If you do have a larger batch and want to keep them for a few more days, seal them in an airtight container or freezer bag and stick them in the refrigerator.

Like pizza dough, you can also freeze and then thaw the dough at a later date if you want to make a large batch for convenience.

Will these mini bagel rounds stay on the menu?

There’s no telling for certain, but since being introduced to the Dunkin’ choice of options back in Fall 2020 they’ve proved consistently popular. Dunkin’ Donuts don’t seem to be thinking of pulling them from the lineup any time soon, so let’s hope they’re here to stay!

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