Soft Pretzel Recipe: Warm, soft, salty and delicious – this homemade soft pretzel recipe is every bit as good as the ones you get from the store and it’s easier to make than you think!
Imagine dipping a warm pretzel into this delicious golden pretzel cheese dip or gooey, cheesy smoked queso dip? Now THAT’S a party appetizer.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Pretzels are so fun to make, and the best part is that they don’t require any fancy ingredients at all! That means anytime you have a hankering for a pretzel, you can just whip some up.
It honestly kind of amazes me how a simple dough can turn into a pretzel with amazing, chewy texture just by adding a secret, pretzel-making step (don’t worry, I’ll tell you what it is)!
I know that yeast bread products can be a bit intimidating to some, but I promise it’s not that tough. I’ll walk you through this easy soft pretzel recipe step-by-step, and by the end of this post you’ll be ready to run to the kitchen and get started on your own homemade soft pretzels!
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What You’ll Need:
Nothing fancy here, just a few things that most of us have in the pantry already. And if you don’t? You can easily find these at your local grocery store.
- 1 ½ cups lukewarm water
- 1 package (2 ¼ teaspoons) active dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup baking soda
- pretzel salt or coarse sea salt
Instructions
- Mix the yeast and lukewarm 1 ½ cups of water in a small bowl until the yeast is dissolved. Set aside for 5 minutes, until foamy.
- Mix the kosher salt, brown sugar, and flour together in the bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl. Add the water and yeast mixture.
- If you are using a stand mixer, fit it with a dough hook attachment and mix on low speed until the dough has formed a smooth ball. If you are not using a stand mixer, use a rubber spatula to combine the ingredients into a shaggy ball. Then, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it until it forms a smooth ball, about 8 minutes.
- Place the smooth ball of dough in an oiled large bowl and cover with a damp kitchen towel. Let the dough rise in a warm place until it has doubled, about 1 hour.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set them aside. Punch down the ball of dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces.
Shaping the Pretzel Dough
- Form each piece of dough into a ball and begin rolling it out into a long rope, about 1.5 feet long and 2 inches in diameter. To do this, start in the middle of the ball and roll it away from you, slowly moving your hands to the edges of the rope. When you reach the end of the rope, move back to the middle and repeat the process again so the rope has an even thickness.
- After you form a rope, bend it into a "U" shape.
- Cross the right side over the left side to create a small circle at the top and two tails coming out the bottom.
- Turn over the dough at the crossover point to create a twist. You will still have a small circle and two tails.
- Fold the two tails / ends of the rope over the circle with the twist lying in the middle of the circle to create the classic pretzel shape. Press down lightly where the tails meet the circle to keep them adhered. Place the pretzels on the prepared baking sheet and cover with a damp kitchen towel so they can rest and rise again.
Baking the Soft Pretzels
- While the pretzels are resting, preheat the oven to 450F. Bring 10 cups water and the baking soda to a boil in a large pot. Make sure all of the baking soda is dissolved.
- Dip 1 to 2 pretzels at a time in the boiling water for 20 to 30 seconds (psst, this is that secret step I told you about). If they are left for longer, they will develop a metallic baking soda taste. Use a slotted spoon to remove them from the water and hold them above the pot for a couple of seconds to allow excess water to drip off.
- Place them back on the baking sheet and sprinkle with the desired amount of salt. Make sure to sprinkle the pretzel salt on while the pretzels are still wet so the salt will stick.
- Bake the pretzels for 15-18 minutes or until they are a little darker than golden brown. You can serve them warm or let them cool completely on a wire rack. They can be stored in an airtight container for 2 days at room temperature, but are best served fresh.
Substitutions
- Salt – if you don’t have pretzel salt or coarse sea salt, you can lightly dust the pretzels with table salt after boiling. I wouldn’t recommend this, though. Even though it will give you a bit of that salty flavour, the larger crystals used on pretzels are less salty (I know, salt is kind of crazy when you learn more about it) and the finished product will taste different.
Variations
There are basically two ways to get creative with a soft pretzel recipe – with things you mix into the dough, or with things you sprinkle on top. Here are some of my suggestions (some are sweet, some are savoury)…
Mix-Ins
- shredded cheddar cheese
- cinnamon and raisins
- chopped bacon
- Italian spices
- chopped strawberries
- chopped red peppers
Toppings
- Crunchy onion and jalapeno toppers
- Everything bagel spice
- cinnamon sugar
- sesame seeds
- parmesan cheese
These lists could go on forever, but you get the idea! You can get creative and make your pretzel exactly the way you want it.
Storage
Your homemade pretzels can be stored (after cooling) in an airtight container for 2 days at room temperature, but they are best served fresh.
The salt on top can draw moisture out of the pretzels and make the crust soggy, so skip adding the salt if you plan to serve them a long time after baking. If you plan to make these ahead of time, you can brush the pretzels with melted butter to get the salt to stick and sprinkle on the salt as desired right before serving.
Expert Tips and FAQs
The boiling step is actually super important when making pretzels. When you put the pretzel in the boiling water, it instantly puffs up and the exterior begins to cook a bit. This gives it a head start on forming that classic chewy, crisp pretzel crust.
The baking soda lowers the pH of the outside of the pretzels making them more alkaline. Alkaline things brown more easily, so this baking soda bath gives pretzels their characteristic crust and flavor.
If you skip the boiling step, you’ll get more of a pretzel shaped bun and less of a chewy golden pretzel. We would NOT recommend skipping it.
The key to getting the salt to stick to your pretzels is to put it on while the pretzels are still wet from their boil time. If you find that they still aren’t sticking, you could also brush your pretzels with an egg wash and then stick the salt to them. The egg wash will help hold the yummy salt bits on the pretzel as it bakes.
The answer to this really depends whether you were trying to create a sweet or savoury soft pretzel experience.
If you wanted a sweet soft pretzel, you could serve it with Nutella, melted chocolate, a sweet dip (like our pumpkin fluff cool whip dip), or even charcuterie style with some fruit and spreads!
If you were trying to create more of a savory pretzel experience, our favorite would be to serve it with our pretzel cheese dip (see the variations in that post to find out how you can turn it into a beer cheese dip or a mustard cheese dip)! You could also serve it with our smoked queso dip!
This is a result of the gluten that formed during kneading. If the dough is snapping back into a shorter length, leave it to rest for a couple of minutes and then continue. This will give the gluten time to relax and it won’t shrink as much.
Related Recipes
Looking for more yummy, bread type goodness? Why not try our quick and easy focaccia bread or our easy Italian white bread?
You can also see other bread recipes that you’ll love:
Recipe
Soft Pretzel Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups lukewarm water
- 1 package (2 ¼ teaspoons) active dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup baking soda
- pretzel salt like this one
Instructions
Making the Dough
- Mix the yeast and lukewarm water in a small bowl until the yeast is dissolved. Set aside for 5 minutes, until foamy.
- Mix the kosher salt, brown sugar, and flour together in the bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl. Add the water and yeast mixture.
- If you are using a stand mixer, fit it with a dough hook and mix on low speed until the dough has formed a smooth ball. If you are not using a stand mixer, use a rubber spatula to combine the ingredients into a shaggy ball. Then, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it until it forms a smooth ball, about 8 minutes.
- Place the smooth ball of dough in an oiled large bowl and cover with a damp kitchen towel. Let the dough rise in a warm place until it has doubled, about 1 hour.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set them aside. Punch down the ball of dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into 8 even balls.
Shaping the Dough
- Form each portion into a ball and begin rolling it out into a long rope, about 1.5 feet long and 2 inches in diameter. To do this, start in the middle of the ball and roll it away from you, slowly moving your hands to the edges of the rope. When you reach the end of the rope, move back to the middle and repeat the process again so the rope has an even thickness.
- After you form a rope, bend it into a "U" shape.
- Cross the right side over the left side to create a small circle at the top and two tails coming out the bottom.
- Turn over the dough at the crossover point to create a twist. You will still have a small circle and two tails.
- Fold the two tails over the circle with the twist lying in the middle of the circle to create the classic pretzel shape. Press down lightly where the tails meet the circle to keep them adhered. Place the pretzels on the prepared baking sheet and cover with a damp kitchen towel so they can rest and rise again.
Baking the Pretzels
- While the pretzels are resting, preheat the oven to 450F. Bring 10 cups water and the baking soda to a boil in a large pot. Make sure all of the baking soda is dissolved.
- Dip 1 to 2 pretzels at a time in the boiling water for 20 to 30 seconds. If they are left for longer, they will develop a metallic baking soda taste. Use a slotted spoon to remove them from the water and hold them above the pot for a couple of seconds to allow excess water to drip off.
- Place them back on the baking sheet and sprinkle with the desired amount of salt. Make sure to sprinkle the salt on while the pretzels are still wet so the salt will stick.
- Bake the pretzels for 15-18 minutes or until they are a little darker than golden brown. You can serve them warm or let them cool completely on a wire rack. They can be stored in an airtight container for 2 days at room temperature, but are best served fresh.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Kathy says
None of the recipes say whether or not 2 cover while it’s baking
Jessica says
Hi Kathy. Are you asking if the pretzels should be covered while baking?
Paula K says
This was my first time making soft pretzels and I am so happy I did! They were so easy to make and delicous!
jess says
this is an amazing pretzel recipe and I love it so much! thank you for sharing!
Katie says
Soft pretzels are my number 1 favorite thing to make and eat. These are so soft and delicious!