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OMG. Yes!

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Homemade Soft Pretzels, generously sprinkled with sea salt. And to top it off? Buffalo Cheddar Cheese Sauce! Yes, I know. Wow!

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Can I just say that this might be the best Super Bowl snack there is? Well, actually I don’t know the Buffalo “Fried” Goat Cheese is pretty amazing too. But I mean pretzels, buffalo sauce and cheese! Maybe we’ll call it a tie?

It is the Super Bowl, so you do need lots of snacks!

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Originally, I was just going make soft pretzels. Just for a fun snack to have on a Sunday afternoon and then enjoy throughout the week.

But then while the dough was rising I set out for a hike. Oh, those hikes. Oh the yummy things I come up with while hiking.

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Buffalo Cheddar Cheese Sauce! Creamy, spicy and the best cheese sauce to compliment a soft pretzel.

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The pretzels alone are just so good. Salty, soft, dough, dreamy. Just so good. Tear um, bite um, dip um.

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Homemade Soft Pretzels with Buffalo Cheddar Cheese Sauce

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes
Servings: 8 pretzels
Calories Per Serving: 354 kcal

Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups warm water
  • 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 packet)
  • 1 stick unsalted butter (8 tablespoons)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt or kosher salt
  • 4 1/2 cups to 5 all-purpose flour
  • 3 quarts water
  • 2/3 cups baking soda
  • 1 whole egg beaten
  • Coarse sea salt

Buffalo Cheddar Cheese Sauce

  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • 1 1/2 cups milk
  • 3 ounces cream cheese
  • 2/3 cup freshly grated sharp cheddar cheese
  • 1/3 cup franks red hot sauce

Instructions

  • To make the pretzels: combine the water, sugar, yeast, and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix with the dough hook until combined. Let sit for 5 minutes.
  • Add the salt and 4 1/2 cups flour to the mixture and mix on low speed until combined. Increase the speed to medium and continue kneading until the dough is smooth and begins to pull away from the side of the bowl, about 3 to 4 minutes. If the dough appears too wet, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. Remove the dough from the bowl, place on a flat surface and knead into a ball with your hands.
  • Coat a large bowl with canola oil, add the dough and turn to coat with the oil. Cover with a clean towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm spot until the dough doubles in size. This will take about 1 hour.
  • Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot.
  • Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a flat surface. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a long rope. To shape into pretzels, take the right side and cross over to the left. Cross right to left again and flip up. Slowly add the baking soda to the boiling water. Boil the pretzels in the water solution, 2 at a time for 30 seconds, splashing the tops with the warmed water using a spoon. Remove with a large flat slotted spatula or a spider. Place 4 pretzels on each a parchment lined baking sheet, brush the tops with the egg wash and season liberally with sea salt. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until pretzels are golden brown.
  • Remove pretzels from oven and let cool on a wire baking rack.
  • To make the Buffalo Cheddar Cheese sauce: While pretzels are baking, heat a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the butter, and once it’s melted and bubbly add the flour. Whisk together to create a roux and cook for 1-2 minutes until mixture gets a bit golden in color. Add milk, stir and turn down heat to low. Continue stirring until milk thickens. Add in cheeses and continue to stir until mixture is smooth. Stir in buffalo wing sauce. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
  • Pour into one medium size dip bowl or a few bowls to scatter for dipping.
  • Serve hot with the pretzels!
View Recipe Comments

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Soft, doughy, salty pretzels…..with cheesy, buffalo sauce! Snack time anyone?

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Comments

    1. 5 stars
      I’ve made 3 different pretzels from 3 of my favorite food bloggers and this is by far the BEST. The flavors/texture/everything was spot on. Thanks so much for all the wonderful recipes!

      1. Hi Kelly,
        I really appreciate you giving the recipe a try, so glad to hear that it was enjoyed! Have a great week! xxT

  1. 5 stars
    These are so good and so easy to make! I’ve made pretzels before using someone’s else’s recipe and they were really dense but these are light and flavorful and fluffy and moist. The perfect pretzel. One word of advice is don’t dump the baking soda into the boiling water it will explode and boil over do it slowly!

    1. Hi Isabelle,
      Happy Friday! Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try, I love to hear that it was enjoyed! xTieghan

    1. Hi Marianne,
      You will want the butter to be room temp. Please let me know if you give this recipe a try, I hope you love it! xTieghan

  2. 5 stars
    Made these twice in the last two days. My family is now completely obsessed. I’ll probably never go to Auntie Anne’s again. I can’t get over how GOOD and how EASY these pretzels are to make. Once again, HBH comes through <3

  3. 5 stars
    It was my first time making pretzels and they turned out so good!!! A little crunch on the outside and soft on the inside. Thanks for a great recipe. Will definitely make these again.

  4. 5 stars
    This recipe is SO GOOD! And I was surprised at how easy it was.
    Also, I had no idea baking soda in boiling water could do such amazing things. I forgot to add the baking soda to my first 4. They were yummy, but basically just bread. Remembered to add it on the last 4 and wow, PRETZELS! Who knew something so small could make all the difference.

  5. 5 stars
    Amazing! So so so so good. It was hard not to eat them all they were so tasty! Added my 5 star rating as I forgot to do that previously.

    1. Hey Megan,
      Awesome! I am so glad to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks for making it! Have the best weekend! xTieghan

    1. Hey Megan,
      Awesome! I am so glad to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks for making it! Have the best weekend! xTieghan

  6. These pretzels are soft, salty and amazingly tasty. I have a pretzel loving daughter who would have likely ate the whole batch of them had I let her. This was my first time attempting to make pretzels and I will definitely try them again!

    1. Hey Jennie,
      Thanks a lot for trying out this recipe. I love to hear that it was enjoyed and hope you have the best week! xTieghan

  7. 5 stars
    These pretzels were life-changing! Homemade pretzels have always seemed so intimidating but this recipe was so easy and fun! I also made the cheese dip recipe without Buffalo sauce (which I’m sure would’ve been exceptional too), and it was delicious! The pretzels were so soft and fluffy and doughy—just perfect! I also stuffed a couple pretzels with mozzarella and added pepperoni on top—would love to see a formal recipe for “pizza pretzels” in the future! And omg I can’t wait to try the hard cider pretzel recipe that was recently posted too!! ?

    Love all your recipes, Tieghan!

  8. Was wondering if you could freeze these after you boiled them for future use? And would you brush them with the egg wash and salt once you unfroze them or before you freeze them? Can you deep fry these?
    Thank you

    1. Hey Marcie! I would personally bake the pretzels then freeze. That works so well!

      I have never fired a pretzel, so i’m not sure.

  9. Was the butter supposed to be melted? It’s been mixing forever and is t combining. Maybe the warm water wasn’t warm enough??

  10. So I made these and the baking soda was a bit much, did I dip them in the boiling baking soda water for too long?

    1. Hey Laura,
      So sorry about this! What do you mean it was too much? What happened to the pretzels? Let me know how I can help! xTieghan