Yes, You Can Freeze Your Bagels. But Here's Why You Should Never, Ever Refrigerate Them

Very little beats a bagel, egg, and cheese for breakfast. Whether you're making our easy, three ingredient bagels at home or buying a 12-pack from Costco, if you want easy access to bagels in the morning you need to figure out how to store them. (This is assuming you don't live in New York City where great bagels are seemingly everywhere). You may be tempted to store your bagels in the fridge — don't. Keep them in the freezer or on the counter, but never in the fridge!

Refrigerating bagels, like most breads, slowly cools the starches, causing them to eventually recrystallize. This hardens them and turns them stale faster than they would at room temperature. Freezing your bread also creates crystallization of the starches, but it traps in the water and halts the aging process at the same time. This way you can toss that bagel into the toaster or oven so it tastes like it was baked yesterday — every morning. Both processes create starch crystals which become resistant starch that acts like a prebiotic, but it's not a significant amount to make much of a difference (contrary to what some TikTok users believe).

If you already have some bagels in the fridge as you read this, that's okay, you can still revive or find other uses for them. One way is to dunk them in some warm water, wrap them in aluminum foil, and bake them at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for five minutes. You can also wrap them in a damp paper towel and toss them in the microwave for 15 seconds. Be careful not to microwave them too long or you'll end up an even tougher bagel.

Another option is to use the stale bagels in other ways. Turning old bagels into tasty croutons is an easy way to add some crunch to your salad. You can also turn them into bagel chips for a homemade snack. Slice them into thin chips, brush on some olive oil, and then bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. They're perfect to dip into the Trader Joe's Everything But The Bagel dip!