These soft pretzel knots are exactly like regular homemade soft pretzels, but shaped and tied like garlic knots. There’s more compacted surface area, which means there’s more room for toppings such as cinnamon sugar, garlic parmesan, or jalapeño cheddar. The dough requires just 6 ingredients and there’s hardly any rise time, so this is a wonderful recipe for yeast beginners. Have fun shaping the knots (they don’t need to be perfect!) and enjoy warm, flavorful homemade pretzels within an hour.
Warm pretzels! Toppings! Dips! All the good stuff in life is right here today!
Soft Pretzel Knots Details
- Flavor: If you enjoy soft pretzels, you’ll love today’s soft pretzel knots. They’re completely homemade, so unlike store-bought frozen soft pretzels, each has that soft, warm, and fresh-from-the-oven taste and texture. You can keep the pretzels traditional with a sprinkling of coarse salt or try various toppings. There’s a detailed list of options below.
- Texture: The difference between pretzel-shaped (or knot-shaped) bread and soft pretzels/soft pretzel knots is an alkaline bath. This is when shaped soft pretzel dough takes a dip in boiling water and baking soda, a surprisingly easy step that provides the iconic chewy pretzel texture and adds a deeper, richer color to the baked pretzels. The boiling water also locks in the shape so they don’t over-puff in the oven. (Without the baking soda bath, you lose texture, that deep brown color, and flavor. So, basically, you will have bread instead of a pretzel.) We do this key step when making regular soft pretzels, pretzel rolls, and soft pretzel bites, too.
- Ease: My recipe for soft pretzels has become one of the most reader-loved recipes on this website because the pretzels are relatively quick, extremely easy, and deliver great taste. Same story with these pretzel knots! Though the recipe requires yeast, I always say that this pretzel dough is a terrific starting point for yeast beginners because there’s very little rise time. Shaping takes a little practice, but the knots do NOT need to be perfect. No matter the shape, they’ll still taste like pretzels. Still, if you’re a perfectionist, this recipe yields 14-15 knots so you have opportunity to get the shape right.
Soft Pretzels with a Slightly Different Shape
The goal for today’s soft pretzel knots recipe was to make a soft pretzel with more compacted surface area for toppings and for holding onto dips and sauces. I never stray from the original soft pretzel dough, so that’s what you’ll use as the base for these pretzel knots. You need just 6 basic ingredients to get started including warm water, yeast, a little sugar to feed the yeast, melted butter, salt, and all-purpose flour. (If you have it, the same amount of bread flour works too!)
The dough doesn’t require extended rise time and the baking soda bath is pretty quick, so besides the baking step, the longest stretch of time this recipe requires is shaping.
- Divide the dough into 14-15 pieces, which is about 1/4 cup (about 2 ounces) of dough each. Roll each into 14-inch ropes. Tie the ropes into a knot like you do when making garlic knots, then tuck the ends underneath. The ends are quite long so rather than tucking the ends straight underneath, I curve them around the pretzel before tucking under. You can see me do that in the video below.
Here are photos so you can visualize the process:
Whisk the warm water, yeast, and sugar together. Cover and let the mixture sit for a few minutes until foamy on top. Waiting for it to foam isn’t totally necessary, but it helps us see that the yeast is ready and active. The right photo below shows the dough before kneading.
Knead the dough, using my How to Knead Dough video tutorial as needed. Cut the kneaded dough into 14-15 sections, roll into ropes, and then shape into knots. The video tutorial located in the recipe shows these steps as well.
The following photo shows the knots after the baking soda bath. At this point, they are ready to bake.
Topping Options
Immediately after the baking soda bath while the pretzel knots are still wet, sprinkle with coarse salt. Or if you’d like a different topping, skip the coarse salt and try:
- Cinnamon Sugar: Bake the pretzels completely plain without salt. Once done and still warm out of the oven, brush with melted butter then dip into a mix of cinnamon and granulated sugar.
- Garlic Parmesan: Bake the pretzels completely plain without salt. Once done and still warm out of the oven, brush with melted butter then dip into a mix of grated parmesan cheese, garlic powder, salt, and Italian Seasoning. Italian Seasoning is a store-bought item, but you can make your own homemade Italian seasoning. You need 1 and 1/2 teaspoons.
- Jalapeño Cheddar: When the pretzels are still wet from the baking soda bath, sprinkle with coarse salt as if you were making plain salted pretzels. Just like when you make regular jalapeño cheddar pretzels, arrange 2-3 thin slices of jalapeño on top and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with cheddar cheese, then return the oven to finish baking.
Detailed instructions for these toppings are available in the recipe notes below. I bet you could have fun with even more toppings such as everything bagels seasoning instead of coarse salt. Heavily sprinkle on the pretzels while they’re still wet from the baking soda bath before baking.
Great for Dipping & Soaking Up Sauce
The knot shape yields a doughier pretzel than the traditional soft pretzel shape, so they require longer in the oven. And because they have more interior, pretzel knots are perfect for dipping and soaking up sauce. Serve with:
- Tomato Sauce (great with the garlic parmesan pretzels)
- Bacon Spinach Dip (tasty with the salted pretzels)
- Spicy Nacho Cheese Sauce (pictured above and delicious with the jalapeño cheddar or salted pretzels)
- Pepperoni Pizza Dip (wonderful with the garlic parmesan or salted pretzels)
- Stone Ground Mustard (always great with salted pretzels)
- Homemade Pesto (try with the garlic parmesan or salted pretzels)
- Maryland-Style Crab Dip (love this with salted pretzels)
I always serve cinnamon sugar pretzels plain, but you could try vanilla icing if you wanted to serve them with a dip. Lots of options here, so have fun!
See Your Soft Pretzel Knots!
Many readers tried this recipe as part of a baking challenge! Feel free to email or share your recipe photos with us on social media. 🙂
PrintSoft Pretzel Knots
- Prep Time: 35 minutes
- Cook Time: 22 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 14-15 knots
- Category: Snack
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These soft pretzel knots are exactly like regular homemade soft pretzels, but shaped and tied like garlic knots. There’s more compact surface area, which means there’s more room for toppings such as cinnamon sugar, garlic parmesan, or jalapeño cheddar. Review recipe notes and watch the video tutorial before starting.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (360ml) warm water (lukewarm around 100°F (38°C))
- 2 and 1/4 teaspoons (7g) instant or active dry yeast (1 standard packet)
- 1 Tablespoon brown sugar or granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon (14g) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 3 and 3/4 – 4 cups (469-500g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more for hands and work surface
- toppings: coarse salt/coarse sea salt or toppings described in notes
Baking Soda Bath
- 1/2 cup (120g) baking soda
- 9 cups (2.13L) water
Instructions
- Make the dough: Whisk warm water, yeast, and sugar together in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a paddle or dough hook attachment. (If you do not have a stand mixer, just use a regular large mixing bowl and a wooden spoon or silicone spatula.) Cover yeast mixture and allow to sit for 5 minutes or until foamy on top. Add salt, melted butter, and 3 cups (375g) of flour. Beat on low speed for 1 minute, scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula if needed, then add 3/4 cup (95g) of flour. Beat on low speed until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 2 minutes. If dough is extremely sticky after 1 minute of mixing, add remaining 1/4 cup of flour and continue to beat for 1 more minute. (You can see in the video that I add the remaining flour.)
- Knead the dough: Keep the dough in the mixer (and switch to the dough hook if using the paddle) 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.
- Cover lightly with a towel and allow to rest for 10-30 minutes. (Meanwhile, I like to get the water + baking soda boiling as instructed in step 5.)
- 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.
- Shape: With a sharp knife, pizza cutter, or bench scraper, cut dough into 14-15 pieces, which is about 1/4 cup (2 ounces) of dough each. Sprinkle work surface very lightly with flour. (Tip: The heavier you flour the work surface, the harder it is to roll the dough. A little stickiness actually helps. You only need *a very light* dusting of flour.) Roll each piece of dough into a 14-inch rope. Tie the ropes into a knot, then tuck the ends underneath. The ends are quite long so rather than tucking the ends straight underneath, I curve them around the pretzel before tucking under. You can see that in the video below.
- Baking Soda Bath: Mix water and baking soda together in a large pot. Bring to a boil. Place 2-3 pretzels into the boiling water for 20-30 seconds, flipping halfway through. (Any longer than 30 seconds and your pretzels could take on a metallic taste.) The knot shape makes the dough heavy, so if the pretzel knots are sinking, use a spatula to get them off the bottom of the pot. Using a slotted spatula or spoon, lift the pretzel knots out of the water and allow as much of the excess water to drip off. Place pretzel knots onto prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle each with coarse sea salt while each are still wet or leave plain if using other toppings detailed in the notes below (you still need to salt them if doing the jalapeño cheddar pretzels). Repeat baking soda bath with remaining pretzel knots. If needed, you can cover and refrigerate the boiled/unbaked pretzels for up to 24 hours before baking.
- Bake for 20-24 minutes or until golden brown. I usually bake mine for the full 24 minutes to obtain a very deep color as pictured.
- Remove from the oven and serve warm.
- 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 pretzel knots freeze well up to 2-3 months. To reheat, bake frozen knots at 350°F (177°C) for 20 minutes or until warmed through or microwave frozen knots until warm. The prepared pretzel dough can be 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 knots 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): Stand Mixer or Large Glass Mixing Bowl | Rubber Spatula | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Sharp Knife, Pizza Cutter, or Bench Scraper | Large Pot, such as a Dutch Oven | Metal Slotted Spatula
- Flour: If you have it, the same amount of bread flour works instead of all-purpose flour. Do not use whole wheat flour.
- Cinnamon Sugar: Bake the pretzels completely plain without salt in step 6. As the pretzel knots bake, melt 4 Tablespoons (60g) unsalted butter. Set aside. Combine 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar and 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon. Set aside. Once the pretzels are done and still warm out of the oven, brush each with melted butter then generously dip into cinnamon sugar. Pretzels are best served that day because due to the melted butter topping, they become soggy after a few hours.
- Garlic Parmesan: Bake the pretzels completely plain without salt in step 6. As the pretzel knots bake, melt 4 Tablespoons (60g) unsalted butter. Set aside. Combine 3/4 cup (about 68g) grated parmesan cheese, 2 teaspoons garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1 and 1/2 teaspoons store-bought or homemade Italian Seasoning. Set aside. Once the pretzels are done and still warm out of the oven, brush each with melted butter then generously dip into parmesan garlic mixture. Pretzels are best served that day because due to the melted butter topping, they become soggy after a few hours.
- Jalapeño Cheddar: When the pretzels are still wet from the baking soda bath, sprinkle with coarse salt as if you were making plain salted pretzels. Place 2-3 very thin slices of jalapeño on top of each, pressing them down to adhere as best they can. Bake for 15 minutes in step 6. Remove from the oven, use 1 cup (125g) shredded cheddar cheese and sprinkle each partially baked knot evenly with cheese, then return the knots to the oven to finish baking for the remaining time in step 6.
I made both pretzel bites and knots and they both turned out pretty good, the bites however needed less time in the water. If I were to try again I would probably only leave the bites in for 5-10 seconds. The knots turned out delicious though and the time for them was perfect.
Of the handful of yeast recipes I’ve made from the site this one was the most “relaxed” meaning it didn’t require a lot of precision. A great recipe to get more comfortable working with yeast and kneading dough. As for the pretzels themselves – EXCELLENT! I will definitely be making these again and again. Not labor intensive at all nor was it an all day project. I even turned my knots into slider buns for perfect football watching food.
These pretzels taste AMAZING! I’m from Philly and they taste like the knot piece on a Philly pretzel. This was my first challenge and I really enjoyed it. I can’t wait for next month.
What a fun and easy recipe and they tasted great. New family favorite! Made them plain with just salt and served with beer cheese dip. It was a great addition to our college football game day food menu. Go Gators!!!
These were incredible!! Followed the recipe exactly and did half salted, half with cinnamon and sugar. Everyone thought they were delicious and will definitely be making again
Delicious pretzel knots that I topped with pretzel salt/butter! For some reason they sunk while I boiling them and got a little stuck to the bottom but baked up without issue.
Today I tackled the September challenge. I was so happy with how easy this recipe was. Anything bread usually puts me on edge. Not only did the video tutorial and step by step instructions help put me at ease but they gave me the confidence I needed while completing my first attempt at making pretzels.
Will make again! I used some store bought quest to dip them in and was not disappointed. A quick bake to make while my little napped. Thank you!
These were easy AND delicious! I also made Sally’s Spicy Cheese Dip to go with. Will definitely make these again!!
This is my first time trying the baking challenge — and I’m sad I haven’t tried it sooner ! This isn’t something I would normally bake but it ended up fun and delicious! I mad e acinnamon sugar one and and “everything” one with cheddar cheese and everything bagel seasoning from trader jos. So good!
Thank you for participating in your first challenge, Rachael! We’re so glad you had fun with this one. (If you haven’t already and are interested, you can sign up for our Sally’s Baking Challenge email list to be notified about all of our upcoming challenges!)
Yum! This recipe is great. I have made it twice and both times, the dough has risen reliably and they’ve turned out delicious. I rolled some of the dough in ranch dressing mix, and they turned out really nice, with a subtle flavor. Apparently tossing them with cinnamon sugar makes them *amazing* because those were gone in an hour.
I don’t usually leave comments but I had to for these.
Oh my gosh!!! These are so amazing and were fun to make. A friend and I made them together today and had so much fun doing so. We shared the duties of rolling and shaping and then boiling and prepping for baking. Lots of laughs were had! We were so proud of ourselves when we taste tested, so darn good!!! We made the salted top ones only. Definitely will be making them again. And we followed the instructions and pictures as they were and they turned out perfectly. The only thing was a decrease in time because they were done. Thank you!
These pretzel knots were my favorite baking challenge yet. I did have to add a little extra flour to my dough. I found it surprisingly simple to tie the knots. Made with jalapeño and cheddar and served with Sally’s spicy nacho cheese sauce and it was amazing!
easy to follow recipe yielded delicious pretzel knots! i went with garlic parm, jalapeño cheddar, everything bagel spice, and plain – definitely on my rotation to make again … thank you!
These were delightful – easy to make, and I ended up doing slightly bigger knots so I could use them as slider buns. Delicious with just some salt, and they didn’t even make it past the first day. Turns out the serving size is one!
I think this may have been my favorite challenge yet! The recipe made it so easy to get the pretzel knots just right. I’ve always been so in the intimidated by pretzels, but this was fun. My kids loved rolling and tying the knots too. We devoured them with Sally’s Spicy Nacho Cheese Sauce. Delicious!
Easy to make, great step by step directions and video, and a delicious final product!
Oh my! These are so delicious! I had a lot of fun making these and look forward to making them again. So many shapes and flavours to try
Very easy yeast dough to make and work with! Fun to shape.
I made these today and they’re delicious! They were really easy to make (although mine are definitely not as pretty as the picture haha). I made some with just salt and some with jalapeño cheddar. I would highly recommend!
Wonderfully delicious!! Perfect recipe! Thanks!
I thought this recipe would be tough, but it was actually very approachable and fun! I enjoyed using one of the larger pretzel bites in my batch as a bun for some leftover pulled pork. It was fabulous!
Really delicious, and easy once you get the hang of the knot. I had to add more flour than what the recipe calls for – I just added a little more at a time until it looked like the same consistency of the dough from her video. I really love having the video tutorials to get a visual and good sense of each step of the recipe!
I made these today with my 5 year old. The recipe is really easy to follow and the dough is easy for even a child to roll out and twist. They turned out great.
I was really surprised with how easy these were! I made them plain and served them with the beer cheese dip (also a great recipe)!
Your pretzel knots recipe was so easy to make. I sprinkled all of mine with cinnamon sugar.
I made regular salted, everything bagel seasoning, and cinnamon-sugar and they were super delicious!! It was a really fun recipe to make but not too complicated. Would definitely recommend 🙂
This is such a good and easy recipe. They came together very quickly. I made my knots a little larger, made 8 rolls out of one recipe so that I could use them for homemade burgers. They turned out excellent and were great as burger buns. I cut them in half and toasted the insides for a little toastyness. Chewy and soft, perfect for buns!
So tasty and simple to make! I made them plain and as well as all three topping options and all were great.
This recipe is amazing. Easy & quick. I did find that giving the dough more of a chance to rise before and after shaping improved the texture though.
I love your pretzel recipe and now your pretzel knots! I lived in Philadelphia almost all my life and then we moved to Florida and I couldn’t get a decent soft pretzel. My husband found your recipe for soft pretzels and I have never looked back! So easy to make and so quick, too! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!