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
I’ve been making this recipe often and keeping pretzels in the freezer for fun snacking. My honey loves them!
I do half bread flour and half whole wheat. Thanks for the tip about not salting the freezer ones.
I love your recipes, and your site is my go-to when it comes to baking!
LOL. Forgot to add the stars.
I can’t give this recipe enough stars. It’s so easy and good. Although I don’t want to change a thing Im wondering if anyone has tried to add protein powder to the dough and how did it turn out? I would imagine it would require more liquid.
Would it be possible to allow the dough to proof overnight in the fridge and then form the the next day?
Hi Jodi, yes, the prepared pretzel dough can be covered and refrigerated for up to one day.
This was so easy and GOOD!! And didn’t have to buy bread flour!! The organic AP flour from Costco is excellent here. These are better than Auntie Ann’s…or so we think—which also saves a lot of $$ !!!! Thank you for this recipe!
WARNING if you make these once you’ll have to do it every weekend until you die because your family will become obsessed with them. 12/10 amazing recipe.
I let the dough rest for 30 minutes. It was hard to roll out the first rope because it simply didn’t lengthen when I rolled it. Although it did not shrink back much, I covered the rest of the dough and let it rest another 30-45 minutes. However, I still had a lot of difficulty rolling the ropes; I had to stretch the dough into the length of the rope in addition to rolling it. I am used to cookie dough, which I can roll easily. Any suggestions?
Hi Leah, did your dough look like the photos and video tutorial above? It won’t feel the same as cookie dough! If not, I wonder if your dough was too tough because it had too much flour in it. How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
Should I keep the dough in a bowl (covered with a towel) to let it rise or keep it on the counter (covered with a towel)?
Hi Mia, Since it’s just a quick rest, we usually just cover it on the counter. But you can absolutely place it back in your mixing bowl to rest if you prefer.
I’ve made this recipe twice now and I love it. I follow the directions exactly and they turn out perfect every time. As your rolling them out if your dough seems a little dry I put a couple drops of water on my finger tips which seems to help. I set a timer for 30 seconds when I put them in the baking soda bath and it works every time. Do keep in mind once your 9 cups of water boils when you add the soda it may foam up a bit, so be cautious. I use a fish turner to lower them in (I do 2 at a time) and fish them out. Then I put them on cookie sheets topped with parchment and sprayed with Pam and bake the two pans of pretzels at the same time. I freeze them in ziplock bags so I only salt two of them for snacking when they come out of the oven. Excellent recipe with great instructions!
I love when recipes work! This one is simple and straightforward. Second time making them but instead of 12 I made 8, pretzel is more defined . I added finely grated cheddar and jalapeños half way through the bake, cut some slits before baking and I ended up with a professional result. Wish that could post a picture lol
If I wanna freeze these, do I cook them all the way and then when I want to take them out of the freezer, just put them in a toaster oven.Does that work
Hi Tresa, you can freeze fully baked pretzels and reheat in the oven, microwave, or toaster oven. See recipe Notes for more make ahead instructions.
Made these today and they were super delicious and turned out great. Also made your sandwich bread yesterday which was my 3 rd attempt at a sandwich bread recipe and your recipe was the only one I got to turn out exactly how it should have! Thank you! I’ll be looking at more of your recipes!
Would gluten free flour substituted for APF work with this recipe?
Hi Stacey! We have not tested this recipe with any gluten free flours. A GF 1:1 all-purpose blend may be your best bet, although the results may still be different than intended.
We tried this with Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 GF flour and it worked great! It didn’t rise as much as it would have with regular flour, but that’s to be expected. Otherwise, soft, and not too dry!
My 10 year old son and I made this recipe together today. I’m an experienced baker, but I don’t work with yeast much, so I wasn’t exactly sure what pretzel dough is supposed to look like. We followed the recipe to the letter, using a scale, but it was suuuuuuuuper sticky. My son ended up just dumping a ton of flour in the dough after it rose for 30 minutes, and I was worried it would ruin the outcome. But somehow, the pretzels still turned out great! I saw someone comment that Aldi flour doesn’t have enough protein or something, which leads to sticky dough(?), so I’ll try a different flour next time.
So soft So Good
Can I use salted butter? Thanks
Hi Niamh, if you use salted butter you can try cutting the added salt in half.
I made these today with a couple of novice bakers and they turned out great! They were so proud of themselves and I could see the love of baking spark in their eyes! I will keep these in my workshop rotation for sure.
One question: as soon as we placed a pretzel in the baking soda bath, the water developed a LOT of foam that stayed they whole time. The results were great, so I don’t think it harmed them, but what do you think happened?
Hi Cressit, try turning down the stove heat next time! That will help reduce the foam. So glad these were a hit!
Definitely a keeper! I love these almost as much as Sally’s everything bagels. Always a hitting our house.
These turned out perfectly! 10/10!!!! And yes, they are as easy as Sally promised they’d be! I’d 100% recommend you give it a try!
Can you make a whole wheat pretzel?
Hi Joan, 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.
hey there
my dietician urges me to eat whole grains, so I tried this recipe with whole wheat flour
it came out GREAT!
they do indeed taste a little more distinct, as any whole wheat bread does.
if it comes out dense, the solution is to let it rest a little longer than the 30 mins suggested here. you want the yeast to have more time to produce gasses for the dough to rise more. this is where the correct warm water temp is very important, as well.
I’m bringing these to a New Year’s Eve party tonight. I made 1 batch yesterday and left off the salt. I have another batch of dough rising right now. I am hoping to put salt on 1 batch and cinnamon/sugar on the other.
If I form them into the pretzel shape, how long can I leave them (raw dough, but shaped) sitting either in the fridge or out before baking them?
Hi Sarah, you can cover the boiled, unbaked pretzels with lightly oiled plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 24 hours before baking (step 9).
I had an incredibly hard time shaping these due to shrinking. Next attempt should I let my dough rest/rise longer? Tasted great, but were very ugly haha
Hi Callie! 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.
After receiving a Kitchenaid mixer for Christmas, I wanted to make something besides cookies or sweets. I decided to try out these pretzels, even though I do not use yeast very often. These came out AMAZING! The inside is pillowy soft with that beautiful golden brown, crunchy, salty outside. Seriously amazing. I will 100% be making these again, maybe trying out a cinnamon sugar variation.
These are the best pretzels in the world. I like to use the entire batch to make 2 or 3 really large pretzels. They turn out so good every time!!! I also have had better luck getting them brown at 425 and bump to 450 for few minutes at the end.
Whole family loved them! Good tips about boiling- when I previously attempted them they came out terrible and tasted metallic. This time they’re perfect!
Omggggg thank you for this easy yummy recipe, perfectly paired with potato soup for our pre-fall dinner tonight
Recipe rating 5*
Thanks for this great soft pretzel recipe!
They are superb!
I love to make them for family & friends.
Can I keep the baking soda bath water in the fridge over night to reuse the next day?
Hi Vera, we haven’t done so ourselves, but a few readers have reported success re-using the water bath in that way. We would discard it after the second use. So glad you enjoyed the pretzels!
Can you omit the butter to make this dairy free?
I made it as written and it was delicious, just curious if that 1 tbsp of butter alters the recipe that much.
Hi Erica, you can leave it out, but we really love the flavor it adds!
Thanks so much for the response back! Also, I love every single recipe I’ve ever tried from you!
I’ve made this recipe a few times it sooo good! Could you make pretzel bites with this recipe?
Definitely! We use this same dough in our pretzel bites recipe.
Excellent. Easy and a family favorite. We keep it simple and make pretzel bites instead of the traditional form.
This did not work for me, despite following every step correctly. It ended up tasting like bread with a strange aftertaste. There wasn’t really that shiny outside pretzels usually have, the dough itself was extremely dry and tough to roll out and work with.
Hi Claire! Sounds like there may have been too much flour in the dough. How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.