Steak and Cheese Stuffed Pretzels
These Steak and Cheese Stuffed Pretzels feature warm, buttery soft pretzels stuffed with shaved steak and two types of cheese! Make a batch today!
This Steak and Cheese Stuffed Pretzels post is sponsored by Cabot Creamery, but the recipe and opinions are entirely my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that support Spiced!
Soft pretzels. They are easily one of my favorite snacks to make at home. There was a time when I was completely mystified by soft pretzels. I thought I had to make a detour by the mall whenever I had a soft pretzel craving. Either that or buy the frozen ones at the store. Then I learned how to make homemade soft pretzels…and they are so easy!! It’s hard to beat soft buttery pretzels when they are warm out of the oven!
If you’ve never tackled soft pretzels at home, then now is the time! Seriously. When you look at the ingredient list below, don’t be scared off by the yeast. I know yeast has this reputation of being big, bad and scary. It’s not! In fact, I like to say yeast is my friend in the kitchen – it does all of the work while I’m off doing something else.
Soft pretzels have a relatively short rising time at ~45 minutes. (Many homemade bread doughs take a couple of hours.) Again, that rising time is great since it’s totally inactive. For these Steak and Cheese Stuffed Pretzels, I used that 45 minutes to clean the kitchen, cube the cheeses and cook the shaved steak. That way everything was all ready to roll for the next step!
Steak and Cheese Stuffed Pretzels
Hopefully I’ve convinced you to make a batch of soft pretzels at home. They are a great appetizer if you are having friends over for dinner. They’re also a pretty fantastic gameday snack if you’re sitting around watching some summer baseball. (For us, watching baseball consists of watching our 6-year-old son Robbie hit “home runs” in the backyard!) And, yes, a batch of Steak and Cheese Stuffed Pretzels absolutely makes backyard baseball more fun – I speak from experience!
While I do love a good classic soft pretzel, I decided to go one step further here and stuff those pretzels with cheese and shaved steak. (I did opt to shape the pretzels as rolls so they were easier to stuff.) I can’t even begin to describe how awesome these Steak and Cheese Stuffed Pretzels taste. Take a golden brown, buttery soft pretzel and then fill it with gooey, melted cheese? Oh yeah, that’s my kind of snack!
For this batch of pretzels, I added some fully-cooked shaved steak to make the rolls a bit more substantial. A couple of these rolls alongside some steamed (or grilled!) veggies would make for a pretty fantastic meal. (Tip – these Steak and Cheese Stuffed Pretzels reheat well in a toaster oven – just cover the tops with foil so they don’t burn!)
For the cheese, I was really torn here. I knew I wanted to go with Cabot’s Monterey Jack – I love (!!) that cheese. It’s mild, but still very flavorful, and it melts quite well. But then I thought about Cabot’s many varieties of delicious sharp cheddar cheeses. A soft pretzel filled with melted cheddar cheese did sound fantastic! What to do? What to do? Well, use both cheeses of course!
I used both Cabot’s Monterey Jack and Cabot’s Vermont Extra Sharp Cheddar cheeses for these soft pretzels. Each of these cheeses is delicious in it’s own right, but together? Cheese nirvana! Once you add in that shaved steak, the flavors all come together in the best way possible. (I opted to cook that shaved steak just a bit longer than the package suggested…I wanted to get those crispy little nubbins on the edges of the steak. Sooo good!)
I discovered Cabot cheese when Laura and I first moved to the northeast years ago. Cabot is a co-op which means that the farm families who care for the dairy cows are also the owners of the company. All of Cabot’s farm families have the same guiding principles in mind – caring for their families (including their cows!), giving back to their communities and making the best cheese in the world.
Cabot’s cheeses have won numerous awards in both national and worldwide contests – so I’d say the farm families are doing a pretty good job! Laura and I actually visited Cabot Farmer’s Store on a roadtrip through Vermont during our first summer after we moved to upstate New York. It was an awesome experience, and I highly recommend making the stop if you ever find yourself near Burlington, VT. (The store is actually located in Waterbury Center, VT – about 30 minutes outside of Burlington.)
Getting back to these Steak and Cheese Stuffed Pretzels, I do hope you put these on the agenda to make soon! I promise they’ll disappear quickly…they did around our house. Cheers!
Did you make a batch of these Steak and Cheese Stuffed Pretzels at home? Leave a comment, or snap a photo and tag me (@Spicedblog) and Cabot (@CabotCheese) on Instagram – we’d love to see your version!
Steak and Cheese Stuffed Pretzels
Ingredients
For the Pretzels
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- ¼ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 2¼ tsp instant dry yeast
- ⅔ cup warm water
For the Baking Soda Bath
- 1 cup boiling water
- 2 Tbsp baking soda
For the Filling
- 14- oz. shaved steak fully cooked
- 8 oz. Cabot Monterey Jack cheese cut into ½” cubes
- 6 oz. Cabot Vermont Extra Sharp Cheddar cheese cut into ½” cubes
For the Topping
- ½ Tbsp pretzel salt can use kosher salt
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter melted
Instructions
- Using a countertop mixer with the dough hook attached, add flour, salt, sugar, softened butter, onion powder, yeast and warm water. Mix on medium speed for 5 minutes. (Note: Dough will be very soft.)
- Transfer dough into an oiled bowl, cover and let sit at room temperature for 45 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare the Baking Soda Bath by combining the boiling water and baking soda. Stir until baking soda is fully dissolved, then set mixture aside to cool. (Note: This is a great to go ahead and cook the shaved steak and cube the cheeses for the filling.)
- Once dough has risen, divide it into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a 3”x 5” rectangle.
- Divide the cooked steak and cubes of cheese evenly across the pieces of dough.
- Fold the bottom of each piece of dough up and then fold the sides over. Pinch the seams together at the top. Repeat until all pieces of dough have been filled and pinched closed.
- Preheat oven to 450°F.
- Pour baking soda mixture into a shallow dish. Place each pretzel in the mixture and let sit for 2 minutes. (If necessary, spoon the water over the top of the pretzel if it is not fully covered.)
- Generously spray a standard baking pan with non-stick baking spray. Transfer pretzels to pan.
- Sprinkle tops of pretzels with coarse salt; let pretzels sit uncovered for 10 minutes.
- Bake for 11-13 minutes, or until tops are golden brown in color.
- Remove pretzels from oven and brush with melted butter before serving.
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cant wait to make this soon for me for the pretzels and topping can i use vegan butter and fro the filling can i use mushrooms and vegan cheeses i never had steak and cheese stuffed pretzels before also i missed your recipes last 2 weeks perfect for my aftrer office meals love your recipes as always brightens up my day everyday after work
You may absolutely make any substitutions you’d like to match your dietary preferences, Ramya! Stuffed pretzels are a lot of fun, and there are so many options for what to put inside! I hope you enjoy these!
Yummmm!!! That’s delicious comfort food right there! Love all that cheesy goodness. Adding the thinly sliced steak means this can be a meal too! Right? 😉
I’m all about the comfort food, Kathy, and cheesy stuffed pretzels ranks up there near the top of the list! 🙂
Whaaaaatt??!! When I read your post, I wanted to grab these out of the computer and eat them right then. I have never made pretzels and you have just inspired me to do so and especially with steak and cheese. I’m so hungry now. Thanks for sharing.
Haha – if only technology would let us do that, Kristy! In the meantime, you should make a batch of soft pretzels. They’re not as hard to make as you might think, and you can have fun stuffing ’em with all sorts of fun ingredients…but cheesy steak is definitely a good starting point!
I’ve never made pretzels (Although I’ve made bagels where the cooking method has some similarities) – but these look so terrific that I want to drop everything and run to the kitchen! 🙂 They’re beautifully browned, and the filling is so delicious!
If you’ve made bagels, then you can absolutely make pretzels, Ben! Pretzels are easier than bagels in my opinion. And when you make those pretzels, make sure to stuff ’em with fun ingredients like cheese and steak!
Man, I love soft pretzels too. Then you go ahead and stuff them with steak and cheese? Whoa! These look and sound so freakin’ good!! I was just thinking about pretzels the other day and then you go ahead and share this delicious recipe (good timing)! There is a little spot in the mall that’s great, but I’m confident these are SO much better. Now I’m hungry!!
Oh, homemade is always better, Dawn. Always! And homemade soft pretzels stuffed with melty cheese and shaved steak? Now that’s some seriously delicious comfort food right there!
Mmmmm. Those look wonderful. And why is pretzel salt so darn good?!
Haha – I hear ya there, Mimi! I think pretzel salt is specifically formulated to be extra tasty. 🙂
I’ve not heard of shaved steak – is it pre-cooked? this recipe sounds the business david. yes i am scared of yeast but i must give this a go soon. Looks damn fine!
Shaved steak is usually uncooked – it’s basically steak that has been cut super thin. You could do it at home with a sharp knife, but it’s easier to just grab a package at the store. Here in the States, shaved steak is used to make cheesesteaks so it’s fairly easy to find it either in the fresh meat section or the frozen aisle. Also, quit being scared of yeast!! (Seriously!)
The only time I have had pretzels was when my husband got us the store brought ones, from America, that were salty and sweet. The soft ones are new to me and they look super delicious!
Ah, you should make a batch if you can get all of the ingredients, Taruna! Soft pretzels are bread-like but they are chewy. The salt on the top is an important piece! And of course you can get creative and stuff those pretzels with all sorts of fun things…like steak and cheese! 🙂
Reminds me of the steak and cheese pies here in NZ which is a staple. Using pretzels is a good idea, I would definitely love them, something different but with a similar filling taste.
Yes! I have heard of the steak and cheese pies in NZ. You should try that but use pretzel dough instead!