This delicious homemade pretzel bites recipe is the PERFECT party or game day food! Don’t be intimidated by the cooking process. It’s way easier than it looks! You will not be disappointed.
Original recipe: February 2012 | Updated: January 2022
Why This Recipe Works
Back in my poor, single years (as opposed to my current poor, married years, ha), I was a waitron at Timberwolves games. Isn’t that a funny word? Waitron?
Anyhow, before the madness began each night, we had the option to eat either a free hot dog or a free soft pretzel. I usually opted for the pretzel, along with a container of warm, gooey cheese for dipping and never got tired of it.
I have not sunk my teeth into a soft pretzel since my waitron days, so when I bit into these my tastebuds did cartwheels! Reunited with the beloved soft pretzel!
Recipe Ingredients
- Dough ingredients – If desired, forego making dough with yeast by either purchasing no-yeast frozen pizza dough from the store or by making a quick no-yeast dough at home. Scroll down for instructions!
- Cheese – Use any variety of melty cheese, such as mozzarella, cheddar, cojack, provolone or muenster.
- Ham – If desired, replace ham with cooked bacon crumbles or cooked ground meat of any variety.
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How To Make Soft Pretzel Bites
Step 1
In a small bowl, combine:
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 cup warm milk (110-115 degrees F)
Stir until the sugar is dissolved.
In a large bowl, combine:
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- Warm milk mixture
- 1 package (1/4 oz.) instant dry yeast
Stir until a soft dough forms. Add more flour as needed (up to 1/2 cup). Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead a few times, forming a smooth ball.
Step 2
Brush the inside of a large clean bowl with olive oil. Transfer the dough to the bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap.
Allow it to rise in a warm, draft-free area for about 2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size and bubbles appear on the surface.
Step 3
Turn the pretzel dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide it into 4 equal pieces.
Lightly dust a rolling pin with flour and roll each piece of dough into roughly a 12×4-inch rectangle. As you can see, my rectangles are not quite rectangles.
Step 4
With the long sides facing you, place the following ingredients onto the bottom third of each piece of dough:
- A quarter of 1/2 cup finely chopped ham
- A quarter of 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
Roll the dough as tightly as you, starting with the long edge holding the ham and cheese.
Cut each roll into 12 equal pieces.
Transfer the pieces to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Let them rest, uncovered, at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
Step 5
Bring 6 cups of water to a boil. Add 4 teaspoons of baking soda to the boiling water and reduce the heat to a gentle simmer.
Boil the pretzels in batches, cooking for about 20 seconds each and turning once. It is totally normal to have a few casualties during this step in the process.
They should look slightly puffed when done. Use a slotted spoon to transfer them back to the baking sheet.
Step 6
Bake in the preheated oven until they are puffed and golden, about 15 minutes.
Brush with 4 tablespoons of melted butter and sprinkle with 1-2 tablespoons of coarse kosher salt.
Serve warm! Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
- Use a thermometer such as the Thermapen to ensure your milk reaches the proper temp (110-115 degrees F).
- Buy pre-cooked, pre-diced ham to make this recipe even easier.
- Any melting cheese works great. Mozzarella, cheddar or provolone are all delicious options.
- Simplify the recipe by making your own quick dough. Skip steps 1 and 2 in the recipe card entirely.
Easy No Yeast Pizza Dough Recipe
With just 20 minutes of prep and 5 ingredients, this no yeast pizza dough is ready to be put in the oven! No yeast, rising or waiting is required and it produces a perfect pizza (or pretzel bites!) every time.
Dips For Pretzel Bites
- Seasoned sour cream
- Ketchup
- Honey mustard dipping sauce
- Cheese dip
- BBQ sauce
- Marinara sauce
- Cilantro lime sauce
- Ranch dressing
FAQ About Pretzel Bites
Pretzel bites are bite-sized version of that delicious, salty soft pretzel snack we all know and love.
Making pretzel bites without yeast is easy! Simply create your own easy no-yeast pizza dough and substitute for any dough called for in the recipe.
Pretzel bites can be reheated in a 350-degree oven for 15 minutes or in the microwave on 1-minute bursts.
What is a Pretzel?
There are two ways to prepare pretzels, but our version is similar to the original breaded treat from Germany. Maybe you’re familiar with them from a street cart vendor or a mall shop that entices you to buy one from the smells wafting around you.
While it can be served in a variety of ways, the treat was often twisted into a knot and salted with a chewy exterior and a soft bread interior. Using lye was one way to prepare pretzel’s and a baking soda bath is a more simpler way, that we use in our recipe.
Pretzels can be prepared with salt, sugar, dipped into cheese or chocolate and also served hard like a chip or soft like the bread made in this recipe. Its fun to create different shapes and flavors to enjoy this old school treat!
Party Food Recipes
- Instant Pot Cake made with a BOX MIX is super moist and flavorful and much less porous than its oven-baked counterpart. Make this easy dessert for your next party!
- Fries or chips served with Seasoned Sour Cream makes the perfect party food.
- This EASY 3 can chili recipe requires is a super comforting dish that is packed with flavor and requires only 30 minutes of your time. Great for gatherings!
- The Bootleg Drink is Minnesota’s signature cocktail. This delicious, summery citrus drink is the perfect beverage to enjoy on a hot summer day!
- Pickle Rollups are most perfect appetizer for any type of gathering! Only THREE ingredients, ten minutes of your time and guests will be raving!
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Homemade Pretzel Bites Recipe with Ham and Cheese
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 cup warm milk (110-115 degrees F)
- 2 1/2-3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 package instant dry yeast 1/4 oz.
- 1/2 cup ham finely chopped
- 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese shredded
- 6 cups water
- 4 tsp baking soda
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter melted
- 1-2 tbsp coarse kosher salt
Instructions
- In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar and warm milk until dissolved. In a large bowl, combine 2 ½ cups flour, the milk mixture and the yeast. Stir until a soft dough forms. Add the remaining flour as needed. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead a few times, forming a smooth ball.
- Brush the inside of a large clean bowl with olive oil. Transfer the dough to the bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to rise in a warm, draft-free area for about 2 hours, until dough has doubled in size and bubbles appear on the surface.
- Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into 4 equal pieces. Lightly dust hands and rolling pin with flour. Roll one of the four sections into a 12×4-inch rectangle. With the long side facing you, gently press ¼ of the ham and cheese into the bottom third of the dough, and roll as tightly as possible, starting with the end that has the filling. Cut into 12 1-inch pieces and transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat with remaining 3 portions of dough.
- Let rest, uncovered, at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Bring 6 cups of water to a boil. Add the baking soda and reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Boil pretzels in batches, cooking about 20 seconds each, turning once. They should be slightly puffed. Use a slotted spoon to transfer them back to the baking sheets. Bake until puffed and golden-brown, about 15 minutes. Brush warm pretzel bites with melted butter and sprinkle with salt. Serve warm.
Notes
- Use a thermometer such as the Thermapen to ensure your milk reaches the proper temp (110-115 degrees F).
- Buy pre-cooked, pre-diced ham to make this recipe even easier.
- Any melting cheese works great. Mozzarella, cheddar or provolone are all delicious options.
- Simplify the recipe by making your own quick dough. Skip steps 1 and 2 in the recipe card entirely.
This is one of my families favorite things to eat, in fact I triple the recipe.
We do half with ham and the other half with just cheese(we have a son who doesn't eat meat) we also have tried them with pepper jack cheese
I made these last night – amazing!!! Just curious, has anyone tried making them using whole wheat flour? Did it work?
Hi Teri! I would suggest serving these warm. They are best made right before serving, but can also be made in advance and warmed in the oven on low heat. I hope this helps!
Megan
These sound like a great appetizer. How far in advance can I make them? Can they be served at room temperature?
These sound like a great appetizer. How far in advance can I make them? Can they be served at room temperature?
Hi April! By "warm milk mixture," I was referring to the mixture listed in the step just above that one:
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 cup warm milk (110-115 degrees F)
I hope that helps!
Megan
Looks so good! What is "warm milk mixture"?
I made these for a party and they were a huge hit. I boiled them before cutting like prior poster mentioned and it worked great. These are now my go to appetizer for parties.
Question of inexperience… why do you have to boil them?
I loved it and my family loved it… I did cut them in half for the boiling and had no problem at all 😀 Thanks for sharing!!!
I want to make these up this weekend but I only have active dry yeast on hand, and don't want to go buy instant yeast if I already some active dry. How can I alter this recipe to account for the active dry as opposed to instant?
Made these for a party. They were gone in 5 minutes! Skipped the boiling stage and they turned out fantastic. I think it is mostly for color.
wouldnt it be less messy if you boiled the strips of pretzel dough before cutting it into bite sized pieces? boil the rolled up stuffed dough remove from water then slice? just an idea
Do these need to be boiled, or can they be baked without the "boiling" step? I would also like to know if these can be prepared ahead of time, like Joany mentioned.
I would love to make these for a family gathering, some day soon. Can't wait to try them.
Hi Megan, I wanted to let you know that in my search for tasty recipes I found yours through another post on another blog and tracked it through Pinterest, and because I thought this recipe looked wonderful it is being featured on Tasty Bites and you can find it here. Tasty Bites Featured Recipes I have also purchased the ingreients to make this tasty pretzels and thinking they would freeze well after baking for a "grab me a treat snack" Hope you dont mind. Have a great day! Karren
Made these yesterday. That are delicious! Made a couple of changes. First, I didn't boil them. Just baked them and they came out lightly browned and golden. Second, I used Swiss cheese for a bit more flavor. The recipe was super easy. I recommend this to everyone!
I tried this with gluten free flour and it didn't rise. I dint know what I did wrong. I'm still going to put them in the oven without having the filling and see how they taste
KT – I live in Denver and made these recently. I didn't add anything extra when I made these (I was given the advice to make a recipe as is at least once…you never know what's going to work here and what won't). However, I did not add additional flour as the recipe says to if needed. Mine seemed fine with 2 1/2 cups. The only other change I made was rising time. Mine only took about an hour to double in size. Otherwise, I followed the recipe and they turned out great! Good luck!
Yum! These are delicious. I just took my batch out of the oven and could barely wait for them to cool down to try one. This recipe is definitely being added to my box. Thanks for a great recipe!
Question, has anyone tried these with Gluten Free flour? If so, how did they turn out? 🙂