These easy homemade buttery soft pretzels are so simple to make at home. They're chewy, fluffy and better than any food chain! Whip up a batch of my easy and delicious beer cheese dip to dip them in for a yummy treat!
I have a slight obsession with soft pretzels. Where ever I am, if they are being offered, there's a good chance I'm getting one.. or three. Call it a guilty pleasure but now that I can make the best homemade soft pretzels at home that are even better than any chain, my life is practically made! You guys are going to love these.
Want to make more homemade dough? Try this EASY pizza dough recipe or a recipe without yeast, my homemade pie dough.
Why you'll love this recipe
- They have an incredible slightly chewy exterior, while the inside is super soft and fluffy.
- The flavor is out of this world! I mean, they are bathed in butter as soon as they come out of the oven....
- No more standing in long lines and spending a crazy amount of money on one pretzel when you can spend that amount or less and make an entire batch!
- Homemade soft pretzels are easier to make than you think! Just like soft and fluffy homemade cinnamon rolls.
Ingredients For Homemade Soft Pretzels
- Active dry yeast: It helps the dough to rise and makes the soft pretzels puff up as they bake. Want to make a sweet yeasted treat that also uses active dry yeast? Try my strawberry cinnamon rolls or mixed berry sweet rolls.
- Water: Make sure your water is warm (not boiling), about 105°-115°F to best activate the yeast. You will also use boiling water for the baking soda bath later in the recipe.
- Baking soda: Used for the baking soda "bath" which is the most important steps in making homemade soft pretzels. This gives the pretzels their iconic golden, chewy outer exterior. It's the ingredient that basically makes a pretzel, taste like a pretzel! And not a buttery, salted bread stick.
- Butter: I use unsalted butter in the dough and salted butter brushed on top of the pretzels just after baking. To simplify, you can just use unsalted since they are getting sprinkled with salt anyway. I like mine salty!
- Fine and coarse sea salt: Fine is used in the dough - you can also just use regular table or kosher salt - and coarse sea salt is sprinkled on top of the pretzels before baking.
- All-Purpose Flour: Measuring the flour correctly is crucial. Too much flour and your dough will be dry and crumbly creating tough pretzels. Too little, and it will be wet, sticky and unworkable.
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and easy-to-follow instructions.
Substitutions & Variations
To use any of these variations, you will omit the coarse salt sprinkled on top after baking. Use your imagination! There are so, so many more variations you can come up with!
Cinnamon sugar: After baking, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
Everything but the bagel seasoning: Brush with melted butter after baking and sprinkle with seasoning.
Cheese: Before baking and while pretzels are still wet from baking soda bath, sprinkle with your desired flavor of cheese. Parmesan, asiago would both be absolutely delicious!
Garlic & herb: Brush with melted butter after baking and sprinkle with garlic salt and italian seasoning.
How to Make Quick and Easy Soft Pretzels
- Mix and knead the dough: Combine yeast with warm water and sugar. Once mixture becomes "frothy" your yeast is ready. Stir in salt and melted butter. Add flour 1 cup at a time until dough is no longer sticky. You may need more or less than the recipe calls for. If you press your finger into the dough and it bounces back, it's ready to knead! Knead dough for 5 more minutes until smooth and pliable.
- Let the dough rest: Shape dough into a large ball and place in a lightly-oiled bowl, cover with a damp towel, and let it rest for 15 minutes. This is not to be confused with rising, it does not need to be doubled in size, the dough is just "resting."
- Preheat oven: To 475°F, and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Prepare the baking soda bath: Combine the water and baking soda in a large pot and bring mixture to a boil. Take off heat and allow it to come down to a lukewarm temperature.
- Shape the pretzels: Flatten rested dough slightly with the palm of your hand into a circle. Cut dough into 8 sections (like a pizza). Roll each triangle into a long ¾ inch rope, about 19-20 inches long. Shape dough into pretzel shape and place in baking soda bath for 2 minutes. Carefully pick pretzel up either by hand or spatula and transfer to prepared baking sheets.
- Add salt: Sprinkle the pretzels with coarse salt while still wet. Repeat these steps until all 8 pretzels are prepared and on the baking sheets.
- Bake: You want to bake the pretzels until golden brown, about 8-9 minutes.
- Brush with butter: Straight from the oven, brush the pretzels with melted butter. I like to use salted but you may use unsalted.
- Best served warm: Enjoy them fresh and hot out of the oven! These pair perfectly with my easy beer cheese dip!
Recipe FAQ
Once cooled completely, wrap them up individually and tight in plastic wrap for up to two days. To reheat, pop them in the microwave for about a minute or so. Good as new!
I recommend preparing the dough only one day in advance. Prep the dough the day before following the recipe through to step 3 and store in the refrigerator until ready to use. When you are ready to make the soft pretzels, continue on with the recipe starting with shaping the dough then the baking soda bath, etc.
Once baked and cooled completely, wrap each pretzel individually in a layer of plastic wrap and then a layer of foil. Be sure to cover them completely! For extra protection and to ensure freshness, place them in a large ziplock bag before freezing.
Yes! Place raw dough into an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
Yes, yes, yesssss. When you get to the shaping step of the recipe, when you roll the dough into long ropes, just cut them into 4 inch pieces instead of shaping into a pretzel shape to make homemade soft pretzel sticks. Cut them into 1 inch pieces for bites. Continue with the recipe as written. I also have this included in my recipe notes at the bottom of the recipe.
When you place the shaped pretzels into the baking soda bath, this causes the dough to puff slightly. This is what will help to create the chewy exterior that we associate with soft pretzels. Baking soda is an alkaline which will cause a browning reaction in the oven, creating perfectly browned pretzels. The baking soda bath also gives the soft pretzels their distinct flavor. Don't skip this step!
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📋 Recipe
Homemade Soft Pretzels
Ingredients
Pretzel dough
- 2 ¼ teaspoon active dry yeast 1 standard packet
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 tbs unsalted butter melted
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups all-purpose flour + up to ¾ cup more if needed
Baking Soda Bath
- 2 cups water
- 2 tbs baking soda
Topping
- 1 tbs coarse salt for sprinkling on top
- 6 tbs salted butter melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 475°F and line a large baking sheet or two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Combine yeast with warm water and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with hook attachment. Once mixture becomes "frothy" your yeast is ready. Stir in salt and 1 tbs of melted butter.
- Add flour 1 cup at a time and knead on lowest setting until a dough forms and is no longer very sticky. You may need more or less depending on temperature differences. If you press your finger into the dough and it bounces back, it's ready to knead. Knead dough for 5 minutes or until smooth and pliable.
- Form dough into a ball by hand. Lightly grease the bowl used previously and place the dough back in to rest for 15 minutes. Cover with a damp towel.
- In a medium sized pot, boil 2 cups of water with 2 tbs of baking soda. Once the baking soda is mostly dissolved, take mixture off heat and pour into a shallow dish.
- After 15 minutes, take dough out of the bowl and flatten slightly with the palm of your hand. Cut dough into 8 sections (like a pizza). Roll each triangle into a long rope, about 19-20 inches long. Shape dough into pretzel shape and place in baking soda bath for 2 minutes. If the whole pretzel isn't covered by the water, spoon it on top of the areas is doesn't reach. Once the 2 minutes is up, carefully pick pretzel up either by your hand or with the help of a fork or spatula and place on prepared baking sheet. You may have to re-shape slightly.
- Sprinkle the pretzels with coarse salt while still wet. Repeat these steps until all 8 pretzels are prepared and on the baking sheets.
- Bake pretzels for 8-9 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately from the oven, brush (heavily) with 6 tbs of melted butter.
- These homemade soft pretzels are best served hot and fresh out of the oven but will keep for about 2 days stored at room temperature in an airtight container. Pop them in the microwave and they're good as new!
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Prepared dough can be made one day in advance. Shape the pretzels and allow them to rest for 10 minutes before popping them into the oven. Prepared dough can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw frozen dough overnight in the refrigerator.
- Freezing Instructions: Freeze baked and cooled pretzels for up to 3 months. To reheat, bake (frozen) at 375 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until center is warmed through. You can also microwave for a few minutes until heated through.
- Pretzel Bites: When rolling dough into a long rope in step 4, instead of shaping pieces into a large pretzel, cut the dough into 1-2 inch pieces. Follow the rest of the recipe instructions.
Nutrition
The provided nutritional information is an estimate per serving. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tracie Gauthier says
This is an easy fantastic recipe!!!!! I have tried to make pretzel's before and they were very dense and dry, this recipe is the bomb!!!!!!! Taste like the pretzel's you get at mall!!! What is the purpose of soaking them in the warm baking soda water for 2 min before baking???? They stuck to the was paper out of the oven should I have sprayed with cooking spray first????? Thanks for sharing this yummy recipe!!!
Jessica says
Hey Tracie, I'm so happy you loved these pretzels!! 🙂 Soaking them in the warm backing soda bath gives the pretzels that nice golden brown chewy crust on the outside. As for the sticking, was that a typo and you meant to type wax? If so, you never, ever want to use wax paper in the oven. That is the reason they stuck. Use parchment paper instead - no need to grease it, they will just pop off. Hope this helped!
Cynthia Steberl says
I made these today and they were super easy to make and delicious!
Stephanie says
I just made these and they are AMAZING!!! I added cinnamon and sugar to half...4 out of 4 kids loved them!!!! We frequent our local soft pretzel place weekly and these are better, HANDS DOWN!!!!! Making them with Beer Cheese for an adult get together this weekend. Thank You
Beth says
I am so gonna make these, wonder how cinnamon / sugar would be instead of salt? Can't wait to try this recipe!!
Jessica says
Delicious!! If you scroll through the comments you'll see many readers have made them this way also and they raved about them!
Kyra Dorey says
Hi I would love to make these today, however I don't have a stand mixer with hook attachment all I have is a small handheld electric mixer. Would that work or even just a fork to beat it
Thanks
Leanne says
I literally just made these and have scoffed two already! I am so shocked at how well they have turned out!! Like, I made these and they're better than any I've ever had! Thank you so much for the recipe!
Jessica says
That's amazing! Thanks so much for reporting back, Leanne! <3
Donna says
Awesomeness.....thank you....I made these for my Grandchildren...they loved it...easy to follow recipe...on point ....we made cinnamon sugar ...dipped our warm pretzels in butter then the mixture..thanks for sharing got it from Pinterest !
Gracey says
I tried this recipe and it turned out amazing!!! Whenever i have the craving for a pretzel i can just pull one out of the frezer and heat it up!! The pretzels are both delicious right out of the oven or reheated!!! I will definatly be using this recipe in the future!!❤️
Tina says
Hi! My kids eat a soft pretzel every night before bed. Have you tried making a batch and freezing them? Thanks!!!
Jessica says
I have not tried freezing them, but I did a little research for you and it looks like the best method to do this is to bake them the full amount of time, cool completely and freeze. I would place them all separated on a parchment-lined baking sheet first and allow them to freeze completely individually before sticking them in a freezer bag so they don't stick together. Thaw them and reheat in the oven at 400 degrees. Let me now if you try it out!
Katie says
HI,
I just made these today for my grand kids after school snack. I have to say, I have made pretzels before and I have put them in the boiling soda water for about 30 sec so was concerned that these were a little different. Well let me tell you, THIS is the way I'm doing them now! Ok I have to be honest, I have a terrible head cold so I can't taste or smell... but my husband can't stay out of them. I'm like "how do they smell?" well he just couldn't say enough. Getting a little cheese wiz for the kids to dip. Can't wait until I can taste them too!
Jessica says
Haha!! Love this. They ARE totally addicting!