Everything Bagels From 8 Popular Chains, Ranked

Ah, the everything bagel. An enigma of the bakery world. A bagel so confident it declares itself complete, despite being topped with just five seasonings and with no clear origin story. Many people lay claim to the combination of savory ingredients that includes poppy seeds, sesame seeds, garlic, onion, and salt, all baked on top of a chewy dough ring. Names like David Gussin, Joe Bastianich, and Seth Godin will all pop up in your search results as you hunt for the true inventor. But the answer will remain unclear. Perhaps the truth is that the everything bagel is made by everyone. A bagel for the people by the people.

All you really need to know about this bagel flavor is that it makes a statement, from its name and its bold flavors to the way it always leaves remnants of its presence in the form of irksome lingering seeds. You should also know that it found its way into the hearts of many breakfast lovers and onto the menus of every bagel chain and even coffee shop you can think of. Of course, that dredges up the question: Who does the everything bagel recipe best?

To find out, I grabbed eight versions from different chains. I tried each of them, looking for that perfect balance of crunch, tenderness, and savory tastes. The kind of everything bagel you could eat every day, even without the diplomatic buffer of cream cheese.

Daylight is a donut-first breakfast shop. As if the name on the sign wasn't a big enough hint, the look of utter confusion on the cashier's face when I ordered a bagel further clarified the chain's main focus. The perplexity only grew as I continued on to ask for a plain bagel without egg, cheese, and meat in the form of a breakfast sammie. After several more minutes of awkwardness on both sides of the counter, I finally walked away with my everything bagel sans any toppings or donuts on the side.

With only two flavors on the menu (plain and everything), bagels could be considered an afterthought on the Daylight menu, and the everything bagel tastes that way as well. The largest offense is that the everything seasoning is nearly nonexistent. I don't think it can even be called an everything bagel, rather something like a hardly anything bagel. Only a few lonely sesame seeds and poppy seeds adhered to the bagel's outer surface, and they don't do anything for the flavor. What you're left with is essentially just a plain bagel.

It does have a certain air of freshness to it, and the consistency isn't half bad. But, at the same time, it seems like any old bagel I could have found at the grocery store — not even in the bakery section but in the bread aisle. It simply doesn't hit any of my breakfast shop bagel expectations.

I haven't had great luck with Tim Hortons' bagels in the past. I've ordered them as a base to my breakfast sandwiches on several occasions, and they always seem to turn out dry and crackly. Unfortunately, it seems that the Canadian chain has yet to fix this problem.

My taste buds deflated as soon as I pulled this pale bagel from my take-out bag. It was parched at the edges and looked like the kind of bagel that would unforgivingly scrape the roof of your mouth. It definitely did to some degree, though the inside was doughier than the outside let on. Aside from texture issues, the Tim Hortons ring-shaped rendition shares a similar problem with the everything bagel from Daylight Donuts. Once again, there's not nearly enough seasoning. There's enough for the bagel to at least be grouped in the everything category — it would never be mistaken for plain. But it's still severely lacking in this department. Just a quick and crunchy dusting of sesame seeds and poppy seeds lies on top with perhaps the rare flake of salt or mince of dried garlic.

I think I'll stick to donuts next time I visit Daylight or Tim Hortons. It's what they do best after all. And if I have a strong craving for a breakfast sammie as I roll up to the Canada-based chain, I'll be sure to order it on an English muffin, biscuit, or croissant.

Go figure. Another donut-centric chain that offers a mediocre bagel. Dunkin' Donuts offers a limited number of bagels on its menu, including plain, cinnamon raisin, multigrain, sesame seed, and everything. I haven't had the chance to try the other flavors — I've always been too distracted by the plethora of donuts — but I can tell you that the everything variety is just alright. It's not a bagel that will completely ruin your morning; however, it's not one that warrants another order.

Fair warning: It is a bit deceiving. The bagel looks inviting with a good amount of toppings, including sesame seeds, poppy seeds, dried onion, and dried garlic. Something about it also looks like there's cinnamon sugar around the edges, even though there's not. It's a strictly savory bakery item. The bagel itself isn't bad either. It's puffed up with a nice density and a texture that's soft and chewy. The problem is that even though I didn't have it toasted, the seasoning on the top tastes as though it's been burnt. Aside from some sprinkles of salt, it was the only thing I could taste in most bites, and it left bitterness and acridity on my taste buds.

When it comes down to it, I would take a quality bagel plagued by scorched seasonings over an extra dry bagel with little to no flavoring like the previous picks. But it still wasn't a top pick for me.

If I'm venturing to Panera Bread for a bagel, there's a 100% chance that I'm reaching for an Asiago bagel when I'm craving something savory, and a cinnamon crunch bagel if I'm craving something sweet. These two varieties are always the first to be missing from the baker's dozen, and it's clear to see why. So, ordering an Everything Bagel at the counter felt foreign to me.

The bagel comes with classic toppings, including poppy seeds, sesame seeds, dried garlic, dried onion, and salt. The amount of toppings covering the top is moderate — not skimpy but not overwhelming either. Onion and salt are what really drive the flavor. The bagel underneath has that obvious Panera quality to it. It's a good size, albeit rather flat (the bottom piece is more like a bagel thin than a classic bagel), and it has a subtle yeasty flavor. The texture is what threw me off a bit. It was one of the chewier bagels on the list, which is off-brand for Panera. Typically, its bagels lean to the soft and fluffy side. Meanwhile, this one was deflated and tough to bite in spots. It wasn't stale. That just seemed to be its natural state, which almost makes it worse.

It falls in line as a so-so everything bagel. What I would be curious about, though, is the chain's new Asiago Everything Bagel. Now that sounds like a winning recipe.

Barry Bagels is a Midwestern chain through and through. And yes, Barry was a real person, not just a fictitious figurehead. His full name was Barry Greenblatt, and together with a bagel maker named Peter Johnson, the partners opened their first shop in 1972 in Sylvania, Ohio. Then, it was called The Bagel Place, and it was the first eatery in the area to offer bagels that were boiled then baked. Now, Barry has locations across Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Kentucky, with additional plans to move into Texas. Each one is stocked with bins upon bins of bagel flavors, including the one I was after: The everything bagel.

The shop bakes fresh bagels all day long, and it shows. Mine was firmer around the edges, but the interior was tender with a fine-grained crumb. I was also delighted to see that there wasn't a single section of the top bagel half that wasn't blasted with sesame seeds, dried garlic, and onion. Poppy seeds were also thrown into the mix, but they were far less obvious. This adds up to a bagel that's savory and highly flavorful. The only problem is an overload of salt. It's hard to tell, but big flakes are hiding throughout the seasoning blend, making some bites feel like you're snacking on a salt lick — really, this was the bagel's only flaw.

I was pleasantly surprised by the Starbucks bagel. The coffee shop carries just two bagel options, at least this was the case at the locations available in my area. You have the choice between a plain bagel and an everything bagel alongside its other classic Starbucks bakery items like croissants, Danishes, and loaves. However, they tend to sell out fast, so if you happen to stop by right after the breakfast rush, good luck.

When I ordered mine, the baristas sent it through the toaster before I had a chance to tell them not to. But I think, if anything, the toasting step enhanced the flavors. The bagel is actually a good size, and it's puffed up to the point where I thought it would be extra fluffy, but it remains dense. It also features all the usual everything seasoning ingredients: sesame seeds, poppy seeds, minced garlic, dehydrated onion, and sea salt. There are certainly enough toppings to work with, and I liked that it was more garlic-forward than some other options. It also helped that the toasting process singed the garlic and brought out even more of that garlic pungency. With all of this piled onto a decent bagel foundation, it's not a bad pick. Not to mention, it's not overly chewy or salty, so I would take this one over the bagels from Barry and Panera — this might be a hot take, but I stand by it.

Einstein Bros. was not the brainchild of the famed German physicist, nor was it pulled up by its bootstraps by a pair of real-life brothers. The name was all just a clever ruse put forth by Boston Market (previously Boston Chicken) possibly in an effort to make the brand seem trustworthy and relatable. The plan seems to have worked. I have to hand it to the chain; it whips up some tasty picks, including the Everything Bagel.

It's listed as one of the shop's classic New York deli-style bagel flavors, alongside plain, poppy, cinnamon raisin, onion, and more. This means it has a crunchy outer crust that gives way to the interior that's extra doughy and pillowy — it nearly teeters on the line of being undercooked, but that's what makes it delicious and better than the one from Starbucks. It also still has a hole at the center, unlike Einstein's other gourmet recipes which customers often call out as being decidedly not New York-style.

The pièce de résistance of the bagel, though, is undoubtedly the smattering of sesame seeds, poppy seeds, onion, garlic, and salt on top. It looks like a meager amount, but it hits you with just enough savory and salty notes. This makes it not only one of the best bagels that you'll find at Einstein's, but also one of the best everything bagels you'll find anywhere.

The winner of the everything bagel wars is Bruegger's. It won the minute it covered not only the top of its New York-style bagel with seasonings, but the bottom as well. It is the only shop I know that does this, and it makes all the difference. You mean to tell me both sides of the bagel are bursting with flavor? That's a dream. And if you're thinking the sheer amount of seeds, onion, garlic, and salt would be overwhelming to the palate, think again. It still manages to create a great balance of umami notes that are mellowed out by the neutral bagel.

I think much of the bagel's success can be attributed to its simple five-ingredient recipe and the production process that calls for kettle boiling and baking. This makes the outside crisp while the interior remains tender and squishy with minimal crumb pores throughout. It's the quintessential bagel texture, and combined with all those glorious toppings (on both sides!) — suddenly, you have the best everything bagel around.

Bruegger's locations are fairly scattered across the U.S., with pockets in the Northeast, Midwest, and even California. But if you're ever close to one, you should make it your mission to stop in and try an everything bagel. You can even turn it into the ultimate breakfast sammie by piling eggs, cheese, veggies, and even meats like sausage, bacon, salmon, or brisket.

I rounded up all eight bagels in one fell swoop, stopping in at bagel shops, coffee shops, and breakfast joints to pick up as many as I could find. In most cases, I asked for my bagels sliced, sans cream cheese, and not toasted (though, Starbucks did end up toasting it anyway). I then tried them all back-to-back when they were still as fresh as possible.

Judging everything bagels really comes down to two things: the quality of the bagel and the taste of seasonings. You can throw anything sweet or savory on top or inside a bagel, but if the bagel isn't crisp on the outside, tender and doughy on the inside, and featuring a craveable yeast flavor, then it's not going to go far. Therefore, the base of the everything bagel was just as important as what's sprinkled on top.

As for the seasoning, I looked for bagels that were covered in a respectable amount. Nobody wants a bagel that's stingy with the seeds, garlic, and onion. Salt helps too — as long as it's not applied too heavily. I loved the bagels that really played up these savory flavors, especially Brueggers' bagel which offers a double dose of everything fairy dust, on top and bottom. The picks that balanced a wholesome, well-made bagel with a flurry of irresistible seasonings landed at the top of my list.