The best bagel and lox doesn’t have to come from an NYC bagel shop and cost $15. You can make an incredible bagel and lox sandwich at home. Will it be exactly like that bagel and lox you got from Zabar’s on the Upper West Side? No. BUT! You can make a homemade bagel with lox and cream cheese that is almost as good. You just have to buy the best bagel, the best cream cheese, and the best smoked salmon from the grocery store.
This bagel and lox recipe isn’t really a recipe at all because it requires zero cooking. By combining these three top Sporked picks, you will have yourself the best bagel and lox you can possibly make within the four walls of your home.
Best Bagel
Dave’s Killer Bread Epic EverythingTargetAlbertsonsSam’s ClubThe hardest thing about making a delicious bagel and lox sandwich made at home is finding a good store-bought bagel. Lots of them are just tough, doughy blobs. Dave’s Killer Bread, on the other hand, makes the best bagel you can find in a grocery store. In his review, Sporked contributor Danny Palumbo wrote that, “the texture of these pre-sliced bagels is really nice and chewy” and “the everything seasoning (a mixture of sesame seed, poppy seed, flax seed, dehydrated onion, and sea salt) really shines, especially when toasted.” Toast one of these bagels to your desired toastiness level and you’re on your way to making an amazing bagel with cream cheese and lox.
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
8/10
Sporks
Best Cream Cheese
Philadelphia Original Cream CheeseWalmartTargetIf you are looking for the best cream cheese for a bagel, you only have one option: Philadelphia. Philadelphia Cream Cheese: The cream cheese so delicious they named a city after it. I’m just kidding. They didn’t name the PA city after the cream cheese brand, but they did name a sushi roll after it. And it’s well deserved! The Original Philadelphia Cream Cheese is pretty perfect. It’s sensationally creamy and maintains the perfect balance of rich and tangy. Slather a thick layer of this on your toasted Dave’s Killer Bagel and you are 2/3 of the way to bagel and lox greatness.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
10/10
Sporks
Best Smoked Salmon
Latitude 45 Atlantic SalmonWalmartJustine Sterling, Sporked editor-in-chief, named Latitude 45 Atlantic Salmon our best smoked salmon. She wrote that the texture is “extremely silky and gorgeously rich” and that it “melts in your mouth.” It’s super subtle and lacks a fishiness or overly salted quality that some of the other salmons we tried had. Justine also liked the price point. It was one of the cheaper brands on our best smoked salmon list, coming it at just over $5. That’s less than half the price of a bagel and lox sandwich from NYC! Gently drape a few slices of this onto your cream cheesed bagel and get ready to have the best bagel with lox and cream cheese you’ve ever had at home.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
10/10
Sporks
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