Easy Homemade Pretzel Rolls
Love soft pretzels? Turn ’em into sandwich rolls with this Easy Homemade Pretzel Rolls recipe!
This post may contain paid links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.
Has anyone else noticed that pretzel rolls seem to be all the rage lately? It seems like every time I turn the television on, there is a new restaurant advertising their pretzel roll sandwich. Wendy’s has the pretzel bacon cheeseburger. Ruby Tuesday has 4 different burgers served on pretzel rolls. Heck, even Dunkin’ Donuts jumped on the bandwagon with their pretzel roll roast beef sandwich. While all of these options sound tasty, you actually don’t need to go out at all to have delicious pretzel rolls. This Easy Homemade Pretzel Rolls recipe is done in about 2 hours. (Only maybe 20-25 minutes of that is actual hands-on time. The rest of the time is spent allowing the dough to rise or to rest.) I know some people are frightened away by the thought of making homemade bread…but this recipe is called “Easy” for a reason!
Pretzel rolls are the latest and greatest food trend of the moment…and rightfully so! These rolls are incredibly delicious, and you can serve them in so many tasty, wonderful ways. Take a page out of the chain restaurants’ handbook and serve these at your next backyard hamburger cookout. Or go a little fancier and serve them with deli-sliced Black Forest ham and Swiss cheese. Or make them a bit smaller and just serve them as dinner rolls. (I lightly toasted one of these rolls last night and ate it along with some leftovers.)
Chances are you already have all of the ingredients necessary for these Easy Homemade Pretzel Rolls. The most unique ingredient (which isn’t even that strange) is onion powder. With football season just beginning, there will be plenty of tailgates and backyard cookouts coming up–so surprise everyone with a batch of homemade pretzel rolls. It’ll be our little secret just how simple they are to make!
Easy Homemade Pretzel Rolls
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ½ Tbsp onion powder
- 2¼ tsp instant dry yeast
- ⅔ cup warm water
For the Topping
- 1 cup boiling water
- 2 Tbsp baking soda
- 1 Tbsp kosher salt
Instructions
- In the bowl of a countertop mixer with the dough hook attached, combine all of the dough ingredients. Mix on medium speed for 5 minutes. (The dough should be very soft.)
- Place the dough in a lightly floured bowl and let it rest in a warm spot (~80-85F degrees) for 45 minutes.
- Meanwhile, combine the boiling water and baking soda in a small bowl. Stir until baking soda is mostly dissolved. Set mixture aside until it reaches room temperature.
- Once the dough has risen, divide it into 6 pieces of approximately even weight (~3 1/4 ounces each). Shape dough into 6" logs. Cover dough lightly and let rest for 15 minutes.
- Roll each piece of dough into a 18" long rope. Tie each rope into a square knot and tuck the ends back into the center of the knot to form a round roll.
- Pour the baking soda mixture into a wide dish (like a cake pan or casserole dish). Place the shaped rolls into the mixture and spoon some of the mixture over the tops of the rolls. Soak rolls for 2 minutes.
- Remove rolls from water and place on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Sprinkle tops of rolls with kosher salt. Allow rolls to rest uncovered for 30 minutes.
- Bake rolls at 450F degrees for 5 minutes. Carefully tent them with a piece of aluminum foil and continue baking for another 5-8 minutes.
- Remove the rolls from the oven and brush with melted butter (optional).
I have been noticing that trend too. Though I think we (food bloggers) started it honestly and the chain restaurants just copied us:) These look so good. I was thinking I’d make a Ruben with them. I think my husband may fall off his chair if I did!
You mean restaurants are following our lead!? Crazy talk!! And oh man, a Ruben would be amazing on a pretzel bun. Especially if you throw some Parmesan cheese on top of the bun along with a little bit of kosher salt. Yum!
I just made these and they turned out great!
Wow! Thank you so much for coming back and letting me know, Cathy! I really love these pretzel rolls…except they seem to disappear around my house. Not sure where they all go…