Pizza Bagels – A Couple Cooks

Pizza Bagels are a quick way to pizza night! They’re cheesy, tasty, and easily customizable: you’ve got dinner in no time.

We’re all about shortcuts around here…and this one is our best new dinnertime trick. Try Pizza Bagels! This genius concept uses a bagel to make the crust of the pizza pie. All you need are a few ingredients and they come out like a charm: fluffy, thick-crust personal pizzas, piled with toppings and smothered in gooey cheese. Here’s how to whip these up!

Ingredients for pizza bagels

Pizza bagels use a bagel to make the crust of a personal pizza: much in the same way as a tortilla pizza, pita pizza or naan pizza. They’re a little different from the mini bagel bites appetizer you might find in the frozen section. These pizza bagels are the size of a standard bagel and work as a quick dinner idea! Here’s what you’ll need:

• Bagels
• Pizza sauce: it’s best with Homemade Pizza Sauce!
• Shredded mozzarella cheese
• Grated Parmesan cheese
• Olive oil and salt
• Toppings of your choice (see below)

The basic idea

The basic idea for pizza bagels? Brush the bagels with olive oil (and sprinkle with a little garlic powder and salt). Bake them for 8 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, then add toppings and bake 6 to 7 minutes more until the cheese is melted. It’s so simple and customizable! See more on toppings below.

Recommendation: a great pizza sauce

The best way to get great flavor for these pizza bagels? Try our 5 minute Homemade Pizza Sauce. Of course, storebought pizza sauce works too. But we promise: this homemade sauce will blow your mind with the fresh, garlicky robust flavor. It takes only 5 minutes to make, so all you’ll need is a can of fire roasted tomatoes in your pantry. Here are a few notes on the sauce:

• This pizza sauce takes 5 minutes in a blender (do it while the oven preheats). All you need are canned fire roasted tomatoes, garlic, oregano, salt and olive oil. Blend them up, and the flavor is life changing. Go to our Pizza Sauce recipe.
• Fire roasted tomatoes are key for the flavor! This type of tomatoes are roasted on an open flame before canning, making them taste sweet right out of the can. Try them once, and you’ll never go back.

Pizza bagel toppings

Top these pizza bagels any way you like! You can go totally classic with pepperoni, or get more creative with veggie toppings of your choosing. Either way, be careful not to overload the bagel: use just enough toppings to lightly cover the top. Here’s what we did here, and then a few ideas for more creative toppings:

• Smoky cherry tomatoes & basil: Thinly slice cherry tomatoes, then sprinkle them with salt, garlic powder and smoked paprika. It has a smoky vibe that’s similar to pepperoni! Top with fresh chopped basil.
• Veggie supreme: Top with sliced olives, chopped green pepper and sliced red onion
• Mini pepperoni
• Prosciutto
• Spinach
• Bell peppers, chopped
• Jarred artichoke hearts
• Jarred roasted red peppers
• Sautéed mushrooms
• Pesto
• Feta cheese, goat cheese, smoked mozzarella or smoked gouda

Eat pizza bagels right away

An important thing to note about pizza bagels: these do not work as leftovers! Pizza bagels become soggy after sitting for about 15 minutes. So, plan to eat them immediately after they come out of the oven! For big batches, try to only make enough to fit on trays in your oven at one time.

If you do happen to have a lag time between baking the pizza bagels and eating them, that’s ok! You can reheat them at 400 degrees until they crisp up again.

More shortcut pizza recipes

These pizza bagels go over well with anyone: especially kids! There are lots of other ways to make “shortcut” pizza! Here are a few more ways to try:

This pizza bagels recipe is…

Vegetarian. For gluten-free, use gluten-free bagels.

Print

Description

These Pizza Bagels are a quick way to pizza night! They’re cheesy, tasty, and easily customizable: you’ve got dinner in no time.

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• 4 plain bagels
• Olive oil
• Garlic powder, for sprinkling
• 1 cup Homemade Pizza Sauce
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• Grated Parmesan cheese, for topping
• Cherry tomatoes
• Smoked paprika, for sprinkling
• Basil
• Other toppings: sliced black olives, green peppers, red onion, pepperoni, etc

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1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Brush the bagels with olive oil on the cut side and place them on a baking sheet. Sprinkle each with a pinch of garlic powder and kosher salt. Bake cut side up for 8 minutes until lightly crisp and golden brown on the bottom.
3. While the bagels bake, prepare the toppings: thinly slice the cherry tomatoes and sprinkle each with a pinch of salt, garlic powder and smoked paprika. Chop the basil. Prepare any other toppings (if using, chop the green pepper and thinly slice the red onion).
4. Remove the tray from the oven. Top each bagel half with about 2 tablespoons pizza sauce, 3 to 4 tablespoons shredded mozzarella cheese, and a sprinkle of grated Parmesan cheese. Add the seasoned cherry tomatoes and add a sprinkle of salt to the top of the pizza.
5. Bake the bagels 6 to 7 minutes until the cheese is melted. Eat immediately (leftovers do not save well).

• Category: Main dish
• Method: Baked
• Cuisine: American
• Diet: Vegetarian