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
Could this dough be made into pretzel buns?
Hi Sarah, We recommend our see our pretzel rolls for this. Enjoy!
I loved this recipe! The ingredients are simple and it is fun to make, especially with friends! The pretzels turned out amazing!
Sally has never disappointed. It’s my go-to for successful recipes and techniques, and for appealing normal Eats. And, the only food poster subscription I bother with.
Wow! Thanks for the recipe!! These turned out amazing! The bottoms were nice and crispy, the outsides were crisp and chewy and in the inside was soft. Easy recipe (very similar to my pizza dough recipe). I will never buy store bought pretzels ever again.
At first I was a little skeptical cause my dough turned out a little too sticky, but once I got them in the baking soda bath and popped them in the oven I could smell how good they were going to be. They tasted amazing. I made some cinnamon sugar ones along with the salt, and I forgot to butter my paper so the bottoms were literally glued down(although that’s my bad), however it didn’t stop me from cutting off the parchment and eating all of them! These are so good and the recipe is easy to follow, 10/10 recipe.
Baked these today. They turned out great and everybody loved them, inspite of my messing up the quantity of water. I think my kitchen scale was off….!!! Anyways I added a LOT more flour and will definitely make them again (with the correct measurements :-)) Hand’s up to all your recipes Sally. They are so well explained with great videos and pictures. Thanks so much for the hard work that goes into it.
These pretzels are ahhhmazing. My family devoured them. Thank you!
I haven’t made this yet and wonder how long would I bake them if I made them longer and thicker, like the laugenstangen we’d get in southern Germany (app. 7” x 2”)?
Hi Barb, we’re unsure of the exact bake time but let us know if you give it a try!
When refrigerating the boiled pretzels, at the time of baking do they go directly from cold to oven or need to remove from refrigerator in advance and let them come to room temprature?
Hi Vivianne! We would just let them sit at room temperature while the oven preheats.
I LOVED THIS RECIPE, I had Kinda messed up with the salt but they still came out so good omg
If I made this recipe into the small bites, how long would I bake them for?
Hi Cindy, we actually have a recipe just for pretzel bites here — enjoy!
Amazing recipe! We’ve made these twice and they came out amazing and perfectly chewy both times. Do you think this could be made into hamburger buns? And if so, have any cooking tips?
I cut the recipe in half because I don’t need so many pretzels hanging around tempting me. Wow, easy and delicious! Most other recipes call for a longer rise time for the dough (1 hour) so I wondered how your recipe would turn out with only a 10-minute rise. But they turned out great. Easy to mix with a whisk and a wooden spoon. I baked mine on parchment paper lightly greased with non-stick spray and had absolutely no problem with sticking. I also refrigerated half of the pretzels before baking to gauge the quality of make-ahead/bake later pretzels and they were just as good except don’t sprinkle with salt before refrigerating them as the salt melted, still tasty but I like the course salt look. With ingredients usually on hand in my pantry, I’m sure I will be making these quite often. Thanks!!
Perfect– thanks Sally
My wife loves soft pretzels and we had to go to the mall to get fresh ones I tried this recipe and it was great….
Hi Sally,
I have followed your recipes for couple of times, it always turn out a good result. Thank you for your sharing, and look forward to your new recipes. It would be awesome if add a healthy options on those.
Can this recipe be doubled?
Hi Victoria, for best results, we recommend making two separate batches rather than doubling.
Just made them tonight. They were amazing. Put some salt on some and some sesame seeds on some. Great flavor and easy. Thanks
GREAT recipe! Perfect directions, easy to follow! Came out yummy! This will be a favorite!
I had such a craving for soft pretzels I decided to try these. They were so easy and delicious! I did leave mine in for the full time requirement and they were perfectly browned both on top and bottom. I had both types of yeast so decided to use the fast type. Mine did require the 3/4 cup reserved flour which I had anticipated. Will definitely make again! Thank you!
Easy and delicious
This recipe was excellent. I wasn’t sure about the Baking soda and I do recommend using silicone. I had added vegetable seasoning and salt in top of mine. I will definitely make them again but do the sweet version.
I’d like to start by saying I’m not a baker, but I’ve been eyeing a few recipes on your site for a while now and I finally decided to jump in with both feet. I figured, of all the recipes I was considering, these pretzels seemed least likely to inspire brand new curse words.
I have to say, after wrestling with the dough for a while and thinking I was making a mistake, it finally came together. When all was said and done, I pulled a tray of pretzels out of the oven that looked exactly like the photos in this recipe (color and texture, not perfectly formed pretzel twists. Turns out I’m not a pretzel twister either lol). And the taste? Delicious! I was so happy they turned out so well.
Thank you for the recipe, and the clear, easy to follow instructions!
We’re so glad these pretzels were a success for you, Matt! Thanks for giving them a go and reporting back.
Im about to give this recipe a go after reading all the comments i am a failed pretzel maker about 15 times over I never get it right …..wish me luck!
Can the butter be left out?
Hi Kathi, We haven’t tested it, but you could try try melted coconut oil or other oil instead. The flavor will be different!
Love this recipe! First try tonight and they turned out great. Golden and chewy. My kids love them too!
I made these a couple days ago, and they were absolutely delicious! Soft pretzels are my biggest weakness, and my favorite thing in the world. The only way I could get a fairly good one (not frozen but fresh) was to drive about an hour and a half a way. I like the really big pretzels, and was so happy when these turned out perfectly. I made them about as big as my hand. I’ll definitely be making these again. What a treat!
I have made this recipe soooo many times now and it never fails. So nostalgic and delicious!
Amazing. They came out great and had a lovely color. I’ve tried other recipes in the past and this one is the best!
this was awesomee!! they taste sooo good and they are soo easy to make! I recomemd 🙂
I’ve used this recipe a few times and they alway turn out delicious , it would be better if the salt doesn’t melt the next day lol
Ive read that the reason the German pretzels are so good is that they add more gluten to them. Do these come out with the nice shine outside and chewy? Has anyone used more gluten so they’re more chewy and less “cakey”? thanks a ton.
Can these be frozen after baking if so for how long are good for?
Olivia, if you want my opinion on this as it’s not my recipe but I am a chef. Dont put salt on top of them until you want to eat them. Just melt a tiny bit of butter or use a paper towel with a dab on it n wipe the pretzels you want to eat n sprinkle with salt as you need them. I’m not positive but you could try doing the way you have been but store in between paper towel and that may help ? Just an idea. Also you can skip the salt n make yourself a dip with salt in it n dip away. Chocolate, mustard, or honey mustard mixed are also very good dips. You wont even notice the salt is missing on top. Hope this helped.
How do u make that spicy dipping sauce
Hi Donna, here is our spicy nacho cheese sauce recipe. Enjoy!
Wow, first try at making soft pretzels and they are great!
Will try this with grandchildren, and maybe GF flour.
Thanks
Hi Sally,
How much whole wheat flour could I substitute to make these a little healthier without ruining the consistency and/or taste?
Thank you
Hi Janet, The pretzels may turn out more dense if using whole wheat flour. Try replacing half the flour first to see how it goes. Hope you love them!
The pretzels were amazing! The only thing I dont understand is how to make the pretzels golden brown on top??
Brush on egg wash
To get mine to golden up I put it under the broiler for about 3 min i watch cuz on high they will burn fast …
Came out perfect
this was amazing
Just finished making a batch using fresh ground hard red what berries and they turned out perfectly soft and yummy, pretzel flavor with a browned top, despite already being red because of the berries used.
They are a little more dense, but next time will let the dough rise longer or do a 1/2 and 1/2 mixture with soft white wheat berries.
Thanks for recipie, never thought to ever bake my own pretzels!