Spinach Cottage Cheese Bagels (Flat Bagels)
I wanted an easy savory bagel-style recipe with a little more nutrition built in, so I added spinach, mozzarella, flax, and hemp seeds to a simple cottage cheese dough.
These aren’t traditional chewy yeast bagels. They’re softer, cheesier flat bagels that come together quickly, and the spinach flavor stays nice and mild.
Recipe at a Glance
Estimated nutrition: About 230 calories and 14–16g protein per bagel.
Nutrition is an estimate and will vary depending on the brands and ingredients used.
A Few Helpful Notes
Blend the cottage cheese first. Some cottage cheese has fairly large curds. I like to smooth it out first so the dough has a more even texture throughout. A small food processor or chopper works well.
Pack first, then chop. For the 1× batch, I pack fresh baby spinach into a 1/2-cup measuring cup first. Once finely chopped, it comes out to about 1/3 cup. At this amount, the spinach adds some extra greens without dominating the flavor.
Make the center holes bigger than you think. The bagels spread and puff as they bake, so small holes can almost completely close up in the oven.
Egg wash is optional. I tested them with and without egg wash, and the difference wasn’t dramatic. It does give the tops a little more golden color and shine, but you can absolutely skip it.
Ingredient amounts and yield update automatically. Baking time may vary slightly if you bake a larger or smaller batch.
Ingredients
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
- 1 tablespoon hemp seeds
- 1/2 cup packed fresh baby spinach, finely chopped (about 1/3 cup once chopped)
- 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 egg, beaten, for optional egg wash (you may not use it all)
Visual Guide
A quick look at the main stages before you start.
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Instructions
1. Preheat. Preheat the oven to 375°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Blend the cottage cheese Add the cottage cheese to a small food processor or chopper and blend until mostly smooth.
3. Chop the spinach. Finely chop the packed spinach. You should have roughly 1/3 cup chopped spinach.
4. Add everything to a bowl Add the blended cottage cheese, flour, baking powder, salt, olive oil, flaxseed, hemp seeds, chopped spinach, and shredded mozzarella to a large mixing bowl.
5. Mix the dough Mix everything together by hand until it comes together into a soft dough.
6. Divide into 6 portions Separate the dough into 6 roughly equal pieces and shape each into a ball.
7. Shape the bagels Flatten each ball slightly, then make a generous hole in the center to create a bagel shape. Don’t worry about making them perfectly round — these are meant to be easy homemade flat bagels.
8. Brush and bake Lightly brush the tops with beaten egg if using, then bake at 375°F for 22–25 minutes, or until the tops are golden and the bagels are cooked through. Let cool for a few minutes before serving.
FINISHED RESULT
The Finished Bagels
The finished flat bagels are soft, savory, and cheesy, with little bits of spinach throughout. Even with the added spinach, the flavor stays mild rather than strongly spinach-y.
Sunny Table note: The current tested version uses 1 1/2 cups mozzarella, but I may try adding even a little more next time because we like them extra cheesy.
Sunny Table Notes
- The current version uses 1 cup all-purpose flour.
- For a future test, I want to try 3/4 cup all-purpose flour + 1/4 cup whole wheat flour.
- I may also experiment with a little more spinach, since 1/2 cup packed spinach keeps the flavor quite mild.
- Recipes at Sunny Table are always evolving a little as I make them again for my family. This is the version tested and photographed here.
