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
My family kept coming back for more. The lip smacking sounds could be heard down the street. Excellent recipe. First time I made pretzels .
You need to remove the part about the bicarbonate bath being an option because that step made all the difference! I almost skipped it because I was a little intimidated and really didn’t think it was a big deal. I ended up doing it and I was SO glad I did. They were so awesome. I made 8 with that step and 4 just straight to the oven and they were just OK that way. It’s also important to highlight where it says don’t overwork the dough. Love this recipe. My kids were crazy about it too! Thank you!
Hi Sally, I’ve made pretzel for the first time and thanks to your recipe, it turned it fantastic! If I were to change anything, I’ll keep half cup of water set aside to see if the amount of water/flour needs adjusting. Thanks again for your amazing recipes!
Made this with my 7 yr old daughter and we loved it!!!! After I brushed it with butter and salted it, we added Parmesan to some and brown sugar to some. Between her and I we are 6 of those pretzels for lunch.
Will definitely keep it in our baking rotation! Thank you!
So excited to try these today! I’m wondering if it’s okay to reduce or replace the butter and sugar so the pretzels taste less like Auntie Anne’s and more like traditional Philly ones?
You can definitely try it! They won’t be identical to Philly pretzels, but closer for sure.
I’ve made these a few times and use them for pretzel dogs. They always turn out amazing! Thank you.
OMG! These are amazing. My family LOVES soft pretzels and we would always go get like 40 of them at a time from philly pretzel factory and freeze them. But no more! These are literally also much better, they taste like auntie Anne’s! My dad loves soft pretzels so this was a great early Father’s Day gift!
Hi Sally! What would I need to do to alter this to make pepperoni pretzels (like the ones from Auntie Anne’s!)? Should I simply skip the coarse salt topping, do the baking soda bath, then add the pepperoni slices before baking? Thanks!
I haven’t tried it, but that’s what I would do!
This recipe was very easy to follow, my kids and husband loved the pretzels and asked for more!!
Thank you
Made these exactly as directed and they are delicious! I would like to experiment with making larger/jumbo pretzels next time as well as pretzel rolls someday. I was able to get 11 pretzels from the recipe, but I wasn’t measuring exactly by any means. One thing I’m wondering is if there’s anything I can do to make the dough less stretchy when I’m rolling out the logs for the pretzels. Each time, I’d get one really long, but by the time I folded into pretzel shape, it would shrink way back down.
Hi Erica! When you notice the dough shrinking as you are shaping the pretzels, stop what you’re doing, lightly cover the rope/dough with a clean towel, then let it rest for 10-15 minutes. This gives the gluten a chance to relax. When you return to shaping, it will be much easier to work with.
These are soooo good… and really very easy to make. So good, I made them twice this weekend. One thing learned from batch one to batch two – when you roll them out, do not use a floured surface. I know the recipe didn’t say to flour for this step, I guess I just assumed, but the slip and slide when on the floured surface and do not roll well.
And the beer cheese recipe link… goes perfect with these pretzels. I have no need to search for another pretzel recipe – found a perfect one right here!
These pretzels were fantastic. I followed the instructions and was filled with glee when I pulled golden pretzels out of the oven. They tasted fantastic. My only issue is that despite greasing the parchment paper, some of the pretzels were glued to the paper after baking. A couple of them retained bits of paper on the pretzels. I don’t have a silicone baking mat, but next time I may just forego the parchment and just try it directly on the baking sheet.
Awesome pretzel recipe! My son and I made it tonight with the beer cheese – highly recommend. Thanks so much!
Easy to make for a beginner and tastes great!
First time doing pretzels, so easy and delicious!!! I made 3 flavor salt, sugar and cinnamon and parmesan cheese! all flavors are amazing!!
Thanks for the recipe!!
Ok I’m very curious I’ve made this recipe several times and they are amazing! As I was making them today I couldn’t find the step of dipping them into egg before baking. Did you remove that step?
By using the baking soda bath, there’s no need for an egg wash prior to baking. If you skip the baking soda step, using an egg wash will help the salt stick. See my recipe note if you’d like!
Do you need to proof activate your yeast first, if your using active dry yeast? Also can you substitute brown sugar for regular sugar if you dont have brown sugar on hand?
Hi Stacey, no– the instructions are the same if you are using active dry or instant yeast. I swap between the two all the time in this recipe. You can use granulated sugar instead of brown sugar.
Made these today. Fast and easy. Family loves them. I used parchment paper, sprayed it and also silicone baking mat. They both worked fine. No sticking.
Only tip…add baking soda to boiling water a little at a time and it won’t boil over.
I’ve made these many times now and they always turn out incredibly! I exclusively use fresh yeast and have found for most recipes I need to increase the amount I use (nearly double) for best results. I also brush mine with a little melted butter before sprinkling salt and baking to get an extra bronzed top!
Hi,
I wanted to make these for a friends birthday, but I would have to make them ahead of time and deliver them. Do you have any suggestions for traveling/reheating Or any other ways this could work? Thank
Hi Christina, it’s best to bake and cool these completely. Place in your travel container/on a plate between sheets of parchment paper. Cover them tightly. I usually reheat in the microwave for a few seconds, but a few minutes in a 350°F (177°C) oven works too.
I made the pretzels for the first time today, real easy and quick to make. They turned out really great!! My husband loved them. Thanks for the recipe!!
Great recipe! Made them twice in the last week and I loved them. Second time around made about 16 and prefered the smaller crunchier outside of them. Quick, easy and yummy!
Can I substitute regular sugar for the brown sugar?
Definitely. Same amount.
I love this recipe so much and have made it over 10 times! The pretzels come out perfectly every time and it’s so much easier than other recipes I’ve tried. Thank you so much for such a wonderful recipe, Sally.
Great recipe! This was the first thing I baked with the [three-packet] yeast I bought during “the time of covid.” Glad I did! No ragrets!
For those with Aldi’s around, I switched coarse salt for “Everything but the Bagel” seasoning. 🙂
Also, I tried to convert this to a no-yeast discard recipe, and it worked well too!
First time making pretzels and had no clue they were this easy. Pictures and video helped with shaping. Kids loved them, we loved them, and it was a fun activity. Thanks so much for sharing!
These were AMAZING!!! I added some cheese and pepperoni to them… may have eaten 3 once they came out of the oven and I don’t even feel a little bit guilty, because they were SO good. Sally, you’re recipes have really helped getting through iso!
Recently made these and they’re definitely a new favorite. I plan on making a larger batch to bring to friends and was wondering about doubling the recipe. Would I need to double the yeast as well?
Hi Morgan, for best taste and texture, I highly recommend making the dough twice separately.
The pretzels tasted great, had a good texture and were fun to make for our whole family. We all enjoyed rolling, shaping and eating the pretzels.
Unfortunately we used a nonstick pot for the baking soda and water bath, and some of the coating eroded off and we will have to throw it away. We will use a stainless steel pot next time.
Excellent recipe! I have tried making pretzels with two other recipes and this one takes the cake! Delicious. Thank you!