This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Pretzel Bites are a delicious little poppable bite of soft pretzel. With a light sprinkling of salt over the top and a golden brown crust, you’ll satisfy all of your pretzel craving desires with ease.
This Pretzel Bite recipe is the best!
Homemade pretzel bites are a great snack or appetizer. My kids absolutely love helping make this fun snack as well as eating it! It takes just over an hour to make the pretzel bites, so it is a fun activity for all of us on a day with some extra free time.
Why we love these Soft Pretzel Bites
Making pretzel bites from scratch is a great way to hone in on your bread baking skills without having to master all of the bread techniques. If you have an Instant Pot, you’re going to love how quickly this recipe can come together and rise while using your Instant Pot!
Say goodbye to Pretzel Maker in the mall, these taste even better, are definitely more cost effective and you can do it all while staying in your pajamas. 😉 If you want to master the pretzel twist, check out my Homemade Soft Pretzel Recipe.
Homemade Pretzel Bites ingredients
For the Pretzel Dough You’ll Need:
- Warm Water: if you have an instant read thermometer, we are shooting for about 110°-120° for the water. If you don’t have an instant read thermometer, the best way to test is with the inside of your wrist. The water should feel warm but not hot to the inside of your wrist.
- Dry Active Yeast: you’ll need a packet of yeast for this recipe. If you buy your yeast in bulk, 1 packet is equal to 2 1/4 tsp.
- Sugar
- Melted Butter
- Salt
- Flour: we are using all purpose flour here. No need for the special bread flour!
- Egg White
- Sea Salt
For the Baking Soda Bath You’ll Need:
- Water
- Baking Soda
The baking soda bath is definitely an important step for these pretzel bites. Dipping them into baking soda water is what gives pretzels their ‘pretzel’ taste! You know which one I’m talking about, slightly bitter and tangy? Yes, that comes from the baking soda bad. Skipping this step would result in little bread bites or dinner rolls for your daughter’s baby dolls instead of pretzel bites. 😉
How to make Pretzel Bites
Making pretzel bites really is quite simple! Especially after you’ve made them once, the following times just get easier and easier! Below are tips to make this the best experience possible. This is a great recipe for someone who has never tried to tackle yeast before, promise!!
- Proof the yeast: This means adding warm water, yeast, and sugar to a bowl, mixing it together and letting it sit for 5 minutes and making sure it starts to bubble up.If the yeast isn’t bubbly, it isn’t active and the pretzels will not work. Try again and make sure the yeast is bubbly before starting on the recipe. The yeast won’t bubble for a few reasons, it may mean that your yeast is old, the water is too hot or the water is too cold.
- Use a stand mixer: using a mixer like a Kitchenaid or a Bosch will make your life so much easier. While, yes, you could knead this by hand, just know that you’ll be able to skip the gym for about an entire week with the muscle work you’ll be putting in here!
- Letting the dough rise: We will want to let the dough to rise until it has grown to double it’s size. This should take about 1 hour on the counter top. You can do this faster by utilizing your Instant Pot yogurt button (more info on this in the recipe card) or setting your dough in a warm oven. To warm the oven, turn it on to 300° for 5 minutes, turn the oven off and then place the coverd dough inside.
- Rolling and Cutting the dough: The easiest way to do this is to separate the dough into smaller portions, rolling into a rope (this is easiest done when the counter is not over floured) and then cutting the rope into small bite sized pieces.
- Soda Water: As stated above, letting the bites dunk in soda water for about 30 seconds is how we get the classic pretzel taste. Only let them soak for about 30 seconds though, longer than that will cause them to be overly bitter.
- Golden Color: The golden color is achieved by brushing egg whites onto each pretzel bite. Don’t forget to sprinkle with sea salt!
- Baking: Bake at 425°F for 8-10 minutes. Let them cool slightly before popping them into your mouth so you don’t burn yourself!
What Do You Eat Pretzel Bites With?
Pretzel bites are a versatile snack that can be eaten with a lot of different things. Mustard dip, cheese sauce, ranch dressing, chocolate or hummus are all great things to dip your pretzel bites in.
Homemade Soft Pretzel Bites Storage
Homemade pretzel bites can be stored in an airtight container to maintain freshness. They should be stored in a cool, dry place like a pantry or cupboard. If you want them to stay better even longer, you can refrigerate or freeze the pretzel bites.
Can I Freeze Pretzel Bites for later?
Absolutely! If you plan on storing your pretzel bites, I highly recommend freezing them as soon as they are cooled. You can reheat them in the oven at 425° for 8-10 minutes.
Pretzel Bites Recipe FAQs
Yes you can. Make the dough as directed and right after kneading place it in a bowl with plastic wrap and then stash it in the fridge. overnight the dough will rise very slowly. Allow the bowl to come to room temp and finish its slow rise before punching it down and following along with the recipe as directed.
There are some easy ways to make your pretzel bites crisp. Cooking the bites for longer or increasing the temperature will allow the outside to become more crispy. Brushing the surface of the pretzel with an egg wash before baking will crisp the pretzel bites.
To keep your pretzel bites soft, keep them in an airtight container to prevent them from drying our and becoming hard. You can prolong the life of the pretzel bites by placing the airtight container in the refrigerator. Let them come to room temperature before serving. You can even reheat them in the oven at 350° F for 5-10 min to get them soft again.
Yes, one of the main steps is to boil pretzels before baking. Using a baking soda bath will create a slightly bitter and tangy taste that pretzel bites traditionally have.
To get salt to stick to pretzels, you can brush the pretzels with an egg wash (a mixture of beaten egg and water), use a sprinkle of water, or brush the pretzels with melted butter. The liquid will help the salt stick to the surface of the pretzels while they bake. Allow the egg wash or butter to cool slightly before sprinkling on the salt to avoid melting it.
Looking for more quick Yeast Recipes?
- Olive Garden Breadsticks
- Focaccia Bread Recipe
- Honey Wheat Bread
- French Bread Recipe
- No Knead Pizza Dough
Pretzel Bite Recipe
Ingredients
Pretzel Dough
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 pkg dry active yeast
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp melted butter
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 egg white, optional
- sea salt, optional
Baking Soda Bath
- 4 cups water
- 2 tbsp baking soda
Instructions
- Add the warm water, yeast and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer. Let sit for 5 minutes or until bubbly. If the yeast isn’t bubbly, it isn’t active and the pretzels will not work. Repeat this step with new yeast until it is bubbly.
- Add the melted butter, salt and flour to the stand mixer. Turn on LOW and allow the stand mixer to knead the dough for 10 minutes.
- The dough should be very soft, but shouldn’t stick to the sides of the bowl at all.
- Allow the dough to rise until double. (1 hour on the counter) If using the Instant Pot, spray the liner with non stick spray and then let the dough rise in the Instant Pot on the Yogurt NORMAL setting for 15 minutes.
- After the dough has doubled, punch down the dough and divide into 8 equal sized pieces. Set aside.
- Combine the water and baking soda in either a large pot on the stovetop or in the Instant Pot. Bring the soda water to a boil. If using the Instant Pot, set it to Saute HIGH.
- Preheat oven to 425°.
- While the soda water is coming to a boil, roll and cut the dough into small 'bites' by rolling the dough into a long rope and then cutting it into one inch sections. Repeat with all of the dough.
- Once all of the pretzels cut, gently place each pretzel in the boiling soda water. Allow the pretzel to boil for about 30 seconds before removing and transferring to a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. (This parchment paper will probably get really wet, so you'll want to eventually transfer the pretzels to another sheet of parchment paper prior to baking.)
- Repeat with remaining pretzels.
- Brush each pretzel with egg white and sprinkle with sea salt.
- Bake at 425° for 10 minutes.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes before eating.
- Best eaten within the hour. If you’d like to store for a longer period of time, I suggest freezing the pretzels as soon as they are cool. Reheat the pretzels in the oven at 425° for 8-10 minutes.
This is the third recipe that I’ve made from your site. And just like the others I give it five stars. They came out absolutely perfect! I’m eating them as I’m typing. Just follow the recipe exactly and you cannot go wrong. I think I’m going to try the chicken fried rice next! Thanks for the great recipes!
Thank you for the comment and stars, Shay! I hope you love the Chicken Fried Rice!
What if all I have is fast rising yeast? I know I use less, but would I still had the sugar?
Hi Heather, you can use the fast rising yeast just as you would the active yeast. Your dough may rise just a bit faster. 🙂
SO good! Love your site. Make your french bread all the time also!
I am so glad, thank you for the comment, Toni!
Hi, your recipe says to keep the bites in the soda water for 30 seconds, and the video says no more than 5 or 10 seconds – could you please clarify which is correct? I’m making these for the first time right now 🙂
For bites it should be 5-10 seconds, full pretzels should be 30 seconds. I’ll get that fixed in the recipe card here- thanks!
None
Love these pretzels, as long as you follow the recipe, super easy to make!