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The cheesiest twisted Pesto Cheese Garlic Butter Soft Pretzel Knots. Simple to make and even more delicious to eat! These doughy, salty soft pretzel knots are twisted with basil pesto, cheddar, and mozzarella cheese! Then baked with pretzel salt and sesame seeds. Each pretzel knot is dipped into warm garlic parmesan butter just before eating. Can you say yummy?! A delicious companion to your dinner table or game day spread.
Oh my goodness! I just love today’s recipe so much. These are not something I share often, but they just seemed really fresh and fun. And most importantly, delicious.
They’re probably my favorite recipe of the week, they’re just so perfect and addictingly delish.
Usually, I make soft pretzels in the fall for game-day snacking. But I couldn’t let go of the concept of a garlicky soft pretzel knot. So even though these might be better suited for the fall, I just had to make them now!
They’ll still be wonderful for the spring and summer holidays, and preseason football will be here before we know it! Trust me, these are so yummy, I just know we’ll be making these on repeat!
It’s no secret that I love a good soft pretzel. My obsession started young, with those buttery, soft, salty, and delicious Auntie Ann’s and Wetzel’s Pretzels. Sometimes we’d get the classic salted, buttery pretzel, and other times we’d get the cinnamon sugar.
My brothers and I loved them both equally. I’m pretty sure that if you were to present any of my brothers with one of those exact pretzels again, they’d happily eat it. You can’t deny that they are good.
But homemade is best, and when I began to bake my own pretzels at home, I never went back to anything store-bought. This is my first garlic butter pretzel and I’m full-blown obsessed with them!
Here are the details
Using pretzel dough is the key. You get a really chewy, soft dough with a beautiful golden crust. They’re chewy and perfect.
Mix warm water with yeast, honey, flour, butter, and salt. Knead everything together in a mixer and let the dough rise.
The pretzel dough is very easy to work with, so don’t let anything intimidate you! The key to these knots? The pesto cheese filling, salted sesame crust, and that buttery, garlic parmesan topping.
The filling is made with a delicious blend of basil pesto, cheddar, and mozzarella cheese. The garlic butter is simply, salted butter, garlic, parmesan, and mixed herbs.
When the dough is ready, roll it out. Then spread on the pesto, cheddar, and mozzarella. Next, fold the dough in half, cut 14-16 strips, and twist! Just twist each strip and then coil it into a knot. Brush each knot with a beaten egg, then sprinkle with coarse pretzel salt and sesame seeds.
As the knots bake, the cheese melts into the pesto. When you take them out, you’ll have soft cheesy knots that smell wonderful! Promise this is not hard and they do not need to be perfect!
To finish, remove the pot from the stove and add the parmesan cheese and fresh herbs, I usually use thyme.
Spoon the butter over each warm knot, then enjoy every last bite. So much better than anything at the mall or a fancy restaurant!
Looking for other delicious bread and snack recipes? Here are a few.
Soft Garlic Herb Cheddar Cheese Bread
Salted Honey Butter Jalapeño Cheddar Rolls
Jalapeño Cheddar Popovers with Honey Butter
Everything Ranch Crackers and Pretzels
Hard Cider Pretzels with Creamy Honey Mustard
Lastly, if you make Pesto Garlic Butter Soft Pretzel Knots, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Pesto Cheese Garlic Butter Soft Pretzel Knots
Servings: 16 knots
Calories Per Serving: 294 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups warm water
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter, melted
- 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup basil pesto
- 2 cups shredded cheddar
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/4 cup sesame seeds
Garlic Butter
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme and basil oregano or parsley
Instructions
- 1. Combine the water, honey, and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Let sit for 5 minutes, until bubbly on top.2. Add the butter and flour. Mix on medium speed until the dough is smooth and begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl, about 3 to 4 minutes. If the dough is too wet or too dry, add additional flour or water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Cover the bowl and place in a warm spot until the dough doubles in size, about 1-2 hours.3. Preheat the oven to 425° F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.4. On a floured surface, roll the dough out into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick (about 16×14 inches), adding flour as needed. Spread the dough with pesto. Sprinkle with cheddar and mozzarella cheese. Fold the dough in half, pressing to adhere. Cut into 16 strips. Twist each strip into a loose knot, it doesn't need to be perfect.5. Brush the knots with the beaten egg, then sprinkle each with sesame seeds and coarse salt. Bake for 15 to 18 mins or until the pretzels are golden brown. 6. Meanwhile, make the garlic butter. Melt together the butter and garlic until the garlic just becomes fragrant, remove from the heat, then mix in the parmesan and herbs. Spoon the garlic butter over the knots. 7. Enjoy warm or at room temp, warm is best in my book, with extra garlic butter for dipping!
Amazing best recipe ever! Very hard to make look perfect but still bake amazing. Thank you!
Thanks so much Tianna!! I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing your feedback, so glad to hear the recipe was a hit! xT
Hands down, this is my favorite recipe of yours! They are so good and I received complements from everyone who eat them. I wouldn’t change a thing!
I have been thinking about trying a sweet version though, maybe with cream cheese and cinnamon.
So good and easy to make! Thanks for another winner, Tieghan!
Thanks so much Olivia! I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe and appreciate you making it!! Sure, that would be fun, you might like one of these recipes:
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/easiest-cinnamon-crunch-knots/
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/cinnamon-knots-with-coffee-icing/
I hope this helps! xT
I will certainly have to try those reprices, they sound wonderful!
Tieghan, no lie, these were one of the best foods I’ve ever made or eaten. I followed the recipe exactly and they came out perfect. I am a fairly experienced home cook but still get really intimidated by bread and these were honestly foolproof. Thank you!!
Hi Sarah,
Happy Sunday!!🍍🥥 Thank you so much for trying this recipe and your feedback, so glad to hear it was enjoyed! xT
Not pretzels. Definitely hard to make.
Would have been helpful to only put cheese on one side of rolled out dough- as it’s a mess to fold over.
Also, when I cut the strips and tried to twist …the cheese was falling out! Not my best work … look messy and will probably be delicious once I bake them.
I should have watched the video first.
So now that I’ve baked them….
Oh my- mine look messy but they are oh soooo delicious! And the garlic herbed melted butter – just YUM.
Lol glad to hear this:)
Hi Joyce,
Thanks for making this recipe and sharing your feedback! Sorry to hear you found these difficult to make. I hope they taste great! xx
The recipe looks fantastic, as do all your recipes. I plan to make these but when I read the recipe over, I wondered if the 1/2 cup of butter in the dough was correct. Seems like a lot. Thanks.
Thanks so much Carol!! Yes, that is correct:) Please let me know if you have any other questions! xT
Nothing about this recipe makes these pretzels. They are simply garlic knot. Why use words in titles that don’t define what you’re making? Btwn this and the “sushi cups” that are absolutely not sushi (sushi translates to sour rice meaning you need to add vinegar and seasoning to it) it feels like you’re judging using them for click bait.
You said the exact same thing on R.dit. Get a life.
Lighten up lady! Everyone else seems to like them. I don’t understand negative aggressive people like you. Why do you take the effort to complain? Don’t make them and shut-up. Honestly, I don’t understand.
Hi! Do these need to be refrigerated after making (if not being eaten right away), since they have cheese in them?
Hi Beth,
Nope, you can keep them at room temp in an airtight container:) Please let me know if you have any other questions! xT
Can these be made without a mixer ? If so how long should I knead the dough ? Can’t wait to try these! I made your sheet pan white pesto lasagna and the breakfast grilled cheese with scrambled eggs and pesto and both were delicious!!!!!! Can’t wait to try these !!!
Hi Kelly,
Totally!! Just mix with a wooden spoon and knead by hand for about 5 minutes or so until you have a soft dough ball. I hope you love this recipe, let me know how it turns out for you! xT
Can these be made ahead of time and put in the freezer?
Hi Dawn,
Yes, that would work well for you! Let me know if you give this recipe a try, I hope you love it! xT
Although these look like delicious garlic knots, it seems like they would be more like breadsticks instead of pretzels? No boiling in baking soda/water? How is it getting the pretzel flavor? I’m tempted to try them, but don’t want to be disappointed if it’s missing that pretzel taste/texture.
Hey Kate,
You can’t boil these because of the filling:) You can give it a try, but it’s messier, so I skipped it. What I would recommend is dipping the pretzel into a bowl of warm water with baking soda mixed in. Let me know if this helps, I hope you love the recipe! xT
Thanks for the response. Think I’ll skip this recipe 🙂
I am gonna try this recipe tomorrow! I’m pretty excited, I wish u had a video for first timers, lol I’ve never made anything like this! Hopefully I follow directions right!🤣
I hope you love the recipe Liz!! I currently have a video on IG stories:) Please let me know how they turn out! xT
These sound amazing! I made your pumpkin beer pretzels with the Chipotle queso and they were the bomb….. but you had us boil them first before baking for that perfect pretzel bite. I see these go straight into the oven first without boiling…. Is that because of the filling? Does it still have that yummy pretzel outside texture without boiling? Could they be booked? Can’t wait to make these….it’ll be hard to beat the beer ones but these could give them a run for their money!
Hey Niki,
Thanks so much for making the pumpkin beer pretzels!! Yes, I skipped the boiling for these because of the filling. If you wanted to try, I would recommend dipping the pretzel into a bowl of warm water with baking soda mixed in. Let me know if these turn out well for you! xT
I made your Caprese Salad yesterday and everyone loved it. There were no leftovers! The salad dressing was so good. I let everyone put it on their salad themselves. I did not know if it would make the salad soggy if I put it on before serving.
Hi Kim,
Awesome!! I love to hear that the caprese salad was a hit and appreciate you making it! Thanks for your comment! xT
The instructions say to spread the dough with 4 Tbls butter, then the cheeses… where is that butter in the ingredients?
🙄
Hi Dena,
Thanks so much for pointing that out, no need for the 4 tablespoons of butter, I fixed the instructions:) Let me know if you give this recipe a try! xT
Can these be made with gluten free flour?
Hi Veronica,
You should be able to use an equal amount of gluten free flour without any issues. Please let me know if you give this recipe a try, I hope you love it! xT