Smoked Fish Bagel Board

With multiple types of smoked fish, cream cheese, toppings and fresh bagels, this Smoked Fish Bagel Board is the ultimate brunch set up!

This bagel board is beautiful and impressive looking, but very easy to assemble and offers a more relaxed, hands- off way to serve your guests. It's perfect for holidays, showers, or just a good weekend brunch! You can easily scale the ingredients up or down depending on the size of your group.

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The Fish

Cold Smoked Salmon: Cold smoked salmon is what comes to mind for most people when they think of smoked salmon. Cold smoked salmon has been salt cured and then lightly smoked at at low temperature so that it keeps its silky texture.

Cold smoked salmon comes sliced in vacuum sealed packages and can be found at most grocery stores. If you live near a good bagel shop (lucky you!) you should be able to buy hand sliced salmon.

There are many varieties of cold smoked salmon, but nova lox (named for Nova Scotia) is the most popular and what you will find in most stores. Keep an eye out for sockeye as well- it's my favorite! Nova is delicate in flavor and is fattier while sockeye is a bit stronger flavored, but leaner. It's all about your preference!

Hot Smoked Salmon: Also called "kippered" salmon. This is smoked salmon that has been smoked at a higher temperature than cold smoked salmon, which results in a flakier texture that is similar to baked salmon.

Whitefish Salad: Whitefish salad is SO underrated in my opinion. It's a spread made from smoked whitefish and mayonnaise and it's just delicious. I love adding it to bagel boards as an alternative to salmon.

Salmon Roe: Salmon roe (salmon eggs) are a fun addition to a bagel board. You can find them at some grocery stores or Asian markets.

Cream Cheese

Scallion Cream Cheese: No bagel board is complete without scallion cream cheese!

Regular Cream Cheese: Of course you always need regular cream cheese as well.

Accoutrements

Capers: Capers add a little pop of briny deliciousness to your bagel!

Tomatoes: Thin slices of ripe tomatoes are perfect on a bagel with lox.

Cucumber: Some people love to add cucumbers as well! A few thin slices on the board gives your guests the option.

Pickled Shallots: Quick pickled shallots are super easy to make and a great addition to bagel boards. I like pickled shallots because they have less of a harsh onion taste than raw onions. However, red onions are more traditional so feel free to add those as well!

Dill: Smoked fish and fresh dill are best buds- gotta have it!

Chives or Scallions: I also like to include chives or scallions for people to add a more subtle onion flavor.

All about the bagels

Make sure they are FRESH. I cannot stress this enough! I suggest buying the bagels the morning of your brunch. If that's not possible, buy them no earlier than the day before and store them in plastic bags (or bagel sleeves!) on the counter.

When it's time to serve brunch, your guests can toast them to bring some life back into them. If you are buying your bagels the morning of your brunch (recommended!!), your guests may not need to toast them at all.

Choose a variety! Everything bagels are a crowd pleaser so make sure to get more everything bagels than any other kind, but then mix in a few others. Plain, poppy, sesame, egg and onion are all great choices. Skip the blueberry and cinnamon varieties for this board!

Grab a few extra. This board serves 8 people, so make sure you have 10-12 bagels. Some people might want seconds!

Tips and Tricks

Don't skimp on the fish! I can't tell you how may times I've been at brunches where someone thought one package of lox would be enough for everyone. One package serves 2 people at most. I know the fish can be pricey, but it is absolutely worth it- it's the most important part!

Have a serving utensil for each element. I like putting cocktail forks out for the fish and accoutrements and spreader/butter knives for the cream cheese. You want to make sure people can serve themselves easily and that each element has their own utensil so everything doesn't get mixed up.

Fresh bagels are the best bagels. Buying the bagels from a bagel shop the morning of your brunch is the best option if you are able.

Keep your toaster nearby! If your bagels are fresh enough, they won't need to be toasted but it's always great to give your guests the option. I love this toaster because multiple people can toast their bagels at the same time.

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