Everyone loves bagels and there are so many toppings to choose from. Why not make a Bagel Breakfast Sandwich Bar With Smoked Salmon and other toppings for breakfast, brunch or lunch? Perfect for parties where everyone can build their own meal or snack. What could be easier?
You’ll only spend time putting together the ingredients on a tray and your guests or family will make their own plates. Works well for the cook as well as the diners! Easy party finger food.
I love to set up a bagel breakfast sandwich bar when I have out of town guests. That way everyone can eat as they get up and no one is held up by the late sleepers. And it’s not just when guests stay at my house.
At Thanksgiving we are party central with several family members staying in nearby hotels. When I set out the bagel bar they can arrive on their own time and not feel pressured by “breakfast time”. And it relieves me of constant cooking. Everyone’s happy.
How To Arrange A Bagel Breakfast Sandwich Bar With Smoked Salmon
Do I have to say you want to put different varieties of bagels and of course smoked salmon? No? OK. But what about the other ingredients and toppings.
For the bagels good choices are Everything, sesame or poppy seed and cheese bagels like asiago. Fruit or strong flavored bagels don’t always go well with the smoked salmon. And of course you can always offer plain bagels…………uh, a little boring to me but I know plenty of people that will opt for the plain ones and they will disappear the fastest.
We offer the traditional toppings like cream cheese (offer several different varieties), sliced red onions, cucumbers and fresh dill. But there are so many other yummy toppings you may not have thought of.
How about rich mascarpone cheese, salty capers, juicy tomatoes, thinly sliced radish, creamy avocado or guacamole, sweetened cream cheese fruit dip, sectioned grapefruit, chopped hard boiled eggs or egg salad. Or go fancy with caviar or salmon roe. The options are endless!
How To Set Up A Bagel Bar
If you have a chafing dish, you know, the kind that you usually put a sterno under to keep the food warm, this is a perfect time to use it. Instead of using a sterno, you’ll fill the bottom of the chafing dish with a single layer of ice or frozen packs and put the top dish over the ice. This way you can keep the vegetables and spreads cold.
And you thought you’d never use that chafing dish. I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how often I bring these out. I even brought them down to Florida when we hosted a casual wedding reception for my sister-in-law. The chafing dishes always lend an extra element of elegance but serve a purpose as well.
Setting up a Bagel Breakfast Sandwich Bar is so easy and practical, especially the part of NO COOKING!
Put fresh fruit around the tray to make it pretty. Or mix the fruit in a separate bowl to be served as a side to the bagels.
Chopped hard boiled eggs (see here for how to make the Perfect Hard Boiled Egg, hint it’s not boiled at all!) are good for toppings. You may want to peel some hard boiled eggs and cut them in half. Some people will eat these as a side instead of a topping.
How To Prepare Bagels For the Brunch or Party
Find some fun containers for the bagels, line them with pretty cloth napkins or dish towels.
Slice the bagels so that your diners don’t need to do that themselves, it can be messy.
If you are putting together the bagel breakfast sandwich bar for guests that are coming and going, like an open house or for out of town guests, then it’s nice to put out a toaster by the bagel bar. Let the guests toast their own bagels, that way they get a nice warm bagel to eat and top.
Another great addition to your bagel breakfast sandwich bar are hard boiled eggs. Slice, salt and lay out on the serving platter. Do you know how to make a no fail hard boiled egg? No, hint, it has nothing to do with boiling!
How Long Can Smoked Salmon Be Left Out?
At room temperature you can leave smoked salmon out for about 3 hours, but no longer. So if your party or bagel bar will last longer than that, you might want to just put out a little of the smoked salmon and keep replenishing it throughout the party. Obviously keep the extra smoked salmon in the refrigerator until it’s ready to be used.
Don’t Forget The Beverage Bar!
A bagel bar with smoked salmon wouldn’t be complete without the beverages. You can keep it simple with coffee, tea and orange juice.
Or if it’s a party, Bottomless Mimosas or Bloody Marys are a good idea. Don’t even get me started on how to make a Bloody Mary Bar……….I think I just came up with my next post idea.
Try our General Muir Bagel with two secret ingredients. Heavenly and based off of the menu of The General Muir, a top 50 restaurant here in Atlanta.
Make Ahead Tips For The Bagel Breakfast Sandwich Bar
Either buy different kinds of cream cheese or make your own. If you buy the whipped cream cheese it’s easy to stir in herbs, chives is a favorite.
A bagel bar with smoked salmon is that much better when you have several flavors of cream cheese or mascarpone cheese. I personally choose the mascarpone cheese myself.
You can also mash fresh fruit like strawberries or pineapple and mix those in too. Or how about drizzling some honey into the cream cheese? If you can, label the cheeses so people know what they are getting.
Cut the bagels in half and the put back in a plastic bag, squeeze all of the air out to keep the bagels from drying up.
You can prep everything in the morning and put them in their own lidded containers for the bagel breakfast sandwich bar . I use containers instead of putting the bagel toppings straight on the serving platter to keep things like tomato juice from contaminating the other ingredients……….who wants a soggy bagel?
How To Take Your Bagel Bar On-The-Go For Picnics, Tailgates & More
Package the bagels in their own plastic baggie with the air squeezed out.
All the ingredients should be stored separately in their own lidded container, even if you aren’t planning to use the container for serving. It keeps the flavors from effecting the other ingredients. Onions especially can be culprits of giving off a flavor to food it comes in contact with.
It’s nice to get the smoked salmon plated ahead of time as well. It can be a hassle sometimes to separate the smoked salmon pieces, and that leaves you with fishy hands. Do the separating while you are around a sink to wash your hands.
The salmon should be in a lidded container and kept in the cooler until 30 minutes before serving. Then don’t leave out beyond 3 hours. And if you’re in hot heat the time to leave out will be shorter.
A bagel bar with smoked salmon is an elegant yet fun brunch or picnic.
Bagel Breakfast Sandwich Bar
There is no better make ahead breakfast for guests or brunch than a bagel bar with smoked salmon
Ingredients
- 4 Whole Bagels your favorite kind
- 1 cup cream cheese or mascarpone cheese (my favorite) choose your favorite flavors
- 1/2 medium English cucumber sliced
- 1/4 medium red onion sliced or diced
- 2 medium tomatoes sliced
- 8 ounces smoked salmon
- 1 medium lemon cut into sections for serving
- fresh dill, fresh fruit, optional makes the dish prettier and more delicious
Instructions
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Prep the ingredients and store in lidded containers up to 3 days in advance. Bagels shouldn't be cut until the day of serving and should be stored after cutting in a plastic bag with the air squeezed out.
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My recommendation is to put any ingredient that has liquid or strong flavors in containers on a pretty serving platter. That way none of the ingredients contaminate one another.
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Slice the cucumber, red onion, tomatoes and lemon. Put mascarpone cheese or cream cheese in little containers.
Recipe Notes
If you want several flavors of cream cheese, it’s less expensive and you won’t have as much waste if you buy plain cream cheese and add your own mix ins like fresh herbs or smashed fruit. Whipped cream cheese makes this easier.
Include mini bagels, people will love this because they can get a taste without having to load on all of those carbs. Including some plain bagels is a good idea, they appeal to most people. Not everyone loves spice and bold flavor like us!
Extras: Fresh dill is a great partner to the smoked salmon and looks pretty too. And everyone loves fresh fruit. How about a hard boiled egg sliced? See our post on the best no fail way to boil an egg, hint, it has nothing to do with boiling!
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