Easy to make soft pretzels that taste just like Auntie Anne’s. Ready in just a little over an hour. You can top them with salt, cinnamon-sugar, garlic parmesan and dunk them in your favorite pretzel dips!

garlic parmesan soft pretzels with text on brown surfaceHand me a napkin, please.

Let’s get messy today with loads of yummy grated parmesan and ohhh yeah, GARLIC. Yeah, you down? I won’t even judge if you’ve got parmesan and garlic crumbs all over your face. Nope. No judging here! Mainly because that was me about 15 seconds ago.

Can I be honest with you? I am totally a jalapeño pretzel kinda gal. But one bite of these garlic parmesan soft pretzels and I. am. hooked.

But maybe garlic parmesan pretzels are totally not your thing? It’s cool. I can dig it. In this post, you’re going to learn how to make 3 different flavors. That’s right ladies and gentlemen. WHAM, BAM, YES MA’AM! I’ve got the ever so popular original with coarse salt, the cinnamon-sugar sweetie, and of course the robust garlic parmesan pretzel.

baking sheet pan with parmesan soft pretzels with scattered grated parmesanYou know, I always thought homemade pretzels were time consuming. And honestly, I also assumed there were a headache to make. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised!

So today, I’m sharing a soft pretzel recipe thats a breeze to make. You WONT even need a mixer. Shut the front door! If that isn’t easy, I don’t know what is. We’re doing 10 short minutes of prep. Waiting an hour. And then a zippy 10 minutes to baking the pretzel and gobbling large bites.

Let’s start making these goodies, shall we? First, you’re going to stir a packet of yeast into a bowl of warm milk – 1 cup exactly. Don’t be afraid of yeast! I know it can be intimidating. I was too. But, truuuust me. It’s reallly not that bad.

ingredients to make soft pretzelsOnce the yeast has had a couple of minutes to bathe, add the brown sugar and 1 cup of the flour. Stir everything using a wooden spoon. Add the butter, keep mixing.  Once mixed, add the rest of the flour and the salt. The dough is going to get really sticky.

Dumb the dough out onto a floured surface and knead. If the dough is too sticky add a few teaspoons of flour at a time until the dough is smooth but still tacky.  The whole process should take 5 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm place. Wait 1 hour.

dough for soft pretzels in yellow bowl on white surface

At this point, if you’re making the garlic parmesan pretzels: Combine the 6 tablespoons of parmesan and the 2 1/2 teaspoons of granulated garlic. You are going to add a few tablespoons of this mixture to your dough.

If you’re making the cinnamon-sugar pretzels: Combine 1/4 cup granulated sugar with 1 tablespoon of cinnamon.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and grease a large baking sheet. Line with parchment or a silicone pad.

Punch the dough to deflate it. Then turn out onto a lightly floured surface. For garlic parmesan soft pretzels: add 3 tablespoons of the garlic parmesan mixture and continue to knead the dough until the mixture is spread evenly. Check to see if the dough is tight. If it is, cover and let rest until it relaxes. Divide the dough into 6 pieces. Roll and stretch each piece with the palms of your hands into a 30-inch rope, holding the ends and slapping the middle of the rope on the counter as you stretch. Form each rope into a pretzel shape.

Dissolve the baking soda in 3 cups warm water in a shallow baking dish. Gently dip each pretzel into the baking soda bath. Arrange pretzels on prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle with coarse salt if making the original soft pretzels. Bake until golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter. Brush bottoms of pretzels with melted butter. Flip pretzels over and continue to brush the butter.

For garlic parmesan soft pretzels: sprinkle the remaining garlic parmesan mixture over the soft pretzels.

For cinnamon-sugar soft pretzels: sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture over the pretzels. Alternately, you can place the cinnamon-sugar mixture in a shallow dish and dip each side of the pretzel until evenly coated.

Enjoy large bites of these deliciously soft pretzels.prepared pretzels on dark brown surface

Yield: serves 6

Garlic Parmesan Soft Pretzels

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Additional Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup milk (whole or 2%)
  • 1 package active dry yeast
  • 3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter (melted), plus more for greasing
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/3 cup baking soda
  • 3 cups warm water

For garlic parmesan pretzels:

  • 6 tablespoons grated parmesan
  • 2 and 1/2 teaspoons granulated garlic powder

Instructions

    1. Warm the milk in a saucepan until it's about 110 degrees; pour into a medium bowl and sprinkle the yeast. Let the yeast soften, about 2 minutes. Stir in the brown sugar and 1 cup flour with a wooden spoon. Add 2 tablespoons of butter, keep mixing. Add the rest of the flour and the salt. The dough is going to get really sticky.
    2. Dump the dough out onto a floured surface and knead. If the dough is too sticky add a few teaspoons of flour at a time until the dough is smooth but still slightly tacky. The whole process should take 5 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
    3. If you're making the garlic parmesan pretzels: Combine the parmesan and the granulated garlic. Set aside for later use. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and grease a large baking sheet. Line with parchment or a silicone pad. When the dough has risen, punch the dough to deflate it. Then turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Add 3 tablespoons of the garlic parmesan mixture and continue to knead the dough until the mixture is spread evenly. Check to see if the dough is tight. If it is, cover and let rest until it relaxes.
    4. Divide the dough into 6 pieces. Roll and stretch each piece with the palms of your hands into a 30-inch rope, holding the ends and slapping the middle of the rope on the counter as you stretch. Form each rope into a pretzel shape.
    5. Dissolve the baking soda in 3 cups warm water in a shallow baking dish. Gently dip each pretzel into the baking soda bath. Arrange pretzels on prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle with coarse salt if making regular pretzels (see note). Bake until golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter. Brush bottoms of pretzels with melted butter. Flip pretzels over and continue to brush the butter. Sprinkle the remaining garlic parmesan mixture over the pretzels.

Notes

  • For regular pretzels: omit the garlic parmesan mixture from the dough and as a topping. Sprinkle the pretzels with coarse salt prior to baking.
  • For cinnamon sugar pretzels:* combine 1/4 cup granulated sugar with 1 tablespoon cinnamon. Divide the dough and bake without any additions in the dough, following the steps listed in the instructions. After brushing the baked pretzels with butter, sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture over the pretzels generously. Alternately, you can place the cinnamon-sugar mixture in a shallow dish and dip each side of the pretzel until evenly coated.

    Recipe slightly adapted from Food Network

Have you made this recipe?

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