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The best overnight New York style bagel recipe – buttery, chewy, and so fluffy on the inside! Adapted from Sophisticated Gourmet.

Bagel fanatics, we have good news for you! You can make your very own bagels right at home with this easy to follow overnight New York style bagel recipe and just 7 ingredients.

If you’ve ever had a New York style bagel, you know they’re something special. They’re dense and chewy yet somehow light and airy at the same time, with just the right amount of crunch to the outside – and the best flavor. We’ve replicated this in our overnight bagels recipe so you don’t have to travel all the way to NYC for breakfast!

Our recipe is an adaptation of these New York style bagels from Sophisticated Gourmet. While we love this recipe, we found that we wanted more flavor, more chew, and slightly larger bagels. All important qualities of our favorite New York style bagels!

To achieve these results, we added more yeast and sea salt (for flavor); increased the kneading time (to yield denser, chewier results); split our dough into 6 bagels (instead of 8); and brushed our bagels with melted butter for a deliciously buttery finish.

We also implemented a few tricks that we’ve learned from our bread baking experiments, like measuring ingredients by weight instead of volume for more consistent results; resting the dough under a warm, damp towel to improve fermentation; and finding the best way to get toppings to stick to the bagels after trying a number of different methods.

So when we say this recipe is tried and true, we really mean it! I can’t even count the number of bagels we ate to get to this final recipe. But I can tell you that it’s truly the best way to make overnight New York style bagels!

What This Recipe Entails

There are 6 stages to making overnight bagels – detailed further down in this post – and the entire process will take about 14 hours (including 12 hours of overnight proofing).

• Prep time: 35 minutes
• Proof time: 12 hours
• Rest time: 30 minutes
• Cook time: 35 minutes
• Cool time: 10 minutes

You’ll need about 25 to 30 minutes for prep the night before you want to eat bagels. Then you’ll refrigerate the dough overnight to proof. The next day, you’ll shape, boil, top, and bake the bagels – all of which takes just over an hour. Finally, you’ll want to give the bagels at least 10 minutes to cool before eating them.

Recipe Timing

If you want to eat bagels around 10 AM, here’s the schedule we recommend you follow:

• 8:00 PM (the night before): Begin making the dough
• 8:30 PM (the night before): Refrigerate the dough
• 8:10 AM: Take the dough out of the fridge
• 8:40 AM: Punch down the dough and rest
• 8:50 AM: Divide, shape, and rest
• 9:10 AM: Boil and add toppings
• 9:20 AM: Bake
• 9:50 AM: Cool
• 10 AM: Slice and enjoy!

It may seem like a lot of steps, but these homemade bagels are totally worth the effort! We recommend serving them with one of these flavored cream cheeses, which you can easily make while you’re waiting for the bagels to bake. 

(And trust us, you’re going to want something to keep you busy while these bagels are in the oven. They smell so good, you’ll be dying to get your hands on one!)

Overnight New York Style Bagel Recipe Ingredients

You don’t need many ingredients to make homemade New York style bagels! The main components of bagels are water, yeast, sugar, flour, and salt. Then, you’ll need a few extra ingredients for topping and baking:

• Warm water
• Active dry yeast
• Granulated sugar
• Bread flour
• Fine sea salt
• Vegetable oil
• Butter
• Optional toppings: sesame seeds, everything bagel seasoning, asiago cheese, etc.

We like to make a variety of bagel flavors, like sesame, everything, asiago, and even jalapeno cheddar. But you can also skip the extra toppings and make plain bagels! They’re honestly some of the best, because you get to enjoy the perfect crunchy outside, fluffy inside, and buttery flavor without any distractions.

Note that you will need bread flour for this recipe. This type of flour has a higher protein content than all-purpose flour, meaning it can develop more gluten. More gluten means a chewier texture, which is what makes New York style bagels so iconic!

How To Make Overnight New York Style Bagels

To make the best New York style bagels, you’ll need to grab a few essential pieces of equipment and plan ahead (see our suggested schedule above). The main steps for making overnight bagels are:

1. Making the dough
2. Proofing overnight
3. Shaping and resting
4. Boiling
5. Topping
6. Baking and cooling

It may sound like a lot of steps, but this homemade bagel recipe is simple to follow when broken down! We’ll go into detail on how to make overnight bagels in each of the sections below – starting first with the equipment that will help you succeed.

Essential Equipment

• Kitchen scale – this will help you accurately measure ingredients
• Stand mixer – we don’t recommend kneading bagel dough by hand, as it’s a lengthy process and you’ll get much more consistent results by using a stand mixer
• Rubber spatula – not entirely necessary, but helpful for coaxing the dough together when you first turn on the mixer
• Bench knife – to help you divide the dough before shaping
• Parchment paper – to line your work surface and baking sheet
• Spider strainer or large slotted spoon – essential for boiling the bagels without burning your fingers!
• Pastry brush – we recommend a silicone one to brush melted butter over the bagels before baking
• Cooling rack – you’ll want to transfer the bagels to a cooling rack immediately after baking so they can cool evenly and retain their crunchy crust

Making Bagel Dough

1. First, add 120 grams of the warm water to a bowl. Then, add the sugar and yeast and let it sit for 5 minutes – don’t stir it yet.
2. While the yeast activates, add the bread flour and sea salt to the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk by hand to combine, then make a well in the center.
3. Next, gently stir the yeast and sugar until it fully dissolves in the water. Pour this into the well with the flour and salt. Then, add another 70 grams of warm water.
4. Using the dough hook attachment, turn the stand mixer on low speed. Add the rest of the water (about 100 grams more) to the dough as needed, until a moist but firm dough has formed. You may need to scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to help incorporate the flour.
5. Continue kneading the dough on low speed for 15 minutes until it’s smooth and elastic. This will form the gluten, which yields the signature chewy texture of New York style bagels.
6. Finally, lightly brush a large bowl with vegetable oil and transfer the dough to the bowl. Roll the dough around to coat it in the oil, then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

When mixing the dough, look for it to start pulling away from the walls of the bowl. This is how you’ll know it’s getting close to the right texture. If it looks too dry, add a small splash of warm water.

Then, when kneading the dough, keep an eye on the texture and adjust water and/or flour as needed. If the dough seems too moist, add a small amount of bread flour – a tablespoon or less at a time. 

Note that you won’t necessarily need to add any extra water or flour to the dough. This will depend on outside factors like the humidity in the air and the ambient temperature. Use your intuition and visual cues to tell if the dough is too dry or too wet, and adjust accordingly.

Proofing Overnight

1. The next morning, take the bagel dough out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature by setting it on the counter for about 30 minutes. The dough should have doubled in size after about 11 to 12 hours in the fridge.
2. After about 30 minutes, punch the dough down and let it rest for another 10 minutes. This will remove some of the air bubbles from the dough, yielding a finer grain and a more flavorful dough.

Shaping and Resting

Now it’s time to divide and shape the dough into bagels!

1. Transfer the dough to a clean work surface. Then, use a bench knife to divide the dough into 6 equal pieces. Don’t worry about being too gentle with the dough as it’s pretty resilient!
2. Roll each dough piece into a rough ball. Resize if necessary, transferring dough from larger balls to smaller ones, until they’re all roughly the same size.
3. Then, working with one dough ball at a time, shape them into smooth, round balls. Cup one of your hands into a C-shape, place it on top of the dough ball, and roll the dough in a circular motion against the countertop with gentle pressure. Once it’s smooth on all sides, set it to the side and repeat with the remaining dough balls.
4. Next, coat your thumb lightly in flour and poke a hole through the center of each dough ball. Gently coax the hole to about 1 to 2 inches in diameter, but don’t worry if it springs back and becomes smaller when you set the bagel down. The best New York style bagels barely have a hole in the center!
5. Once all the bagels have been shaped, lay them flat on a sheet of parchment paper and cover them with a warm, damp kitchen towel. Rest for 10 minutes.

Boiling

1. While the bagels rest, bring a large pot of water to a boil and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Additionally, line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside, somewhere near the pot of water.
2. Prepare the melted butter and put any bagel toppings in shallow dishes near the baking sheet. You’ll want all of these ingredients handy once you start to boil the bagels.
3. Once the bagels have rested, uncover them and gently transfer them to the boiling water in small batches (we like to do 3 at a time). Boil for 2 minutes, flip them over, then boil for another 2 minutes.
4. Using a large spider strainer or slotted spoon, drain each bagel and transfer to the prepared baking sheet. Boil the remaining bagels the same way, then transfer them to the baking sheet.

When boiling the bagels, make sure they all float to the top of the pot. They might try to stick to the bottom of the pot right when you put them in the water – just gently poke them with a slotted spoon or spider strainer to help release them.

If the pot looks like it might boil over, lower the heat slightly but keep the water at a boil.

Topping

Now it’s time to top the bagels! The exact method will vary depending on the toppings you choose.

• For plain bagels: Brush generously with melted butter.
• For sesame, everything, poppyseed, or other dry seasonings: Add a nice pile of the seasonings to a shallow dish. Press the bagel into the dry seasonings, move it around a bit, then flip and repeat to coat both sides. Place the bagel back on the baking sheet and then brush generously with melted butter.
• For asiago, jalapeno cheddar, or similar toppings: Brush generously with melted butter, then carefully place the toppings on the bagel, gently pressing them into the dough.

Here are some helpful tips:

• We like to top the first batch of bagels while the second batch is boiling. The sooner you add toppings after boiling, the better they’ll stick to the bagels.
• Use a plastic glove to handle the bagels that you’re pressing into dry seasonings. It’ll help protect your hands from some of the heat coming off the bagels, plus ensure that most of the toppings end up on the bagels – and not on your hands!
• Make sure to press any toppings like cheese or jalapenos into the dough as best as you can. Toppings like jalapenos might slide off the bagels while they’re baking, but don’t worry! You can put them back in place halfway through baking when you go to rotate the pan.

Baking and Cooling

1. Finally, bake the bagels for about 25 to 30 minutes on the middle rack of the oven. Rotate the pan halfway through baking to ensure even browning. The bagels should be a deep golden-brown when they’re done.
2. Transfer bagels to a cooling rack and let cool for at least 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

These bagels are so good when they’re fresh, you don’t even need to toast them! But if you choose to, note that they’ll toast more quickly than room-temperature bagels since they’ll still be quite hot after being in the oven.

Storing Homemade Bagels

Let the bagels cool completely before storing them in a zip-top bag. Keep them at room temperature for up to 5 days.

You can also freeze your bagels if you’d like to make a bigger batch and save some of them for later! Follow the tips in this guide for the best results.

New York Style Bagel Serving Suggestions

Bagels are the perfect breakfast or weekend brunch. These homemade ones taste extra special, so give them extra special treatment and serve them with homemade flavored cream cheese, high-quality butter, or turn them into breakfast sandwiches! 

You can enjoy these bagels as they are or simply toast them up before adding your favorite spreads. The bagel dough is so flavorful, we could just dig into these without adding anything extra.

Try our overnight New York style bagel recipe and let us know if you love it by rating, commenting, and sharing below!