The Bakery Chain With The Best Cinnamon Raisin Bagels Starts With Sourdough

Unless you live in New York, bakery chains might be your go-to option to get your fix of cinnamon raisin bagels. We tasted and ranked 5 bakery chain cinnamon raisin bagels to make sure you get the best option. We rated each bagel according to texture, cinnamon sweetness, amount of raisins, and overall taste. The winner? Panera.

Panera stood out from its competitors largely for its sourdough base — the tangy bagel upgrade that really does change everything. The sourdough flavor shines through and adds a sour depth to the sweet and spicy ingredients in Panera's cinnamon raisin bagels, not to mention a perfectly chewy and yet also fluffy crumb. Panera's cinnamon raisin bagels stand out in other ways too, with cinnamon in both ground spice and chip form. This means that in addition to the brown sugar and cinnamon evenly distributed throughout the dough, there are spicy cinnamon bursts to really amp up the flavor. Additionally, we loved how the raisins were evenly distributed throughout the bagel because they were chopped up instead of whole. Every bite was bursting with flavor, satisfyingly chewy, and light enough for us to want to dig into a second one.

Despite all the pastries and bagels at Panera bread coming par-baked, the cinnamon raisin bagel was as fresh and scrumptious as any we've tried, although our taste-tester did say that their ultimate favorite at Panera is the cinnamon crunch bagel. Whichever you choose, Panera has plenty of spreads to complement and enhance the sweet, fruity, and cinnamon flavors. A slather of cream cheese is the perfect tangy, creamy complement for a cinnamon raisin bagel. But the chain's honey walnut cream cheese spread will really take these bagels to the next level by adding a floral and nutty profile with a bit of crunch to boot. If you accompany a sweet bagel and cream cheese with one of Panera's many coffees, you might be interested in the company that supplies Panera's coffee, which has plenty to brag about.

You can also take a lesson from Panera's acclaimed fall cinnamon crunch bagel breakfast sandwich by transforming a toasted cinnamon raisin bagel into a breakfast sandwich. Panera lets you choose your own bread for any of their sandwiches, so you can replace the croissant on a bacon egg and cheese sandwich with the cinnamon raisin bagel. It's a combo that Redditors are divided on, but those who love it, really love it. One Redditor says, "Lovely ratio ... breakfast sandwiches on a cinnamon raisin bagel is the perfect balance of sweet & savory." You could even add a slather of cream cheese to really take things over the top. Don't make the mistake of getting to Panera too late, though. The chain stops serving breakfast at 10:30 a.m. and while there may be bagels left over in the afternoon, when they're gone they're gone.