This copycat recipe for soft pretzels is inspired by Auntie Anne’s soft pretzel nuggets. They make a great after school snack and are a fun way to start cooking with kids.
One of our favorite things at the mall are the Auntie Anne’s soft pretzels. We’ve enjoyed many of the varieties, but my kids’ favorite is the pretzel nuggets. I decided to try making them at home and have my kids help me. Vanessa was really excited, but Zack was hesitant to do it with us, but once we got going he really enjoyed it.
First, dissolve 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast, 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon salt in 1 ½ cups warm water
Stir in 4 cups of flour. I used my Kitchen Aid and dough hook.
Knead until smooth and elastic. I let my mixer do the work but this could also be done by hand in the traditional way.
Place dough in a well oiled bowl and turn to coat.
Cover and let rise for one hour until doubled in size.
Preheat oven to 425°F. Turn dough onto floured surface.
Pat down and cut into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a rope and cut into small sections.
Dissolve ¼ cup of baking soda in 2 cups of warm water.
Dip pretzel pieces into baking soda solution.
Place on a greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle pieces with kosher salt.
Bake for 7-8 minutes until golden brown.
Dip each nugget in melted butter and they are ready to eat! We tried sprinkling on additional kosher salt, but it was too much. The kids also tried sprinkling on cinnamon and sugar which they thought was delicious as well!
I quickly folded a paper cup and the kids ran some pretzel nuggets over to our neighbor. Everyone thought they were delicious and my kids keep asking to make them again.
Auntie Anne’s Copycat Soft Pretzel Nuggets
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups warm water
- 4 cups flour
- ¼ cup baking soda
- 2 cups warm water
- 1 tablespoon pretzel salt for topping
- ½ cup butter, melted
Instructions
- Dissolve yeast, sugar and salt in 1 1/2 cups warm water.
- Stir in flour.
- Knead until smooth and elastic.
- Place dough in a well oiled bowl and turn to coat.
- Cover and let rise for one hour.
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Turn dough onto floured surface. Pat down and cut into 12 equal pieces.
- Roll each piece into a rope and cut into small sections.
- Dissolve baking soda in 2 cups warm water.
- Dip dough pieces into baking soda solution.
- Place pieces on a greased cookie sheet.
- Sprinkle with pretzel salt.
- Bake at 425˚F for 7-8 minutes until golden brown.
- Dip each nugget in melted butter after baking.
Notes
Nutrition
recipe inspired by Mall Pretzels
Looking for other after school snacks?
Try making Baked Mozzarella Cheese Sticks or Mini Fruit Pizza
PringleTingle says
what oil did you use to coat the bowl? butter or vegetable oil or something? or pan spray? thank you, ill be making these for my cooking class.
Tonia Larson says
I usually use vegetable oil or olive oil. Good luck!
Angelina says
I was wondering if you’ve experimented with freezing/refrigerating the dough before hand? I want to make a double batch for a Super Bowl party but I’d like to be able to focus on other things and then pull the dough out and pop them in the oven at the last minute so they’re nice and fresh.
Tonia says
Hello Angelina,
I’ve never experimented with freezing/refrigerating the pretzel dough, but that being said you should be able to do either one. Wait to dip them in the baking soda/water mixture until right before baking them. Another idea, to make things easier is that you could bake them, freeze or refrigerate them and then reheat them for the party.
~Tonia
Abi Plunkett says
They were delicous
Kristen Gates says
I cooked mine in my cake pop maker. I weighed out my dough 15g and they only took 3-4 minutes to cook right up. It’s the perfect size!
Jasmine says
These were AMAZING!!! If your pretzels are not turning a nice golden brown, just spray some butter on top and the moisture will start to cook the top. I also bout them in broil for a little bit. Better then Auntie Anne’s!!!
Stacy says
Great recipe. I’ve never made pretzel bites or pretzels before and this was a straight forward recipe. I make a lot bread and was impressed with how easy this dough came together. The recipe was spot on consistency wise. The only thing that I changed was when it came to the butter. I tried one batch and wasn’t happy with the color so I brushed my pieces with melted butter and then sprinkled with salt BEFORE baking. They came out fantastic. Thank you for a great recipe and experience making pretzels.
Kalista says
These are INCREDIBLE! I can’t stop eating them
Shaniya says
Just made these tonight, they really are amazing! Not hard either (which is nice lol) thank you for sharing the recipe 🙂
Karina Cancio says
I cut the recipe in half and these taste amazing. Just like auntie annes!
Tonia says
Fantastic! They are my kid’s favorite! ~Tonia
Jrffrey says
how did you make the paper cups?do you have a guide
trey says
we are now at day 3 of making these. though the first 2 days we did the dough as a pizza instead, tonight we did the bites (though stuffed with cheese and pepperoni). just wanted to say that these turned out amazing and they are crazy easy.
Tonia says
Awesome! We love them too. We make them with Pillsbury dough, homemade dough, and Rhodes bread dough. ~Tonia