Easy 30 Minute Homemade Soft Pretzels Recipe
Amazingly easy homemade soft pretzels recipe with no complicated steps and no rising or boiling – they are ready in 30 minutes, making them perfect for easy snacks and fun meals. Made from scratch with just a few simple ingredients, these delicious soft pretzels are a great kitchen activity for the whole family. Give this simple process a try and create some unforgettable memories along with a healthy snack!
✩ What readers are saying…
“OH. MY. GOSH!!!! I’d never made pretzels until just now, and I was honestly sort of scared to make them. But now I know that there’s nothing to be afraid of. THESE PRETZELS ARE THE BOMB.COM!!!!” – Cate
While this homemade soft pretzels recipe creates salty, chewy, and soft oven baked pretzels that taste wonderful, there is another reason you may want to make these:
They are the easiest homemade pretzel recipe you’ll find – ready in just 30 to 45 minutes, start to finish (depending on your “helpers,” that is). No kneading, no rising, no boiling soda bath – just mix, shape and bake!
Not only does this quick method make pretzels a fun addition to a bowl of soup like homemade tomato, cheesy cauliflower, or Cajun chicken barley, or as an appetizer of soft pretzel bites dipped in roasted tomato sauce, they are also kid friendly at all ages!
In fact, they were one of the most requested recipes from my kids when they were growing up – and all their friends.
Seriously, I was completely surprised over and over again how popular these were with kids, as both an activity and to eat. If you have kids, grandkids, or ever babysit, grab this recipe for your activities list – you will all come to love it, I’m sure!
Do these turn out like traditional soft pretzels?
I’m not going to pretend like they are the best soft pretzels anywhere – you know, like the ones from the popular stores that sell them. They do not have that signature shiny-extra chewy crust that comes from boiling in water.
But there is an egg wash that helps mimic the boiling stage with a crispy crust out of the oven – and they DO have the chewy and soft texture like all good pretzels do.
So these aren’t just a roll shaped like a pretzel! They taste amazing out of the oven on the day they are made.
Your whole family will be pretty happy with the results, too. They are usually gone in a day at our house.
Recipe Ingredients & Substitutions
You’ll need the following ingredients to make these amazing soft pretzels recipe:
- Flour – I’ve used everything from whole wheat pastry flour, to half whole wheat-half all-purpose, to all unbleached all-purpose. Basically use what you have.
- Instant yeast – You can also use active dry yeast: Let the yeast sit for about 5 minutes in step 1 instead of adding the flour right away.
- Honey – You can substitute white sugar if you need.
- Salt – it will seem like a lot, but these are not too salty, even with the salt topping. Experiment at your own risk.
- Topping: egg wash and coarse salt – this is not optional as it helps replicate the crispy exterior of a baking soda bath.
How to make homemade soft pretzels: step by step
Here are a few helpful visual instructions – the full instructions with exact ingredients can be found in the printable recipe card below.
Step 1: Combine ingredients. Mix the yeast, warm water, honey and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the flour and start mixing. Kid Tip: Let children dump each ingredient into bowl – separate the cups of flour so each can do one if there is more than one child.
Step 2: Mix dough. Mix until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl (you do not need the dough hook attachment). The dough should be smooth to the touch and not sticking to your finger when touched.
Step 3: Shape dough. Separate the dough into pieces. I just eyeball it, but you can cut the dough into 12 pieces if you want. Roll each piece into a long roll if making shapes. For pretzel bites you can get almost double – cut into about 20 pieces and shape into rounds.
Step 4: Topping. Place the pretzels on a prepared baking sheet (greased or lined with parchment paper or silicone baking mats) as you shape them. Whisk an egg until foamy and brush onto each shaped pretzel. Sprinkle with a coarse salt like kosher salt.
Step 5: Bake. They’ll only need about 13-15 minutes to bake until golden. Remove them to a wire rack to let cool until you can touch them and then dig in!
Tips for Making With Kids
I started making these when my kids were little as something fun to do when they had playdates. Once they made them, kids always wanted to make pretzels whenever they came over- not anything else!
Why is this great for kids?
Since there are only a few ingredients to mix up and no waiting for kneading or rising, the kids can move from helping to add ingredients right to shaping their own pieces of dough.
What part can kids do?
Shape dough.
Brush egg wash and sprinkle salt. We call it “painting” the dough and it’s one of the favorite helping parts.
The littlest people can help pour in the ingredients and just pat the dough if rolling is too hard – all shapes are allowed, not just traditional pretzel shapes (as you can see in the photo below).
At about four and up, rolling is easy and all kinds of shapes become within reach. The dough is pretty easy to shape and doesn’t spring back like a lot of bread doughs can.
Ideas for shaping soft pretzel dough
Here are a few different shapes you can make with your quick dough:
- Letters – This is a great crossover activity for preschoolers learning their letters. I always help kids make the first letter of their name, if they need it, even the littlest children. Just one more way that they start to recognize “their” letter.
- Hearts– Valentines, anyone?
- Traditional pretzel shapes – if you want bigger, looser shapes just grab a bigger piece of dough.
- Blobs – The “blob” is for those little ones who just can’t grasp the rolling technique yet. It’s fun to let them make whatever shape they want, helping only when they ask so that they have a feeling of accomplishment.
- Pretzel Bites – use a smaller piece of dough and shape into a simple round or make a bigger, thicker log and cut off bite-size pieces.
No matter what the shape, when anyone takes a first bite of one of these soft pretzels, the pretzel tastes that much sweeter from the hands that made it, don’t you think?
Recipe Tips & Storage
- In my experience, kids will be tired of this after making just 2-3 shapes, so be prepared to make the rest of the shapes yourself.
- The pretzels don’t really taste as good the next day – they lose that fresh from the oven crisp that helps them resemble soft pretzels.
- Storage: That said, I’ve had some luck storing in an airtight container for a day, or freezing them for longer, and then thawing and using a toaster oven to heat them up again.
- I suggest making only one batch. This isn’t really the time to double the recipe, or you will find yourself rolling, and rolling!
Jami’s Biggest Tip
The egg wash is crucial to giving this simple bread dough the chewy mouth feel of a pretzel- so don’t skip this step or use butter instead if you can at all help it. While butter tastes good, it makes the pretzel more like a roll in texture.
Your Questions Answered
Sure – add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon to the dough and shake a cinnamon-sugar mixture on top of the egg wash before baking instead of salt.
If you would like to have a darker color and to lock in the soft interior – and you have the time – you can boil the shaped pretzels before baking: bring a pot with about 6 cups of water and 1/4 cup of baking soda to a boil. Dip the pretzels in for about 25 seconds with a slotted spoon and place on prepared baking sheet. Continue with the recipe.
While I haven’t tried it, I think you could make it a couple hours ahead of time and store it in the fridge until you’re ready to shape since it’s a yeast-based dough.
I use any flour, but bread flour has more gluten for structure which may make it easier to shape the dough.
While there is a type of salt called pretzel salt, any coarse salt like kosher or Maldon will work.
Yes you can make these without a stand mixer! Simply mix all the ingredients with a spoon until it’s all combined. Then knead the dough for a couple minutes until smooth to mimic the stand mixer action – try not to use any extra flour if at all possible (you can oil your hands as an option if it’s too sticky).
More Easy Snack Recipes To Try
- Easy Chocolate Chip Almond Granola Bites (+ Variations)
- Ultimate No-Bake Chewy Granola Bars
- Easy No Bake Chocolate Almond Oat Cups (Dairy Free, Gluten Free)
Best Comments
Hands down THE BEST pretzel recipe I have ever made. Used whole wheat pastry flour and they were excellent. Super quick recipe too, definitely a keeper. Thank you! -Lisa
Just made them with my 8 and 5 year old boys and they said they were the best pretzels ever so I guess they were a hit. Helping to make them was educational for them too. Thanks for the great recipe. -Andrea
Made these with my son this evening using whole wheat flour and they turned out great! We had so much fun making different shapes. Thanks for posting! -Bel
Just wanted to let you know that I made these tonight with my 9 & 4 year old little neighbor boys and they LOVED them! Such an easy, quick and fun recipe. Thanks so much for sharing! -Jane
I hope you love this homemade soft pretzels recipe! If you make it, be sure to leave a recipe rating so I know how you liked it!
Want to save this?
Enter your email below and you’ll get it straight to your inbox. Plus you’ll get easy new recipes, gardening tips & more every week!
Easy 30 Minute Homemade Soft Pretzels Recipe
Equipment
- stand mixer
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoons instant yeast*
- 1½ cups warm water
- 1 tablespoons honey or sugar
- 1 tablespoons salt**
- 4 cups flour***
- 1 egg for wash-don't skip since we're not boiling
- salt for sprinkling, kosher is best but sea salt will do fine
Instructions
- Combine yeast, water, honey, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Stir in flour and mix until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl (1-2 minutes). The dough should be smooth to the touch, and will stick only when pulling off pieces- as soon as you start rolling for the pretzel shape, it should not stick to your hands or surface (add just a touch more flour if you have sticking problems- I never have, though).
- Start preheating the oven to 425 degrees.
- Pull off pieces of dough (alternately, pat dough out and cut to get more even pieces), shape into letters, hearts, pretzels, animals, little bites, etc. and place on two lined or greased cookie sheets. TIP: Fill one sheet at a time, as the first sheet will be done before you've finished shaping all the pretzels for the second sheet.
- Mix the egg with a bit of water and brush all over the dough shapes, then sprinkle with some salt.
- Bake for 13-15 minutes at 425 degrees until golden brown.
- Cool on a wire rack for a few minutes before taking the first fabulous bite!
Notes
Nutrition
This recipe has been updated – it was first published in 2011, updated in 2018 and again in 2024.
I might have needed more water, the dough was so dry and I never got it to where it was very workable but the pretzels weren’t too bad. I should have added a little more water maybe. Might try again.
I think that would be a good idea, Roger – with bread I always try to read the dough and add more flour/water as needed to get a soft, but not too sticky consistency.
Perfect and very easy . My granddaughters loved making them and eating them
Wonderful! Thank you for the review!
Really easy recipe to follow and great results
Thank you for the review, Mark – so glad you enjoyed these!
OH. MY. GOSH!!!! I’d never made pretzels until just now, and I was honestly sort of scared to make them. But now I know that there’s nothing to be afraid of. THESE PRETZELS ARE THE BOMB.COM!!!!
THANK YOU JAMI!!!!!!!!!
Wow, thank you so much for this great review, Cate – I’m thrilled you like them so!!
It’s so sticky we’ve added like ten extra cups of flour
Hmmm, 10? No sure what happened there, but I’ve made this probably 50 times and that’s never happened.
Jami-I’m planning on using this recipe next week for a Mini 4-H Day Camp as part of an Around the World in 6 hours theme. We’ll be making the pretzels for part of the European Continent.
My intern and I just made a batch to ensure I can get 20 kid size pretzels out of a batch. Worked perfectly! So kid friendly!
Oh, great – I’m so glad you got that many out of it. If they’re like the kids I’ve made them with they will LOVE them!
very easy and fast
Do you have to use a stand mixer? I don’t have one.😫
Yes, but you can make these without one since it’s a no-knead dough (well, you could do it if it was a kneaded dough, but it would be more work, lol). Simply mix all the ingredients with a spoon until it’s all combined. Then I would go ahead an knead the dough for a couple minutes until smooth to mimic the stand mixer action.
I only have AP flour – do you have to do 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 AP or could you use only AP flour?
You can use all AP!
What can I brush them with, as I am allergic to eggs ?? Love ALL your gradening ideas and recipes !!
Janie from Snohomish, WA
You can use butter! It won’t be quite the same as far as the crisp crust, but still really good.
So glad you like the recipes and garden ideas here!
Hands dow THE BEST pretzel recipe I have ever made. Used whole wheat pastry flour and they were excellent. Super quick recipe too, definitely a keeper. Thank you!
I’m so glad you liked these, Lisa – they are So good right out of the oven, aren’t they? 🙂
Can you make the dough ahead of time?
I haven’t tried that, but I think you could hold it in the fridge for a few hours.
I have tried whole wheat pastry flour in yeast recipes in past without success. Those were for rolls though and they didn’t rise. Does it work here because they don’t rise as much as rolls or bread?
Yes, Jaclyn, it’s because they’re not a full rise recipe. I also make them with half all-purpose and half whole wheat and haven’t really noticed a difference between them. Definitely do what you’re comfortable with!
I’m planning to make these as “Friendship Pretzels” at my daughter’s Butterbean Cafe birthday party. What do you recommend for making them cinnamon sugar pretzels? Thanks! 🙂
I’d add cinnamon to the dough and then sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar instead of salt. Hope this turns out – sounds like a fun party. 🙂
Tried making these pretzels today not coming out dough is separating made these a bunch of times does the hot weather have anything to do with it?
How odd! Maybe the weather would, though I never noticed it. Hopefully it’s just a one-time thing!
Could this recipe be used to make pretzels dogs?
I haven’t done that, but you could sure try, Katrina.
Glad to find you ! Perfect idea to have fun in the kitchen with my son ! Thank you !
Hope you enjoy it!
Just stumbled on this recipe. I am thinking of doing this for a youth group event at my church. Can I prepare the dough in advance (like 2-3 hours before we roll it out)? Or will the consistency of the dough be too messy/difficult to work with if it sits too long? Would I leave it at room temp or put in the fridge? Thanks!
Sounds fun, Gail! I’ve never tried making it in advance, but because it’s a yeast dough, I think it would be fine. I’d keep it in the fridge, though, and bring it out about 45 minutes before rolling it.
I was wondering if I could use active dry yeast for this recipe, and if so how much would I use and would I have to proof it first?
I’ve used it in the past, Elaina – I just let it sit for about 5 minutes in step one instead of adding the flour right away. It’s sort of proofing anyway, isn’t it? They turned out fine. 🙂
it looks yummy and i love them so much. i can eat it all 😀 is it safe for 2 y/o baby?
It’s just bread, Maya, so as long as your 2-year old is eating all types of foods, it should be fine. The pretzels are a little chewy, though, so I’d just break of little pieces and give them to the baby.
thanks jami she’s my first baby so i ask alot 😀 its soooo yumm by the way we tried it and i gave it to her with a small cup of milk