I'm embarrassed to say that one of the recipes I've most often been asked for is bagel chips! They are soooo easy to make, but here goes.
There are just three ingredients: bagels, some sort of fat/oil and seasonings.
The origin story for this being a "thing" is as follows:
A co-worker hosted a bris ceremony at his apartment for his newborn son.
He had lots and lots of leftover, already sliced, bagels which he brought into the office. In my experience, we've hosted two such ceremonies in our house, people don't eat a lot following this ceremony - which should be no surprise!
The bagels sat in zipper-top bags on an office credenza for 4 days (not particularly appetizing) with no one eating a single one.
At this point I asked if it would be ok if I took the forlorn, now stale, bagels home with me for "chipping".
On Monday morning I returned with bags and bags of bagel chips - and an all-time favorite office snack-food was born!
In fact, these chips were so popular that colleagues would purposely buy more bagels than they could eat with the intention of having me make chips! Which I happily did.
You can season them in as simple or complex a fashion as you like - salt and pepper works just fine. Most frequently I would use Old Bay Seasoning with that great blend of salt and savory spices. On today's batch I used Penzey's Sandwich Sprinkle - a nice blend of spices that you would find on an Italian Hero/Hoagie/Grinder.
Bagel Chips
Really, a recipe for these?!
Bagel Chips
INGREDIENTS
PREPARATION
Preheat oven to 325F
Line a half-sheet jelly roll pan with parchment
Slice bagels using a serrated knife. Make the slices as thin as practicable. No need to have the slices be uniform in shape and size - you just want them to be thin - so that they get crispy when you bake them!
As you create the slices place them in a large non-reactive mixing bowl.
Pour your fat of choice over the chips. As a rule of thumb, I use 1 tablespoon of fat per bagel. This may seem a small amount, but you don't want your chips to be greasy and you really are only using the fat to help the seasonings adhere to the chips. Of course you can use as much fat as you like - that's entirely up to you.
Sprinkle seasoning of choice over the oiled chips and toss to coat.
Scrape seasoned chips onto the prepared baking sheet. Don't overcrowd the pan or the chips will not brown and crisp. Three or four bagels is the maximum amount for a half-sheet pan. If you have more bagels than that, use a second pan!
Bake for 20-25 minutes, rotating the pan(s) halfway through to ensure even browning and crisping.
Start snacking!*
*If you are storing them to enjoy later (or to bring to work for the team) - allow the chips to cool completely before packaging in a zipper-top bag or plastic resealable container - lest they lose some of their crispiness.
- Bagels - the older the better. The closer they are to stale the easier they are to slice thin. And just about every "flavor" works too - plain, onion, poppy, sesame, whole wheat, even cinnamon raisin.
- Fat - Olive Oil, safflower oil, melted butter
- Seasonings
Preheat oven to 325F
Sprinkle seasoning of choice over the oiled chips and toss to coat.
Scrape seasoned chips onto the prepared baking sheet. Don't overcrowd the pan or the chips will not brown and crisp. Three or four bagels is the maximum amount for a half-sheet pan. If you have more bagels than that, use a second pan!
Bake for 20-25 minutes, rotating the pan(s) halfway through to ensure even browning and crisping.
Start snacking!*
*If you are storing them to enjoy later (or to bring to work for the team) - allow the chips to cool completely before packaging in a zipper-top bag or plastic resealable container - lest they lose some of their crispiness.
© Joe V 2021 | Website by TesslerDesigns