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My Homemade Soft Pretzels recipe is an easy and delicious way to enjoy soft pretzels right at home! These make wonderful snacks and are perfect for any get-together, including big game days. Save this recipe to Pinterest now so you can make them whenever you want them!
Years ago, Kevin had a craving for soft pretzels. He was so intent on having those billowy, soft morsels that he decided to make a special trip to the grocery store to find some. He came home empty-handed. Since the store was out of soft pretzels, so he proceeded to eat other things to satisfy his cravings, which everyone knows won’t work. And that’s how this Homemade Soft Pretzels recipe was created.
How the recipe came to be
I decided I would try to make Soft Pretzels instead so the next time Kevin acquired a craving, there would be no special trips required. And better yet, no disappointments if the store was out. This little, soft pretzels recipe is not only perfect to satisfy my husband’s cravings, but this also makes an abundance of the bite-sized pretzels too.
For years now, we have been making this Homemade Soft Pretzels recipe – whether in pretzel form or bite form – and enjoying them on lazy, weekend days. The Homemade Soft Pretzels recipe has become perfect for football season games and parties, the holidays, New Year’s or any other gathering where you’re serving a crowd. Or anytime we had a craving.
Ingredients for the Homemade Soft Pretzels recipe
Making soft pretzels may seem intimidating. However, it’s not as difficult as it seems. It requires just a few ingredients and most of them, you. probably have at home right now.
The main ingredients are flour, water, butter, salt and a bit of sugar. The one thing that you might not have at home is yeast. I don’t use yeast a lot in baking recipes but this one calls for one package of yeast. I use Flleischmann’s Active Dry Yeast. You can buy it in package form and you can buy it in jars. To make it simple for the Homemade Soft Pretzels recipe, I suggest buying it in the packets.
Baked fresh
Like most baked goods you want to make these and eat them the same day. They are best when warm and freshly baked. Even eating these a few hours later will not be the best if you leave them sitting out.
If you’re not going to eat them all fairly soon after making then let them cool completely and wrap them individually in plastic wrap. You can keep them at room temperature for about 24 hours and you can freeze them for several weeks. To reheat them, remove the plastic wrap and put them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes. If they’re frozen, it can take about 10 minutes.
Also, like most baked goods, this recipe is easiest if you have a free-standing mixer. If you follow me on Instagram at my account under my name @rachelquenzer (You can find the farmhouse IG account HERE.) then you know that I generally don’t break out my free-standing mixer and tend to use the hand mixer a lot. I do this because:
- The free-standing is heavy as can be.
- It’s a pain to get out because it’s so heavy.
- No. 1 and No.2 make me lazy.
However, that’s the way I make these. I use the red Kitchenaid Mixer {HERE} that I bought during prime days. I also love this blue steel color {HERE} if you’re more of a neutral person and of course, this white one {HERE}.
Tips for making my Homemade Soft Pretzels Recipe
- The baking soda and water bath is vital. Dipping them in the alkaline water before baking them kind of gelatinizes the outside of the pretzel and keeps it from exploding in size in the oven while baking. This also helps to form that pretzel crust and gives them their unique pretzel flavor. This is essentially the step that makes them pretzels and not bread in the shape of pretzels.
- Chunky coarse sea salt is the best for topping these and don’t forget the egg wash step to give the pretzels that nice color.
- These will stay fresh for about a day on the counter. Once they have cooled, lightly wrap them and then leave them in a cool, dry place out of the sun. Just make sure they have completely cooled so you don’t get condensation build up.
- To reheat the homemade soft pretzels you can put them in the microwave for a few seconds or put them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 7-10 minutes.
- You can also freeze these just like any other bread for about one month. To reheat, brush or spritz a little water on them, wrap them lightly in a piece of foil paper (individually) and put them in the oven at 325 for about 7-10 minutes.
Looking for more snacks and appetizers?
If you love a good snack or appetizer, try these recipes too:
- Jalapeño Popper Dip {HERE}
- Baked Stuffed Artichokes {HERE}
- Garden Herb Cream Cheese Spread {HERE}
- Loaded Guacamole {HERE}
- Chimichurri Shrimp Skewers {HERE}
- Spinach Artichoke Dip {HERE}
- French Onion Roast Beef Sliders {HERE}
- Buffalo Chicken Dip {HERE}
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Thank you so much for following along today, friends! I hope your family loves Homemade Soft Pretzel recipe. You can find the full printable recipe below. I hope to see you here again at the farm soon!
Homemade Soft Pretzel recipe
This Homemade Soft Pretzel recipe is delicious, billowy and easier to make than you think!
5 from 21 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: American
Keyword: appetizer, appetizer recipe, soft pretzels, soft pretzels recipe
Prep Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Servings: 10
Author: Rachel
Equipment
Stand mixer
Ingredients
Pretzel Ingredients
- 4.5 cups flour
- 1.5 cups warm water
- 1 Tbsp. sugar
- 2.5 tsp. Kosher salt
- 1 package dry active yeast
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
Additional Ingredients
- Spray cooking oil (vegetable or olive oil)
- 10 cups of water
- 2/3 cup baking soda
- 1 large egg
- 3 Tbsp. water
- Additional Kosher salt or pretzel salt for topping pretzel salt.
Instructions
To make the pretzel dough, combine 1 ½ cups water, sugar and salt in the mixing bowl and then sprinkle the yeast on top
Allow this to stand for five minutes to allow the yeast to consume the sugar and begin to foam.
Add butter and flour and let the mixer mix on low speed until everything is well combined.
Once combined, increase the speed to medium for 5 minutes. The dough will begin to ball and no longer stick to the sides of the bowl.
Remove dough, wipe the bowl and then use your 1 Tbsp. of vegetable oil to wipe down the inside of the bowl.
Put the dough back in the bowl and tightly cover it with plastic wrap. Sit it on a window sill or in another warm spot for at least 1 hour.
Once the hour is up preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Line the baking sheets with the parchment paper and spray them with the cooking oil or wipe down with your choice of oil. You want to make sure that they are well oiled, so your pretzels don’t stick.
Boil 10 cups of water and baking soda. While that begins to boil, remove the dough from the mixing bowl and begin to roll it out with your hands.
Once it’s rolled, break off about 2-inch pieces and roll them into a ball if you want to make pretzel bites. Add these to your parchment paper.
If you want to make a more normal pretzel shape then cut about a 4 inch strip of dough and continue to roll between your hands until it's large enough to make the pretzels.
After you have all the soft pretzels laid out, mix together egg yolk and 3 Tbsp. of water. Set near your boiling water.
Use a slotted spoon to lower the dough into the boiling water and baking soda. Let them boil in there for 30 seconds. They will start to float when you should take them out. Do these in batch if you need to. I did mine in two or three batches at a time.
Add them back to parchment paper and brush with the egg wash. Then sprinkle with additional salt.
Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Keep in mind oven times will vary so you just want to make sure they are brown on the top before pulling them out, but don’t over bake.
Let cool for 5 minutes and then serve.
