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
Easy and delicious!! I braided them!! If you’re not doing the baking soda bath you might as well make bread, it’s what makes a pretzel taste like a pretzel.
Made these and braided them for Shabbat ! They came out perfect and delicious; it’s now my go-to every week
Yes! These are the real deal. I worked at Auntie Anne’s after high school for 8 months and flavor wise, it’s spot on. I dipped in them in butter and sat on wire rack to mimic the AA method. And one tray I did the cinnamon sugar variety. I used brown sugar and cinnamon.. (that’s what we used back then). Perfection. Thanks for developing this recipe!
Wow!! I tried these today. They were soooo good. Thankfully I had lots of help eating them. Otherwise, I would have eaten them all. Love this site. Never have had a recipe not turn out great.
Thanks so much!
Hi, do you have a recipe for a caramel pretzel or a suggestion on how to make these into caramel swirl pretzel
Hi Melanie, We haven’t tried incorporating caramel into the pretzel dough, but you could certainly pair the baked pretzels (perhaps using the cinnamon sugar topping from the recipe notes) with our homemade salted caramel as a dipping sauce. Let us know if you give anything a try!
One of my favorite recipes!!! Comes out perfect every time. I use it to make pretzel wrapped hot dogs. You just have to increase the cook time.
These pretzels are so good much better than my last recipe
Can these be made with whole wheat pastry flour instead of white flour?
Hi Leslie, We’ve actually never tested it! Regular whole wheat flour will produce dense pretzels but pastry flour is lighter so it may be worth trying. Let us know how it goes!
I’m making these for the second time today, they are so good!! I want to eat them ALL! I will share though. Lol
fabulous easy to follow recipe, no waiting around for the dough to rise. First time making pretzels and the results were amazing. Thank you!
Thank you very much! My son and I just made these pretzels for Mother’s Day. They are so soft and delicious!
This recipe has become a family favourite!
Thank you for sharing.
These are easy to make and taste amazing. My teenager ate just about the whole batch before they could cool. I’m marking my second batch for a get together as I type this.
I made these with my Granddaughter, they were so easy and fun to make and delicious as well!
These pretzels were delicious! Super soft!
I made both the pretzels and the rolls last night, AMAZING!! My intention was just to make the rolls for hamburger buns but when I had made enough rolls I used my excess dough to make 3 pretzels. The pretzels were perfect the rolls I feel like I needed to knead more because they were split and cracked when I pulled them out. My question is why do I let the dough sit and expand for an hour with the rolls but it doesn’t say to do that in the normal pretzel recipe? I had let the dough sit for an hour and I loved the way the pretzels turned out but now I’m afraid to not let it set that long because of how well they turned out but if I could be eating pretzels an hour sooner that you work too. Thank you so much for this recipe it was easy and delicious!
Hi Jimmy! These pretzel rolls are much fluffier than traditional soft pretzels. If you prefer your pretzels to be fluffy like these rolls you can certainly play around with letting the dough rise more. We’re so glad you love these!
This is my GO TO recipe forever now!! I’ve made these so many times and they taste so much better and are easier to make than any boxed pretzels I’ve tried to bake before! These are so DELISH, so EASY & THE BEST!
Hi Sally! I’ve made these pretzels two times now and they’ve come out completely different! The first time, I used did the recipe exactly as it said. When I did the baking soda bath, they began to fall apart so I only did that for about half. They didn’t spread much in the oven nor did they turn brown, but they were still pretty good. The ones in the baking soda bath got much browner and tasted more like normal soft pretzels.
This time I still did the exact recipe except I skipped the baking soda bath and did an egg wash instead. They did brown a bit and got huge. They’re super fluffy and soft and are kinda like rolls. I think I’ve figured out they’re gonna come out different every time!
Rainy Sunday afternoon, craving a salty snack… Found this recipe and very pleased. Half the pretzels are already gone. Thanks for the recipe!
Thank you so much Sally for this delicious and easy recipe. Turned out amazing with the cinnamon sugar. Instead of butter to make the sugar stick, I used cooking spray. Turned out golden brown and tasted delicious. Pretzels were gone by the end of the week!
These are the best pretzels I’ve ever tasted. I made mine a bit too big and only had 6, so I just put some foil over them at the end of the first 15 minutes then let them cook for about an extra 5. They turned out wonderful!
Hey, I tried it and they were delicious!! I had a cup of discard and decided to give it a whirl. I use 50:50 flour to water, so I figured my discard was roughly half a cup of water and half a cup of flour. I followed your recipe, but only used 1 cup of water for the yeast, then added 3 cups of flour and went VERY slowly with the remaining flour until I reached the right consistency.
The texture came out so good we have left in the boiling baking soda water before. Keeping it to 20 seconds was great.
We sprayed non-stick spray on parchment paper and it was easy to take off.
We put melted butter on them right after we take out of oven.
If we let proof for hours is that bad? They were a little hard to roll and shape (but taste good). Could the extra proof be why?
Hi Shannon, We are so happy you enjoyed these pretzels! This is a special dough that doesn’t require a long rise if making pretzels. Most of the rising is in the baking process. If you let the dough rise for a long time they will be difficult to shape and the pretzels would considerably puff up in the oven, losing most of their shape.
I’ve been using this recipe a few times and I love it! Way easier than lots of others, and they come out so good! I made them with a batch of buffalo cheese dipping sauce and it was amazing.
I just made the pretzels and I was silly enough to cut the quantities in half not knowing how they would turn out! They are amaaazing and my family were like “are there only 6??”! I will definitely make them again and again. Oh and by the way I also tried you bagel recipe and they were also fantastic!
Hey this is a great, fast recipe to make for the whole family! Do you think it would turn out ok if I buttered it at the end and added cinnamon and sugar?
Absolutely! See recipe notes for more details on a cinnamon sugar version.
Update-
I tried out the cinnamon sugar version and it turned out amazing!
Hey Sally,
Had used 1.5 cups of warm water but it seemed quite alot more than 360ml. My dough became really sticky and was quite difficult to manage despite adding more flour. Also, the yeast seemed to work its way through by the time i put them in the soda bath after shaping, which caused the shape to become distorted. Any to advice what went wrong?
Hi Ruth, If you were using more than 360 ml of water then that could be why your dough was too sticky. This is a special dough that doesn’t require a long rise if making pretzels. Most of the rising is in the baking process. I wonder if you let the dough rise for a long time? If so, the pretzels would considerably puff up in the oven, losing most of their shape.
Hi Stephanie,
I think I must have left it out for about 30mins since i was taking some time to shape the remaining. Thanks for advice, will try it again!
These were so incredibly amazing and delicious!!!! I had to add more flour to make it feel right, maybe another 2-3 tablespoons on top of the recipes max but am in NZ so maybe the flour types etc are different? But so incredibly amazing, definitely do the baking soda boil!
I am 9 and I (my mom helped just a bit) made these and they were really good to eat.
Your recipes never fail me! If I search and your blog comes up, I always choose it.
I’m currently nursing a 2 week old around the clock and needed a new midnight snack to keep me motivated for those wake ups! (my veggies and dip were getting boring.) These pretzels were perfect. A warm pretzel to munch on while I wait for baby to fall back asleep is literally the highlight of my night.
Thanks for another great (and easy) recipe!