Homemade Cottage Cheese Bagels (High Protein) 

These ridiculously easy cottage cheese bagels are about to blow your mind. They’re soft, chewy and ready in under 30 minutes with just all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt and cottage cheese (no yeast!). Customize them to your favourite sweet or savoury flavour, and with 12g protein each they’re a more filling and blood sugar balancing version of your classic bagel, but just as delicious. Makes 8.

I can’t believe it took me so long to try the viral cottage cheese bagel trend. To be honest, I was skeptical, but these blew my expectations out of the water.

And not in a “these are good for a healthy version” kind of way. I mean genuinely good. Soft, golden bagels that taste like something you’d grab from a bakery but made at home in 30 minutes.

No yeast. No rise time. No complicated steps. Just mix everything in one bowl, knead the dough for 2-3 minutes and they’re ready for the oven. If you’ve ever been intimidated by making your own dough, don’t be! These truly could not be easier.

I started experimenting with cottage cheese in my baking a couple of years ago and while this may be a trend for some, it has become one of my favourite nutrition by addition hacks (once you try my moist cottage cheese banana bread or my  higher protein cottage cheese chocolate chip banana muffins you’ll know why). It adds an instant boost of protein while keeping baked goods moist and tender for a more filling and satisfying result. 

These bagels are further proof that cottage cheese really does deserve a permanent spot in your kitchen. Before we get into the recipe I wanna share a few of my success tips.

Tweaks From My Test Kitchen to Make These Bagels the Best (and Quickest)

Like a lot of viral recipes, there are a lot of versions floating around. I made a few changes to the viral versions out there to make it more practical for real life.

I doubled the batch: Most cottage cheese bagel recipes make 4 … which just didn’t make sense to me. Especially because they disappear quickly in our house. Haha  If you’re already putting in the effort, why not make 8 and have breakfast ready for the week?

I skipped blending the cottage cheese: Some recipes blend it first, but after testing both ways, I found it unnecessary. The dough comes together perfectly without it (the cottage cheese melts right into the dough when baked so there are no chunks) and it saves time and dishes.

I leaned into this as a base recipe: I made half the batch with everything bagel seasoning, and half with cinnamon sugar and both were so good! This dough is a great base for both sweet and savoury options and I can’t wait to try out some others (jalapeno cheddar is next). 

The Biggest Mistake I Made (So You Don’t Have To)

The first time I made these I didn’t strain the cottage cheese. And wow… that was a mistake. 

The dough was super sticky and hard to handle. I had to keep adding more flour to make it workable which resulted in dense bagels with a less than desired texture. 

Straining the cottage cheese is key if you want that perfect dough and perfect light and airy bagel texture.

Let’s Roll Out These Bagels!