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The easiest Homemade Pretzel Bagels with double the salt and a little extra butter too. A mix between a soft, buttery, salty pretzel and a slightly chewy bagel. They’re airy, perfectly salted, and every last bite is oh so buttery…the best of both worlds. These bagels are made using only pantry staples, require very little prep work, and are truly easier than heading out to your local bagel shop. The perfect baking project any day of the week (what day of the week is it again)!
I think the one thing we can all agree on right now is that a good project is just what we need. Not that these bagels are difficult by any means, but they are bagels. They require using your hands, your focus, and they’re sure to distract your mind from any anxiety you might have. Even if it’s only for an hour or so. Some days (maybe more than others) just call for a good baking distraction.
Sure, watching TV is great, but the returns from baking are far more delicious, especially when the baked goods are salty, buttery, pretzel bagels.
I mean, right? Yes, yes, there’s really nothing better than fresh baked goods.
In all seriousness, I made these bagels over the weekend after contemplating making them for weeks. I wasn’t really sure how you all would feel about baking homemade bagels. But I also knew a homemade pretzel bagel had the potential to be incredible, and truthfully, I was stressed. I needed the distraction myself. So, I decided to give them a try, and after just one test, I knew this was a recipe that needed to be shared. These aren’t your average bagels…they’re BETTER, and super easy too!
Fair warning, the butter plus salt combination does make these bagels a little bit addicting…
Here’s how you make these pretzel bagels.
If you’ve never made bagels, I know they can be intimidating, but the truth is, they’re really pretty simple. Especially with this recipe.
My trick is to use instant yeast, which makes mixing up the dough easy and keeps the rising time very minimal. What’s really awesome is that these bagels require no fancy ingredients. Just water, yeast, molasses or honey, flour, salt, and butter.
That’s it. And if you have a kitchen with anything stocked in it, then you most likely have these ingredients on hand. I will say that using pretzel salt can elevate your bagels just a smidge. But of course, you can also use a good Kosher salt or flaky sea salt. They’re all salt, just different sizes, so it all works!
Now, mix and shape the pretzel bagel dough.
Start by mixing the dough, then let it rise. This takes anywhere from one to two hours, it just depends how warm your kitchen is. Once the dough has doubled in size, shape the dough into bagels. Meaning, roll into balls, punch a hole through the center of each ball, and create a bagel shape. EASY.
The trickiest part about bagels is the boiling process, which actually isn’t tricky at all. Simply drop the bagels, a few at a time, into the boiling water and boil until they float. Boiling the bagels before baking gives them that chew factor, and that classic “bagel” taste. Pretzels are cooked in the same way.
On to the baking.
Brush each bagel with a beaten egg. This will give them a nice golden color.
Then the next step is KEY. Bake the bagels, but about halfway through cooking, remove them from the oven and brush each generously with melted butter, and then sprinkle the salt. That’s the “pretzel” portion…and honestly? It’s the best part.
Return the bagels to the oven and minutes later you’ll have hot, buttery, salty pretzel bagels all ready to be eaten. And yes, your kitchen will smell better than your local bagel shop, trust me. Hints of butter, soft bread baking, and somehow you can almost smell the salt in the air.
It’s a wonderful thing.
A couple of notes…
First, these bagels disappear quickly. If you want to have leftovers to freeze, I’d recommend doubling the recipe. Make a dozen for the week and a dozen to freeze and have ready at a moment’s notices.
These bagels are insanely delicious right out of the oven served with additional butter or a smear of cream cheese. They’re also great toasted and enjoyed for breakfast. Or use them to make your favorite sandwich. You can even serve them alongside dinner. The salt makes them perfect for just about any time of day.
Second, I highly recommend freezing any bagels that aren’t eaten right away. The salt on top can cause the bagels to get soggy while being stored. Still perfectly good to eat, just not as enjoyable as when they are frozen and then toasted.
Oh! And one last idea, if you’re looking for something on the sweeter side, do this. Slice your pretzel bagel in half, toast it, butter it (be generous), and then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
Oh. So. Good.
So, with that thought? Who’s making pretzel bagels today? And how will you enjoy them?
PS. Asher and my mom have declared these their new favorite snack…but they love any kind of bread…especially when salt is added.
PSS. Looking for other bagel options…try these!
If you make these easy homemade pretzel bagels, 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!
Homemade Pretzel Bagels
Servings: 10 bagels
Calories Per Serving: 364 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 2 cups warm water
- 1 packet instant yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons + see notes)
- 1 tablespoon molasses or honey
- 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 tablespoons salted butter, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup baking soda
- 1 egg, beaten
- pretzel salt or flaky sea salt
Instructions
- 1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the water, yeast, molasses, flour, salt, and 2 tablespoons softened butter. Knead until the dough comes together, about 1-2 minutes. Cover and let sit in a warm place for 1-2 hours, until doubled in size.2. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.3. Once the dough has doubled, punch it down and place on your counter, using a little more flour if needed to prevent from sticking. Divide dough into 10-12 balls. Working with one piece of dough at a time, use your finger to poke a hole in the middle. Gently stretch the dough until the hole is about 1/2-1 inch big. Place the bagel on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough. Cover the baking sheet with a damp kitchen towel and let the bagels rise for about 15 minutes.4. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the baking soda. Lower 2-3 bagels at a time into the water. Boil for 3 minutes then flip to the other side and boil for 1-2 additional minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the bagels from the pot letting the water drain. Transfer to a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Repeat until you've boiled all of the bagels.5. Brush each bagel with the beaten egg. Make sure there is no water piled up next to the bagels. Transfer to the oven and bake 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and brush the remaining 4 tablespoons melted butter over each of the bagels. Generously sprinkle each bagel with salt. Return to the oven for another 10-15 minutes, or until the bagels are golden brown. Let cool. Slice, toast, eat whole, slathered with butter or cream cheese!
Notes
Storing: Bagels will keep for 4-5 days in a sealed storage bag. But you may prefer to freeze them, as the salt on the bagels will begin to make them soggy.
Freezing: Bagels can be frozen for up to 4 months in a freezer safe container.
To Use Active Dry Yeast: Mix 1 packet (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast with the warm water and honey/molasses. Let sit 5-10 minutes, until bubbly and foamy on top. Add the flour and follow the directions as listed for the remainder of the recipe.
To Make Gluten Free: Use an equal amount of your favorite gluten free flour blend in place of the all-purpose flour. I recommend Cup4Cup gluten free flour.
I used the dough recipe but instead of making bagels I added some extra flour, made a loaf, topped with egg wash and salt and baked for 20 minutes. It is SO GOOD as bread. If you want a pretzely/bagely/fluffy bread fix but don’t have time for the full recipe this is a great way to do it!
Yum!! I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe, Emma! Thank you for sharing! xTieghan
Is there a way to make these with a no yeast option?
Thanks!
Hi Amy,
So sorry this is just one of those recipes where you need the yeast:) I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
My bagels literally exploded in the boiling water??any thoughts?? Thank you?
Hi Melanie,
So sorry about this! Did you adjust the recipe at all? Also double check that you put the baking soda in the water and not the bagel dough? Please let me know how I can help! xTieghan
Absolutely love this recipe – have made a handful of times and shared with so many friends! Wondering if I wanted to make the dough and put in the fridge overnight to bake in the morning – would you recommend refrigerating after it rises before shaping into bagels or after shaping? Thanks so much!
Hi Carleigh,
So glad you have been enjoying the bagels. I would recommend doing all of the steps up until shaping the bagels, shape them and cover to put in the fridge. Just be sure to bring back to room temp before boiling the next day. Please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
I was drooling when I saw this post on instagram. So on this snowy April day (Spring in Boston!) I decided to try them. My results were a bit mixed. Got a great rise. Followed the directions exactly, however the bagels were far from done after the second 15 minute baking time. Wound up baking for about another 15 minutes. The strange thing was that some parts of the bagels were cooked and others still very mushy. When I cut one open, there were pockets of brown, mushy, uncooked spots. Any thoughts on why this happened? Thinking perhaps I should have boiled longer?
I am an avid follower. You consistently have the most amazing recipes!
Hi Lauren,
So sorry you had issues with the bagels. Next time I would recommend boiling and then dabbing with a paper towel to soak up any extra liquid. Unfortunately all ovens can be different so if you need to add baking time I think you should do that. Please let me know if you have any other questions. xTieghan
I just finished baking these, and all I keep saying is that I can’t believe I made these! They are delicious! My son’s 2 favorite things are bagels and pretzels, which is what drew me to this recipe. This was an easy recipe to follow and the results are amazing!
Hi Michelle! I am so glad these turned out so well for you! Also, so perfect for him!! Thank you for trying! xTieghan
These were so so so amazing, and I found this recipe so easy to follow 🙂 I halved the recipe underestimating how quickly two people would go through 5 bagels, and I will not be doing that again! I’m vegan, so I used margarine in place of the butter, and instead of the egg wash I just used more melted butter at the beginning (lol) and I found that they still got that lovely brown color! Looking forward to making more!! Also your cinnamon, sugar, and butter crunch topping is SO good!!!!!!
Haha well I am so glad this recipe turned out so well for you all Tailor! Thank you so much for trying it! I hope you are both staying healthy and safe! xTieghan
If I wanted to make these into buns for burgers besides not putting a hole in the center anything else you think I would have to change?
Hi Olivia! I think you should be fine! I hope you love this recipe and feel free to ask any specifics as well! xTieghan
I was wondering if it’s possible to have the flour measurements by weight rather than volume? 5 1/2 cups can be very different depending on how packed you fill the cup. I think this is where sometimes I’m not getting the same results? Thanks
Hi Ella! I could use a google calculator to get the weight for you, but I do not weight my ingredients! I hope you understand. Please let me know if you need anything else! xTieghan
Thank you so much for this recipe!
Instead of salt, I topped them with Trader Joe’s Everything but the Bagel seasoning! Amazing!
Hi Vanessa! I am so glad this recipe turned out so well for you! Thank you so much for trying this! xTieghan
The instructions make it sound like you can just dump everything together for the dough and mix it together but I got pockets of unmixed molasses when I did that because the flour coats the molasses and forms little globs in the dough. You should rewrite the recipe to tell people to mix the water and the molasses together and then add that to the dough so it mixes in evenly.
Hi Sarah! I am sorry that happened to yours! I hope these still turned out well for you! xTieghan
Appreciate all the time and effort you must put into these recipes, but unfortunately this is the first recipe of yours I’ve tried and didn’t work. Ribbons of goo all throughout, soggy bottoms stuck to the parchment paper and I followed the recipe exactly, even drained the bagels after boiling on a cooling rack, dabbed with paper towel to ensure no extra water and still every single one had the same issue. I’ve made bagels before with other recipes and shape was perfect, these turned out nothing like the photo, all were misshapen and wrinkled after baking, none of them had the smooth round shapes like yours. Would suggest testing the recipe a few more times or perhaps providing more specific instructions on how to avoid the gooey messy uncooked bits. That being said all of your other recipes I’ve tried have been perfect so thanks for sharing!
Hi Shelley! I am sorry this recipe did not work out well for you, but I have tested it several times and have never had a problem. Could it be something that went wrong while you were making it? I would love to help! xTieghan
Thanks, I will try to mix by hand next time. I did as planned, slicing them in half and toasting them and they were perfectly fine for sandwiches that way.I’m looking forward to trying again when I can find more flour in the stores!
Hi Holly! I am so glad these turned out so well for you! Thank you so much for trying them! xTieghan
These turned out absolutely AMAZING. Here’s a few things I did that varied from the recipe (some I pulled from others comments, so thank you!);
1. Accidentally added all 6 T of butter to the batter because I misread the recipe. Oops! Didn’t seem to effect it, they were still tasty, but wouldn’t recommend lol
2. Boiled the bagels 2 minutes on one side, 1 minute on the other.
3. Dabbed excess water off the top and side of the bagels to prevent any sogginess.
4. Rotated the pans when I pulled the bagels out to brush the butter on top, and added 5 minutes of cooking time.
They came out PERFECT! I can’t wait to make these again. Thanks for your posts, they are keeping me sane during quarantine
Hi Erin! I am so glad these bagels turned out so well for you!! Also, thank you for sharing your experience, I am sure it will help so many! xTieghan
This recipe is amazing! Easy to follow and delicious !!
Thank you Kelly! xTieghan