How to Store Bagels

Using the Pantry for Short-Term Storage

Put aside bagels you don’t plan to eat in 2-7 days. Once you’ve returned from the store or pulled your homemade bagels out of your oven, separate them into 2 groups. 1 group should contain the bagels you know you can finish within the next several days. Put bagels you want to keep for any amount of time longer than that in the other group. This second group is going in the freezer. Fresh bagels can be safely kept in the pantry for up to about a week. However, after 2 to 3 days, they’ll start to go a bit stale. Your best bet is to freeze bagels you’re not sure you can eat within a 2-day timeframe. Store-bought bagels will usually keep for about 5 to 7 days in the pantry. They should be frozen if you won’t eat them within the week.

Place fresh-baked bagels in a paper bag to keep them fresh. Next, put this paper bag inside a resealable plastic bag. This combination is the best way to keep baked bagels tasting good for next few days. Press the air out of the plastic bag before you seal it to lock out moisture. Keeping your bagels in an airtight bag will prevent them from hardening.

Check the bags of store-bought bagels for holes or tears. The plastic bags that store-bought bagels come in are sometimes a little flimsy or thin. If the bag doesn’t have any holes, you can use it to store the bagels for the next week. Once you’ve checked for damage to the bag, open it up, squeeze out the excess air, and then seal it again. If there’s even a small tear, transfer the bagels to a resealable plastic bag. Be sure to remove the extra air before you seal it up. Generally, you can use the twist-tie the bag came with to reseal it. If the twist-tie doesn’t work, you can knot the end of the bag to close it.

Preheat your oven to 350 °F (177 °C) to toast your next bagel. Before you toast, sprinkle the surface of the bread with a little water. Then, place your bagel directly on the center rack of your preheated oven. Check on the bagel after 5 minutes to see if it’s toasted to your liking. If you prefer it a little crispier, keep it in the oven for an additional 5 minutes (or even longer). Look in on it every 5 minutes until you’re satisfied. The water will resurrect your bagel once it hits the heated oven, making your favorite baked good nice and fresh rather than hard and stale. If you’re worried that your bagel with slip through the cracks on your oven rack, you can put it on a cookie sheet. No need to grease it! You can also use a toaster, although the oven works best.

Freezing Your Bagels

Pre-slice your bagels before freezing them. Since the easiest way to eat frozen bagels is to pop them right in the toaster, you won’t want to thaw your bagel out to cut it in half. Instead, use a bagel slicer or a sharp and serrated bread knife to slice your fresh bagels in half. A bagel slicer is the safest and easiest way to cut bagels in half. You can purchase them online or at major retailers for less than $10 USD.

Wrap each bagel in plastic wrap. Once you’ve finished slicing, break out your plastic wrap. Place each bagel in a sheet that’s big enough to wrap them up completely so they don't stick together. The plastic wrap will more effectively protect your bagels from freezer burn.

Gather the bagels together in a resealable freezer bag. To keep your freezer organized, it’s best to put the bagels in one bag. This will prevent you from having random bagels stored everywhere! The resealable bag will also provide an extra layer of protection against freezer burn. Use permanent marker to label the bag with the date so you know when the bagels are approaching their expiration. If you don’t want to go through the hassle of individually wrapping each bagel, you can place them in the resealable unwrapped. However, be aware that they may develop freezer burn more quickly. You should also transfer store-bought bagels to a resealable freezer bag, rather than leaving them in the plastic bag they came in. These, too, can be wrapped in plastic wrap for more effective protection.

Freeze bagels right after you purchase or make them. This way, your bagels will taste as fresh as the day you got them when you’re ready to eat them again! However, if you miscalculate how many you can eat in 48 hours, don’t worry too much. You can also freeze bagels you haven’t finished after 2 days. Store-bought bagels can last up to a week in the pantry. While it’s better to place store-bought bagels you don’t think you can eat within this amount of time in the freezer right away, they should be fine to go in the freezer toward the end of the week.

Toast frozen bagels without thawing them. The best part about frozen bagels is how easy it is to eat them when you’re ready! Pop the bagel in the toaster and set it to a crispier setting to give it plenty of time to bake. Unlike pantry-stored bagels, the toaster and the oven should both be fine for warming up your frozen bagel. If you choose, toast your bagel in the oven at 350 °F (177 °C) for a minimum of 10 minutes. You may need to give your bagel an extra toast or a few more minutes in the oven. Keep checking on it and let it cook until it’s crisp and warm enough for you.

Eat bagels stored in the freezer within 6 months. After 6 months, your bagel will likely begin to develop freezer burn. It also might not bake properly and could taste hard and stale even after a good toasting. Your best bet is to go out and get another fresh batch! Then you can start your storage process over again. Write the date you put the bagels in the freezer on the bag so you can keep track of how long you've had them.