We have a serious love for party food that is both, super tasty and easy to make while being super inexpensive. For us, pretzel bites fall into that category. Their salty outsides and super soft insides make them irresistible and there's hundreds of ways to get them dressed up for your next party. Here's how to whip up a batch.
Pretzel bites are the gift that keeps on giving. You start with what seems like a small batch of unassuming dough and as you start working, you create 100+ little bites that puff up into all their pretzel-tastic glory! They are a true loaves to fishes type snack where you can make something quite phenomenal in a short amount of time with very little supplies (or space). You will need a large pot (something to boil water in), an oven and hopefully one other helper, it's a quick process and making them with a friend or family member really helps. Here's how to get started:
Pretzel Bites
Yields 100+ bites or 30 pretzels
1 Recipe Pretzel Dough from Smitten Kitchen (adapted from Martha Stewart).
Set a large pan with 2" of water in the bottom on the stove to boil. Hopefully by the time it comes to a boil, you'll be finished working with the dough. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit as well, with racks in the upper third and lower third of the oven.
After allowing dough to proof in a warm area , heavily flour a work surface and dump dough out of bowl. Flour hands and shape into a large rectangle roughly 3/4 of an inch in thickness. Using a bench scraper (our preferred method), knife or pizza cutter, cut off 1 long strip, 1" wide and set aside. Cover remaining dough with a towel. Cut dough strip into 1" pieces and set aside, covering them with a towel.
Repeat the process until all dough has been cut into pieces and has been placed under a towel. The entire cutting process should take you no more than 15 minutes, so work quick.
Once water is boiling, add 1/4 cup Baking Soda and 2 tablespoons of sugar to it (it will foam, don't walk away from the pan!). Once it foams up, it should die down quickly, which is your cue to reduce the heat to a simmer. If for any reason the foam doesn't reduce, remove pan from heat for a few seconds until it does so. We have had one instance where the bubbling for whatever reason kept on going, so be mindful when doing this step.
Add 10-12 bagel bites to your boiling water and simmer for 90 seconds on each side. This time might increase or decrease depending on the size your bites are actually cut to. Check out the photo above for a bite that doesn't get boiled long enough. When they are removed from the water they'll shrivel. Don't undercook! Once each side has cooked (we just stir them with a large spoon and everything turns and gets coated accordingly) remove from pan and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet and make sure the pieces do not touch. Arrange them in a manner which will allow the tray to hold as many pieces as possible and then brush tops with a mixture of 1 egg and 2 tablespoons water. Sprinkle with Kosher or sea salt and place tray in oven.
*Note: If your bites stop puffing to their maximum capacity, rinse pot and refill with water, add baking soda and sugar again to water and start over. You'll know when they're done if you can eat one out of the water, the inside will have the texture of a dinner roll with a soggy exterior.
Bake pieces for 12-15 minutes, you'll see the tops change color within the last 5 minutes of baking. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack for cooling. They are best when eaten while still warm, though they'll stay super tasty for a full 12 hours when left uncovered on the counter or in a bowl. You can make them ahead for a party, just toss them in a zip top bag in the freezer as soon as they are cool to the touch. Then reheat in a 200 degree oven until warm!
You can serve them with a dip of your choice, it doesn't have to be a traditional mustard and can be any of of your family favorites! Don't forget, when it doubt, turn to a nice cheese sauce and most everyone will be happy.
Enjoy!
Related: Recipe Review: Soft Pretzels from Smitten Kitchen
(Images: Sarah Rae Trover)
© 2010 Apartment Therapy
Those look great! As someone who has spent an afternoon shaping pretzel dough into pretzel shapes, I love the idea of just making bites. Also, I mistook the mustard in the picture for peanut butter, which would be kind of a great thing to serve for dipping.
view smallkitchcara's profile
You call this "easy" and you say this requires little space? Hah! THere's no way I could do this in my kitchen, and I've plenty of friends with kitchens that couldn't accommodate this. (unless they 'set aside' the pieces of cut dough in the bathroom!) And the need to work quickly and make sure pieces don't touch are exactly my idea of "not easy" because they require attention to detail. (Not to mention your suggestion of having a helper!) It looks like fun if you have a suburban kitchen, a KitchenAid, and a bench scraper.
view kushkush's profile
If you're running low on space an easy way to keep track of cut dough pieces are on stacking wire cooling racks, instead of taking up extra counter space, they only take up vertical space and yes... in previous smaller apartments we've been known to place them on a cutting board spanning our kitchen sink to make extra usable space!
view sarahrae's profile
Those look great! Don't know why I never thought of doing this before.
view eprewitt's profile
OK, I'm a little dense. As far as the sample of the one that didn't get boiled long enough, is it all of them in the picture that says Fail, or...?
view curbappeal's profile
My friend and I made Alton Brown's pretzel recipe several times this summer. Great recipe.
view themonkrat's profile
curbappeal: Sadly, yes, it's all of them in the picture. When they come out of the water and are done (which is a quick enough process, I didn't have enough hands to snap a quick picture) they're tall and without wrinkles, these came out of the water like this. Sorry I didn't make that more clear for you.
view sarahrae's profile
I am so making these for new years eve!
view JasonLoper's profile
I made this recipe two days ago. I am no novice breadmaker - and the dough turned out perfectly. Sadly, I found the taste of the bites to be inedible. The baking soda flavor was FAR too strong. I followed the recipe to a "T" but the entire batch went in the trash. What a waste!
view prometheanne's profile
prometheanne - We've made the recipe more times than we care to admit and haven't every had a residual baking soda taste. So not having had a batch go south in this manner, my only suggestion would be to use more water or boil for slightly less longer.
Without being in your kitchen during the process, I'm sort of at a loss as to what to tell you to remedy things.
Has anyone else had this same problem?
view sarahrae's profile
kushkush - I've made this recipe more times than I care to admit as well, and I have to tell you, I make it all on the surface of my stove and one cutting board that's about the size of a sheet pan... I rest the sheet pans I use on my sink cross wise (one one way and then another on top of it the other way) the bites are small enough that the dough doesn't get squashed. You can get all the bites onto 2 large sheet pans and cook them both at the same time, and yes, it is indeed relatively easy. I mix the dough in a bowl and work it together in the same bowl, then I turn it out onto the cutting board, wash out the bowl and put the dough back in it to let the it rise... I don't even roll them into strips, I just divide the dough into 8 even pieces, then divide each of those pieces into 8 (you could make them smaller if you wanted) balls and boil those.
prometheanne - I had this problem once using another recipe which called for less water and the same amount of soda... my guess, you're not using a large enough pan. Try a 10 - 12 inch sauté pan with about 2 inches of water in it, that should help.
This is one of my favorite recipes ever, it's super simple, and fool proof, makes a TON of pretzel balls, and I only have to wash a bowl a pan and cookie sheets. One other note, Parchment paper is your friend... I once ran out and didn't use any, all my balls stuck :(
view Lisin's profile
I just made this for a Christmas party and it was such a hit! Paired with a few good dips (one cheesy, one mustard) they were devoured and everyone loved them.
Maybe they are a bit more effort than say, a flatbread but definitely worth the effort. So good!
view minji's profile
Thanks Lisin for helping out with the water to Baking Soda ratio! Hopefully that helps!
view sarahrae's profile
My friend made these for a Christmas party and they were amaaaazing. Especially with a cheddar/beer fondue dip. I'm definitely going to try it out.
view cherrytea's profile
I made Alton brown's reipe this weekend. All were gone in 10 minutes! Lots of steps, and yeah, you need a kitchenaid, but not a lot of space. Just patience. I went for a run while the yeast rose.
view loislane_7's profile