How to make Homemade Soft Pretzels
Making homemade soft pretzels is easier than you think!
This soft pretzels recipe makes for an awesome snack and creates a deliciously chewy outside and fluffy inside. I'll tell you how to get that chewy outside! 🙂
What's the secret behind those chewy outsides of soft pretzels?
Boil them in water and baking soda before baking in the oven.
That's right… boil them in water with some baking soda and you'll end up having a deliciously chewy outside on your pretzels. It's really not difficult so I really encourage you to try this out and see how it works for you!
Just make sure you that you have your pieces of dough formed in the shapes that you want and throw them in the boiling water one at a time for about 30 seconds. Then lay them out on your baking sheet, brush on a little egg wash and sprinkle with a little sea salt.
Once the soft pretzels come out of the oven they'll have a lovely golden and chewy outside. If you like your pretzels a little darker than the ones I made you can always add a little more to the baking time. 🙂
You can use really any regular pizza dough for this soft pretzels recipe. For this I used 1/2 the recipe for my homemade pizza dough but you could use really any store bought kind as well.
Every time I have a soft pretzel it reminds me of something kind of neat that happened years ago when my then husband and I were back in University – I thought you might be interested so here's my little story.
One week we were watching a whole bunch of those UFO and alien documentaries on TV – you know the ones I'm talking about right? We went to the local mall that week to get some shopping done and there's this soft pretzel stand that's quite popular there.
We weren't planning on stopping for a pretzel that day… no… but we did meet someone unexpected who was purchasing one!
Stanton T. Friedman – the famous Ufologist and nuclear physicist was getting himself a soft pretzel!
We had recognized him since we had just seen him on some of those UFO documentaries. If you're not familiar with him, he's well known for his research on UFOs and Roswell. It turns out that Mr. Friedman lived near us in New Brunswick and this was quite the surprise since Fredericton is not a very large city. We stopped for a minute just to make sure we weren't imagining things or were crazy – he's a very nice guy!
I haven't met too many well known people so I thought that was so neat!
Anyways – Onward to that soft pretzel recipe! 🙂
Homemade Soft Pretzels Recipe
- Yield: 6 big thick pretzels or 12 smaller pretzels 1x
Ingredients
- Pre-made pizza dough or use 1/2 the recipe for my homemade pizza dough
- 8 cups of water
- 2/3 cup baking soda
- 1 egg, beaten
- sea salt – according to taste
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 375°F.
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and have ready close by.
- In a large pot on the stove boil the 8 cups of water with baking soda dissolved.
- Divide the dough into equal portions. If you'd like big thick pretzels like the ones in in pictures cut 6 portions. If you'd like smaller or less thick pretzels cut 12 portions.
- Roll out each portion of dough to the desired thickness and into pretzel shapes.
- Drop each pretzel into the boiling water for about 30 seconds. It's best to do this one at a time so you don't have a bunch sticking together.
- Remove the pretzels from the boiling water using tongs or a slotted spoon (I use a little strainer with a handle so I can reach in get it.)
- Lay each pretzel onto the parchment paper.
- Using a pastry brush coat the tops surfaces of the pretzels with the beaten egg.
- Sprinkle with tops of the pretzels with some sea salt. I find that a little of the salt goes a long way.
- Bake the pretzels in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the outsides are golden.
I always love to hear from my readers so please feel free to leave me a comment in the comment section below! 🙂
I wanted to try making soft pretzels for the longest time. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
You make this looks really simple. I seriouslyw doubt my pretzels would come out looking like this!
Aww thanks so much! They’re actually quite easy to make – yours will look just as awesome!
thanks for stopping by! 🙂
Michelle
Well that seems simple enough! And here I thought they were too tough to make at home!
I can’t believe I’m searching for recipes at 3:20 am lol. We love the soft pretzels we get at the mall and I’ve been looking for a recipe to try. I can’t wait to try yours.
Mmmmm, those look awesome. I am definitely getting this link to my hubby to make for us. Thank you for sharing.
I don’t like pretzels, but my fiance does! I’ll have to make him some of these 😀
Oh my jolly goodness! I’m not a fan of pretzels but yours look fresh, chewy and delicious…
Oh my, this looks so delish! I’m going to make some of these. Thanks!
They don’t really look difficult to make, which is a PLUS in my book. Also hellooooo lover! I love pretzels.
My husband loves soft pretzels but I didn’t know how to make them at home. I’ll have to try this recipe and see how he likes them 😀
I made these once. and I will never again….because I ate all 12 of them in one day! my mouth is watering right now!
LOL yes they are addictive!
Every time we go to the mall my son always wants to get a soft pretzel. Now I can make them at home. I am going to try to make some with gluten free pizza dough.
I can’t wait to make these! I love them with cheddar cheese or whole grain mustard. So good!
I love homemade pretzels more over the commercial ones because I want ’em chewy. I don’t really like those that are packed because they tend to be salty and hard. Thanks for sharing this recipe. I can start ‘practicing’ and hopefully I’ll make the best pretzels.
I agree – homemade is always the best! 🙂
Thanks so much for stopping by and enjoy the recipe! 🙂
I am so excited about this recipe! Since becoming GF I walk past pretzel shops and drool wishing I coudl still eat them! I’m going to have to try your recipe with GF products! YUM! can’t wait!
This looks so good, I always buy these at the mall, so making my own would be snazzy!
Thanks Zoey! Enjoy! 🙂
That pretzel made me so hungry. It looks like you got the perfect texture, soft on the inside and nice hard crust on the outside. Great recipe, thanks for sharing.
I LOVE soft pretzels. Yummy! 🙂 You made it look very simple to make. I may make these tomorrow!
Omg, these look so good. What a fun thing to make with the kids! I’ll definitely give this a try! Thanks!
Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy the recipe! 🙂
Oh Yum! I remember making homemade soft pretzels in my home economics class back in high school! They were delicious! Feel like trying this recipe since it’s so simple to make!
I never thought to make pretzels and didn’t know to use pizza dough – and you’ve laid it all out – as I was reading, I was wondering what does watching UFO’s have to do with pretzels? And, you answered that quickly – very cool story! 🙂
thanks! Every time I have a soft pretzel it reminds me! LOL
Reading this post took me back to some wonderful memories when my kids were little. We used to make a family activity out of making soft pretzels on a Sunday afternoon. They’d be all gone by bedtime Sunday night.
Well, I guess I know EXACTLY what I’m going to be making this weekend. That looks SO good!
Both of my boys are total pretzel addicts, so I need to try these for them on of these days. They’ll flip their lids over these.