Homemade Pretzels

Delicious little Homemade Pretzels – bites that you’ll absolutely love to snack on!

If you’d rather skip my helpful tips, tricks, essential cooking information, and delicious similar recipe ideas – and get straight to this recipe – simply scroll to the bottom of the page where you can find the printable recipe card. It’s right there with a pretty yellow background.

I first made these little Homemade Pretzels back in 2010 for my brother-in-law’s bachelor party. Man, were they tasty!

Well, recently we had a small birthday celebration and the birthday boy requested beer and pretzels. It totally reminded me that I had made these and they were awesome!

So, back to make them again!

They’re really fun to make too.

I made the dough before everyone got to my house for the celebration.

I like to use my bread machine for making dough. Makes it easy on me, keeps the cat fur out of the dough, and I can go off and do other things while the machine does the work.

The dough can be made in a bread machine set on the dough setting, just add all ingredients to the machine, and allow the dough cycle to run. Pick up with kneading the dough if made in the bread machine.

Once everyone was there, we all stood around chatting and boiling pretzel dough.

It was perfect, like dinner theater! Then, a few minutes in the oven, and you have yourself a really fun and really yummy appetizer.

Pretzel Salt

I have a small jar with pretzel salt in my cupboard.

I used to buy those frozen soft pretzels that you bake up yourself, and they always come with a packet of pretzel salt. I never want my pretzels as salty as they seem to think people want, so I never used the full packet.

Over the years I saved the salt in a jar and now I have a nice little stash of the granules.

If you don’t have pretzel salt already, Amazon sells it: pretzel salt. Or, I bet a well-stocked grocery store might carry it (just look on the bottom shelf).

Making the pretzels, in pictures

I make the dough in the bread machine. Once the dough cycle is complete, take the dough out, knead it a bit, and place it in an oiled bowl.

Turn the dough over in the bowl so all sides are oiled, and cover with a clean cotton towel or plastic wrap

Prepare a large roasting pan with water and baking soda

Roll the dough into ropes on a lightly floured surface. I also place my ruler (see it at the bottom of the picture) by my work area so I can see how long the ropes are.

Cut the ropes into pieces

Place the cut pieces on a silpat lined cookie or baking sheet so that it’s easy to carry them over to the roasting pan with water and baking soda on the stove

Egg wash and pretzel salt are ready to be used

Brush the egg wash onto the pretzel pieces while the pretzel pieces are on the silpat lined cookie or baking sheet

Sprinkle the egg wash covered pieces with pretzel salt, and into the oven to bake

Here are the baked pretzel bites, all golden and ready to cool a bit so they can be eaten!

After allowing to cool on the baking sheets a little bit, remove them from the baking sheet and place them in a big bowl for serving. Or, for an impressive display, pile them up on a pretty serving platter with some dipping sauce in the center.

Serve these Homemade Pretzels with mustard or cheese sauce if desired, but honestly, they are awesome just simply the way they are.

Homemade Soft Pretzel Bites Recipe

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Homemade Pretzel Bites

Homemade little delicious Pretzels bites that you’ll absolutely love to snack on!

Course Appetizer

Cuisine American

Keyword bites, pretzel

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 2 hours 45 minutes

Total Time 3 hours 5 minutes

Servings 35 servings

Calories 24 kcal

Author Debi

Ingredients

Dough:

• 1 ½ cups warm water
• 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 2 ¼ teaspoons or 1 package active dry yeast
• 3 ounces or 6 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
• 2 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
• 4 ½ to 5 cups all-purpose flour

For cooking/baking:

• Grapeseed oil or other light tasting high temperature oil
• 3 quarts water
• ¾ cup baking soda
• 1 whole egg beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water
• Coarse pretzel salt or sea salt

Instructions

1. The dough can be made in a bread machine set on the dough setting, just add all of the dough ingredients to the machine, and allow the dough cycle to run. Pick up with kneading the dough, if made in the bread machine.
2. If making by hand:
3. Combine the water, sugar, yeast, and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or a food processor, and mix until combined. Let sit for 5 minutes.
4. Add the salt and flour and mix on low speed until combined. Increase the speed to medium and continue kneading until the dough is smooth and begins to pull away from the side of the bowl, about 3 to 4 minutes. If the dough appears too wet, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time.

5. Once dough is made:
   

6. Remove the dough from the bowl or the bread machine, place on a lightly floured surface, and knead into a ball with your hands.

7. Lightly oil a bowl, and place the dough in the bowl. Turn the dough to coat the dough with the oil. Cover the bowl with a clean towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm spot until the dough doubles in size, about 1 hour.

8. Preheat the oven to 425 ° F.
9. Bring the 3 quarts of water to a boil in a small roasting pan over high heat and add the baking soda.

10. Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces, about 4 ¼ to 4 ½ ounces each. Roll each piece into a long rope measuring about 22 inches.

11. Cut the dough into approximately one-inch pieces to make the pretzel bites. Boil the pretzel bites in the baking soda-water solution, in batches, about 15 at a time. Boil for about 30 seconds.

12. Remove the boiled pretzel bites from the water with a large slotted spoon, and place pretzel bites on a Silpat or parchment paper lined baking sheet, making sure the pretzels aren't touching.
13. Brush the tops with egg wash and season with pretzel salt. Place into oven and bake for 15 to 18 minutes until golden brown.
14. Remove to a baking rack and let cool. Devour!

Recipe Notes

Recipe Notes For the serving size, I figured roughly 5 pieces per person is a serving. Of course, this will vary if you have hungry people who eat more bites!

Nutrition Facts

Homemade Pretzel Bites

Amount Per Serving

Calories 24 Calories from Fat 18

% Daily Value*

Fat 2g3%

Saturated Fat 1g6%

Cholesterol 9mg3%

Sodium 893mg39%

Potassium 9mg0%

Carbohydrates 1g0%

Vitamin A 70IU1%

Calcium 5mg1%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.