March 28, 2024

Are Bagels Vegan?

Answer: almost always, yes.

Much like the is bread vegan question, we’re frequently asked if bagels are vegan. I wasn’t aware bagels were so mysterious! Fresh bakery bagels are typically made from flour, water, yeast and salt. That’s the basics. Avoid bagels of the following variety: egg, cheddar jack, jalapeno cheddar, chocolate chip (most are milk chocolate, but some could be vegan friendly dark) … Some sweeter bagels can contain whey.

Frozen or mass produced bagels can be different. Some contain L-cysteine which is derived from animals (feathers, crazy). Panera was a shop that sourced animal-derived L-Cysteine previously. Thankfully, their bagels are now vegan friendly!

Ps. Cream cheese is OBVIOUSLY not vegan. But scout out a shop with hummus, peanut butter or, if you are lucky, tofu cream cheese. Good luck!

12 thoughts on “Are Bagels Vegan?

  1. Also, many breads are not vegan because they will have white sugar, dairy, sometimes egg, and very often will be washed with egg or milk.

      1. not Always Sugar it normaly brown.. they make them white by burn boans from animals … but some white Sugar is vegan … in america they nummer Sugar ? and 1 number is not vegan … on YouTube you find with number is vegan , in Belgium i dont know what is vegan … when my Sugar is out of stock i will buy natrual Sugar for sure

  2. Thanks for the good info. It’s still best to ask, though. I was recently at the St Lawrence Food Hall in Toronto and was about to buy a sesame bagel from a bagel bakery. After I asked about dairy-free spreads the owners guessed that I don’t consume animal products and told me that they use eggs in all their bagels.

  3. In 7 years since this was written, I can now go to my local big chain supermarket and choose from 3 brands of vegan cream cheese (and none are soy! Ha!)

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