Easy Homemade Soft Pretzel Bites
These easy homemade soft pretzel bites are AMAZING and so fast to make! Get ready for mall-style pretzels in no time.
If there’s one recipe you should drop everything and make right now, it is these soft and chewy, buttery and amazing, quick and easy homemade soft pretzel bites.
Seriously, they are so delicious, they defy description.
And the fact that you can make them at home in a little over an hour and end up with something even better than the mall (yes, really) is pretty much life changing.
We make these little pretzel bites all the time. But beware, they go fast! In our house, you better get yourself to the kitchen right when they come out of the oven or else you risk missing out completely. And no one will feel all that sorry for you.
Homemade pretzel bites = so fast
The reason this pretzel bites recipe has been on repeat for the several years is because not only are they amazingly delicious, they are so fast!
The dough is ultra-simple to make and thanks to the relatively quick rising times, they don’t take all day (not even close) to make.
When I decided to update this post with new pictures and new excitement, I enlisted the help of Cade, my 3rd son who loves to cook and bake. He is the pretzel bite making master, and he’s here to show us how easy it is to make these delightful carb-loaded snacks.
Hi, Cade! Nice to have you here. (Now is not the time to tell all these nice people that your mom forced you into this during spring break.)
How to make pretzel bite dough
This bread dough is mixed a little differently than some of the other bread recipes on my site.
To start, all the dry ingredients go into the mixer first.
- flour
- salt
- teensy bit of sugar
- yeast
Instant yeast vs active dry yeast
I always use instant yeast, but you can sub in active dry yeast.
Use the same amount of active dry yeast and proof it in about 1/4 cup water and a pinch of sugar. When it’s bubbly and foamy add it to the mixer with the water (decrease the water by 1/4 cup).
Mix the dough until it forms a ball that isn’t sticking to the middle and/or sides of the bowl. If it’s still really tacky to the touch, add additional flour, a few tablespoons at a time until it’s not so sticky.
Alternately, if it seems kind of stiff and tough (or has dry floury spots), drizzle in another tablespoon or so of hot water.
The dough should be really easy to handle. Soft and stretchy. But not too sticky.
A different rising method
This pretzel dough goes right into a lightly greased or floured gallon-size ziploc bag.
The bag gets sealed and the dough rises in the warm, slightly humid environment.
If you feel more comfortable with the ol’ greased bowl rising method, don’t worry, that works, too.
As long as your kitchen isn’t completely frigid, the dough will puff up and rise pretty quickly. About 20-30 minutes and it should be ready to go.
Take the dough out of the bag, press it into a thick rectangle of sorts and cut the dough into four strips.
They don’t have to be even. These easy homemade soft pretzel bites are rustic and imperfect, and that’s why we love them!
Cut each of the strips into six or eight little chubby pieces.
Ditch the boiling water
To make this recipe even easier, we’re going to ditch the classic boiling water bath that pretzels often get before baking.
Instead, mix a little bit of baking soda with super hot water and dunk each of those pieces of dough in the baking soda/water solution before transferring to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Don’t forget to grease the parchment paper!
Sprinkle the wet pieces of dough with coarse, kosher salt and pop those babies in the oven for 7-8 minutes.
Cinnamon and sugar option
For a cinnamon and sugar option, leave off the salt. When the pretzels come out of the oven, butter them as directed and then roll the hot pretzel bites in cinnamon and sugar. Whoa yum.
Don’t be afraid of the heat
This recipe calls for preheating the oven to 500 degrees F. I recognize that may cause some of you a bit of anxiety. It’s ok. I get it!
But that high temperature is what gives these pretzel bites their perfect golden color AND it crisps up the outside of the pretzels while leaving the insides soft and chewy.
Just do it! I’ll be here virtually holding your hand.
The ultimate key to the deliciousness
The minute the pretzel bites exit the oven, have the melted butter ready.
And then liberally brush on melted butter until you think you should stop – and then brush on some more.
The butter + the piping hot pretzel bites is the key to the ethereal deliciousness of these homemade soft pretzel bites. Please, please, please leave no pretzel unbuttered.
Dipping options for pretzel bites
We love eating these hot and buttery pretzel bites straight off the baking sheet. No wasting time. No dipping.
BUT, they are also amazing dipped in everything from mustard to ranch to cheese sauce. (See the above note for a cinnamon and sugar version.)
For a quick, homemade cheese sauce, we use this recipe. It’s simple and easy and works great with yellow or white cheddar cheese.
When you want the other-worldly yumminess of homemade soft pretzels but don’t want to stress about long skinny ropes of dough and intricate pretzel shapes, pretzel bites are the only way to go!
I love recipes like this that provide a ton of rock star status with very few, very easy to find ingredients.
All I know is, I better never be left alone with a batch of hot, buttery pretzel bites. I’m not super proud of how I already know that would end. But I also know I would enjoy every single moment (and bite).
FAQs for Homemade Soft Pretzel Bites
You can lightly warm them again to get that same texture right back if you’ve lost some of the straight-out-of-the-oven yumminess.
We toss them in a ziploc bag or covered container, then we usually we warm them up for a few seconds in the microwave.
If you don’t have parchment paper you should be fine with just a greased pan. I just use parchment for easy cleanup.
If you absolutely can’t make them fresh (they are much better that way), I’d make the dough and refrigerate it, then take it out 2-3 hours before baking so that it is at room temperature.
Yes! I always double the yeast when I make a double batch.
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Easy Homemade Soft Pretzel Bites
Ingredients
Dough:
- 2 ¼ cups (320 g) all-purpose flour (see note)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast
- 1 cup warm water
Topping:
- ½ cup very hot water
- 2 tablespoons baking soda
- Coarse, kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons (43 g) butter, melted
Instructions
- In a large bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer, add the flour, salt, sugar and yeast. Mix. Add the water. Mix well, adding more flour, if needed, a bit at a time to form a soft, smooth dough that clears the sides and bottom of the bowl. It should be soft but not overly sticky.
- Knead for 4-5 minutes until the dough is soft and stretchy. Grease the inside of a gallon-size ziploc-type bag with nonstick cooking spray and place the dough inside. Close the bag, leaving room for the dough to expand, and let it rest for 20-30 minutes (or up to 60 minutes) until doubled in size. Alternately, the dough can rise in a lightly greased, covered bowl.
- Preheat oven to 500°F. The high heat ensures the pretzels will brown beautifully on the outside while staying soft and chewy on the inside. Line two half sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly grease with cooking spray.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly greased or floured work surface, and cut the dough into four thick strips. Cut each strip of dough into about 6-8 pieces. It doesn’t have to be exact.
- Combine the very hot water and baking soda and whisk to combine well.
- Dip each pretzel bite in the baking soda solution (this helps give the pretzels a nice, golden-brown color). Let the excess liquid drip off before placing the pretzel bites a couple inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
- Sprinkle the pretzel bites with coarse, kosher salt. Allow them to rest, uncovered, for about 10 minutes.
- Bake the pretzels for 7-8 minutes until golden brown.
- Remove the pretzels from the oven, and immediately brush them with the melted butter. Keep brushing the butter on until you’ve used it all up; it may seem like a lot, but that’s what gives these pretzels their ethereal taste. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted from this recipe (originally from King Arthur Flour)
I made these for our New Years Eve “party” (if you’d even call it that) for me and my husband…these are addicting! They are so delicious. I will be making these all the time. I also tried making the cheese sauce from one of your other pretzel recipes, and it didn’t work out…but I think it was because I had the heat up too high and I had about a million other things going at the same time so I will try it again and I’m sure it will work. Thanks for this delicious recipe!
We are confused. In the recipe it says to add the yeast with the flour. In the notes it says to proof the yeast with the water and sugar. Which is it? I think we will try mixing the ingredients in “reverse order”, because the instructions on my Kitchenaid tell me to start with liquid first, and I’m all about fewer dirty dishes.
If you are using instant yeast, you can add the yeast directly to the flour. The comment in the notes is for those using active dry yeast – it needs to be proofed first before adding.
I’ve made these before plain and they are really delicious but last night I made them stuffed with cheese (some with pepper jack and some with mozzarella) and it brought them to a whole new level of amazingness!!! Every time someone asks me for a recipe I’ve made I have to refer them to your site because basically everything I make is from you…thank you for all of your amazing recipes~
Yes, brilliant! The pan was gone, between four people, in .02 seconds. Thank you!
I just made a half batch since it’s just me. Since you said they were best right out of the oven, I made sure to stand over the kitchen table and shovel them in my mouth before they could cool down. Ha ha! I couldn’t stop myself. They were really good and a lot easier than regular pretzels! I did half dipped in cheese and half rolled in cinnamon and sugar. Now off to the treadmill!
My kids and I are madly in love with these (my husband is a freak), and we were wondering if we could freeze some of the dough, and if so, at what stage?
Tina – If it were me, I’d probably shape them into the pretzel bites and freeze them on a parchment-lined tray. Once completely frozen, I’d throw them in a freezer ziploc bag and then thaw, dip in the baking soda, let rise and bake like normal. Good luck if you try it. I am glad you like them.
Is it ok to leave it to expand for more than an hour because I’m baking something else at the same time?
Victoriya – sure, that shouldn’t hurt it as long as it isn’t left for hours and hours.
I made these tonight, and they were so incredible. My family ate every bite! Thanks for the recipe!
Delicious! I do not know how you choose “the best recipes”. I have now made many of your recipes and all of them are the best!
Made these for a new year’s dinner party – I didn’t use as much butter as the recipe called for – only brushed the tops once they were baked. They turned out great! Best fresh though, they became quite chewy and soft after a few hours.
We have made these so many times, both this version and your other original pretzel versions…love them!! Tonight we are making the pretzel bite version to dip in a dark chocolate honey almond fondue! (in front of the fireplace…New Years Eve tradition:)..)
I would love to take these to my in laws for a thanksgiving dinner. How soon can I make ahead and what would you recommend in the transportation. I would hate for them to get wet and soggy from the moisture. Any thoughts?
Kasci – as much as I love these pretzel bites, they are best fresh, hot out of the oven and I’m not sure they would travel well, to be honest. Unless you could make the dough ahead of time and freeze them into pretzel bites and bake once you got to your in-laws…and even then, I haven’t actually tried it so I can’t say 100% for sure it will work out.
Sprinkled sugar and cinnamon on them and my kids devoured them! So much yummier than the mall version! Love your blog. I’ve tried so many of your meals and they’ve all been a hit. That’s saying something…I have 4 extremely picky children. Thanks so much!
I make pretzel rods but this recipe is one I am going to try for football night. We love hot stuff so I am going to top each one with a jalapeno pepper.
Made these just now, and they came out good except I could taste the baking soda that wasn’t very pleasant. Will try them again next time without the baking soda.
They were so so bitter because of the baking soda. I followed the exact measurements and mixed it every few dunks. The kids won’t touch them and we tripled the batch. It was our conference lunch. So sad. Next time should I half the baking soda?
Hi Sarah – I’ve made these at least 25 times and I’ve never had the issue of a bitter taste from the baking soda. Sorry that happened; perhaps it’s your brand/expiration of baking soda but halving the amount may help if you find the taste overwhelming.
I make this recipe all the time and get rave reviews. Tonight, I made it into pretzel dogs. I rolled the risen dough into a rectangle, cut it into strips and wrapped the strips around cocktail smokies. Baked at 500 for about 10 minutes. They were TO DIE FOR!! Thanks Mel!!!
I made these tonight for a New Year’s Eve party. They are fabulous! Just one problem though, I used parchment paper and every last pretzel bite stuck to the paper and was a royal pain to get them off the paper without tearing the bottoms off. I have never had a problem with parchment paper before. Any suggestions?
Hi Melanie – that same thing has happened to me and I’ve started coating the parchment paper with cooking spray. It works wonders. I’ll actually edit the recipe so it can help others who might have the same problem.
Christina – the dough puffs quite a bit…it definitely is a noticeable rise.
How much is the dough supposed to rise after resting for 30-60min? Mine has been resting for 45 and has risen much…
I made these tonight and they were amazing! This was first ever attempt at using yeast and I couldn’t have been happier. My husband was pretty stoked too. Thanks so much! 🙂
These are delicious and I’m a little obsessed with them. My husband and I love eating them with nacho cheese! I shared these on my blog. They were just too tasty and simple to not share! Thanks!
Hi Dana – I would try to make these so they are fresh (they are much better that way). I’d make the dough and refrigerate the dough – then take it out 2-3 hours before baking. Good luck!
Mel, first of all I love love love LOVE your blog & what it has done for my family! Question, I’m making these for a party tomorrow and I want to do it in advance. Should I bake them today and reheat? Or can I save the dough & bake them tomorrow so they are fresh out of the oven? Thanks if you get a chance to help with your expertise!
I had heard rave reviews from my family…and they were right! Delish as always, Mel!
These are like crack! So yummy, so easy and won’t last long. I can see how you ate them for dinner! You can’t stop!
I made these last year and they were unbelievable! Everyone just stood around the oven and ate them as soon as they came out! So easy to make. Love them!
Alanna – sorry for the late response, you may have figured it out already. I’ve never made the dough in advance but I suppose you could do that and then shape and bake them close to serving time. If the dough has been refrigerated, you’ll want to give it time to come to room temperature before shaping. Good luck!
Hey, I really want to make these for a party tomorrow night.. could I make the dough about 5 hours in advance and put them in the oven when I get there? Thanks
These were a huge hit tonight at the party! LOVE YOU MEL!
I’ve made these 3 times now and they’re AMAZING!!!!! They’re good even without the butter brushed on to them however the butter MAKES them!
Thanks for posting the recipe 🙂
I just made these and they are delicious! We ate almost every one of them fresh out of the oven. Thanks so much for sharing this as I will make them again and again!
I just got done stuffing my face with about 5 of these babies. Mel, you are heaven sent! For the first time, I used my stand mixer to make dough and I will always use it to make any kind of yeast bread from now on. My only issue was that they did not brown up that much. Perhaps I took them out of the oven too fast but they were done on the inside. My three year old loved dunking the dough into the baking soda mixture and she also loved the final product. I will be making these again in the near future!
FANTASTIC! I substituted about 1/2 cup of the all purpose flour out for whole wheat flour. These are amazing. Can’t wait to spice the dough for possible pizza bites, and the cinnamon and sugar sound perfect on these pretzel bites. Now if we can just stay out of them until Sunday. 🙂 Thanks!
Oh my! These are 1 million times better than target!!
I am making these next week. I have been a soft pretzel lover for so long and only get my fix at the Target snack bar. I’m betting these are ten times better than the Target ones!
Hi Mel! While stuck at home for the second day in a row with 2 sick kiddies I decided to try these as a little “feel better” snack for the littles. As with all your recipes….AMAZING! So easy to throw together and the ultimate comfort food for my coughing, sneezing sickies 😉 Thanks again!
We have this tradition of making fondue on New Year’s Eve every year and one of my standard dippers is those soft pretzels from the freezer section…not because they taste that great on their own, but dunked in cheese sauce, they’re not bad. But, freezer section no more. These were AMAZING! I could have eaten the whole pan by myself were it not for the 4 other boys in my house with other ideas. Super easy and really tasted like the absolute best soft pretzel you can imagine.
Corinne – I always double the yeast when I make a double batch.
I’ve made these once before and they were fantastic! I want to do a double batch now, do I still double the instant yeast or would I reduce the amount?
Hi Mel, hope you had a very Merry Christmas! I just made some of these – delicious! Thanks for another winning recipe!!
This are so cute, perfect for my kids when they come home from school!
Oh gosh Mel! Another keeper 🙂 these were everything you said they’d be and more! I couldn’t help myself, I could eat an entire batch…plain even. The butter does magical things to these delicious morsels. I’m going to make these for dunking in soup or curry next time. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Made these tonight. They were amazing! My kids went nuts….I mean like those who would have witnessed us eating them would have thought I hadn’t fed my children for a month. Thanks so much for all your amazing recipes!
Eliz – these pretzel bites are definitely best fresh and warm, but I suspect they might work ok once they are baked, cooled and frozen – and then reheated in the oven on low to restore a bit of outer crunch.
Do you think you could make these up and the freeze them? I am having a party in a few weeks and would love to serve these but I know I don’t have the time to make them the day of the party. Can’t wait to try these!
Just wanted you to know I tried these. They turned out fantastic! I do not work with yeast type does very often, so I’m a complete novice, but these were so easy. I’m going to eat way too many, I can already tell!
These were so easy to make and so delicious!!!! Thanks for a fantastic recipe. My kids LOVED it!
Wow!! These are SOOO Delicious! And easy to make. I have been making a batch almost everyday for the past week! This recipe is perfect. Thank you so much for this recipe.
I’m a bread failure but have had great success with this recipe! They are delicious as a snack or as a carb to go with a meal. We like them straight up plain or perhaps dipped in a bit of mustard. Fantastic.