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Soft Pretzel Bites are delicious, buttery pretzels in snack size bites baked and served with easy-to-make gooey cheddar cheese sauce. Watch the video in the recipe card at the end of this post to see how to make soft pretzel bites and the cheese dip too!
Each little pretzel bite is soft and fluffy on the inside, with a perfectly chewy, slightly crisp exterior thanks to a quick baking soda bath. Sprinkle them with coarse salt and pair them with a melty, savory cheese sauce for an addictive, pub-style snack that disappears fast. If you’d prefer to make full size pretzels, try our recipe for Homemade Soft Pretzels.
Ingredients Needed:
- Butter: You’ll need salted butter for the pretzel dough and unsalted butter for the cheese sauce.
- Sugar: Brown sugar is added to the pretzel dough to create a slight amount of sweetness.
- Yeast: You’ll need active dry yeast.
- Kosher Salt: You can also use flaky sea salt.
- Flour: Use all purpose flour.
- Warm Water and Cold Water: Warm water is used in the pretzel dough to activate the yeast. Cold water will be brought to a boil when you boil the pretzels.
- Baking Soda: This is added to the boiling water for the pretzels. It’s what gives them their deep golden color, chewy texture, and distinctive pretzel flavor.
- Egg: This is brushed on top of the soft pretzel bites before baking. It will help them achieve their golden color and it will help the salt to adhere to the pretzel too.
- Milk: This is used for the cheese sauce. Whole milk or 2% will give it the best texture.
- Cheese: We use sharp cheddar cheese for the cheese sauce, but you can experiment with other cheeses, if you’d like.
How to make Soft Pretzel Bites:
The full, printable recipe is in the recipe card at the end of this post (along with a how-to video!)
You’ll begin by making a traditional soft pretzel dough. It’s a yeasted dough, so it will be kneaded and given a chance to rise. The risen dough is flattened into a disk and cut into 8 wedges. Each wedge is rolled into a long rope. Each rope is cut into 1-inch bite-sized pieces.
The pretzel pieces are dropped in boiling water for about 35 seconds, and then they are removed from the water and placed onto a baking sheet. An egg wash is brushed on top. And then salt is sprinkled on last.
The soft pretzel bites are baked for about 15 minutes- until they are golden brown.
Soft Pretzel Bites with cheese sauce are the perfect snack food. They’re a comforting treat for happy hour, Game Day, an appetizer to share with friends or for a rainy day. They are also a fun project to make with kids. You might also like to try making other classic snacks such as Muddy Buddies or Frito Snack Mix.
How to make cheese sauce for Soft Pretzel Bites:
Pretzel bites need cheese sauce for dipping! Melt butter in a saucepan. Whisk in flour. Then whisk in milk. Once the milk has thickened, stir in shredded cheese. Then you’ll have the most fabulous cheese sauce!
Hot Tip: Add a few jalapeno slices to the cheese sauce to add in a little bit of spicy flavor.
Fun facts About Pretzels:
- In the late 18th century, southern German and Swiss German immigrants introduced the pretzel to North America. The immigrants became known as the Pennsylvania Dutch. Many handmade pretzel bakeries began popping up in the central Pennsylvania countryside.
- In the 20th century, soft pretzels became popular in other regions of the United States. Cities such as Philadelphia, Chicago and New York became renowned for their soft pretzels.
- Hard pretzels originated in the United States, where, in 1850, a bakery in Pennsylvania became the first commercial hard pretzel bakery. Snyders of Hanover Pretzels (still in Hanover, PA… and still owned and run by the founding family) were invented in 1909. And the Rold Gold Pretzel brand was established in 1917.
- The annual United States pretzel industry is worth over $1.2 billion. The average American consumes about 1.5 pounds of pretzels per year.
- April 26th is National Pretzel Day.
Soft Pretzel Bites with Cheese Sauce
Video
Ingredients
PRETZELS:
- 1½ cups warm water
- 6 tablespoons salted butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- One .25-ounce envelope active dry yeast
- 2½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 3 quarts cold water
- ½ cup baking soda
- 1 large egg (whisked with 1 tablespoon water)
- coarse salt
CHEESE SAUCE:
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1 cup milk
- 8 ounces (2 cups) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Instructions
PREPARE THE PRETZELS:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with a hook attachment, add the water, butter, brown sugar, yeast and salt. Mix until well combined. You can do this by hand if you need to- just use a sturdy wooden spoon to mix, and make sure it's mixed well. Let sit for 5 minutes.
- Turn the mixer on low speed and add 1 cup of flour at a time. Add an additional ½ cup of flour to the mixture if the dough still seems sticky. Increase speed to medium and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, 4 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle in more flour if the dough still seems sticky. Again– you can do this all by hand if you need to. It'll take some arm strength to stir in the flour and knead the dough. Spray a large bowl with nonstick spray. Add the dough to the bowl. Cover loosely with a clean dishtowel and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 425℉. Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Bring 3 quarts of water to a boil in a large saucepan. Sprinkle in the baking soda and return to a boil. While the water is preparing to boil, remove the dough from the bowl and flatten it into a disc. Cut it into 8 wedges. Roll each wedge into a 24-inch rope. Cut each rope into 1-inch pieces. Drop batches of the dough pieces into the boiling water for about 35 seconds. Then use a slotted spoon to transfer them to the prepared pan and spread them out so none of them are touching. Brush the egg wash over the tops of each boiled dough piece. Repeat with the remaining dough. Sprinkle with salt.
- Bake until golden brown- 14 to 16 minutes. Cool before serving.
PREPARE THE CHEESE SAUCE:
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and cook for 30 seconds. Slowly whisk in the milk until no lumps of flour remain. Bring to a simmer (whisking constantly) over medium-low heat until it thickens, about 3 minutes.
- Whisk in the shredded cheese until all of the cheese has melted. Serve immediately while warm- with the pretzel bites.
Nutrition
This recipe comes from RecipeBoy.com
