Loaded Lox and Bagels (With Serving Options)
Versatile and timeless, lox and bagels are a classic combination and a fabulous choice for brunch or lunch, typically served with cream cheese and garnishes like capers, onions, cucumbers, and tomatoes. Just minutes to prepare.
The combo hails from Eastern European Jewish culture, but nowadays it’s enjoyed by enthusiasts well beyond the Jewish community.
What to expect
Lox and bagels are perfect for a delicious breakfast, Sunday brunch, brith (bris), baby showers, Mother’s Day, New Year’s day, or other celebrations.
Keep it simple with just lox (cured salmon), bagels and plain cream cheese. Or jazz it up with optional toppings/garnish. You can’t go wrong. We have lots of variations and serving suggestions and, as usual, a few shortcuts.
Serve with lots of napkins! Loaded lox on bagels can be messy!
Ingredients – tailored to your taste
Lox: Buy a package of fresh or frozen lox, preferably pre-sliced thinly for convenience.
Bagels: Buy any type of bagel from your local bagel shop or grocery store – poppy seed, sesame seed, everything bagel, multigrain, whole wheat, gluten-free, etc. I like to get at least some mini bagels if possible for the smaller eaters.
Herb cream cheese: Regular or light cream cheese is fine. If you don’t get the spreadable kind, bring it to room temperature to make spreading easier. I mix finely chopped green onions and a squeeze of lemon juice into the cream cheese.
Substitutes
- Instead of lox, use smoked salmon or gravlax
- Instead of bagels, try larger-size bagel chips, crostini or pumpernickel bread.
- For a dairy free option, use avocado, vegan cream cheese or hummus instead of cream cheese.
Variations
- Add-ins and garnish: thinly sliced tomatoes and cucumber, capers, red onion slivers, and/or fresh dill.
- Herb cream cheese: Feel free to try other fresh herbs in the cream cheese such as fresh chives, dill or parsley. Or add a little pesto, sundried tomatoes, olives or capers.
- Foundation alternatives: Instead of bagels,
- fill avocado halves with cream cheese and lox and top with chopped tomato salad
- use a tortilla wrap
- try a lettuce wrap for a low-carb option
Step by step instructions
Tips on how to keep bagels fresh
- If you buy bagels a day ahead, keep them in a paper bag or sealed ziploc bag at room temperature. If they are still hot when you buy them, let them cool first or they will get soggy.
- If not serving for a few days, cut the bagels in half (or keep them whole), then freeze them in an airtight container or bag. They freeze perfectly. Thaw at room temperature or toast them from frozen.
- If serving to a crowd, cut bagels in half and keep them in a ziploc bag right up until serving.
- To revive stale bagels, here is a simple trick to freshen bagels.
Serving options
- Open-faced or regular sandwiches: Use plain or toasted bagels with cream cheese and lox along with the garnishes you like.
- Bagel board: Lay out all the ingredients and let guests make their own combos. I love to use mini bagels for this option.
- Charcuterie board: Include all the bagel and lox ingredients as well as cheeses, pickles, fruits, jams, nuts, and danish.
Shortcuts
- Instead of making your own herb cream cheese, buy a flavored cream cheese such as dill, herb, jalapeno, garlic, etc. Or just use plain cream cheese!
- Buy presliced lox.
- Skip the whole process and order a bagel, lox and cream cheese platter from your local bagel shop or deli! 🙂
Make Ahead
You can set out all your ingredients several hours ahead and keep them covered with plastic wrap or in containers. Be sure to keep the bagels sealed in a bag to maintain their freshness.
What to serve with bagels and lox
- egg dishes like egg salad, foolproof scrambled eggs or a low-carb baked egg casserole
- fresh fruits, a no-bake berry crumble or a tropical fruit salad
- cheeses
- quiche or breakfast strata (choose your fillings)
- dips such as red pepper dip and eggplant dip
- easy cinnamon rolls (10 minute prep) or danish
Lox FAQs
Originally derived from the Yiddish word for salmon (laks), lox is cured, but not smoked. Lox is not cooked. It’s made by curing a salmon fillet in a salty brine.
If you like milder lox, go for Coho or Atlantic salmon. Pink salmon has a lighter color and flavor. It’s not as rich but it’s less expensive and more common. High quality lox should have a vibrant, consistent color, ranging from pink to orange, depending on the type of salmon. Avoid any pieces that look dull or discolored.
Lox is cured or brined using salt and has a silky texture. Smoked salmon is cured and then smoked with a salty, slightly smoky taste and a firmer texture. Gravlax is cured with a mixture of salt, sugar and herbs like dill. It has a milder fish taste like sashimi.
While there are differences in taste and texture between lox and smoked salmon, when it comes to lox and bagels, most people will use them interchangeably.
Make your own bagels!
Ready to step it up? Make lox on bagels with the BEST homemade bagels! These are famous Montreal bagels with step by step instructions, ready in an hour.
If you like this recipe, please leave a 5 star rating 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟with a comment in the recipe card below. Thanks so much!
Loaded Lox and Bagels
Ingredients
- 4 fresh bagels, sliced in half horizontally, Note 1
- 12 ounces thinly sliced lox, Note 2
Cream cheese spread
- 1/2 cup plain cream cheese, Note 3 softened for easy spreading
- 1 green onion, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Optional Garnish (include what you like)
- 1 ripe tomato, thinly sliced (or 4 cocktail tomatoes)
- 1/2 English cucumber, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon capers, rinsed
- 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced or chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
Instructions
- MAKE HERB CREAM CHEESE: Mix together cream cheese, chopped green onion and lemon juice in a small bowl.
- ASSEMBLE: Spread a thin layer of cream cheese on a bagel half (or both halves if you like). If using capers, place on the cream cheese so they don't slip off. Layer on tomato and cucumber if using. Add lox, then thin slices of red onion and chopped dill (if using). Top with other half of bagel or leave it open faced, just using half a bagel. Repeat with remaining bagels.
Recipe Notes
- Bagel options: Choose your favorite bagel or a mix – poppy seed, sesame seed, multigrain, whole wheat, plain, gluten-free. Instead of bagels, try lettuce or tortilla wrap, bagel chips, crostini or pumpernickel bread.Â
- Lox alternatives and what to buy: Instead of lox, buy smoked salmon or gravlax – fresh or frozen and preferably pre-sliced for ease of serving. High quality lox should have a vibrant, consistent color, ranging from pink to orange, depending on the type of salmon. Avoid any pieces that look dull or discolored. If you like milder lox, go for Coho or Atlantic salmon. Pink salmon has a lighter color and flavor. It’s not as rich but it’s less expensive and more common.Â
- Cream cheese options: instead of green onion mixed in, try chives, dill, sundried tomatoes, pesto, olives or capers. Or just buy a flavored cream cheese you like. For a dairy free option, use avocado, vegan cream cheese or hummus instead of cream cheese.
- Serving options: Serve 1) open-faced on half a bagel, 2) as a full sandwich, 3) make a bagel bar with ingredients spread on a breakfast board for guests to help themselves, or 4) as part of a charcuterie board along with cheeses, fruits, dates, nuts, danish.Â
- How to keep bagels fresh: For a day ahead, keep them wrapped in a paper bag. If keeping them longer, slice in half (for easy toasting) and freeze in an airtight bag or container – toast from frozen or thaw at room temp). If serving to a crowd, slice in half and keep them in a sealed bag up until serving time. To revive stale bagels, here is a simple trick to freshen bagels.
- Make ahead:
- Lox can be kept in the fridge for up to 5 days and frozen in a sealed freezer bag for up to 3 months. It’s best not to refreeze leftover lox that has been previously frozen.
- Bagels can be frozen for 2-3 months. Thaw at room temperature or toast from frozen. Also see #5 above in recipe card notes.Â
- Cream cheese, if unopened, typically lasts 3 – 4 weeks past the “best by” date when stored in the refrigerator. Once opened, it usually stays fresh for about 1 to 2 weeks, as long as it is kept tightly sealed and refrigerated.
- It’s best to assemble a bagel, lox and cream cheese sandwich just before serving, but if needed, you can store it in the fridge well-wrapped for a day.Â
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