Banana Bagels (2 Ingredients)

These 2-ingredient Banana Bagels are easy, chewy, yeast-free bagels perfect for using ripe bananas. They are also vegan, egg-free, and dairy-free.

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I have an absolute, unavoidable, unapologetic love for ridiculously simple sweet baking recipes. These banana bagels are squarely in my wheelhouse because they are made with only two ingredients: banana and self-rising flour. It’s that easy!

The principle of a bagel is to boil a ring-shaped piece of dough before baking it, giving a signature chewy texture to the crust. I like classic bagels and I’ve already have made several improvements with the recipe with my Quinoa Bagels and Almond Flour Bagels. But I wanted to turn them into something simple and sweet while keeping the essence of bagels.

I am stocked with the results, they have the right texture and a sweet, rich crumb.

How To Make Banana Bagels

While you can find the whole recipe below, I’ve included photos of the key steps here.

Crucial Tips for Success

The fewer ingredients are in a recipe, the more tips I like to give to make sure you’ll get it perfectly right!

1. Measure the ingredients properly – Pack the measuring cups with flour or mashed banana and remove the excess on the top. It’s the scoop, pack, and level method.
2. Adjust the dough to a texture – Even when you perfectly measure the ingredients, you might not get the exact texture needed. That’s not a problem! The goal is to reach the desired texture as you can see below. Add water to make it moister or flour to make it drier.
3. Use oil to knead the dough – It not only prevents the fingers from being sticky, but it also adds chewiness to the dough and avoids adding too much flour that makes the bagels too dense and packed.
4. Rest the dough 5 minutes before cutting it into portions. This allows the baking powder in the flour to activate.
5. Use metallic pipping noodles in the uncooked bagel holes to prevent the center from shrinking back while baking and filling the holes. Don’t use plastic ones, as they would melt in the oven!
6. Play with flavors by adding chopped nuts, seeds, or dried fruits in the batter. You can add these ingredients while adding the flour. They should not affect the texture.
7. Don’t use gluten-free flour, such as oat flour, almond flour, or all-purpose gluten-free flour. The recipe won’t work.
8. Make sure you reduce the heat under the saucepan to reach a low boil before boiling the bagels. Don’t add the bagels to high boiling water. They will break.
9. Use a large spatula and a fork to remove the boiled bagels from the saucepan gently. They are super slippery so the large spatula should fit the bagel’s width so it won’t break. The fork helps keeping the bagel on the spatula.
10. Steam out the boiled bagels on a wire rack before baking so the extra water drips out.
11. Add a pinch baking soda to the boiling water for chewier bagels

More Baking Recipes with Bananas

Banana Monkey Bread

Sweet Potato Donuts

Banana Carrot Muffins

Vegan Blueberry Donuts

Banana Bagels

These 2-ingredient Banana Bagels are easy, chewy, yeast-free bagels that are perfect for using ripe bananas. They are also vegan, egg-free, and dairy-free.

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Prep Time: 10 minutes mins

Cook Time: 16 minutes mins

Total Time: 26 minutes mins

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Servings: 5 bagels

Calories: 207.2 kcal

Author: Carine Claudepierre

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Ingredients

US Customary – Metric

• ▢ 1 cup Banana - 2 large bananas
• ▢ 2 cups Self-Rising Flour - (note 1)

Optional flavors

• ▢ 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• ▢ ¼ cup Chopped Walnuts - (note 2)

To work the dough/knead

• ▢ 2-3 teaspoons Avocado Oil - (note 3)

Optional topping

• ▢ 2 teaspoons Sesame Seeds

Instructions

• Mash the banana into a smooth puree. Make sure you get 1 cup, so you don't have to adjust the batter too much.
• Add the self-rising flour and optional cinnamon.
• Stir with a rubber spatula at first until it starts to form lumps. Oil your hands with vegetable oil, knead, squeeze, and press the ingredients until they form a dough ball. If the dough is too dry, add a little water to bring it together. If it's too wet, sprinkle extra flour.
• Set the dough aside for 5 minutes at room temperature. Meanwhile, fill a large saucepan with water, cover it, and bring it to medium-heat until it boils.
• Preheat the oven to 400 °F (200 °C). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
• Grease your hand again with oil, divide the dough into 5 equal portions, roll it into a ball, and press the center of the ball with your thumb to form the bagel hole. Place the shaped banana bagel on a plate covered with parchment paper. Repeat until all the dough has been turned into bagels.
• Reduce the heat to medium for a light boil, and dip 1 or 2 bagels into the saucepan.
• Cook the bagels in the boiling water until they emerge to the surface (it takes about 45 seconds), then use a large slotted spatula to slide under the bagels and remove them from the pan. The bagels are slippery and fragile, so make sure the spatula is wide enough to match the width of the bagel and proceed carefully.
• Release the boiled bagel on a wire rack to let it steam out. Meanwhile, boil the remaining bagels.
• When all bagels have been boiled, transfer to the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top if desired.
• Bake on the rack above the center for 16 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.
• Cool down on a wire rack and eat lukewarm or cold for breakfast.

Notes

Note 1: You can also replace the amount above with 2 cups of all-purpose flour stirred with 5 teaspoons of baking powder. I don’t recommend gluten-free flour. The recipe won’t work with oat flour or almond flour either.

Note 2: You can also add dried raisins, dried, chopped pitted dates, or chopped pecans.

Note 3: Any vegetable oil with low flavor works, like melted coconut oil or canola oil.

Storage: You can store the bagels in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature.

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Nutrition

Serving: 1bagel | Calories: 207.2kcal | Carbohydrates: 43.1g | Protein: 6.3g | Fat: 0.9g | Saturated Fat: 0.2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Sodium: 1.3mg | Potassium: 157.4mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3.8g | Vitamin A: 20.2IU | Vitamin C: 2.6mg | Calcium: 9mg | Iron: 0.5mg | Magnesium: 20.6mg | Phosphorus: 55.1mg | Zinc: 0.5mg