Best Soft Pretzel Recipe
These are the absolute best Homemade Soft Pretzels! Fluffy, buttery, and mall‑style using a simple baking soda dip. This soft pretzel recipe makes 8 large pretzels in about 1 hour.
Once you try these homemade soft pretzels, you will never bother with those mall pretzels ever again.
Plus, it only costs a buck or two to make a WHOLE TRAY instead of just getting one kind of pretzel. Not to mention there aren’t any artificial ingredients or preservatives when you make them yourself. And all the ingredients are the simple ones that you’d expect, like flour, yeast, water, and salt.
Table of contents
Reader Loved Recipe: Hundreds of 5-Star Ratings
Jan R – My husband says they’re the best soft pretzel he’s ever eaten! I agree.
Denisha M – Oh my….. These we’re delicious! Will definitely make again.
Z – Made this recipe a few times i absolutely love it. This is totally my go to pretzel recipe
Pretzel Dough Tips for Best Results
Use instant rise yeast – At the grocery store you can buy “active dry yeast” or “instant rise yeast” (sometimes also called “quick rise yeast”). They are the same price, and I always recommend the instant rise, which is what we’ll use here.
Make sure the yeast is fresh – Yeast does expire, so make sure those packets haven’t been hanging out in your pantry for too long. Check the date, and try to use newer yeast.
Be patient – This entire recipe, even with rise time, should generally take an hour, which is really fast for bread. However, if your kitchen is cold and the dough has not doubled in size during the 30 minute rise, give it another 15 minutes.
I love prepping a fresh batch of these easy homemade soft pretzels on football game-watching days, along with a fresh pan of Buffalo Chicken Dip and Baked Chicken Wings. So good!
More Flavor Options
The default here is to simply brush with butter, and enjoy these soft pretzels “plain” with butter and salt. However, here are a few more flavor ideas.
Cinnamon Sugar – In my 100% Whole Wheat Version of these pretzels, I share a cinnamon sugar coating that is wonderful. 1/2 Cup Sugar, 2 TBSP Cinnamon
Garlic Parmesan – Use the sauce from my Garlic Parmesan Wings for brushing the outside, for an extra flavorful garlic parmesan butter. 1/4 Cup melted butter, 1/2 Cup grated parmesan cheese, 1tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp dried oregano, 1/4 tsp salt.
Buffalo – When the pretzels come hot out of the oven, brush with Buffalo Wing Sauce and serve with Blue Cheese Dip. 4 TBSP Melted butter, 6 TBSP Franks hot sauce, 1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce, 1/2tsp cayenne.
Orange Honey Butter – When hot out of the oven, brush the pretzels with Homemade Orange Honey Butter. 1 Cup heavy cream, 2 TBSP Orange blossom honey, Zest of 1 orange, Pinch of salt.
Step by Step Overview:
I have a full video on how to make the pretzels, as well as a quick visual photo overview.
1, Make a simple yeasted dough, made with flour, water, instant yeast, salt, and sugar. Then shape into a ball. You can use a dough hook attachment or make it by hand.
2, Let the dough rest for 30 minutes in a warm place to let the dough rise and double in size.
The yeast will work its magic and create these gorgeous bubbles that will give us the rise and fluffy texture we want.
Make-ahead option
If you wish, you may keep the risen dough in the fridge for up to 24 hours. Make sure to cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap.
When ready to bake, simply proceed with the recipe as usual, cutting and rolling the pretzels.
3, Divide up the dough into 8 equal pieces, then roll each one into a long rope.
4, Shape the thin ropes into pretzels by looping the rope through the hole above.
The ends of the rope should end up on the bottom. See the video as needed.
5, Dip each pretzel into a baking soda bath, which is simply warm water with baking soda. This provides flavor, and will also brown the baked pretzels, much like an egg wash makes baked goods golden brown on the outside.
6, Sprinkle each pretzel with coarse sea salt or pretzel salt, and send them into the oven on a prepared baking sheet that’s either greased, covered with parchment paper, or covered with a silicone mat.
Let the Excess Water Drip Off
Let the excess water drip off the pretzels before putting each piece of dough on to a large baking sheet. You don’t want the pretzels to be too wet, or they may stick to the tray, even if it’s greased.
You may also place the pretzels on parchment paper or a silicone mat to ensure this isn’t an issue whatsoever.
Place dipped pretzels on a rack over a sheet pan for 10-20 seconds if you over dipped them. This will ensure no pooling occurs.
7, Bake the pretzels until golden and puffed, then brush with melted butter while hot, or any other sauces or coatings you’d like.
How to Serve
These are great hot out of the oven, either with plain butter and salt or one of the flavor options I suggested above.
You can also try serving with Homemade Nacho Cheese Sauce, marinara sauce, honey mustard, or even Basil Pesto.
For something sweet, try the icing on my Overnight Cinnamon Rolls or homemade Caramel Sauce.
Pretzel Recipe FAQs & Troubleshooting
Let cool completely, then keep at room temperature for 1 day, in the fridge for 1 week, or in the freezer for 2 months.
Yes, in an airtight container for up to 2 months. Let them cool first before freezing.
Warm in a 300F oven for 5 minutes. Add an extra 3 minutes if reheating straight from frozen.
Yes, keep the risen dough in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
Tried this recipe? Leave a rating and comment below — I’d love to hear how it turned out! Or, follow me on Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest!
Soft Pretzels
Ingredients
For the Dough:
- 2.25 tsp instant or "quick rise" yeast
- 1 cup warm water 110 degrees F
- 1 tsp sugar
- 12.5 oz all purpose flour, by weight (2.5 cups, if measuring)
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
For the Topping:
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 1 tbsp baking soda
- oil for greasing the sheet pan
- coarse sea salt for sprinkling
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter melted
Equipment
- Slotted Spoon
Instructions
- Combine the yeast, warm water, and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer*, and let sit for 10 minutes until foamy. This indicates the yeast is alive and working. Add the flour and salt. Mix with the dough hook by hand for a few seconds to roughly combine, then fit the hook and bowl on the mixer and knead on medium low for 5 minutes. The dough should feel soft and smooth, not sticky to the touch.
- Cover the dough and let rise for 30 minutes, until doubled in size. If your kitchen is cool, you made need closer to 45 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 450F, and lightly grease a baking sheet with oil. You may also use parchment paper or a silicone mat to prevent sticking.
- Place the dough onto a lightly oiled countertop. Divide the dough into 8 pieces (just cut it with a knife or bench scraper).
- Whisk to combine the warm water and baking soda and heat in the microwave for 1 minute. FYI it’s not going to dissolve completely, and that’s okay.
- Roll each of the eight pieces into a long rope, and shape each one into a pretzel (see the step-by-step photos on the blog post to see how to do this). Dip each pretzel into the soda wash and place onto the greased baking sheet. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt, then let them rest for 10 minutes.
- Bake for 10 minutes until the pretzels are golden brown. Brush the pretzels with the melted butter while they are hot out of the oven. Enjoy while they are hot, and keep in mind these don’t taste as amazing the next day. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
Post updated in December 2025. Originally published 2011.
More Snacks that Pair Well
Buffalo Garlic Knots– Great for parties and game day
Homemade Corn Dogs – Better than frozen store bought options
Jumbo Garlic Knots – Fan favorite and easy appetizer
Bacon Wrapped Jalapeños – Crowd pleaser and so much flavor
Homemade Mozzarella Sticks – Huge game day hit
Homemade French Fries – One of my most popular recipes. People will ask you how made them!
459 Comments on “Best Soft Pretzel Recipe”
Just made these . Flavor was great. I would added a touch more flour and used about a tablespoon of brown sugar vs the white sugar.. I put butter on them the last 3 min and they got a nice golden color on them.
Thank you for sharing this Alyssa! so glad you loved them!
Didn’t work well in my bread machine, the first time I tried it. Still delicious, but didn’t rise. I proofed the yeast, then put everything in my bread machine and it’s working much better.
So glad you got it to work! Cheers!
I can’t ever get yeast or baking to work with me but we did it this time! Thank you for sharing the recipe. We will absolutely be making these all year round! Loved them and so easy!
so yummy! Thanks Ashley!
These pretzels came out awesome they taste just like pretzels! I think I would probably want a little more sugar in mine just to make them just a little bit more on the sweeter side without being desert obviously. I brushed butter on the top and just regular sea salt and my husband said it was the best Pretzel 🙂 thank you for the recipe this is a keeper
yay! Thank you Debra! Im so glad you guys enjoyed these. A little cinnamon sugar never hurt anyone;)
Where is the recipe? Kaye659@yahoo.com thank you