Homemade Soft Pretzel Bites

Once set on the table, they seem to *disappear*. With a chewy center, this smooth coating gives a perfect combination. Most don’t remember what a pretzel tastes like as they usually get served just as salted rolls.

The baking soda bath is what really stands out. After doing it once, it will all click, and you will wonder why you ever used to throw away 8 dollars on airport pretzels.

This takes about an hour and makes around 80 pretzel bites. Using yeast may sound intimidating, but I’ve made these with teenagers running around and it still cooperated.

What the Baking Soda Bath Actually Does

A lot of soft pretzel recipes skip this step and go straight to mixing the dough. This is why homemade pretzels taste more like soft pretzels and not bread rolls.

When raw dough is boiled in water with baking soda, a reaction occurs on the surface. The outer layers of the dough increase in alkalinity. This causes the deep brown color, that slight snap you feel when you bite through the crust, and that tasty flavor you recognize when you think of soft pretzels from street vendors or Auntie Anne’s.

The rolls would only have salt on the top and would have no substance. Instead of being a pretzel, they would be decent rolls. Don’t skimp on the pretzels, and don’t deduct the soda the full half cup is really important.

Temperature Is the One Thing You Can’t Wing

All parts of this recipe allow for some leeway except for the steps with the yeast.

Your milk should be warmed to 110°F to 120°F to work best. If you don’t heat the milk enough, then the milk will cool the yeast and the dough will take too long to rise. You might be waiting to see the dough rise for what seems like forever, until you realize that nothing is happening. If the milk is too hot, it might even kill the yeast!

Typically, one minute in the microwave should get it to the right temperature, however, it is worth it in this case to use a quick read thermometer to calibrate your microwave. Yeast should bloom for around 5 to 10 minutes. You are set to add the flour when a slight layer of foam has begun to form on the surface.

If there is still no foam after 10 minutes, this means the yeast is dead, or the milk was too hot. Don’t keep going; start the yeast step over with a new packet. It only takes two minutes, and it saves you the hassle of wasting a whole batch of dough.

Soft Pretzel Bite Ingredients

This will make around 80 bites and here’s what you will need:

Active Dry Yeast

2 1/4 teaspoons is just under 1 standard packet. Active dry yeast is suggested here since you’ll be blooming it in a warm liquid. This way, you can test to see if it’s active before adding the rest of the ingredients.

Warm Milk

The temp is more important than the fat content. 2% milk or whole milk is fine. The yield is just a bit richer dough. 1 1/4 cups at 110°F to 120°F.

Honey

Two tablespoons of honey will feed the yeast, plus add a hint of sweetness that won’t be identifiable as honey in the finished bite but will definitely be missed if it was left out. Honey’s flavor is also slightly rounded out with the salt.

All-Purpose Flour

3 1/4 cups, unbleached, all-purpose flour. If humidity is high, settled flour in the bag may require you to use an extra tablespoon or two. To avoid getting excess flour, use a spoon to fill the cup instead of dipping the cup in the bag.

Sea Salt (for the dough)

Only use one teaspoon for this, and it goes into the dough. This is different from the coarse salt that goes on top, so don’t confuse the two, they have different jobs.

Baking Soda (for the bath)

Half a cup of baking soda seems like a lot, and yes, it all goes into the water. Be careful here, as it can bubble a lot, and may even spill over the top of the pot as you do this. It’s best to step back and add the baking soda a few spoons full at a time.

Egg Wash

Beat one egg with ~1 tablespoon of water. The egg wash is great for providing a sticky surface for the coarse salt (or any toppings) to adhere to and it gives the pretzel bites that shiny, authentic pretzel look. It’s worth doing the egg wash, because otherwise the pretzel bites will look and taste like plain dinner rolls.

Coarse Salt for Topping

If you can find it, pretzel salt will work, but coarse sea salt will do just as well. Table salt is way too fine; it will dissolve into the surface. You want to have visible salt crystals on top.

How to Make Homemade Soft Pretzel Bites

Step 1: Bloom the Yeast

First, heat some milk, then pour it into the bowl of your stand mixer. After this, sprinkle yeast on top of the milk. Do not stir yet. Then, add the honey. Give it a slight stir to mix. Let this mixture sit for 5 to 10 minutes.

Look for some foam and a faint smell of yeast. These are signs of active yeast and ready to go. After 10 minutes, if you see no change, throw out the old yeast before mixing in the flour and start with a new yeast.

Step 2: Mix the Dough

Place the flour and salt into the bowl. With the dough hook, mix on low for about 3 minutes until the dough forms a single ball and separates from the bowl’s edges.

Don’t worry if the dough feels a bit sticky. If it’s coming out of the bowl in big sheets, start adding flour in one tablespoon increments to see if that helps. If your dough is dry or feels stiff, you may need to stop adding flour, or your bites may end up dense. Is there no stand mixer? No problem! You can still do this by hand. Just grab a wooden spoon and mix it until it gets too stiff to mix, then dump it out onto a clean counter and knead it for about 4-5 minutes.

Step 3: Roll and Cut

To begin with, wipe your counter with a wet cloth, then dry it completely. Do not put flour on your counter. A clean, dry counter is slightly sticky which is exactly what you need to roll out the dough ropes without them slipping or retracting.

Take the dough out from the mixing bowl and separate it into four equal pieces. Form each piece into a rope of approximately 20 to 24 inches long. If the dough seems to be resisting and springing back to its original position, take a break for 30 seconds and try again. With a bench scraper, or butter knife, divide each rope into 1 inch bite-sized pieces.

Step 4: Baking Soda Bath

Before the water boils, make sure to set your oven to 450°F. Once the water comes to a boil, slowly add baking soda, spoon by spoon, waiting for each addition to settle before you add more.

Put 10 to 15 pretzel bites in the water. Boil them for 30 seconds. They will puff up and float. Use a slotted spoon to get them and put them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. If you over crowd the pot it will drop the water temperature and the bites will not cook evenly.

Step 5: Egg Wash and Bake

After you finish positioning all the pretzel bites on the parchment paper lined sheet, use an egg wash and coat each one. Then heavily sprinkle coarse salt on top. Set the oven to 450°F and put them in for about 7-9 minutes or until the tops are a deep golden brown.

The cookies should be a nice brown color, ideally not a light tan color. If your oven runs a bit hot, pull them out towards the lower end of the time range. A few minutes out of the oven, they should still have a slight give when you press them, that’s perfect.

What to Dip Pretzel Bites In

Having pretzel bites is not quite complete without dipping sauce.

Jarred Soft Pretzel Cheese Dip

Quick tip: These work great with pre-made cheese sauce found in the ethnic or Mexican food aisles. Don’t feel like you have to make cheese sauce from scratch for a batch of pretzel bites.

Beer Cheese

When hosting a gathering or party, you should consider making **beer cheese**. Making this cheese dip only takes an additional 10 minutes. To do this, just melt some butter, whisk in some flour, then add the beer and some sharp cheddar. And that’s it! You can put the warm mixture in a slow cooker and set it to low, and it’ll stay warm.

Honey Mustard

In just 30 seconds, you can mix equal parts Dijon mustard and honey for an easy and tasty dip. This recipe is perfect if you’re looking for something lighter than a cheese dip.

Plain Yellow Mustard

Underrated. Every classic combination has its sharp, vinegary bite, salty and chewy pretzel. My husband will skip everything more elaborate and pick out the yellow mustard straight away.

Day-After Pretzels: How to Store and Reheat

These are best enjoyed while warm and in a couple hours after being made. That being said, there will be leftovers, especially with 80 bites.

Don’t put them away while they’re still warm, or condensation will make the salt slide off and make the cookies soggy. Make sure they cool completely on a wire rack before placing them in an airtight container. They will stay fresh for two days at room temperature.

Your microwave will heat them all the way through and make them soggy. It’s best to set an oven or toaster oven to 350 degrees and leave them in for a few minutes. If you’re pressed for time that’s microwave care is going to change the texture of these pretzel bites from authentic pretzel bites to dinner roll pretzel bites.

You can make the dough and cut the bites up to one day in advance. For the cut segments, use a lined sheet with parchment paper and cover it loosely in plastic wrap and store it in the refrigerator. The next day, you can finish the baking soda bath and baking.

Four Ways to Change These Up

The primary recipe is great as is, but here are the variations to know about:

• Cinnamon sugar bites: Skip the coarse salt and egg wash. After baking, brush with melted butter and toss in a mix of cinnamon and sugar. Sweet pretzel bites are genuinely good and the teenagers disappear these faster than the salted version.
• Everything bagel seasoning: Use everything bagel seasoning in place of the coarse salt. The garlic, sesame, and poppy seed combination pairs well with cheese dip.
• Parmesan and herbs: After the egg wash, top with grated parmesan and a pinch of dried rosemary or garlic powder before baking. A little more effort but a noticeably better pretzel for a dinner party spread.
• Bigger pretzel size: Instead of bite-size pieces, cut the ropes into 3-inch lengths for larger soft pretzel nuggets. Same method, same bath — just add a minute to the bake time and watch for color rather than the clock.

Pretzel Bite Questions, Answered

Why do you boil the pretzel bites in baking soda water?

Baking soda creates an alkaline coating on the outside of the dough which gives baked pretzels their distinctive color, texture, and taste. The absence of an alkaline coating means that the pretzel bites will end up being just soft rolls and not pretzels.

Can I use instant yeast instead of active dry yeast?

Sure. However, you can skip the blooming step. Simply mix in the instant yeast with the flour and salt. The dough might rise quicker than anticipated, so check on it sooner than you normally would. The flavor and texture are practically unaffected.

My dough isn’t rising — what went wrong?

There are usually two things that happen. First, the milk could have been too hot and killed the yeast, or the yeast may have been expired. The foaming step is also a sort of shield against this. If the yeast didn’t foam, then it definitely won’t raise your dough so start over before you add the flour.

Can I freeze them?

Correct. First, let them cool completely, then place them in a single layer in the freezer before putting them in a zip-lock bag. To reheat, just take them out of the freezer and place them in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for 8 to 10 minutes. They’ll be pretty decent again. They’re not exactly fresh-baked, but they’ll do for a quick snack.

Why did my salt fall off?

One of two things may have happened: Either the egg wash was too diluted, or the salt was added after the egg wash dried. To get the best results, do the egg wash immediately before salting it. Salt the egg wash while it is still wet, and instead of just sprinkling the salt, press it into the surface of the egg wash.

More Appetizers for a Crowd

• Seven Layer Dip — another party appetizer that travels well and feeds a crowd.
• Spicy Pretzel Snack Mix — if you want a pretzel-based snack with zero dough-making.
• Quick Breakfast Casserole — a crowd-size recipe that works for brunch or a casual dinner.

Comment down below how your pretzel bites turned out and what sauce you used!