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
- Perfect texture: These pretzels have that ideal balance of a soft center with a chewy exterior.
- Easy to follow recipe: The recipe breaks down each step, making it simple for beginners and seasoned bakers alike! This is also a great kid-friendly recipe!
- Topping combinations: There are so many ways to customize these pretzels from sweet to savory. Get creative with some of the variations I mention below!
- Great for any occasion: Perfect for an afternoon snack, party appetizer, or even a game-day treat.
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.
Jen says
I made these tonight, and they are absolutely delicious! And the directions are very easy to follow, thank you! I love the suggestions about cinnamon/sugar and garlic butter ... I may have to give them a try. I am curious about if I try to double the recipe, would you also double the water and baking soda or leave it the same as the original recipe? Thanks!
Jessica says
That's awesome to hear, Jen! Yes, you will need to double every ingredient.
Annie says
Dude these are so fun to make, the best part about making them was it didn't take forever. I Love it thank you so much hopefully one day soon I will have my own website and recipes just like you.
Jessica says
I look forward to reading it, Annie!
Sarah says
I literally just made these. They are on my stove right now and I already ate 2 and a half! They are sooooo good and sooo easy!! I am a novice baker. This is my second time working with yeast. I second and triple guess everything, read and then re-read instructions, and get things all confused in my head. I even looked up on YouTube how to shape pretzels. But I trusted my gut, and followed the recipe, and they are fantastic!!! I wish I could post a picture of them to share but you will just have to take my word for it. I made 3 cinnamon sugar ones. Sooo good!!! They took me an hour and a half, but I am very slow and kept checking my dough and pausing to read instructions. The most tedious part was figuring out how to roll them out and shape them. Thank you!!! I will be making these again for sure!!!!
Krissy says
My bf and I are going to make them right now!!!!
Azie says
Can I used instant yeast instead of dry yeast coz my country hardly to find.how to substitute the ingredients
Natasha says
Hi! A quick question regarding the step that involves mixing the flour into the dough-- is it supposed to be very flaky for a while before becoming one big ball (when using the mixer with the hook I mean)? I mixed mine in the mixer for about five minutes and it wouldn't make a ball. :/ thank you in advance!
Jessica says
That probably happened because you added too much flour. Next time try adding a little less and see if that works for you.
Johnnie says
This is the worst pretzel recipe! None of your directions make any sense! No dough rises in 15 mins! 5 mins to knead the dough *scoff* now my pretzel taste like shit and are tough! Thanks for nothing! You tube had better instructions and made it easy to understand and make a good pretzel. You should delete this its very misleading.
Jessica says
I'm sorry you feel that way! If you had read the instructions correctly, it says for the pretzel dough to *rest* for 15 minutes, not rise. There is no need for the dough to rise. As for the kneading, yes, once the dough comes together, you knead for five minutes UNLESS you are kneading by hand. The instructions for kneading are for using a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, I do not have instructions for making the recipe by hand. Also, before any recipe, especially one that uses yeast, you should always read the instructions one time fully before attempting so you have all the steps in order. Maybe you should have read the instructions more carefully or had someone read them for you because the instructions are pretty straight forward. Sorry you didn't enjoy the pretzels. Have a great night, Johnnie.
Johnnie says
Im sorry. You're correct. I was pretty fucking drunk when I attempted to make your pretzels. I could of been wasted but they ended up being amazing. I actually did make them by hand because I didnt have a dough hook. But, all was good!
Danielle says
You're a dick... even your apology was stupid. Idiot drunk. Pay no attention to these kind of people Jessica.. they are just another form of cancer in the world. So hateful, so ignorant, so pathetic. If it's not proven by the lack of grace in his comment then it is when the majority of people's comments are positive and he's the only loud mouth on there saying otherwise. Not to mention repeating partial steps completely wrong in the recipe. John, just go drink, it's what you're good at.. not baking. Buh bye.
Jeannette Shields says
Danielle, he apologized!!!!
Melissa Hudgins says
In the recipe it has 2 different melted butter ingredients but when i am to add the butter the recipe does not say which one to add.
Jessica says
I edited the recipe instructions to clarify when each butter addition is incorporated.
Brenda says
I just made these pretzels. They are awesome!
Jessica says
Thanks Brenda!
harmony says
Hi, I've used this recipe multiple times with great success. We are going to use it this weekend and I think we are going to shape them like Mickey heads and pumpkin shapes for our Halloween party. Anyway, the question I have is: how long can I let the dough sit before starting the soaking and baking process? They taste so good fresh out of the oven that I try to avoid reheating them. I'm hoping to start the dough at home, then take them to the party and bake them there. Is this possible?
Jessica says
Sorry about the late response, Harmony. That sounds adorable! I think you'd be fine preparing the pretzels at home, placing them on the pan. Then at the party I'd do the baking soda soak and bake there.