I was planning on a bagel for breakfast, only to discover they were all in the freezer. While great for helping them keep, it’s not so convenient for eating them. So today, I’ll teach you how to defrost a bagel in the air fryer if you’re facing the same conundrum!
Can an Air Fryer Defrost a Bagel?
Yes, an air fryer can defrost a bagel.
The key is to not preheat your air fryer, so your bagel is gradually heated right along with the air fryer basket. It will still be chilled both inside and out, but no longer frozen when done.
Then, you can simply toast it up the way you want, or heat it a little longer to enjoy it untoasted. Bagels are perfect with toppings, made into tasty breakfast sandwiches with egg, cheese, and meats like bacon or sausage, or even turned into Air Fryer Pizza Bagels!
This option does tend to take a minute or two longer versus the microwave, but I find that the air fryer produces a more even defrosting. Plus, I don’t have to pay much attention to it while it’s cooking, and that’s always a win in my book!
However, defrosting bread in the microwave is still a viable alternative if preferred!
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Ingredients Needed
- Frozen bagel, any brand or flavor (use your favorite bagels)
Ingredient Tips
- You can defrost as many bagels as fit in your air fryer’s basket or rack in a single layer, without needing to add additional cooking time! While it depends on the size of your air fryer, this is great for a brunch option or if you need to feed a crowd
- Truly any flavor of bagel works great: sesame bagels, cinnamon raisin bagels, everything bagels, plain bagels, blueberry bagels, onion bagels, and more!
How to Defrost a Bagel in the Air Fryer:
- Do not preheat your air fryer for optimal results
- Place your frozen bagel in the cooking basket of the air fryer
- Air fry at 360℉ for 3-5 minutes
- Remove the bagel, then slice and toast or top as normal
Tips For the Best Defrosted Bagel
- If your bagel is pre-sliced and you can separate the pieces, it should take less time to defrost. On average, it takes me 3 minutes to defrost a whole bagel in my Ninja Foodi Dual Zone air fryer
- Note that the bagel is going to feel warm to the touch when you first remove it from the air fryer. However, it cools very quickly down to that “just took the ice off” state, which is the point of defrosting
- If you plan to eat the bagel without toasting it, add another minute or two to bring it to a warmed state versus just defrosted
What to Serve With Your Bagel
- Butter
- Jam
- Cream cheese
- Peanut butter
- Salmon or lox
- Spinach
- Eggs
- Side dishes (like hash browns)
- Microwave Coffee
Recipe FAQs
Can You Put a Frozen Bagel in an Air Fryer?
Yes, you can put a frozen bagel in an air fryer.
Cooking it will defrost the bagel, allowing you to cut it and continue working with it like a fresh bagel. This method won’t dry out your bagel either, it should stay soft and delicious.
Do You Need to Add Water to Defrost a Bagel in the Air Fryer?
No, you do not need to add water to defrost a bagel in the air fryer.
The microwave removes moisture, which is why you typically wrap bread in a wet paper towel when you use it to defrost or make grilled cheese in the microwave.
An air fryer, however, cooks in a different way which does not remove the moisture from the bread, so you don’t need to add anything additionally.
In fact, I tried putting some water in the base of the air fryer once to steam it a bit and see what would happen, and the bread was actually tougher and colder as a result!
Can You Toast Bagels From Frozen in the Air Fryer?
You can toast bagels from frozen in the air fryer.
For a sliced bagel, add about 3 minutes to the cooking time so the bagel can both defrost and then toast.
A whole bagel should be removed after defrosting, sliced, then returned to a 370-375 degree F air fryer for 3-4 minutes.
You can also toast frozen Bagel Bites in the air fryer if you love the pizza bagel combination!
Final Thoughts
Now that you know how easy it is to defrost a bagel in your air fryer, you’ll wonder why you didn’t try it sooner! It’s one of the best ways to defrost a bagel quickly, and as an added bonus you can Toast a Bagel in the Air Fryer afterwards!
It makes for a quick and convenient breakfast option, but you can also turn your bagel into a tasty sandwich for lunch, like my Ham and Cheese Bagel in the Air Fryer.
For more great starts to your morning from your favorite appliance, check out some of my best air fryer breakfast recipes to try out!
Defrost a Bagel in the Air Fryer – Quick & Easy!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 Bagel, any flavor (frozen)
Instructions
- Do not preheat your air fryer. Place your frozen bagel in the cold cooking basket of the air fryer1 Bagel, any flavor
- Air fry at 360°F for 3-5 minutes
- Remove the bagel, then slice and toast or top as normal
Notes
- Any flavor of bagel or mini bagel works just fine with this method
- For mini bagels, reduce temperature to 350°F and start at 2 minutes
- It takes me about 3 minutes to defrost a whole bagel in a Ninja Foodi Dual Zone, but the time may vary slightly with other brands and sizes of air fryer
- The bagel will seem warm when you remove it from air fryer, but will quickly cool down to a normal defrosted state
- Nutrition values will vary based on specific brand and flavor of bagel, and any toppings added, so please consider this a rough guideline
Nutrition
