Auntie Anne’s Pretzel Bites – Copycat Recipe

Sweet or savory pretzel bites with an iconic golden chewy crust and soft homemade pretzel dough, just like Auntie Anne serves them.

No trip to the mall is complete without some fresh Auntie Anne’s Pretzel Bites. 

This recipe is easy and you can make any kind of pretzel bite you like! 

You get the recipe for the original salty soft pretzel bites, mini cinnamon sugar pretzel bites, and the cream cheese dipping sauce in one. 

Before we start: my copycat recipe requires some time for the dough to rise and uses yeast. However, I will share how to make these bites without yeast too.

Why You Need To Make These Pretzel Bites

• Homemade bite-size pretzel pieces are just as good or even better than mall pretzels. And they are so easy to make I guarantee you will do this again.
• Can make a double batch: half with salted coating and half with sweet cinnamon sugar coating for a savory and sweet snack in the afternoon. These baked pretzels make a nice school snack to pack for your kids too. Best part? Kids love them! 
• Perfect Game Day finger food. This recipe alone makes up to 60 pretzel bites and they are easy to customize and go well with so many dips and spreads.
• Buttery, fluffy, chewy, and delicious homemade soft pretzel bite with original flavor and sweeter take. I think cinnamon sugar bites are a lighter, easier, and smaller version of cinnamon rolls.

What Goes In Auntie Anne’s Pretzel Bites Recipe?

Original Pretzel Dough

We are making our dough from scratch and we will let it rise with yeast mixture to get the softest buttery pretzel nuggets that taste good, like homemade baked bread.

• All-purpose flour. Can substitute with bread flour (use the same amount).
• Warm water. Specifically, warm water. Hot or boiling water can kill the yeast and our dream of soft pretzels. 105°-115°F maximum.
• Granulated sugar will add sweetness but most importantly feed the yeast so it rises. You can replace it with honey.
• Instant dry yeast (1 packet). Instant yeast can be replaced with active dry yeast. This recipe doesn’t require much rise time from the dough.
• Kosher salt

Baking Soda Bath

A baking soda bath is an alkaline solution that gives a soft texture, color, and smooth surface to the famous Auntie Anne’s soft pretzels. We can make the baking soda solution and bath at home too.

• water
• baking soda

I don’t use food-grade lye because it is less safe to handle. You need to wear gloves and be very careful. Baking soda bath in my opinion is much easier and safer.

Egg Wash

Beaten egg helps the pretzel bite crust become golden brown in the oven. You will not taste the egg.

• 1 egg
• Splash of water

Salted Coating

• Unsalted butter. I use 3 tablespoons of melted butter to cover all the bites.
• Coarse salt: Coarse sea salt or coarse kosher salt. Good quality salt.
• Cheese sauce, for dipping, is optional.

Cinnamon Sugar Coating

• Cinnamon/sugar mixture. I love using brown sugar (can also do 2 or 3 tbsp of regular sugar and 1 tablespoon of the brown sugar) with cinnamon but regular sugar will work just fine.

Cream Cheese Topping/Dip

For sweet pretzel bites, you can also make a sweet glaze or dipping sauce with 3 simple ingredients.

• Softened cream cheese
• Confectioner’s sugar
• Milk

Kitchen Equipment

• Stand Mixer fitted with dough hook attachment. You can knead the dough by hand if you want. KitchenAid mixer or similar.
• Slotted spoon
• Large baking sheet lined with parchment paper
• Bench scraper or regular knife to divide the dough
• Pot to make the baking soda bath for the dough
• Small bowl to do the coating of the pretzel bites.

How to Make Auntie Anne’s Buttery Pretzel Bites

1 – Prepare The Dough

1. Combine the flour, warm water, sugar, yeast, and kosher salt in a large bowl or bowl of your stand mixer. If the activation of yeast starts you will see foam forming, it may take up to 10 minutes.
2. Use a dough hook or wooden spoon to mix the dough until combined (usually around 10 minutes) not too sticky but pulls away from the bowl sides easily and holds the shape.

It doesn’t matter if you use a dough hook or a spoon, knead the dough until it’s slightly sticky and formed into a ball. 

When using a stand mixer, use medium-low speed to mix the dough.

2 – Let The Dough Rise

1. Grease a large bowl with vegetable oil or nonstick cooking spray.
2. Place the dough ball into the greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap (or towel), and set aside in a warm place to rise for an hour to 90 minutes or until doubled in size. 

3 – Shape The Dough

1. Divide the dough into 6 balls and roll the balls into ropes about an inch wide. Work on a clean work surface, without flour.
    The dough should not be sticking too much. If it does, perhaps you didn’t add flour as per recipe measurements.
2. Cut 1-inch pieces off the ropes and set them aside on a parchment-lined tray. Aim to make equal pieces. They will become a touch bigger once baked.

4 – Baking Soda Bath

1. Combine the water and baking soda in a large stockpot over medium heat and bring to a boil, reduce to a bubbling simmer.
2. Add the dough pieces into the boiling water, just a few at a time to not overcrowd the pot, and boil for a few seconds on each side (they will likely float).
    Do not boil pretzel dough for any longer than 30 seconds, or you are risking to have a metallic taste from the baking soda.
3. Using a slotted spoon, remove the bites from the water and place them on the parchment-lined prepared baking sheet with enough space in between them so they don’t touch.

5 – Bake The Pretzel Bites

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
2. In a small bowl whisk the egg with a splash of water.
3. Brush the egg wash over all the pretzel bites.  
4. Place bites in the oven and bake for 13-15 minutes until golden brown. 
5. Meanwhile, melt the butter.
6. Once the pretzels are browned, remove them from the oven and brush the melted butter over each pretzel bite.

This is exactly what Auntie Anne’s do with their pretzels – when they are hot out of the oven they dip them for 3 seconds in a melted butter bath before they coat them!

6 – Coating

• If making salted pretzel bites: sprinkle them with the coarse kosher or coarse sea salt and serve with cheese sauce.
• If making the cinnamon sugar pretzel bites: place them in a shallow dish with the cinnamon sugar and toss until coated.

Serve warm as they taste the best fresh!

Make the sweet cream cheese dip by whisking together the softened cream cheese, confectioner’s sugar, and milk.

My Favorite Topping For Baked Pretzel Bites

The best thing to top pretzel bites with is Emental cheese. You need to bake it for an additional few minutes but it gives the best cheesy crispy crust over the warm pretzel.

What To Serve With Pretzel Bites

Pretzel bites are versatile and pair well with both sweet and savory sides. For example:

• Classic option – butter.
• Dips: stone ground mustard, cheese sauces, hot sauce, cream cheese dipping, jalapeno cheese dip, marinara dip, and literally any dip you love.
• As little bite-size sandwiches (fantastic finger food) with salmon, tomatoes mozzarella, beef roast, cold cuts, etc. Regular pretzels work best for full-size sandwiches.
• Sweet: with Nutella (homemade or store-bought), peanut butter, or chocolate. Both salty and a cinnamon sugar version go well with sweet dips!

Storage

Store leftover soft pretzel bites in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. At room temperature, they will last 1-2 days in an airtight container.

Can I Freeze Pretzel Bites?

You can freeze the uncooked pretzel bites or baked pretzel nuggets in Ziploc bags without coating for 2-3 months.

If you freeze the dough, it will need to thaw overnight in the fridge before you can bake the pretzels.

How To Reheat Frozen Pretzel Bites

To reheat frozen pretzel bites, let them first thaw to room temperature. At this point, you can eat them.

But if you want a warm pretzel and you need to add coating, then reheat pretzels in the oven for 5 minutes at 350°F if they were stored in the fridge or 15 minutes if frozen.

Only then, add the coating (pretzel salt or cinnamon sugar topping).

Substitutions

• You can make the bite-size pizza version by sprinkling it with parmesan cheese and a pepperoni slice before baking. 
• to make vegan pretzels, use dairy-free butter (nut kinds of butter work amazing!), cream cheese (or make another dip instead of cream cheese), and plant-based milk. And you can skip the egg wash.
• To make this recipe more gluten-free use gluten-free flour. Instant yeast is gluten-free.
• To make pretzel bites sweeter, you can add a little bit of maple syrup to the dough.
• To make the dough richer and more moist you can add neutral-flavored oil like canola oil. Coconut oil will not work here.
• For more flavor and aroma, you can add vanilla, almond, or hazelnut extracts to the dough. If you add crushed toasted almonds these bite-sized pieces will become Auntie Anne’s favorite twist Sweet Almond pretzel.

Tips and Tricks

• Measuring the flour right is very important to make sure the dough is neither sticky nor too dry. Always sift the flour first and then measure 3 cups as my recipe instructs using the spoon-and-level method.
• These sweet yet salty pretzel bites are perfect to make in an air fryer at 350℉  for 7 minutes.
• I highly suggest letting the dough rise naturally but if you don’t have time you can speed up the leavening process by placing the dough covered with a damp towel in the oven preheated at 200°F. Switch off the oven and let the dough sit in the warm oven. It will shorten the rising time in half.
• You can also make these into regular large pretzel shapes. To make regular-sized pretzels just divide the dough into bigger balls (as big as you want). To twist full-size pretzels you will need to make 18-20 inch ropes.

Popular Questions

What Is The Secret Ingredient Which Makes A Pretzel Taste Like A Pretzel?

lye or baking soda bath is what gives the pretzel a brown smooth crust formed while keeping the dough inside soft and chewy.

Does Auntie Anne’s Fry Or Bake Their Pretzels?

Famous Auntie Anne’s pretzel bites and pretzels are baked fresh and are not fried in any oil. They serve classic soft pretzels that need to be baked in the oven.

Can I Make Pretzel Bites Without Yeast?

To bake pretzels without yeast use flour baking powder and baking soda. You can also add yogurt.

Activated yeast helps the dough prove and rise to give us the softest dough, and also more dough. The original flavor of Auntie Anne’s pretzel bites comes from using yeast. 

If you love this copycat pretzel recipe, you’re going to love these other tasty copycat recipes too. Please click each link below to find the easy, printable recipe!

More Great Soft Pretzel Recipes

Sourdough Pretzels

Homemade Soft Pretzels

Cinnamon & Sugar Pretzel Bites

3-Ingredient Soft Pretzels

---

---