If I'm being honest, I usually stay away from gluten free bagels because they just don't look that good. They are never something I really crave because they just don't hit like regular bagels do. BUT, I figured it was time to give them a try and put 3 brands up to the test. I taste tested the Schar, Canyon Bakehouse and Aldi's Live Gfree brands. I'm sure there are other brands out there, but these were the ones I found at my local grocery stores (Kroger & Aldi). I kept it simple and stuck them in the toaster for a couple minutes and spread some regular cream cheese on top. Normally I like to doctor up my bagels, but I really wanted to taste the actual bagel without all the fluff. Here were my thoughts and ratings of each....
Schar (7.5/10)- I am normally not a huge fan of Schar, but there bagels were a pleasant surprise. They were very soft and chewy which is the texture I personally like in a bagel. They also were not really dry because as we know, many GF breads tend to be hard and dried out. Schar was in the mid-range of pricing at $5.49. Overall, it wasn't a bad option!
Canyon Bakehouse (7/10)- I was surprised by this one too because I enjoy Canyon Bakehouse GF breads, but their bagels disappointed me a little. They were not as chewy as the Schar brand and they were pretty dry which made it hard to swallow. You would definitely need to add on some extra cream cheese, jelly or whatever you like on your bagel. The taste wasn't bad though, just the textures were a little off. It was also the most expensive brand at $5.79.
Aldi's Live Gfree (8/10)- This was my personal favorite out of all 3. It had thick slices, was soft, not too dried out and had a good taste to it. They also have other flavors like everything bagel and cinnamon raisin. I would really like to try both of those in the future because I think it would make it taste even better with that extra flavoring. BONUS! This brand was the cheapest at $5.19.
As you can see, Aldi was the winner, but they were all rated very closely. This was because none of them really blew me away. Like I said earlier, gluten free bagels are just not very close to regular bagels. I've tried many different GF foods/brands that taste very similar to the regular food, but bagels just aren't it. If you are craving that bagel though, Aldi's Gfree is a good option. You might just want to try one of the flavored ones or add a lot of pizzaz to your regular bagel!
Comments