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
This is the first time making your soft pretzels recipe. I’m so excited … they didn’t take me all morning to make as in my usual recipe. I can’t wait until they come out of the oven. Soft pretzels are my husband’s favorite and I was happy to read I can freeze them before salting them. Now he’ll have them for the rest of the week!
Amazing! Soft on the inside with a nice crust on the outside. Followed the recipe to the letter initially but needed to add quite a bit more flour to make it less tacky. Would recommend this to anyone!
Hello! Love all your recipes. Would these be OK on a bake sale table or they need to be be served hot out of the oven? Thanks!
Hi Marilena, these pretzels really are best served warm and right away!
This recipe is winner !
I have the pickiest grand kids when it comes to eating.. But they ate these pretzels like there was no tomorrow!
Thumbs up ! Recipe is going into my favorite list !
Thank you for sharing this recipe. These were delicious and easy to make, a definite hit in my household 🙂 I am looking forward to trying the bun version of these soon!
This recipe is so bad I couldn’t even get to the boiling portion. First of all, the dough needs an exact number, not all this guess work. My dough was soft after hand kneading, then dried out on the top super fast. You need much more than a 1/3 cup of dough to get the big plump looking pretzels you see in the pictures. When I rolled out my pretzels, they were thin and frail. The dough was too sticky while rolling, so I would add a little flour while rolling, then the roll was too tough to roll. I threw it all in the trash and saved myself any more trouble. Just an all around terrible recipe.
Hi Savannah, I’m so sorry you had trouble with this recipe. When you say the dough needs an exact number, what do you mean? Do you mean exact measurements for size or ingredients? Both are present in the recipe, so please let me know if there is something else missing. I wonder if the dough was over-worked and therefore the pretzels didn’t puff up enough during the baking soda boil? They are thin before you boil them, and then they should get quite puffy in the boil stage.
Made these for a gathering and they were a huge hit! Easy to follow directions and great, soft, tasty pretzels! Thank you:)
Hi There,
Can I make the pretzel dough the night before and leave in the fridge.
Hi Claudia, see recipe notes for overnight instructions: “The prepared pretzel dough can be covered and refrigerated for up to one day.”
My 12 year old daughter was in the mood for pretzels. Found recipe, had ingredients, she did everything. They turned out amazing. I thought they were flavorful for plain salted. Definitely going to try other topping seasoning next time.
Absolutely epic recipe! I loved it! Look forward to making more!!!
Holy moly! This was an outstanding recipe. My whole family was very impressed by how good these pretzels were. Definitely making these more!
I made them into nuggets and was told they were the best soft pretzels they had ever had! Was told I need to make them on a monthly basis! Thank you.
Hi Brad, see the recipe notes for make ahead and freezing instructions!
I saw the notes – I’m wondering if you have tried to freeze the pretzels unbaked after shaping?
If you want to freeze the shaped, unbaked pretzels, we find it’s best to do the baking soda bath right before baking– even drop them into the bath while frozen.
This recipe is amazing and I love the taste of the pretzels, I made my own vanilla sugar and turned the recipe into pretzel bits instead and amazing!
The only thing I’m struggling with it the next day, they gone wrinkly and quite heavy in texture no batter how we try and store them- we let them completley cool before boxing them with an air tight lid, even used a ziplock bag. Any tips on what it could be?
Kids love these I’ve made them dozens of times now! Wondering if I can make these into hard pretzels rods and if so how long is the bake time?
Hi Gabby! I’m sure you could turn this dough into hard pretzels. I have not personally tested it, so I can’t give proper advice based on experience. However, this is a recipe I can recommend from a reliable source! The dough is pretty similar.
Was concerned they would not taste good but they’re so delicious! Came out exactly as they should!
I tried making these for the 1st time and unfortunately the bottoms got too dark. Next try I am turning the oven to 380° and see if that helps. I dont know what else I did wrong but they dont taste pretzelly enough either. They were more breadish and I used the baking soda bath. Any idea what I did wrong?
Hi Lilley, can I ask what kind of baking sheet you are using? Is it a dark pan or a light silver metal? That can make a difference to the bottoms of baked goods and how brown they get. I recommend using a light-colored (silver) baking sheet, if possible, if you are having trouble with baked goods getting too brown on the bottom.
LOOOOVE making these!! So easy and quick! Makes so many in one batch.
My only issue, is that I find they don’t have much of a pretzel taste. I don’t know what it is thats making them lack so much flavour!
i’m not sure I have a pot big enough. would this work in a smaller pot if I keep the same ratio of water to baking soda?
Hi Ian, that should be fine, just be careful not to over-fill the pot. You don’t want the baking soda mixture to bubble over.
I make these pretzels every Super Bowl. We serve them with a choice of Mustard, Pesto, Hot Cheese Sauce, or a spicy aioli of garlic, Chipotle Adobo chilis, sour cream and mayo.
I wanted to love this…but the texture was just off. I followed recipe instead of 40 years of experience and it just wasn’t good. I think I’ll stick with pretzel recipes that have worked in that past. Disappointed as everything else I’ve had from SBA is excellent!
Sounds a little complicated but it’s not and so worth it.
Perfect recipe! Made these for a pre game superbowl party tonight! Go Birds!
This is the best pretzels I ever tasted!
I am 9 years old when I made them for my first time!
Everything is good about it!
Sally’s Baking is the best ever
Allways following
Sharing it to friends
Hi! I love the recipe! Could I add cheese to the mix for cheese pretzels?
Hi Aisha, we recommend adding cheese on top of the pretzels near the end of baking, and letting the oven melt it on top, like we do for these jalapeno cheddar pretzels. Or you can try serving these pretzels with a cheese dip like this spicy nacho cheese sauce. We also have this beer cheese dip that is wonderful with soft pretzels. We hope you enjoy them!
I loved the recipe, I’ve made it so much but the only thing I’ve noticed is you have to do the baking down to the T. It’s very specific or it flops, I have learnt the hard way
I want to try this recipe! Just a quick question, can I make it with whole wheat flour instead? Thank you!
Hi Cecilia, we wouldn’t swap for all whole wheat flour. You could try swapping half of the flour for whole wheat flour, but the pretzels still may taste a bit heavy and dense.
Perfect as is—I wouldn’t change a thing about the recipe! They were so easy and fun to make.
Instead of boiling can I do baking soda dip, dry, then egg wash? Would I still not need to proof if Im not boiling?
Hi Bridget, we recommend following the recipe as written for best results, but let us know if you try that alternate method.
If I double the dough recipe do I also need to double the baking soda bath? This recipe seems promising so far! I will update when they’re finished.
Hi Taylor, there is plenty of water in the baking soda bath. You won’t need to double it or use a larger pot if you’re making extra pretzels.