Blueberry Protein Bagels Lemon (Printable Copy)

Soft, chewy bagels infused with blueberries and protein, finished with a bright lemon glaze for a fresh start.

# What You Need:

→ Dough

01 - 2½ cups bread flour, plus extra for dusting
02 - 1 cup vanilla protein powder (whey or plant-based)
03 - 2¼ teaspoons instant dry yeast
04 - 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
05 - 1 teaspoon salt
06 - 1 cup warm water (110°F)
07 - 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
08 - 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

→ Boiling

09 - 8 cups water
10 - 2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup

→ Lemon Glaze

11 - 1 cup powdered sugar
12 - 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
13 - 1 teaspoon lemon zest
14 - 1 to 2 teaspoons milk or water

# How to Make:

01 - In a large mixing bowl, whisk together bread flour, protein powder, sugar, salt, and yeast until well combined.
02 - Add warm water and melted butter to the dry ingredients. Stir until a rough dough forms.
03 - Knead by hand or with a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook for 8 to 10 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic.
04 - Gently fold in blueberries until evenly distributed throughout the dough.
05 - Shape dough into a ball, place in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
06 - Punch down the dough and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll each into a ball, then poke a hole through the center with your finger and gently stretch to create a bagel shape.
07 - Place shaped bagels on a parchment-lined baking sheet, cover, and let rest for 15 minutes.
08 - Bring 8 cups of water and honey or maple syrup to a gentle boil in a large pot.
09 - Preheat oven to 400°F.
10 - Boil bagels 2 to 3 at a time for 1 minute per side. Remove with a slotted spoon and return to the baking sheet.
11 - Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until bagels are golden brown and cooked through. Cool on a wire rack.
12 - Whisk together powdered sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and enough milk or water to reach a drizzling consistency.
13 - Once bagels are cool, drizzle with lemon glaze and let set before serving.

# Expert Advice:

01 -
  • These bagels actually keep you full, not just entertained for twenty minutes like regular bread.
  • The blueberries stay juicy and tart instead of turning into sad raisins, because you don't thaw them first.
  • That lemon glaze is bright enough to make you feel fancy at 7 AM without any actual effort.
02 -
  • Frozen blueberries are genuinely better than fresh here because they won't bleed all over your dough and turn everything purple during kneading, which I discovered after my first mess.
  • The bagels absolutely need to be boiled—skipping this step or trying to bake them straight through will give you dense protein bread, not bagels, and the boiling is what creates that signature texture.
03 -
  • If your protein powder is chocolate or unflavored, the vanilla won't work—stick with vanilla, or the flavor balance gets weird in ways that don't improve anything.
  • The boiling water should be just barely bubbling, not a rolling boil, because aggressive water makes the bagels break apart before they're done cooking.
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