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With a simple yeast dough, these easy soft pretzel bites are better than the mall’s. They’re perfectly salty with a golden brown crust and a soft interior that you’ll crave.
Homemade Pretzel Bites
This recipe is the perfect intro to yeast! It is super easy to pull together with a minimal rise time. It’s a great way to hone bread baking skills without having to master all of the bread techniques. I’ll walk you through everything you need to do to make the tastiest homemade pretzel bites at home from the yeast to the baking soda bath and even freezing leftovers. Stop worrying, you can totally make these salted pretzel bites!
They’re golden and buttery with a light sprinkling of salt and when they’re warm I simply cannot resist.
If you’re more of a sweet tooth, I have a recipe for cinnamon sugar pretzel bites that are amaze. If you’re more of a traditionalist, I also have a twisted pretzel recipe you can try out.
Ingredients
*You can find instructions and exact quantities in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Pretzel Dough
- Warm water – You want the water to be between 105°F -113°F to foster happy, bubbly yeast.
- Dry active yeast – You will need a packet of yeast for this recipe. If you don’t have a packet, you will use 2 ¼ tsp.
- Sugar – This will help feed the yeast and flavor the dough.
- Melted butter – I used salted butter, but you can sub in unsalted butter if you’d like. Just add an extra pinch of salt to the dough.
- Salt
- All-purpose flour – Yes! Just all-purpose flour here. I promise it will give you a tender pretzel bite!
- Egg white
- Sea salt
Baking Soda Bath
* This is what will give the pretzel bites their characteristic brown color, light crust, and soft interior.
- Water
How to Make Pretzel Bites
- How to Make Cinnamon Pretzel Bites
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the warm water, yeast, and sugar. Let sit for 5 minutes, or until bubbly. If the mixture does not foam, the yeast is inactive and the pretzels will not turn out. Repeat this step with fresh yeast until bubbly.
- Add melted butter, salt, and flour. Using the dough hook, knead on low speed for 10 minutes. The dough should be very soft but not stick to the sides of the bowl.
- Cover and let rise at room temperature for 1 hour, or until doubled in size
- After the dough has doubled, punch down and divide into 8 equal pieces. Set aside and preheat the oven to 425°F.
- In a large pot, bring the water and baking soda to a boil.
- Roll each piece of dough into a long rope, then cut into 1-inch pieces to form bites.
- Working in batches, gently drop the dough pieces into the boiling baking soda water for 5–10 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. (The parchment will become wet, so be sure to transfer the bites to a fresh sheet of parchment before baking.)
- Brush each pretzel with egg white and sprinkle with sea salt.
- Bake for 10 minutes at 425°F.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before eating.
- These are best enjoyed within the hour. If you’d like to store for a longer period of time, freeze the pretzels as soon as they are cool. Reheat the pretzels in the oven at 425°F for 8-10 minutes.
Homemade Soft Pretzel Bites Storage
Homemade pretzel bites are best eaten within an hour of removing from the oven. But they can be stored in an airtight container for a day or so.
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
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the warm water, yeast, and sugar. Let sit for 5 minutes, or until bubbly. If the mixture does not foam, the yeast is inactive and the pretzels will not turn out. Repeat this step with fresh yeast until bubbly.1 cup warm water, 1 pkg dry active yeast, 1 tbsp sugar
- Add melted butter, salt, and flour. Using the dough hook, knead on low speed for 10 minutes. The dough should be very soft but not stick to the sides of the bowl.1 tbsp melted butter, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 1/2 cups flour
- Cover and let rise at room temperature for 1 hour, or until doubled in size
- After the dough has doubled, punch down and divide into 8 equal pieces. Set aside and preheat the oven to 425°F.
- In a large pot, bring the water and baking soda to a boil.2 tbsp baking soda, 4 cups water
- Roll each piece of dough into a long rope, then cut into 1-inch pieces to form bites.
- Working in batches, gently drop the dough pieces into the boiling baking soda water for 5–10 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. (The parchment will become wet, so be sure to transfer the bites to a fresh sheet of parchment before baking.)
- Brush each pretzel with egg white and sprinkle with sea salt.1 egg white, sea salt
- Bake at 425°F for 10 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and 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!
can these be made gluten free
I haven’t tested this recipe with gluten free flour, but I imagine it will work with a 1:1 flour substitute like King Arthur’s.
So easy to make, and delicious! Stuffed a few withnsome cheese dipped in pizza sauce
Just made these and they’re fabulous! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I haven’t made them yet but I wondered what the yield is? How many bites will the recipe make?
Thank you,
Sharon
Hi Sharon! It depends on how big you cut the bites, but I typically get about 48 bites!