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
Delicious!
I just made these and WOW!
Super soft and yet chewy and crispy, so so good.
The dough was surprisingly so easy to make and really lovely to work with. I just added sesame seeds and everything bagel seasoning to some and they were fantastic. Also brushed some butter after they were done baking to make them extra lovely.
I made this recipe and my family gobbled half of them up in the first hour of their existence! we gave the other half to our friends, but we didn’t have any more, so, I made them again!
I cut most of them into pretzel-bites, with turned out AMAZING!
thanks soooo much for posting this recipe!
ps: also loved Grandma’s Irish soda bread!
Absolutely delicious! I can’t believe these take less than an hour yet they’re so good! It was a great activity for (impatient) kids. I didn’t have the special salt for the top. Hopefully the reduced salt will offset the carbs?! Ha ha I’ll be making this again and again. Such a great recipe. Thank you, Sally!
Hi Sally,
I made these tonight around 9PM lol and they came out amazing!! So chewy and soft. I was nervous about the baking soda + warm water bath as I didn’t want to have it come out tasting metallic and I left the pretzels in for 25 seconds. I can’t wait to try making the cheesy pretzel twists as well as the pretzel bites. Yummmy! Thank you so much.
Hi Sally,
I love your website and I use it as an inspiration for all of my bakes.
This morning i decided to give the pretzels a go and unfortunately they didn’t turn out great.. They looked and tasted fantastic, all golden brown and just the right amount salty, however they were very dense and doughy inside.. I didn’t change anything in the recipe and I wonder what I might have done wrong ??
Many Thanks,
V
Hi Viola, If they were doughy inside they were likely underbaked. An easy fix for next time is to keep them in the oven a few minutes longer.
Delicious. A couple of tweaks to consider:
— I used 1 cup whole wheat flour to make it a bit healthier. Still delicious.
— I didn’t have the patience to roll out each “rope”. So I rolled out the dough with a rolling pin to be 18″ by whatever so that it was about 1cm thick. Then cut 1cm wide strips. Much faster, in my experience.
— The ½ cup of baking soda sounded really generous to me — and I didn’t have that much. So I cut it in half.
Super easy to make and delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
Love these pretzels! All your tips and pictured helped a novice like me jump in to make my first pretzels and they won’t be my last!
Is it possible to double this recipe? I’ve made them a few times now and 12 just isn’t enough for my family!
Absolutely! Simply double all of the ingredients. I would let the dough rest for closer to 20-25 minutes in step 2 since there’s more volume.
Great soft pretzel recipe!! My husband and I tried the recipe, and were thrilled. So easy snd so delicious! We did the baking soda/ water bath…easy, would not skip this step. Thanks for another fun and delicious recipe!
I have made these pretzels many times. I freeze them and warm them. I’ve also put them in the fridge after boiling and it worked great. I add a tablespoon more of butter and like half a tablespoon more of brown sugar. Boiling the pretzels is a must I have a picture I can’t post of what they look like unboiled it’s night and day.
Amazing recipe! If I was to use bread flour instead of all purpose, could i still leave it to rest for 10 mins or should I proof it longer?
Hi Julia, You can definitely use bread flour instead of all-purpose flour in this pretzel recipe. Same amount with no other changes to the recipe. Bread flour yields even chewier pretzels.
Hello, I’ve purchased your book with this recipe in but the butter isn’t In the ingredients. Could you tell me which is more up to date? Thanks.
Hi Kay! The butter just adds a bit more flavor. Both versions are delicious!
Hi! I’m having difficulty understanding how to shape these pretzels. The text description is a little light on details and the video tutorial is just a visual demo with no verbal description at all. As a blind baker all I’m getting out of it is some fun music. Any suggestions on how to get the ropes uniform size/thickness, or how to shape these so they keep together? Thank you!
Hi Sarah, thank you so much for bringing this to my attention. We are actually currently reshooting this video. I added more helpful notes to the written recipe that should help explain the shaping step a little better as well. In the meantime, here is a really helpful video I found with a voiceover. It’s a little different from how I shape them, but the end result is the same.
Super easy and delicious!
Just made pretzel bites with my 10 year old–success! Highly recommend this recipe for baking with a child (except I did the boiling).
My kids wanted soft pretzels tonight so I wiped these up so quickly. It’s the second time I’ve used this recipe and each time the pretzels have been fantastic. This time I made a second batch with the butter, cinnamon and sugar topping. So absolutely awesome tasting and easy too!
Turned out delicious. Made them again the second day, but this time, I wrapped them around hot dogs instead of forming the pretzel shape. Boiled them that way and baked normally. They turned out so GOOD!
I made these pretzels and the whole family loved them! The recipe was very easy to follow. I left the dough to rise for about an hour (because I live in the tropics) and it was lovely. Thank you!
These were so good and easy! Can you add cinnamon/sugar instead of salt after you paint the egg on?
Absolutely! See recipe notes for more details on a cinnamon sugar version.
I’ve made this a bunch of times in the last few weeks and the results are always perfect! I’m just wondering, if I double the recipe, do I double the water and baking soda amounts as well?
Hi Abi, glad to hear you’re enjoying these soft pretzels! No need to double the baking soda bath if making a double batch.
Hi there! I was wondering if you know whether you can make these with whole wheat flour (or a mix of standard and whole wheat)? Thank you!
Hi Karen, 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!
Loved that they didn’t take that long from start to finish!! And tasted great, thank you for sharing 🙂
OMG!!!!!!!!!! So good!
Great I made these by myself and they were great my familly loved them —— Isaac
These were SOOO good! Very simple and they didn’t take much time at all. They were gone as soon as they came out of the oven! 100% recommend!
Great recipe! Followed right along with the instructions and they turned out lovely! I brushed mine with a little butter auntie Anne’s style and they’re great!
These were amazing!!! I made the beer cheese too, minus the beer ( I followed the nacho cheese recipe but used the beer cheese seasoning). My only negative is that you need to eat them fresh. I let them cool completely and put them in a zip top bag and they were not nearly as good the next day. However, I doubt you’ll have many left anyway!
Quick, delicious, and fun to make with the kiddos. Thanks so much for a great recipe!
Made these with my daughter. Easy and delicious! We’ve made pretzels before but this is by far the best recipe!