This is one of the easiest ways to prepare homemade soft pretzels and the results are extra delicious. The soft pretzel dough only needs to rest for 10 minutes before shaping. The quick baking soda boil gives the pretzels their traditional flavor. Make sure you watch the video for how to shape pretzels!
Homemade soft pretzels are nothing new around here because this recipe has been a reader favorite for years. This recipe is such a fan favorite, that it deserved a spot in print! You’ll also find this recipe in my cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101 (which has become a New York Times Best Seller!).
The dough requires just 6 ingredients and there’s hardly any rise time, so not only are these easy, they’re pretty quick too. In fact, I remember feeling pleasantly surprised at the ease and speed the first time I made them—it took us only 30 minutes to make 1 batch!
Over the years, I’ve added a smidge of melted butter to the dough for improved flavor. Furthermore, we’ve introduced the baking soda bath. While it sounds strange, this step is what gives pretzels that iconic flavor, chewy texture, helps deepen their golden color in the oven, and locks in the super soft interior. If you get the water boiling ahead of time, it really only adds 5 minutes to the entire process.
We’ve also made them soft pretzel bites, soft pretzel knots (with various toppings), jalapeño cheddar pretzels, and soft pretzel rolls from this simple dough. There’s no wrong way to shape a pretzel, but let’s stick with the classic today. I promise you’ll no longer feel intimidated working with yeast, shaping pretzels, or the baking soda bath.
Even if you have zero skill in the kitchen, you can make these homemade soft pretzels.
Step-by-Step Photos
Let’s chat about the dough. You need the simplest, most basic ingredients possible and I bet each one is in your kitchen right now. Warm water, 1 packet of yeast, brown or regular granulated sugar, melted butter, salt, and flour.
Mix the yeast and sugar in the warm water, let it sit for a minute, then whisk in the butter and salt, then add the flour. You can use a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment a big bowl and wooden spoon. Work with what you have in the kitchen. And if you need extra help with kneading, see my full How to Knead Dough video tutorial.
You don’t have to wait to let this dough rise for an extended period of time. Just 10 to 30 minutes does the trick. Don’t have a lot of time on your hands? This recipe is for you. If, however, you want to extend the rise time, you certainly could. Doughs that leave time for bulk fermentation (when the dough rises before shaping), typically have a more enhanced, developed flavor. In fact, some pretzel recipes require an overnight rise in the refrigerator. If you have the time for that, do it! However, I find a brief rise suitable for today’s pretzels, especially if I’m making them with younger bakers.
How to Shape Homemade Soft Pretzels
Now it’s time to shape.
Roll about 1/3 cup (75g) of dough into a long 20- to 22-inch rope.
Twist the ends and bring the ends down. That’s a pretzel!
Now drop the pretzels into the boiling water + baking soda. Let them boil for 20–30 seconds each, then place onto a baking sheet. This pretzel dough makes 12 regular-size soft pretzels, so I use 2 baking sheets. 6 on each.
Sprinkle with coarse salt and bake in a hot oven. That’s it, you’re done.
Make-Ahead Tip
If you are making pretzels in advance, do not top them with coarse salt before baking. The salt draws the moisture out of the pretzels, and once you’ve placed the baked and cooled pretzels in an airtight container or bag, it doesn’t take long before you’ll notice water droplets forming inside and the pretzels become soggy and wrinkled. Yuck!
If you won’t be serving the pretzels the same day you bake them, omit the salt-topping step. Bake as directed, then allow to cool completely before placing them in an airtight container, and store at room temperature. When you are ready to serve them, place the pretzels on a baking sheet and brush them lightly with water, then sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake them in a 350°F (177°C) oven for 5–10 minutes, or until warmed through.
Same goes for freezing homemade soft pretzels: wait to top with salt until you’re ready to serve them. Cool the unsalted baked pretzels completely, then freeze in an airtight freezer-safe container or zip-top bag for up to 3 months. To reheat, brush frozen pretzels (no need to thaw) with water and sprinkle with coarse salt, then bake at 350°F (177°C) for 20 minutes or until warmed through.
And if you want to kick your soft pretzel status into major high gear, add some spicy nacho cheese sauce.
Print
Easy Homemade Soft Pretzels
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 12 pretzels
- Category: Snacks
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This is one of the easiest ways to prepare homemade soft pretzels for beginners, and the results are extra delicious! The dough is a family recipe and only needs to rest for 10 to 30 minutes before shaping. The quick baking soda boil gives the pretzels their traditional flavor, and I do not recommend skipping it. This recipe is also in my New York Times best-selling cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/4 teaspoons (7g) instant or active dry yeast (1 standard packet)
- 1 Tablespoon brown sugar or granulated sugar
- 1 and 1/2 cups (360ml) warm water (around 100°F/38°C)
- 1 Tablespoon (14g) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 and 3/4–4 cups (469–500g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more as needed
- coarse salt, for topping
Baking Soda Bath (See Recipe Note)
- 1/2 cup (120g) baking soda
- 9 cups (2.13L) water
Instructions
- Whisk the yeast and sugar into warm water. Cover and allow to sit for 1 minute.
- Whisk in the melted butter and salt. Add 3 cups (375g) of flour. Mix with a wooden spoon (or dough hook attachment if using a stand mixer) until combined. Add 3/4 cup (94g) more flour until the dough is slightly tacky and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. If it is still sticky, add up to 1/4 cup more (31g) flour, 1 Tablespoon at a time, as needed. Poke the dough with your finger—if it bounces back, it is ready to knead.
- Knead the dough: Keep the dough in the mixer and beat for an additional 3 to 5 full minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 3 to 5 minutes. (If you’re new to bread-baking, my How to Knead Dough video tutorial can help here.) If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surface/in the bowl to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need because you do not want a dry dough. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. You can also do a “windowpane test” to see if your dough has been kneaded long enough: tear off a small (roughly golfball-size) piece of dough and gently stretch it out until it’s thin enough for light to pass through it. Hold it up to a window or light. Does light pass through the stretched dough without the dough tearing first? If so, your dough has been kneaded long enough and is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading until it passes the windowpane test.
- Shape the kneaded dough into a ball. Cover lightly with a towel and allow to rest for 10 to 30 minutes. (Meanwhile, I like to get the water + baking soda boiling as instructed in step 8.)
- Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Silicone baking mats are highly recommended over parchment paper. If using parchment paper, lightly spray with nonstick spray or grease with butter. Set aside.
- With a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut dough into 75g sections, which is about 1/3 cup of dough each.
- Roll the dough into a 20–22-inch rope. Form a circle with the dough by bringing the 2 ends together at the top of the circle. Twist the ends together. Bring the twisted ends back down towards yourself and press them down to form a pretzel shape.
- Bring baking soda and 9 cups of water to a boil in a large pot. Drop 1–2 pretzels into the boiling water for 20–30 seconds. Any longer than that and your pretzels will have a metallic taste. Using a slotted spatula, lift the pretzel out of the water and allow as much of the excess water to drip off. Place pretzel onto prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining pretzels. If desired, cover the boiled, unbaked pretzels with lightly oiled plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 24 hours before baking (step 9).
- Sprinkle the tops of the pretzels with coarse salt. Bake for 12–15 minutes or until dark golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and, if desired, serve warm with spicy nacho cheese sauce.
- Cover and store leftover pretzels at room temperature for up to 3 days. See Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions in recipe Notes below for more storage info. To reheat, microwave for a few seconds, or bake at 350°F (177°C) for 5 minutes.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: If planning to freeze fully baked pretzels, do not top them with coarse salt before baking. Cool completely, then freeze in an airtight freezer-safe container or zip-top bag for up to 3 months. To reheat, brush frozen pretzels (no need to thaw) with water and sprinkle with coarse salt, then bake at 350°F (177°C) for 20 minutes or until warmed through, or microwave frozen pretzels until warm. The prepared pretzel dough can be covered and refrigerated for up to one day or frozen in an airtight container for 2–3 months. Thaw frozen dough in the refrigerator overnight. Refrigerated dough can be shaped into pretzels while still cold, but allow some extra time, about 1 hour, for the pretzels to puff up at room temperature before continuing with the baking soda bath and baking. You can also freeze the boiled, unbaked pretzels and here’s how: after boiling the pretzels in step 8, place them on a lightly greased parchment paper- or silicone baking mat-lined baking sheet. Freeze the pretzels for about 1 hour, then transfer them to an airtight freezer-safe container or zip-top bag (squeeze out as much air as possible from the bag before sealing) and freeze for up to 3 months. To bake, brush frozen pretzels (no need to thaw) with water and sprinkle with coarse salt, then bake at 400°F (204°C) for 15–20 minutes or until dark golden brown.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Stand Mixer or Glass Mixing Bowl | Wooden Spoon | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Pizza Cutter | Large Pot (such as a Dutch oven)
- Baking Soda Bath (Step 8): The baking soda bath is strongly recommended because it helps create that chewy texture and distinctive pretzel flavor. If skipping, brush the shaped and unbaked pretzels with a mixture of 1 beaten egg + 1 Tablespoon of dairy or nondairy milk. This is known as an egg wash. Sprinkle the brushed pretzels with salt. The egg wash will help the salt stick. If you don’t have an egg, simply brush with 2 Tablespoons of dairy or nondairy milk.
- Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels: Skip the coarse salt topping (and skip the egg wash, see note above, if you aren’t doing the baking soda bath step). Bake as directed in step 9. Meanwhile, melt 4 Tablespoons (56g) of unsalted or salted butter. Brush the baked and warm pretzels with melted butter, then dip the tops into a mix of cinnamon and sugar. I usually use 3/4 cup (150g) of granulated sugar and 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Cinnamon-sugar pretzels taste best the day they’re made because the melted butter topping causes them to become soggy after a few hours.
- Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Followed the recipe exactly and these came out perfectly! The recipe was fun to make and my kids and husband devoured them!! So good!!!! Thank you for a great recipe!
So these look fan-tacular!!! Love your recipes and totally going to make these this weekend.
Can I freeze these after baked? I was also thinking this and your nacho cheese dip would be an enthused welcome at my daughter’s wedding as part of the late nite snacks. Thank you!
Excellent!! My kids love these pretzels. And I love that I can boil them all and then save half to bake fresh the next day. Great recipe !
I come from Bavaria, now over in the uk and can’t get any proper “Brezen” over here but your recipe comes very close, thank you so much… a taste of home xx
Excellent!! My kids love these pretzels. And I love that I can boil them all and then save half to bake fresh the next day. Great recipe !
Made these for a quick Saturday afternoon snack, they came out amazing!! I did tweak the recipe just a bit. I used a 1 for 1 Gluten Free Flour and they came out just like the soft pretzels I remember from Auntie Annie’s! I also discovered I was out of parchment so I brushed the baking sheet with melted butter, came out perfect!! We will definitely make this a go to snack in the weekends!
Great recipe! And it doesn’t taste like oil because it’s not fried!!
This recipe is awesome! I love how quick and easy it is to make pretzels. 🙂 My husband was SO impressed, especially since I’ve yet to make a successful loaf of bread! 😛 I made two batches and they just got better and better. Thank you for creating such a simple yet delicious recipe! I tried it for the first time and was it was super successful, and that never usually happens for me!!!
Love love love these! These have become our go-to snack for WFH or Virtual classes! we freeze them in twos and thaw and pop in toaster oven for a few minutes to reheat. we had a problem with the salt melting too but the kids like it as it coats the top- they don’t miss the individual crystals. Thank you for posting!
Great recipe. The pretzels came out perfect!
Followed the recipe exactly and they turned out great! No issues at all and tasted awesome.
Best pretzel recipe I have made by far! Super simple and the result are great. Super tasty and a beginner cook could definitely do this
Neglected to mention I used my SOURDOUGH starter mix to make these. Half of it I used to make a baguette as having cheese fondue tomorrow and the other half to make the pretzels. Create your SOURDOUGH dough the same as when making bread. When you get to the step to form the loaves, after the first rising, form the pretzels and go from there. Just cut out some of the dough to make the pretzels. Shape the pretzels, let rise some more, soda bath, egg wash, and bake.
I did let mine rise another hour and they did look much better. After the baking soda, egg wash, and cooking they came out GREAT. Because I did let them rise after they were formed the “rope” got larger in diameter and, pretty much, did not have the three “holes”. BUT they were awesome, good color, tasted right… . I will continue to let them rise as I think it made a better, “fluffer” pretzel. Will try using 1/2 cup of dough and make the “rope” longer to allow for more rising. Am going to have to get a larger grain of salt instead of Kosher salt. To me, good salt makes a good pretzel.
Hi, your recipe looks amazing so I wanted to make it tomorrow! I just wanted to ask, for the baking soda bath, should I take it off the stove then dip the pretzels or dip them while the stove is on and boiling?
Thank you for the great recipe!
Hi Ellen, dip them carefully while the stove is still on and boiling.
Extremely easy and very yummy. I’ve made these a few times now. I add a tablespoon of barley malt syrup to them for flavor as well. This time, I’m letting them rise a little just to see what that might do. I’ve made regular salt, everything (seasoning), cinnamon and sugar, parmesan and garlic and Asiago. They have all been fantastic. Thank you for this!
Can you use white whole wheat flour with this recipe?
Hi Kim, the pretzels may turn out more dense if using white whole wheat flour. Try replacing half the flour first to see how it goes. Hope you love them!
I did these twice the first time I left the dough in the fridge for two days they came good but hard to roll the dough the second time I did them after 10 min I followed the recipe and did them right away but I only used 3cups Flour and 1tablespoon from the 3/4 cup the 1rablespoon was to put on my counter We loved them amazing recipe thanks we’re can I post a picture of the result please
This is a wonderful recipe I absolutely love it! I made it 2 times once exactly the way the recipe instructs and then again today I made 8 larger pretzels instead of 12 and let the dough rise before baking it and they both turned out amazing. Golden brown crunch and fluffy at the same time salty and wonderful! Thank you for this great recipe
Best fresh out of the oven! Excellent and relatively easy recipe
This recipe is amazing. I made them once before and they were flawless, fluffy and perfect. The baking soda bath really made them puff and have that authentic crack to them. This time however, they didn’t crack though I’d account that for not having the heat up as high. Also strangely enough, I put about 6 in at the same time and one of them was just WHITE! Thoroughly baked and everything. Maybe I left it in the bath for too long? Either way flawless and easy recipe. It’s truly hard to mess up
This recipe was so simple and delicious!! We over worked the dough too much so it wasn’t as flexible when pulling into shape but still tasted perfect! Thanks!!
Good recipe, I jazzed it up with jalapeños in the dough.. however I used parchment paper and greased it and all the pretzels stuck to the paper and made it a disappointment. I managed to pull a couple apart and painted with melted butter. Was real close to Auntie Annes
Amazing! So easy to make and so delicious. The first time I made pretzels with a different recipe was a disaster. I tried again using this recipe and was so proud of how they came out! I’m curious why the pretzels don’t need to rise after shaping in this recipe?
Excellent recipe. Made these as a snack for us to have on new year’s eve, and we ended up eating them for dinner! We boiled them in the recommended baking soda/water mixture, and they came out with an awesome brown crust and soft, chewy centers. Served the salty ones with mustard, cheese sauce, and spicy nacho cheese sauce, and made 4 with cinnamon sugar for dessert. Super quick and delicious. This recipe is a keeper!
This recipe was so easy to follow and was a huge hit!! The pretzels came out awesome…and I got it all done in under an hour!! Probably should have left them in a touch longer to be a little more brown…but they were cooked through and crisp on the bottom. 10/10 will make these again!!
I made these with my granddaughter the other day. We had fun, and they are absolutely delicious! We did not skip the baking soda bath. This recipe is a keeper!
Amazing!
I bumped up the temp a little at the end to get the color I needed because every oven is different. But it came out perfect. I wish I could share photos here.
This is a great recipe!
This is my first time making pretzels. My first ones turned out a bit weird but I got the hang of it. I actually experimented a but with a cinnamon sugar version and it turned out really well! I shall definitely use this again 🙂
These are the best pretzels! I add 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar to give them a bit of a sweeter taste. I also made some salted and then some with cinnamon sugar on top (after they come out of the oven, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar)