Whether you’re cooking frozen bagel bites or want to make your bagel bites at home, I’ve got you covered! Here is an easy-to-follow guide to some simple, speedy and tasty bits which the whole family will love. Air fryers are such a great appliance for quick recipes like this one, particularly with lots of little mouths to feed in a busy house. I’ve included the method for how to perfectly cook frozen bagel bites, and if you want to try your hand at the homemade version, I’ve a recipe for that too!

Table of Contents
- Bagel Bites Air Fryer Cooking Tips
- How to make homemade Bagel Bites
- Why should I use an Air Fryer to cook my Bagel Bites?
- A family favorite, made easy!
- Bagel Bites Air Fryer FAQs
Bagel Bites Air Fryer Cooking Tips
Below I’ve listed a few tips which are good to follow when cooking in the air fryer to make sure that your food comes out perfectly:
- Set the right temperature
- No need to thaw
- Careful not to burn
- Different air fryers mean different timings
Let’s take a look at each in more detail!
Set the right temperature
Preheat your air fryer to 360 degrees Fahrenheit. Make sure there is ample space between each piece to ensure they are cooked evenly.
No need to thaw
You don’t even need to thaw your Bagel Bites once you remove from the freezer.
If you take the Bagel Bites straight out of the freezer, you can add them directly to the air fryer basket and use the pre-heating setting of the air fryer as the defrosting function.
This not only speeds up the cooking process but it prevents your Bagel Bites from becoming soggy.
Careful not to burn
Make sure to be vigilant about burning the bagel toppings once you get closer to the finishing time. Check the basket every couple of minutes to ensure the toppings don’t burn.
Different air fryers mean different timings
If you’re using a different air fryer to the Cosori, be aware that you may need to alter the cooking times slightly.
When you are trying out this Bagel Bites recipe for the first time, just check every couple of minutes to make sure they’ve not burnt.
How to make homemade Bagel Bites
Ingredients
- Mini bagels – These should be easy to find in your grocery store. If they don’t have them, you could always use regular sized bagels and half them
- 1/4 cup tomato sauce – You can just use your favorite tomato sauce which you use for pasta dishes, but if you’re short on ingredients, you could always use tomato puree paste.
- 2 oz. pepperoni – you can purchase slices pepperoni from the grocery store, or else you could buy it in sausage form and cut it yourself
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese – It is best to buy the pre-cut mozzarella cheese, because it is easy to use and it has less water in it than fresh mozzarella. Fresh mozzarella isn’t ideal for making this recipe due to the excess water
Method
Making homemade Bagel Bites
Total Time: 10 minutes
Ready air fryer
Preheat your air fryer to 360 degrees Fahrenheit.
Prepare bagels
Slice your bagels lengthwise. Spread your tomato sauce or puree on each half of the bagel.
Mix toppings
Take your pepperoni and chop it into small bits and mix with the grated mozzarella
Sprinkle
Sprinkle your cheese and pepperoni mix across the top of the bagels.
Place
Set the bagel bites carefully along the bottom of the rack of your air fryer, making sure they are not touching and allowing enough room for the air to flow around the basket. If there is a shelf within the air fryer, you could put some on top of the shelf too to ensure all bites are evenly cooked.
Cook
Cook for 5 minutes, and check they are not burning. Cook until they reach your desired level of crispiness. Enjoy!

If you’d still like another easy recipe to follow, this video might also help.
The recipe differs slightly, accounting for difference of air fryer, but hopefully this will help you alter your recipe for your air fryer!
Why should I use an Air Fryer to cook my Bagel Bites?
Air fryers are an amazing appliance for cooking so many different types of food. They are unique in the types of food they’re able to cook too.
Air fryers are great for cooking freezer foods like Bagel Bites, French fries, pizza, fish fingers, or most other frozen food. Maybe even combine both bagels and pizza for air fryer pizza bagels!
An air fryer can also be used instead of a grill or frying pan to cook foods like bacon, sausages, chopped vegetables etc.
More specifically, when cooking Bagel Bites in the air fryer, there is a list of reasons why the air fryer is better than the oven:
- Shorter cooking time
- One button snacks
- Cooks perfectly, every time
Shorter cooking time
Using your air fryer to make bagel bites will cut the cooking time in half, particularly compared to using the conventional oven which takes a long time to heat up. This is especially helpful when you’ve got lots of little mouths to feed!
One button snacks
Using your air fryer for making bagel bites is an excellent set-and-forget path to making delicious treats. The easy one-touch button function of air fryers means once you set up the function you want to use, you can leave it until it is ready.
Cooks perfectly, every time
I find when making bagel bites in the oven, they often come out a little too dried out, but the air fryer truly provides perfect results every time. It is harder to burn foods in the air fryer too because the cooking time is generally much shorter than an oven and almost all models have either an alarm, or switch off automatically.
I’ve linked my favorite type of air fryer below, and the air fryer recipes I use in this blog are adapted to this air fryer. Check it out below!
A family favorite, made easy!
Using an air fryer is such a simple way of making quick snacks like these, especially if you live in a busy home with lots of mouths to feed!
If you give either recipe a go, let me know how it went in the comments. If you try any tasty topping combination, I want to hear about it!
Meanwhile, check these posts out:
- Air Fryer Breakfast Sandwich
- How to Perfect Frozen Okra in the Air Fryer
- Can You Put Water In An Air Fryer
- Cook Frozen Breaded Mushrooms in Air Fryer
Bagel Bites Air Fryer FAQs
Can you put frozen bagel bites in the air fryer?
Of course! Freezer bagel bites are best coming straight from frozen and don’t need to be thawed. Just take them straight from the freezer and add to the basket of your air fryer.
Make sure the bagel bites aren’t touching and preheat your air fryer to 360 degrees Fahrenheit, and once the air fryer has reached temperature, let it cook for a further 5 minutes before checking.
Cook the bagel bites to your desired level of crispiness before removing from the air fryer basket and enjoy!
What other toppings could I add to my homemade bagel bites?
The choices for bagel bites toppings are endless. You could use diced onion, cream cheese, diced peppers, cooked chicken, sweetcorn, mushrooms, cheddar cheese, parmesan cheese, or whatever your or your kids favorite pizza topping is.
How do I store leftover bagel bites?
If you have some leftover and want to save them for a later date, just pop them into an airtight container, such as Tupperware, and put it into the fridge. These tasty bites will last for 2-3 days if stored correctly.
In order to reheat them, you can just use your air fryer again to heat them up. I usually put them in before preheating as by the time the air fryer has hit the temperature set, this will have perfectly heated up the bagel bites.
What temperature do I cook bagel bites in the air fryer?
Add your bagel bites from frozen and preheat your air fryer to 360 degrees Fahrenheit. Make sure there is space between each bite to ensure they are cooked evenly.