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Easy homemade pretzel recipe with five ingredients without lye. These soft pretzels are 100% homemade, with a nice crust outside and chewy inside. The best!
What Are Pretzels
Pretzel is a baked pastry popular in the United States, with chains such as Auntie Anne’s and Wetzel’s.
The origin is Germany. Pretzels are shaped into a long rope and then twisted into a knot.
There are two types of this popular pastry: soft pretzel vs hard pretzel. The former has a short shelf life and should be consumed after baking, or maximum up to 3 days.
The latter is hard and crunchy, making it a perfect snack for storage and has a long shelf life.
There are many ways to serve the snack, either savory or sweet. At the very classic, they are lightly buttered and salted.
Pretzel Recipe Ingredients
This is a homemade soft pretzel recipe with a nice crust on the outside but soft and chewy on the inside.
This is an easy recipe. The dough is made of five basic ingredients:
- All-purpose flour
- Yeast
- Butter
- Sugar
- Salt
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients.
Serving Suggestions
The most popular way to serve soft pretzels is with plain yellow mustard, honey mustard or spicy mustard.
There are plenty of other options, for examples:
- Plain or flavored cream cheese
- Chocolate sauce
- Nacho cheese
- Sour Cream
- Peanut butter
- Cinnamon sugar
The possibilities are endless!
Frequently Asked Questions
Lye is often used in pretzel recipes. A chemical reaction during baking makes the lye safe to eat but it’s still dangerous to work with.
Lye gives pretzels the distinctive, glossy, brown “crust” and appearance.
In order to get a similar look without the dangers of using lye, this recipe calls for baking soda as a substitute for lye in the pretzel dough.
Soft pretzels can be kept at room temperature for up to three days.
Simply keep them in a paper bag and store it in a cool, dry place. Keep in mind that the pretzels will harden the longer you keep them.
You sure can! Homemade pretzels will keep well in the freezer for up to six months.
Place the pretzels in a single layer on a baking sheet and transfer to the freezer for about an hour. Once they are frozen, you can place them in freezer bags or freezer-safe containers.
When you are ready to eat, just heat them up in a toaster oven for 10 minutes to warm them up.
This pretzel recipe is 183 calories each. It’s low calories and healthy!
What To Serve With Pretzel
For a fun party or social gathering, I recommend the following recipes.
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Pretzel
Ingredients
- 1/4 oz. (10g) active dry yeast packet
- 1 1/2 cups warm water, 110°F to 115°F/37°C to 47°C
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 4 – 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 8 cups water
- 1/2 cup baking soda
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon cold water
- coarse salt, optional
Instructions
- In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the sugar, butter, salt, and 2 cups of flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough (the dough will be sticky).
- Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place the dough in a greased bowl, turning it once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
- In a large saucepan, bring 8 cups of water and baking soda to a boil. Punch the dough down and divide it into 12 portions. Roll each portion into a log and shape into a traditional pretzel. Add the pretzels to the boiling water, a few at a time, and cook for 30 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
- Place the pretzels on greased baking sheets. In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg yolk and cold water, then brush the mixture over the pretzels. Sprinkle with salt. Bake at 425°F (218°C) for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the pans and transfer to wire racks to cool. Serve warm.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Love these pretzels. I was so worried that I would fail but your recipe is easy and clear and fail proof! Thanks so much. I just serve with some leftover cream cheese in the fridge, so good!
Can you roll the dough around either mozzarella or cheddar cheese?
Do you know how many carbs are in one
Made these tonight and they were very tasty l, chewy and easy to make. Thank you so much for sharing.
Amateur baker..may i ask what does it mean ‘to turn once to grease top’? Do i grease the top n bottom dough while leaving it to rise? Thanks.
Does this REALLY need half a cup of baking soda? It seems like an awful lot – a whole packet in fact???
The baking soda is used as part of the bath before baking. Not in thedough
This recipe was my first attempt at making soft pretzels and they were great. I will definitely be making them again.
That’s awesome, thanks for trying my easy pretzels recipe.
thanks for the recipe.very yummy.I used half milk half water,less salt more sugar and vanilla.love it
Awesome thanks for trying my pretzels recipe!
This looks amazing! My older son loves soft pretzels, so we usually take him to SAM’S Club to buy him one, haha. We’ve discovered that my younger son has allergies to dairy and egg, so he sadly gets left out – this recipe gives me hope that we can finally introduce him to the deliciousness that is soft pretzels! So, obvious question coming next – any suggestions for what to use instead of the egg wash? I’m sure we can substitute another oil, but I’m not sure how to handle the egg part :-)
Just brush with some butter. I am sure it will work. :)
But he’s allergic to dairy as well!!!!
You can buy totally vegan butter
I realize that the Woman who asked for ideas on a substitute wash may not read this scince it has been so long but I’ll say it anyways..
If you forgo the boiling of the pretzel, then you can mix a little bit of baking soda with some warm water in a small container, and directly brush it on to the pretzel prior to baking. It can also give the pretzel a nice crust while leaving the inside soft and chewy.
Thanks for your comment.
Hi Will it work if pretzel dough is made via bread machine- bread dough function?
I think so.
Yumm! What a tasty snack
Thanks Sara. :)