Bagels with cream cheese are a weekend treat for us, and if we're feeling particularly generous toward ourselves, we buy a baker's dozen for munching all weekend long. This inevitably leads to a few slightly stale bagels left in the bottom of the bag come Monday morning. But not like that's a bad thing! What do you do with leftover bagels during the week?
Five Things to do with Leftover Bagels
Here are a few ideas for using up those few remaining bagels:
1. Make Sandwiches - Because leftover bagels are a little too chewy for our taste, we pack the bagels and the sandwich fixings separately in our lunch. At work, we toast the bagels before assembling them into warm, crunchy sandwich.
2. Make Bagel Pizzas - A favorite from when we were kids, and still a great quick weeknight meal! We smear the bagel with a little tomato sauce, a sprinkling of cheese, and whatever pizza toppings we're in the mood for, and then we bake them under the broiler or in a toaster oven until the cheese is bubbly.
3. In Salad - Leftover bagels may be too stale to eat on their own, but we've found that we really like them torn up into big, soft croutons in our salad. They soak up a bit of the dressing, and add some substance to the salad. Sometimes we toast the bagel first for a little crunch.
4. In Frittata - Like leftover pasta, we'll throw cubes of bagel into a dinner frittata. Think of this as a quick, extra-eggy bread pudding!
5. In Bread Pudding - And while we're at it, why not make savory bread pudding?! We don't usually have enough bagels left for a full-sized pudding, but we can make smaller ones in individual ramekins. Just fill a ramekin with bagel chunks, cheese, and veggies, then pour a mixture of egg and milk over the top. Let it sit for a little while and then bake at 350°.
How else do you use bagels during the week?
Related: Food Science: Why Bagels Are Boiled
(Image: Flickr member Mel B. licensed under Creative Commons)
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Frugality, Tips & Techniques, Baking Products, leftovers, weeknight meal, top five, bagelsRelated Links
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They usually just end up being bird food, but I should probably try making bagel chips out of them one of these days...
view kestrel127's profile
Um, slice 'em and freeze 'em before they get stale?
view Bobolink's profile
Leftover bagels? How does that even happen?
view debtex's profile
Once toasted, I think slightly stale bagels are still great! but I am also a HUGE fan of bagel sandwiches :-).
view michpc's profile
My mom makes garlic bread with them. It works best with plain and egg bagels. It's awesome.
view pbelardo's profile
my favorite bagel place is miles away so when I do buy them I just slice them and freeze them, as bobolink suggests
view acushla's profile
Definitely seasoned Bagel chips.
view Food Monstar's profile
We also slice and freeze bagels. We brought back two dozen from Montreal, and they were great months later.
view Emily G.'s profile
Bagel Chips is a great idea.
Emily
view Emily Sneds's profile
Stale, hard bagels make great dog treats.
view rosebud's profile
I always freeze bread products the day I buy them minus the first serving. Then, reheat them in foil or toast them. I don't wait for them to get stale.
If you know how many bagels you're going to eat, just freeze the remainder the day you bring the bag home.
view Orchid64's profile
I'm an east coast girl, living in San Francisco, so whenever I go back to NY i buy TONS of bagels and bring them back to stock up my freezer. yuum.
view fizzyizzy's profile
um, how about bagel french toast????
yummmm.
view akops41's profile
Jill at our local farmers market makes the best bagels ever and there's never any left over. But if we buy extra, we stash them in the freezer whole in individual ziploc bags and then take one out the night before the AM we want to eat one. I slice it just before toasting it. And, our two dogs agree with rosebud. :)
Katy
http://fengshuibyfishgirl.com
view fishgirl's profile