logologologologo
  • Home
  • About
    • About WJWE
    • What’s a Bubbe?
    • Culinary School
  • Recipes
  • Travel
  • Cookbook
  • Work With Me
  • Press
  • Contact
  • ModernTribe
✕

Rainbow Bagels

Published by Amy Kritzer Becker on May 20, 2014
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 from 4 ratings · 18 comments
Amy Kritzer Becker
By Amy Kritzer Becker
Author of Sweet Noshings · as seen on Food Network, GMA & The NYT
Rainbow Bagels
Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

They’re here! Rainbow Bagels. AKA Gaygels?

Rainbow Bagels

How magical are these bagels?? Ordinary bagels are cool and all, but rainbow bagels brings it to another level. I’m not even sure you’re ready for this video. I bring you: the elusive double rainbow. Now available in bagel form.

I know. As I mentioned back when I made rainbow challah bread, I love rainbows. They are just so happy! Shavuot is coming up, a holiday where we celebrate receiving the ten commandments. Some people call this event the Rainbow Covenant because a rainbow appeared when Moses received them. Works for me! We also eat dairy on Shavuot in recognition of the Jews eating dairy as their first kosher meal. Well slather one of these puppies in cream cheese and call it a celebration! Let’s get started.

First, make your dough. (A KitchenAid is helpful for this recipe!)

Combine 1 cup warm water with the yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer and let sit for 10 minutes until it bubbles up and foams. Then add flour, oil, salt and remaining water to the mix. Mix on low with a dough hook for 5 minutes. Then knead by hand for another 2-3 minutes until you have a smooth dough. If dough is a little sticky, add a little flour.

Rainbow Bagels 1Then place the dough in a large bowl greased with oil and let rise in a warm place for 60 minutes until doubled in size. Divide dough into 6 portions and dye each one with food coloring. (I use gel dye for the most intense colors)

This will take a lot of work to get a uniform color but it’s worth it! Keep dough you aren’t using covered so it doesn’t dry out.

Rainbow Bagels

The roll out each ball and place in rainbow order (ROYGBIV! Minus the indigo.)

Rainbow Bagels

Twist together to make a psychedelic rainbow twisted glorious dough masterpiece.

Rainbow Bagels

Then divide your masterpiece into 8 pieces. Keep dough you aren’t using covered so it doesn’t dry out. Make a hole in the center of each ball and stretch to make the bagel hole. Set bagels aside and let rise for 10 minutes, covered.

Rainbow Bagels

Now time to boil and bake! Boiling your bagels gives it that crunchy outside and soft inside. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Prepare a cooling rack. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and boil bagels 3-4 at a time for 30 seconds on each side. Let bagels dry on cooling rack. Then bake for 15 minutes on a parchment paper lined cooking sheet until golden.

Rainbow Bagels

Eat- they are especially awesome right out of the oven. Be prepared to have the most magical day ever!

Rainbow Bagels

The perfect snack before you ride off into the sunset on your unicorn.

Rainbow Bagels

Bring these into work, and instantly get promoted to the corner office. Money back guaranteed.

Rainbow Bagels

Prettyyyyy!

Rainbow Bagels

Rainbow Bagels

Rainbow Bagels

Amy Kritzer
Rainbow Bagels! For the most magical start to your day ever.
4.50 from 4 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 1 hour hr
Cook Time 15 minutes mins
Total Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins
Course Bread, Breakfast
Cuisine Jewish
Servings 8

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cups warm water divided (110 degrees)
  • 1 packet 2 1/3 teaspoons active dry yeast
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 6 cups all-purpose flour plus more if needed
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon vegetable or canola oil plus more for greasing the bowl
  • Food coloring

Instructions
 

  • First, make your dough. Combine 1 cup warm water with the yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer and let sit for 10 minutes until it bubbles up and foams.
  • Then add flour, oil, salt and remaining water to the mix. Mix on low with a dough hook for 5 minutes. Then knead by hand for another 2-3 minutes until you have a smooth dough. If dough is a little sticky, add a little flour.
  • Then place the dough in a large bowl greased with oil and let rise in a warm place for 60 minutes until doubled in size. Divide dough into 6 portions and dye each one with food coloring. This will take a lot of work to get a uniform color but it’s worth it! Keep dough you aren’t using covered so it doesn’t dry out.
  • The roll out each ball and place in rainbow order (ROYGBIV! Minus the indigo.)
  • Twist together to make a psychedelic rainbow twisted glorious dough masterpiece.
  • Then divide your masterpiece into 8 pieces. Keep dough you aren’t using covered so it doesn’t dry out. Make a hole in the center of each ball and stretch to make the bagel hole. Set bagels aside and let rise for 10 minutes, covered.
  • Now time to boil and bake! Boiling your bagels gives it that crunchy outside and soft inside. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Prepare a cooling rack. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and boil bagels 3-4 at a time for 30 seconds on each side. Let bagels dry on cooling rack. Then bake for 15 minutes on a parchment paper lined cooking sheet until golden.
Like this recipe?Leave a comment or rate us above

About the chef

Amy Kritzer Becker

Jewish food expert, cookbook author of Sweet Noshings, owner of ModernTribe, and culinary-school-trained chef. Featured on Nickelodeon, The Drew Barrymore Show, Good Morning America, the New York Times, and Food Network.

Read Amy’s story·Get the cookbook·Work with Amy

Share
Amy Kritzer Becker

Amy Kritzer Becker

Amy Kritzer Becker is a Jewish food expert, cookbook author of Sweet Noshings, owner of ModernTribe, and culinary-school-trained chef behind What Jew Wanna Eat — a modern Jewish food blog redefining heritage recipes since 2010. Her recipes have been featured in Food Network, Bon Appétit, Forbes, Good Morning America, and the New York Times.

Related posts

Pomegranate Brisket with Avocado Cilantro Aioli
June 1, 2026

The 20 Best Jewish Main Dishes


Read more
homemade lox
May 29, 2026

20 Jewish Breakfast & Brunch Recipes (Bagels, Shakshuka & More)


Read more
How to braid 6-strand challah
May 28, 2026

20 Best Jewish Bread Recipes (Challah, Bialy & Bagels)


Read more

18 Comments

  1. Lisa says:
    May 20, 2014 at 3:09 PM

    Tie Dye! Totally retro bagels, LOVE IT! AND, I LOVE the aprons!!!!

    Reply
    • Amy Kritzer says:
      May 20, 2014 at 3:10 PM

      Thanks, Lisa!!

      Reply
      • Mella says:
        May 20, 2014 at 4:49 PM

        I love the expression of LGBT ideals. Lovely.

        Reply
        • Amy Kritzer says:
          May 20, 2014 at 4:53 PM

          Thanks! 🙂

          Reply
  2. Natasha says:
    February 4, 2016 at 12:47 AM

    Is it possible to make these without a stand mixer and a dough hook? I don’t have either but I have an electric hand mixed and good ol muscle power for mixing by hand if possible. Just want to make sure I won’t mess up the recipe by doing so! Thanks!!

    Reply
    • Amy Kritzer says:
      February 4, 2016 at 8:37 AM

      Oh yes, people made bagels way before stand mixers. You can totally knead by hand!

      Reply
  3. Homemade Lox - What Jew Wanna Eat says:
    February 8, 2016 at 7:10 PM

    […] was pretty darn proud of myself when I first made homemade bagels, but I think this homemade lox tops it. Challah! Who knew it was so easy to make you own lox? Now I […]

    Reply
  4. Dave H. says:
    February 15, 2016 at 4:15 PM

    I have tried many bagel recipes in my time, but for some reason, or maybe I got lucky, these rose higher and came out better than than previous ones. My daughter challenged me to make these after seeing a video online, so since it was snowy here and I was stuck inside, I gave it a try. They are delicious..
    One thing I did do though, is I used my Kitchen Aid to mix in the colors-very arduous to do it by hand. You have to keep playing with dough and the speed a little, but it is a lot faster.
    Once they were done, I found the cream cheese recipe to top it with-
    8 oz. of softened cream cheese, 1/2 cup of white funfetti cake mix, 1 tsp. of vanilla and a 1/4 cup or so of rainbow sprinkles/jimmies.

    Mmm..Good!..

    Reply
    • Amy Kritzer says:
      February 15, 2016 at 4:49 PM

      So glad you liked them, Dave!! I love that cream cheese idea. I’ll definitely try it!

      Reply
  5. Gaygels | susieiblog says:
    February 22, 2016 at 3:15 PM

    […] And then we found  What Jews wanna eat […]

    Reply
  6. 100 Rainbow Treat and Dessert Recipes - TGIF - This Grandma is Fun says:
    February 26, 2016 at 2:27 PM

    […] Rainbow Bagels from What Jew Want to Eat. […]

    Reply
  7. 20 Rainbow Treats For Kids says:
    February 29, 2016 at 3:27 PM

    […] What Jew Wanna Eat – Rainbow Bagels  […]

    Reply
  8. Rainbow bagels with Funfetti cream cheese: How to make them at home - How to do everything! says:
    March 2, 2016 at 2:44 PM

    […] Bagels adapted from What Jew Wanna Eat […]

    Reply
  9. Apple Chai Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Drizzle - Sugar Dish Me says:
    September 9, 2016 at 12:40 PM

    […] typed ‘barf”. Twice.) That counts for something. 2) Amy made both Rainbow Challah AND Rainbow Bagels which makes her instantly and infinitely awesome. 3) She is super good at taking traditional Jewish […]

    Reply
  10. Is Making Your Own Rainbow Bagels At Home Worth It Or Not Worth It? says:
    December 23, 2016 at 9:23 AM

    […] for yourself? Epicurious has a wonderful bagel recipe which I combined with one brave blogger’s rainbow bagel attempt. My rainbow bagels looked NOTHING like the real thing. There must be some sort of secret industrial […]

    Reply
  11. Shmear Campaign - What Jew Wanna Eat says:
    August 7, 2017 at 9:33 AM

    […] know how much I love bagels. I make my own. I Instagram them constantly. I truly feel like most disagreements could be solved […]

    Reply
  12. Green Bean Shakshuka - What Jew Wanna Eat says:
    March 20, 2018 at 6:13 AM

    […] gorging myself on cheese and steak but also turns out fat is filling. And that is coming from the bagel queen! But that doesn’t mean I didn’t bust into some babka and Bailey’s spiked […]

    Reply
  13. Big Huge List of Free Rainbow Resources: Printables, Crafts, Snacks, and More! | Free Homeschool Deals © says:
    September 14, 2018 at 3:10 PM

    […] RAINBOW BAGELS – What Jeu Wanna Eat […]

    Reply
4.50 from 4 votes (4 ratings without comment)

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Rate This Recipe




Search WJWE

✕
Amy Kritzer Becker

About the Chef

Amy Kritzer Becker

Jewish food expert, cookbook author of Sweet Noshings, owner of ModernTribe, and culinary-school-trained chef. Featured on Good Morning America, the New York Times, and Food Network.

Read Amy’s story → Get the cookbook → Work with Amy →

As Seen In

The New York Times The Washington Post The Wall Street Journal Good Morning America TODAY Show NPR Cosmopolitan Food Network HuffPost Good Housekeeping BuzzFeed Parade

What’s Popular Now

Quick Amba Sauce Recipe
Quick Amba Sauce Recipe
How to Make Flavored Cream Cheese
How to Make Flavored Cream Cheese
Homemade Lox
Homemade Lox
Homemade Cream Cheese
Homemade Cream Cheese
Arayes: Grilled Meat-Stuffed Pitas
Arayes: Grilled Meat-Stuffed Pitas
Tzatziki Salad Dressing
Tzatziki Salad Dressing
Horseradish Pickles
Horseradish Pickles
50+ Pomegranate Recipes
50+ Pomegranate Recipes

Categories

Appetizers
Appetizers
Beverages
Beverages
Bread
Bread
Breakfast
Breakfast
Dessert
Dessert
Gluten Free
Gluten Free
Hanukkah
Hanukkah
Main Dishes
Main Dishes
Passover
Passover
Purim
Purim
Rosh Hashanah
Rosh Hashanah
Salad
Salad
Sauces & Dips
Sauces & Dips
Shavuot
Shavuot
Side Dishes
Side Dishes
Soup
Soup
Sukkot
Sukkot
Vegan
Vegan
Vegetarian
Vegetarian
2026 © What Jew Wanna Eat | All Rights Reserved | Site Powered & Designed by TOSBS | Privacy Policy

      Rate This Recipe

      Your vote:




      A rating is required
      A name is required
      An email is required

      Recipe Ratings without Comment

      Something went wrong. Please try again.