Easy homemade soft pretzel bites are buttery and irresistible. This easy pretzel recipe makes the perfect appetizer or snack for game days and parties!
Homemade Soft Pretzel Bites
Making homemade pretzels or homemade bread may seem intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be! Once you get the hang of making yeast bread recipes, you’ll be a pro in no time.
These easy pretzel bites are a great starting point for beginners because they don’t need to rise and are baked in under an hour. I love serving homemade soft pretzel bites as a game day appetizer dipped in pretzel cheese dip!
Table of Contents
Recipe Ingredients
Find the full printable recipe with measurements below.
- Active yeast: You will want to be sure your yeast hasn’t expired and that it foams when mixed with warm water.
- Sugar: This is necessary to give the yeast something to eat and helps make the dough light and airy.
- Salt: I like to use Kosher, but any coarse sea salt will do the trick.
- All-purpose flour: This gives the pretzel bites recipe structure.
- Baking soda: This gets stirred into boiling water and gives the homemade soft pretzel bites their chewy texture.
- Egg: This is to make an egg wash to give a lovely brown color when baking.
- Melted butter: This is optional, but I love to brush butter on the tops after baking and before topping with salt.
Variations
Customizing homemade soft pretzel bites is easy, here are a few favorites to try:
- Cinnamon sugar pretzels: Bake the pretzels (without the salt) until they are golden brown. Roll them in melted butter and then roll the tops and sides in a cinnamon sugar mixture (1/2 cup sugar (granulated or brown sugar) + 2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon).
- Other seasonings: Sprinkle pretzel bits with seasoning blends such as ranch seasoning, cajun seasoning or everything bagel seasoning.
- Cheese: Sprinkle with some Parmesan cheese before baking.
- Vegan: These are already vegan for the most part, just skip the egg wash and brush with dairy free butter.
How To Make Pretzel Bites
- Proof the yeast. Add warm water and yeast in a bowl and let sit for 3 to 5 minutes. Then stir in salt and sugar.
- Knead the dough. Add the flour in a separate large mixing bowl. Then pour yeast mixture on top and knead with a bread hook in an electric mixer (or by hand) for about 5 minutes. The dough should be soft and no longer sticking to the sides.
- Cut into pieces. Separate the dough into 6 sections and then roll each section into ropes. Each rope should be about 15-20 inches long and 1 inch thick. Using scissors, cut the ropes into 1 1/2 – 2 inch pieces. You should end up with about 25-30 pretzel pieces.
- Boil pretzels in baking soda bath. In a small pan, baking soda water to a boil. Place about 8 pieces of dough into the water for about 30 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon and place the pieces onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. This step will create a brown crust and chewy center.
- Brush with egg wash. Brush the dough lightly with the whisked egg and sprinkle salt on top for flavor.
- Bake in oven. Bake at 425°F for 8-10 minutes, or until the pretzels are golden brown. You can turn the oven to broil for the last minute to brown the tops. Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling rack. Brush tops with melted unsalted butter if desired.
Dips for Serving Pretzel Bites
These pretzel bites pair perfectly with so many delicious dips, you can even get fancy and serve them with fondue cheese!
- Homemade queso blanco
- Queso dip with chorizo
- Spinach artichoke dip
- Buffalo chicken dip
- Nacho cheese dip
- Bacon cheddar ranch dip
- Honey mustard sauce
Tips for Success
- The texture of the dough should be soft and no longer sticking to the sides of the bowl. If it’s still really sticky, add 1/4 cup flour at a time until the desired consistency is reached.
- I’d recommend cutting an “x” on top of the dough pieces before baking. This gives the pretzel bites a direction to expand. Without that, they wouldn’t be uniform.
- Although the dough doesn’t need to rise, feel free to let it sit in the bowl for 15-20 minutes before cutting. This will create a fluffier texture and may increase their size a little.
Recipe FAQs
The baking soda wash helps to give them that chewy, pretzel-like texture.
I personally think these pretzel bites are best within the first 2 hours fresh out of the oven.
If you have leftovers, I would store them in the freezer vs. refrigerator. At room temperature, keep pretzels soft store them in a brown bag or covered container up to two days. They may turn a little soggy.
Place leftover pretzel bites in a freezer bag or airtight container and store in the freezer up to 2 months. Heat them back up in the microwave (20-30 seconds) or in the oven until warm.
Want more easy appetizer recipes? Try Greek dip, lil smokies, or Mexican 5 layer dip.
More Game Day Appetizers
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Pretzel Bites Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups warm water
- 1 packet active yeast (or 2 1/4 teaspoons)
- 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons Kosher salt , plus extra for topping
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup baking soda (for boiling water)
- 1 large egg , whisked
- Melted butter , for brushing, optional
Instructions
- In a small bowl, stir together warm water, yeast, and sugar. Let sit 3 to 5 minutes. Add salt and stir.
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
- In the large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, add flour and yeast mixture. Knead 5 minutes. (You can also do this by hand, if preferred).
- Separate dough into 6 sections. Roll each section into ropes, about 15-inches long and 1-inch thick. Cut with scissors into 1 1/2- to 2-inch pieces. This should make about 60 to 75 pretzel pieces. Optional: cut a “t” or “x” on the top of the pretzel with scissors.
- In a small pot, bring about 8 cups water + 1/3 cup baking soda to a boil over medium heat. Once water is boiling, place about 8 pieces of dough into the water for about 30 seconds. Remove with slotted spoon and place pretzel bites onto baking sheet. Brush dough lightly with beaten egg and sprinkle salt on top.
- Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden brown. You can turn the oven to broil for the last minute to brown the tops, if desired. Remove pretzel bites to a cooling rack and brush tops with melted butter, if desired.
- Serve warm with your favorite dipping sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Categorized as: American, Appetizers, Bread, Kid-Friendly, Mini appetizers, Reader Favorites, Super Bowl, Yeast Bread
Jamielyn Nye is the founder and recipe creator at I Heart Naptime. She is the author of the I Heart Naptime Cookbook and shares easy family-friendly recipes and desserts for every occasion.
I made these today for a super bowl party, they came out great! What is the cut ‘x’ for? I didn’t notice that it did anything, except for giving my scissor hand a cramp!
The x on top gives them a direction to expand – without that, they wouldn’t be uniform. :)
These are wonderful, and I pinned to my recipes because I will be making them again and again and…..
I made these today and my husband I both thought they were very good. My dough was stiff and I would not have been able to get the length on rolling to make a pretzel shape. It worked perfect for the bites though.
Pretzel bites turned out great! Totally going to make again
i just made these! They were simple and perfect!! Tasted great, everyone loved them. Thanks!
Can you use pizza dough?
Hi! I haven’t tried it with pizza dough, but it may work. They just may taste more like breadsticks. :)
I found these on Pinterest and tried them for Super Bowl Sunday. They are delicious! We love them. Thanks for sharing your recipe! I know I’ll make them many times.
I’m so glad you liked them Jo! :)
I’m making these now…actually on my second attempt and so far it’s a total kitchen disaster. I followed the recipe exactly, but the first time the dough came out SO sticky that there was no way I could roll it into ropes. It stuck to my hands like stretchy glue. I couldn’t get it off! Even flouring my hands didn’t work (I also tried flouring the cutting board…still waaaay too sticky). I thought maybe it was because I kneaded it with the bread hook in the mixer for 5 minutes. Maybe the directions meant to knead it for 5 minutes only if you’re doing it by hand? So I tried again…this time trying to knead by hand. Same results. I put the dough in the refrigerator because I’d hate to put another batch in the garbage…hopefully this will work. But I’m not sure what I did wrong. I just bought the yeast, so it’s not old… These look amazing in your pictures. There is no way my dough will make ropes like that… Any advice?
Hi Susan! I’m sorry you had trouble with the pretzel bites. The dough shouldn’t be sticky but soft. You may have needed to add more flour, I add more flour until I get the right consistency. Every climate is different so it is hard to know how much flour to add!
Tried these today! Delicious! Thanks for posting!
So glad you enjoyed them Jennie! Thanks for your comment. :)
Awesome idea! Do you know by chance if this would work with a gluten free flour?
I haven’t tried it with gluten free flour so I am not sure! If you have tried it with other recipes and it worked it should be fine for these! :)
I don’t know why recipes with yeast make me nervous. I really want to make these!
Yeast used to make me nervous too! Once you use it once you’ll be inspired to use it in lots of breads and roll recipes. :)
SO yummy! Loved the pretzel bites
Thanks Pam! :)
Hello,
How many pretzel bites does this recipe make? I am having a group of about 10 people and wondering if I need to double up.
Thanks,
Jaclyn
Hi Jaclyn! This recipe made about 25-30 pretzels. So if you are just having pretzels, I would say double it!
I am making these right now and am excited to taste them just wandering why this recipe didn’t need rising time??
Hi! These pretzel bites worked great without rising, but if you made larger pretzels, they would need to rise!
Are these pretzel bites soft like those at the mall or hard and crunchy like from the store?
Soft like those at the mall! :)
So good! I thought they were a little salty though, so next time I’ll make sure to go light with the sea salt on top.
I’m glad you liked them Jessica! They are definitely salty, you’ll have to try cinnamon sugar on them too! :)
I just made these and they turned out GREAT!
I’m glad they turned out well for you Heather, thanks for commenting! I’ve made that mistake before too!
Do you really use 3/4 cups of baking soda?
Hi! Yes I use 3/4 cup baking soda, but some recipes call for a little less so you could do 1/2 cup! :)
The recipe says 1/3 cup baking soda was that changed from 3/4 cup at some point?
Hi Stacey! Yes, the original recipe has 3/4 a cup, but I tried it again with 1/3 cup and it worked just as well. :)
I’d love to take these to a party. Would it be possible to boil the bites, and then pop them in the oven a couple hours later?
Hi Kelly! I have never tried doing this but I would guess that they might get a little soggy. I think these pretzel bites are the best within 2 hours! :)