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. 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 do it every time now. It’s worth it!
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. We’ve also jazzed them up as crab pretzels. There’s no wrong way to shape a pretzel, but let’s stick with tradition 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 guarantee each one is in your kitchen right now. Warm water, 1 packet yeast, melted butter, brown or regular granulated sugar, salt, and flour.
Let the yeast foam in the warm water for a few minutes, then add the rest of the ingredients and mix. You can use a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment, a hand mixer, or—like you’ll notice in the video below the recipe—no mixer at all. 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.
Guess what? You don’t have to wait to let this dough rise. YES! Well, we’ll let it rest for 10 minutes while you get the baking soda + water boiling on the stove but that’s it. Don’t have any patience? This is the recipe for you. By the way, did you know that some pretzel recipes call for rising overnight? They’re remarkable pretzels but I’m satisfied with this ultra quick dough!
How to Shape Homemade Soft Pretzels
Now it’s time to shape.
Roll 1/3 cup of dough into a long 20-22 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 salt and bake in a hot oven. That’s it, you’re done.
And if you want to kick your soft pretzel status into major high gear, add some spicy nacho cheese sauce.
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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 and the results are extra delicious! The dough is a family recipe and 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!
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (360ml) warm water (lukewarm– no need to take temperature but around 100°F (38°C) is great)
- 2 and 1/4 teaspoons (7g) instant or active dry yeast (1 standard packet)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon brown sugar or granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and slightly cool
- 3 and 3/4-4 cups (469-500g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more for hands and work surface
- coarse salt or coarse sea salt for sprinkling
Baking Soda Bath (See Recipe Note)
- 1/2 cup (120g) baking soda
- 9 cups (2.13L) water
Instructions
- Whisk the yeast into warm water. Allow to sit for 1 minute. Whisk in salt, brown sugar, and melted butter. Slowly add 3 cups of flour, 1 cup at a time. Mix with a wooden spoon (or dough hook attached to stand mixer) until dough is thick. Add 3/4 cup more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. If it is still sticky, add 1/4 – 1/2 cup more, 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 5 full minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 5 full 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 minutes. (Meanwhile, I like to get the water + baking soda boiling as instructed in step 6.)
- 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 1/3 cup sections (about 75g each).
- Roll the dough into a 20-22 inch rope. Form a circle with the dough by bringing the two 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 more 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. Sprinkle each with coarse sea salt. Repeat with remaining pretzels. If desired, you can cover and refrigerate the boiled/unbaked pretzels for up to 24 hours before baking in step 7.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and serve warm with spicy nacho cheese sauce.
- Cover and store leftover pretzels at room temperature for up to 3 days. They lose a little softness over time. To reheat, microwave for a few seconds, or bake at 350°F (177°C) for 5 minutes.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Baked and cooled pretzels freeze well for up to 3 months. To reheat, bake frozen pretzels 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 before the baking soda bath and baking.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Stand Mixer or Glass Mixing Bowl | Wooden Spoon | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Pizza Cutter
- Baking Soda Bath (Step 6): 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 7. Meanwhile, melt 4 Tablespoons (60g) of unsalted or salted butter (your choice). 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 are best served that day because due to the melted butter topping, they become soggy after a few hours.
- Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
I’m no baker but I found this recipe so easy to follow and so impressed with the way they turned out. Kids love them!
We love these pretzels so much! Is it possible to omit the sugar completely from the recipe, as I’ve recently had to cut all sugar from my diet?
Hi Mona, we don’t recommend it. In addition to flavor, the 1 Tbsp of sugar is necessary to help feed the yeast. You could use honey or agave instead of the white/brown sugar.
My husband absolutely loves these! I found the recipe super helpful and detailed for a beginner/intermediate baker. I weighed my ingredients, thanks for including those!
Thank you! I made with “everything but the bagel” seasoning and colima sea salt, with beer cheese and hickory smoked mustard as dips. Hubs declared “best pretzel I’ve ever had!’
Make really delicious soft pretzels and was so easy to make in short amout of time. Made these for Superbowl 2024. Everyone loved them. I shared this recipe with all of them. I doubled the recipe and worked great. Thank you!
Super soft and chewy….my only criticism is that I should have made these years ago!
I love your pretzels question I doubled recipe but can the same pan of baking soda and water be used for 24 pretzels now
Hi Adrianne, no need to double the baking soda bath if making a double batch.
I have made this recipe many times and it is delicious. My son was recently diagnosed with celiac. Would I be able to switch gf cup for cup flour in this recipe?
Hi Amy, we haven’t tested this recipe with gluten-free flours, but many readers have reported success using 1:1 flour substitutes. If you try it, let us know how it goes!
Hi these were delicious! Can you thaw frozen cooked pretzels before reheating?
Hi Mandy, yes, that should be fine. Glad you enjoyed them!
We loved this so much! I’ve never made soft pretzels before. This recipe was so easy to follow, and they turned out perfect!! Definitely saving this recipe! Highly recommend!
Ps, between me, my husband, and our 4 and 6 year old girls, they were all eaten up within 28 minutes. It made 18 palm sized pretzels. They were that good. Next time I’ll be tripling the batch
All your recipes are so well described. . You make is very easy for me to make your amazing recipes by following your step-by-step instructions. Thank you so much for sharing the love of cooking. You are very appreciated!
Thank you so much! I’m glad the way I lay out my recipes is extra helpful.
The pretzels are delicious but my sea salt looks like it melts when they bake. Does not look as nice as yours
I made these today they were very good, easy to follow recipe. Nice and soft.
i love the recipe so much
Loved it! We did them as instructed and just added melted butter as soon as they came out. DELICIOUS we will definitely be making these again.
Made these when my family came to visit and they did not disappoint! The baking soda bath is well worth it! Brought me back to the ball park!
I teach a culinary class for high school students. I am really wanting to use your recipe but am worried with the amount of class time we have. I would like to break it out into a 3 day lab. Could the pretzels be stored in the refrigerator AFTER BOILING (Friday) through the weekend and then baked on Monday?
Hi MG, we fear the pretzels would get quite soggy in that amount of time. See recipe Notes for our recommended make ahead options.
I’m a kid, and these were surprisingly easy, my mom gave me the tools and they turned out great! Making them again today!
We tried this recipe. It’s absolutely delicious, we added garlic powder and melted butter after baking. Yummy
Made these few days ago, lasted only 4 hrs…now in snowstorm (suspended Bills game), so make more! Make these now, you won’t be disappointed!
I’ve never made pretzels like this before (I don’t even really like pretzels), but I went with this recipe due to it being relatively fast and very easy. They came out perfect, i prefer the ones we made a little thinner before shaping. Also really recommend the baking soda bath.
Was very pleased. Ultimate munchies remedy
Excellent recipe…A new Family favorite!
What’s the point of adding yeast to this recipe if the dough isn’t really given that much time to rise?
Hi Aaron, most of the rising is in the baking process.
Could these be made into one or two giant pretzels?! How long do you think the bake time would be?
Hi Meghan, we can’t see why not, as long as you have a pot large enough to complete the boiling step with a very large pretzel. We’re unsure of the exact bake time. Let us know what you try!
This was so easy and fun. My family loved them and they were gone in a flash! A request for school lunches now too! Thanks for another great recipe, Sally!
The pretzels are much better using bread flour and changing the rise time from 10 min to 20 min.
This recipe was fantastic! I struggle with yeasted recipes but this one was so easy and came together perfectly on my first try. Shaping the pretzels was also much easier than expected. My family loved it and we devoured them within minutes of taking them out of the oven. Will definitely be making these again!
Thank you very much for this recipe! I have missed soft pretzels the most since having to go wheat free. I have loved soft pretzels since I was a child and this recipe is soooo good. The pretzels even smell like regular pretzels, lol. Thank you <3
These pretzels were delicious and so easy to make. Thank you for the recipe.
This is some amazing dough to work with!! Just lovely