Homemade soft pretzel rolls come together quickly with a few basic kitchen ingredients. For the best results, follow my step photos and detailed instructions. You’ll love this dinner roll version of soft pretzels!
Meet soft pretzel rolls, the mealtime-appropriate version of soft pretzels. Instead of shaping the dough into traditional pretzels, we simply craft the dough into balls. Like soft pretzel bites, but bigger! I know we all like the sounds of that. There’s a lot to cover today so let’s dive right in.
These Soft Pretzel Rolls Are:
- Made with 7 basic ingredients
- Extra chewy
- Soft and fluffy in the centers
- Easier than you think
- Loaded with real pretzel flavor
- Topped with crunchy coarse salt
- Baked to golden brown perfection
Behind the Recipe
Are you familiar with my soft pretzels recipe? It’s a completely un-intimidating approach to making pretzels from scratch. If you have zero skill in the kitchen, you can make homemade soft pretzels. I even turned this recipe into soft pretzel knots and jalapeño cheddar soft pretzels, too. But for soft pretzel rolls, we skip the twisting/shaping and form the dough into balls. Much easier.
To make soft pretzel rolls, we use the exact same dough that we use to make soft pretzels. This simple dough comes together with incredibly basic ingredients like water, yeast, butter, brown sugar, salt, and flour. Separate, they’re awesome. Together? Soft pretzels!
The primary difference between the two is that today’s rolls require a little extra rise time. We want the rolls to be fluffier than regular soft pretzels, so we give the dough a few extra minutes to rest—it’ll nearly double in size. See the photo of dough above and the one right below? There’s about 1 hour between the two photos—some great rise there.
Overview: How to Make Soft Pretzel Rolls
- Make the dough. See my How to Knead Dough video tutorial if you need extra help with that step.
- Let the dough rise for an hour. Or until doubled in size, as pictured above.
- Punch down the dough. This helps get rid of any air bubbles.
- Divide the dough to form the rolls. Aim for roughly 1/3 cup of dough each, which will yield about 12 rolls. Shape into balls.
- Give the rolls a baking soda bath. See below for more details.
- Place rolls into prepared baking pan. I like to bake the rolls squished together in a baking pan because they hold their shape much better. You can, however, separate them on a large baking sheet.
- Score the tops of each roll & top with butter and coarse sea salt.
- Bake until golden brown.
Baking Soda Bath
Each step is important but the baking soda bath is imperative. Why? It’s what gives pretzels that iconic flavor and chewy exterior, plus it locks in the super soft center and helps deepen the golden brown color on the exterior. Save time and get the water boiling as you’re shaping the dough into balls. Then drop each dough ball into the boiling water + baking soda for a quick soak. Worth it!
The rolls look wrinkly after boiling but if foods like sloppy joes + baked beans + messy casseroles teach us anything about life, it’s this: appearances can be pretty deceiving. Soon enough, those pale wrinkly buns will transform into buttery + salty + golden brown delights.
3 Success Tips for Homemade Pretzel Rolls
- Score the tops of the rolls. Use a sharp knife to do this once the rolls come out of the baking soda bath. Scoring the tops allows the rolls to expand and the centers to cook all the way through since they’re thicker rolls.
- Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with coarse salt. This gives the rolls that delicious bakery-style flavor.
- Bake until golden brown. The deeper the color, the better the flavor.
Make-Ahead Tip
If you are making pretzel rolls in advance, do not top them with coarse salt before baking. The salt draws the moisture out of the pretzel rolls, and once you’ve placed the baked and cooled pretzel rolls in an airtight container or bag, it doesn’t take long before you’ll notice water droplets forming inside and the pretzel rolls become soggy and wrinkled. Yuck!
If you won’t be serving the pretzel rolls the same day you bake them, omit the salt-topping step. Bake as directed, then allow to cool completely before placing them in an airtight container, and store at room temperature. When you are ready to serve them, place the pretzel rolls on a baking sheet and brush them lightly with melted butter, then sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake them in a 350°F (177°C) oven for 5–10 minutes, or until warmed.
Same goes for freezing homemade soft pretzel rolls: wait to top with salt until you’re ready to serve them. Cool the unsalted baked pretzel rolls completely, then freeze in an airtight freezer-safe container or zip-top bag for up to 3 months. To reheat, brush frozen pretzels (no need to thaw) with melted butter and sprinkle with coarse salt, then bake at 350°F (177°C) for 20 minutes or until warmed through.
What to Serve With Pretzel Rolls
The most delicious ways to eat these pretzel rolls? Enjoy them with beer cheese dip or garlic and bacon spinach dip, as buns for ham & swiss sandwiches, with soup (like minestrone soup or creamy chicken noodle soup), as a side with walnut crusted chicken, with the topping from crab pretzels, with a swipe of homemade honey butter, or straight from the pan. They’re big, soft, fluffy, and pretzel-y!
Print
Easy Pretzel Rolls
- Prep Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 12 rolls
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Making easy pretzel rolls from scratch is simpler than you think. Follow this easy and approachable way to make them at home!
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (360ml) warm water (lukewarm—no need to take temperature but around 100°F (38°C) is great)
- 2 and 1/4 teaspoons (7g) instant or active dry yeast (1 standard packet)
- 1/4 cup (4 Tablespoons; 56g) unsalted butter, divided
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
- 3 and 3/4–4 cups (469–500g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more for work surface
- coarse sea salt for sprinkling
Baking Soda Bath
- 1/2 cup (120g) baking soda
- 9 cups (2,160ml) water
Instructions
- Whisk yeast and warm water together. Allow to sit for 1 minute. Meanwhile, melt 1 Tablespoon of butter (reserve the rest for step 7). Whisk in salt, brown sugar, and melted butter. Slowly add 3 cups of flour, 1 cup at a time. Mix with a wooden spoon or dough hook attached to a stand mixer until dough is thick. Add 3/4 cup more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. If it is still sticky, add 1/4–1/2 cup more, as needed. Poke the dough with your finger—if it bounces back, it is ready to knead.
- Knead the dough: Keep the dough in the mixer and beat for an additional 5 full minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 5 full minutes. (If you’re new to bread-baking, my How to Knead Dough video tutorial can help here.) If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surface/in the bowl to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need because you do not want a dry dough. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. You can also do a “windowpane test” to see if your dough has been kneaded long enough: tear off a small (roughly golfball-size) piece of dough and gently stretch it out until it’s thin enough for light to pass through it. Hold it up to a window or light. Does light pass through the stretched dough without the dough tearing first? If so, your dough has been kneaded long enough and is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading until it passes the windowpane test.
- Rise: Place in a large greased bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and allow to rise in a warm environment for 1 hour or until nearly doubled in size. (Tip: I preheat my oven to 200°F (93°C), turn it off, place the dough inside and shut the oven. This is the warm environment.)
- Once risen, punch down dough to release any air bubbles. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and, with a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut dough into 1/3-cup (about 75g) sections. You should have about 12 pieces. Shape into balls.
- Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat OR line a 9×13 baking pan with parchment paper (I use a baking pan). Set aside.
- Bring baking soda and 9 cups of water to a boil in a large pot. Drop 1–2 pretzel rolls into the boiling water for 20–30 seconds. Any longer than that and your pretzels will have a metallic taste. Using a slotted spatula, lift the pretzel roll out of the water and allow excess water to drip off. Place pretzel rolls onto prepared baking sheet or close together in the baking pan. Using a sharp knife, score a couple slits into the top of each.
- Melt the remaining butter. Lightly brush each roll with melted butter and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
- Bake for 22–26 minutes or until deep golden brown on all sides.
- Remove from the oven and serve warm. Pretzel rolls may be stored in an airtight container or zip-top bag for up to 3 days (they lose a little softness over time).
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: If planning to freeze baked pretzel rolls, do not top them with coarse salt before baking. Cool completely, then freeze in an airtight freezer-safe container or zip-top bag for up to 3 months. To reheat, brush frozen pretzel rolls (no need to thaw) with melted butter and sprinkle with coarse salt, then bake at 350°F (177°C) for 20 minutes or until warmed through, or microwave until warm. The prepared pretzel dough can be covered and refrigerated for up to one day or frozen in an airtight container for 2–3 months. Thaw frozen dough in the refrigerator overnight. Bring to room temperature, then continue with step 3.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Stand Mixer or Glass Mixing Bowl and Wooden Spoon | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Large Pot | Slotted Spatula | Pastry Brush | Coarse Sea Salt
- Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
I LOVE this recipe and have made it many times! It’s foolproof!
Question- do you think this could be made into pretzel bites?
Hi Kait, absolutely—you can follow our pretzel bites recipe and instructions here!
I excited to make this recipe. For freezing the dough ahead of time, do you let it defrost overnight and then let it rise for an hour? Also could the dough be frozen in individual bun sized portions and then thawed out and allowed to rise?
Hi Kendall, yes, you can thaw the frozen dough in the refrigerator overnight, bring to room temperature, and then proceed with step 3 and the 1 hour rise. We don’t recommend freezing the unbaked shaped rolls, but you can freeze the baked shaped rolls. See recipe Notes for more details. Enjoy!
I love all of your recipes ! Have been a fun of yours for years! Your chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe my kids would sell my cookies with their lemonade, at the stand when they were little! You have amazing talent
Hi there, these look delish!
If I wanted to incorporate shredded cheddar cheese to have cheddar pretzel rolls, at what step would you recommend incorporating the shredded cheese? Thanks!
Hi Millie, you can add some shredded cheese in step 1 with the flour. Or you can add it to the tops of the pretzels like we do for pretzel knots!
Wow wow wowie wow!!
Im an experienced baker but as your recipe isnso simple…Used your pretzel bun dough to make amazing buns so did another batch but added lots of garlic powder, sesame seeds and used Himalayan pink salt on top. Twisted them like pretzels but as bun dough they puffed up to make delectable pretzel twist buns (made them smaller too so got 18 out of a batch. Wish I could send you a pic. They will be so popular at the BBQ today!
This recipe is the real deal!! Best pretzel buns I’ve ever made!!
I’ve made this recipe a few times and it has worked really well for me! If you’re a fellow penny pincher, I’ve found that a half recipe of the water bath is still enough to boil one bun at a time in a smaller pot. I even used the 1/2 batch of water to boil a triple recipe of buns last time and it was still enough. I usually make 8 larger buns for burgers and have also made hotdog shaped buns for sausages. Don’t skip the parchment paper or they will stick like crazy. 😛
Can I cut these smaller to have little mini bites? I’d love to make little pretzel poppers but I don’t know if these will get overdone on the inside before getting browned on the outside
Hi Brandon, here is our recipe for Soft Pretzel Bites.
I split my batch into 9 portions – perfect for hamburgers. This is a keeper.
Hi Sally, I just made your pretzel roll recipe and they are perfection! Can’t wait to make these for our next family dinner. I followed the recipe, exactly and wouldn’t change a thing. 🙂
I am making 4 batches of the Pretzle Rolls. Can I use the same water bath for all 4 batches or should I make a new baking soda water bath each time?
Hi Darcie! It should be find to use the same baking soda bath.
Thanks Trina, appreciate your input!
To die for! Simply delicious and easy to make. I served these with the creamy chicken noodle soup and they were both gobbled up. Thank you for the awesome recipes!
any chane you know of a good gluten free alternative for this recipe?
Hi Ethan, we haven’t tested a gluten free version of these pretzel rolls, but you might have luck with a gluten free 1:1 all purpose flour blend. Again, we’re unsure of the exact results, but let us know if you try it!
Great recipe !!! Also made your pretzel bites , they were a big hit
Wow, this is such an easy and fast homemade bread recipe to make. Recipe is spot on, as always! They were very quickly devoured and loved by everyone.
Should you use Bleach or Unbleached All Purpose Flour when making Your Pretzels Rolls recipe
Hi Audrey, either will work. We usually use unbleached.
These are awesome! I always like to follow a recipe exactly the first time. This recipe needs no adjustments.
Great recipe! I’ve made these twice now, the first time I used all purpose flour, the second time I used bread flour. The all purpose flour gives you a softer bun while the bread flour gives you a crustier/chewier bun. I slightly prefer the bread flour but both are absolutely delicious and comes down to personal preference.
We love these pretzel rolls! My teen grandsons especially and can’t wait for me to make them. There’s none left when I make these and they’re first to go. Made as is this is a tried n true recipe for us. Am currently making them for Christmas. Thank you Sally.
Hi I was wondering if make these dairy free would you suggest using plant based butter or just olive oil?
Hi Julia, we would start by trying a plant-based butter. Let us know how it works for you!
I do them with plant based butter often and did them with olive oil the other day to accommodate another dietary restriction and both turned out very well!
I have practiced several other recipes. I’m physically disabled so i have to cheat a bit. But, this recipe turned out great with my bread maker on dough settings. I don’t eat a lot of my own stuff…. I ate 3. Making hot dog buns today. Thank you.
I’ve made these before and they are amazing! I’m hosting a dinner party tomorrow night and would like to feature these, but due to my schedule I’m worried I won’t be able to time it just right if I’m making them from start to finish tomorrow afternoon,
If I made the dough ahead of time, at what point would I put them in the fridge overnight? Before or after the rise?
Hi Rachel, you can let the dough rise and then place it in the refrigerator overnight. Hope they’re a hit!
If you make ahead and refrigerate overnight, do they need to come to room temperature before baking?
Hi Katriona! You’ll shape, boil, then bake the dough, so it will warm up during that process before baking.
I want to make the pretzel rolls, can I add jalapenos and cheddar to them?
Hi Beryl, absolutely. Feel free to add garlic powder as we do for jalapeño cheddar soft pretzels.
Made these last weekend and they were so good. I froze the rest and have been taking them out of the freezer, microwaving for 15 seconds wrapped in a paper towel. Toast them for a few minutes in my air fryer and they are like they just came out of the oven the day I baked them. Going to try to turn this dough into more of a sub roll for sausage and peppers. Hoping they are equally as good.
This is the best and only recipe I use for pretzel rolls. I would like a more sandwich size roll. Can I make them bigger? If I do what will the cooking time be?
Hi Lia, we’re unsure of the exact bake time for larger rolls, so keep a close eye on them!
I have tried lots of pretzel roll recipes on the internet. This is the best recipe I’ve tried. These are so easy and delicious.
I used a high fiber lower carb flour and I don’t think I used enough flour because when I formed the rolls they were quite sticky. But honestly these were the best pretzel rolls I ever had. So soft and fluffy but a dark crisp bottom crust. Thank you for this lovely recipe. Tomorrow is Mother’s Day and I love to cook so I am making a German dinner of Schnitzel, mashed potatoes, red cabbage and green beans. I wanted to also make German lentil soup and serve some homemade bread. These will stun my daughters tomorrow!