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canapeEasyJewish-American

Smoked Salmon Bagel Bites

Mini bagels topped with cream cheese, lox, capers, and red onion

⏱️ Prep: 20min🍳 Cook: 5min⏰ Total: 25min👥 Serves: 24🌡️ room_temp
⚠️ Contains: 🌾 Gluten, 🥛 Dairy, 🐟 Fish

Ingredients

  • 12mini bagels(or regular bagels quartered)
  • 8 ozcream cheese(softened)
  • 8 ozsmoked salmon(thinly sliced)
  • 0.25 cupcapers(drained)
  • 0.5red onion(very thinly sliced)
  • 2 tbspfresh dill(chopped)
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • lemon wedges(for serving)

📝 Make Ahead

Prep all toppings ahead. Assemble just before serving to keep bagels from getting soggy.

Instructions

  1. Slice mini bagels in half and toast lightly
  2. Spread each half generously with cream cheese
  3. Fold or drape smoked salmon on top
  4. Scatter capers and thin red onion rings over salmon
  5. Sprinkle with fresh dill and black pepper
  6. Arrange on platter with lemon wedges for squeezing

💡 Pro Tips

Quality matters here - use real lox or cold-smoked salmon, not hot-smoked. Slice onions paper-thin and soak in ice water for 10 minutes to mellow their bite. Everything bagels add extra flavor but can overwhelm the salmon. Toast bagels lightly - too crisp and they're hard to bite.

📜 History

Bagels with lox became a Sunday morning staple in Jewish-American households in New York City by the early 20th century. The combination brings together Eastern European traditions of cured fish with the American bagel. It remains the quintessential New York brunch food.

🍸 Pairs Well With

Also pairs well with:

champagneproseccobloody-maryvodka