One of the seasoning blends that I’ve been using more and more is the “Everything But The Bagel” seasoning blend that I’ve been buying at either Aldi or Trader Joe’s. I like to sprinkle it on my stir fries and other vegetable dishes and it adds a nice little bit of flavor. And of course any time I start using something more often the next thing I start thinking about is, “I wonder if I can make my own??”

I’ve learned over the years that homemade spice blends are one of the quickest and easiest things you can make and this was once again true when I decided to make my own Everything Bagel seasoning blend. A quick reading of the label on my store bought Everything Seasoning showed there were only six ingredients. Most of these were familiar except for one ingredient that I had to think a little harder about.

What is Everything Bagel Seasoning made of?

So the six ingredients in Everything but the Bagel seasoning are:

• Sesame Seeds
• Salt Flakes
• Dried Garlic
• Dried Onion
• Black Sesame Seeds
• Poppy Seeds

Can you guess which one might have been the trouble maker? It was the Black Sesame Seeds. Where the heck are they in the store? And does my store even have them? Am I going to have to pay an arm and a leg and special order them? After standing in front of my store’s spice section for a long time and not finding them, I was convinced this ingredient was going to be the deal breaker.

BUT – it turned out the spice section was not the correct place to look in the store. Instead the place to look is in the International Foods aisle, and specifically by Asian food products. And there they were, black sesame seeds right on the shelf at my local Walmart! And for a reasonable price too! {cue the cheapskate rejoicing music } 🙂

I then checked another local grocery store (Meijer) where I had first looked in the spice section and instead looked in the International Aisle. They had something that would work too. It was called “Tuxedo Blend” and was the same Sushi Chef brand but a mix of black and white sesame seeds. This could easily be substituted in a homemade Everything blend as well.

Also, instead of salt flakes, I opted to use the coarse salt I already had in my pantry. Because this is a chunky type of seasoning blend, I would recommend using a coarse or larger flake salt (as opposed to regular table salt). I recommend a shaker jar with larger holes for this chunky blend too.

Repurposing my Everything Blend spice jar

What worked well for me was to just repurpose a jar from the store bought Everything Blend that I had used up. Once again, I cleaned up my recycled jar with my homemade goo gone to get off all the label residue. I then formulated my homemade Everything Bagel blend recipe to be about the same quantity size as the store bought version so that I could refill my recycled jar to the top again with my homemade blend.

So now I’m all set and I can make my own Everything But The Bagel spice blend whenever the need comes up. And believe it or not, I go through this blend quite quickly! I use it several times a week for one of my favorite plant-based lunches. I microwave some of the vegetables from the Trader Joe’s Multigrain Blend with Vegetables that I like to keep in my freezer. I also toast some whole grain bread and top it with avocado. And then I sprinkle my Everything seasoning all over it!

So yeah, I’m not using this spice to make my own bagels, but I’ve found plenty of other uses for it. I hope you find it to be a handy and money saving blend to keep around your house too!

You might also like to try:

• Make your own Taco Seasoning
• Make your own Shake & Bake
• Make your own Cajun Seasoning
• How to dry your own herbs in the microwave