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These Air Fryer Pretzel Bites are so easy to make and taste amazing! Chewy, soft, and perfectly salty, you’ll love this soft pretzel bites recipe.
There’s nothing like the taste of fresh doughy pretzels – soft and chewy and topped with crunchy salt!
Just like my easy air fryer pickles, air fryer calzones, and air fryer zucchini chips, this recipe takes something simple and turns it into a tasty appetizer or game-day snack. All thanks to the magical air fryer.
Ingredients highlights
- Flour, some all-purpose is lovely!
- Yeast – rapid rise/Instant
- (optional) Egg or baking soda if you want to try one of the methods described below
If you have extra dough, try your hand at making these incredible air fryer pretzel dogs. They’re so good and freeze very easily!
How to Make Air Fryer Pretzel Bites
*I’ll walk you through it here with some photos and tips, and you’ll also find a printable recipe card at the bottom of the post with exact measurements, etc. You can also click “jump to recipe” to skip down.
This recipe uses instant yeast so that you’re not waiting for the yeast to proof. If you only have active yeast and not instant, I’ll walk you through how to use that in the recipe card.
Grab a medium mixing bowl and combine the water and yeast. Give it a stir and then add the flour, sugar, and sea salt. Stir it until it is mostly combined. A few shaggy bits of under-mixed dough is fine.
Lightly flour your hands and knead the dough by hand for 1 minute, bringing it into a ball. Divide the dough into eighths.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into ropes. With a floured knife, slice the dough into 1-inch pieces.
Lightly brush the basket of the air fryer with olive oil (or use air fryer parchment). Place pretzel bites into the basket, giving them enough room to expand.
Cook for 6 minutes at 390˚F, or until lightly browned on top. If using the butter method, brush melted butter on top of hot pretzel bites and sprinkle with pretzel salt. See notes below for egg wash or baking soda bath options.
Pretzel Bites – Three Ways
I tried three methods when cooking these – baking soda water bath, egg wash, and butter. All three turned out great with just slight differences in the flavor. You can see in the photo below that they all look super tasty!
Please note, the baking soda water bath is the only vegan option.
Option 1 – Egg Wash
Mix 1 egg with 1 tbsp of water. Brush over the dough balls and sprinkle with salt prior to cooking.
Option 2 – Butter
Probably the easiest option, simply brush melted butter over the bites once they’re done cooking and sprinkle with salt. It’s best to work in batches of 3-4 pretzels at a time so the salt sticks to the butter before it dries.
Option 3 – Baking Soda Bath (Vegan option)
Just like when making homemade pretzel rolls, dipping the bites in 4 cups of boiling water mixed with 1/3 cup of baking soda will give them a perfectly chewy exterior.
But…I didn’t find the taste any better when doing this method and it took more time. And, dirtied an extra dish.
Pro Tips/Recipe Notes
- Every air fryer will be different and may need a slightly different cooking time. The bites will be done when the outsides are golden brown.
- Your dough does not need to look perfect before cooking! It will puff up in the air fryer.
- There is no need to flip halfway through cooking unless you desire.
Air Fryer Pretzel Bites {Soft Pretzel Bites}
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups water {~110˚F}
- 2 1/4 tsp quick rise yeast {see notes for active dry yeast}
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tbsp sugar {or honey}
- pretzel salt {optional}
{Optional} Baking Soda Bath
- 4 cups water
- 1/3 cup baking soda
{Optional} Egg Wash
- 1 egg {beaten}
- 1 tbsp water
{Optional} Butter topping
- 3 tbsp butter {melted}
Instructions
Make the Dough
- In a medium mixing bowl combine the water and yeast. Stir.1 1/2 cups water, 2 1/4 tsp quick rise yeast
- Add the flour, sugar, and sea salt and stir until it is mostly combined.4 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp sea salt
- Lightly flour your hands and knead the dough by hand for 1 minute, bringing it into a ball. Divide the dough into eighths.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into ropes.
- With a floured knife, slice the dough into 1-inch pieces. (see notes below for optional egg wash or baking soda bath prior to cooking)
- Lightly brush the basket of the air fryer with olive oil. Place pretzel bites into the basket, giving them enough room to expand.
- Cook for 6 minutes at 390˚F, or until lightly browned on top.3 tbsp butter, pretzel salt
- If using the butter method, brush melted butter on top of hot pretzel bites and sprinkle with pretzel salt. See notes below for egg wash or baking soda bath options.
Notes
- If you only have active yeast and not instant/quick-rise, allow the dough to rest for 15 minutes before rolling.
- {Optional} Egg wash – beat 1 egg and 1 tbsp of water in a small bowl. Brush on top of pretzel bites and sprinkle with pretzel salt BEFORE baking in the air fryer.
- {Optional} Baking soda bath – In a large pot, bring 4 cups of water to a rolling boil. Carefully add baking soda (you may get some foaming action) and carefully place 10 pretzel bites at a time into the water for 30 seconds.
- Using a slotted spoon, remove the dough balls from the water and place on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with pretzel salt. Repeat with the rest of the bites until they have all been boiled. Then bake in the air fryer for 6 minutes at 390˚F.
- Oven-baking – bake at 425˚F on a parchment-lined sheet for 10-12 minutes.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can the dough be made in a bread machine?
I have never used a bread machine so I don’t feel comfortable saying if it would work.
That being said, the rise time for this is almost zero, so I’m not sure why a bread machine would need to be used. For the mixing? Again, I’ve never used one before so I’m totally clueless on this!
I just finished making these! I did 1/3 with cinnamon and sugar and butter and the baking soda bath, 1/3 with baking soda bath and garlic herb seasoning, smoked paprika and butter and the last 1/3 is wrapped around cheese hot dogs for dinner tonight(no baking soda bath). They are so good, I’m probably going to have to make more later tonight! Thank you for the recipe!
Mmmmmm, I love all those variations! And I think smoked paprika is one of the most under-appreciated spices out there. I used it in everything.
So so so good! I have made these a couple times for my family and every time they are amazing. Even my brother who is very picky cheers when I tell him I’m making them. I have always used the egg wash and they are awesome
I LOVE winning over picky eaters because I used to be one. 🙂
So glad you all enjoy this so much!
Can these be made ahead and frozen?
Hi Tif, yes you can. There are instructions on how to do that in the middle of the post. I’ll copy and paste below:
CAN YOU FREEZE PRETZEL BITES?
Yes! Place uncooked dough on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze for ~3 hours. Transfer to freezer-safe storage for up to three months. We love and use these reusable silicone bags.
You do not need to thaw them prior to baking, and we found that even frozen, you only need 6 minutes of cooking time.
Also we watched the video 10 times. Super helpful to have the video for the 9 year old! Thank you; they are such a pain to make, but so worth it.
I wish I could take actual credit for the video, but they’re made by a lovely lady in Australia. I do pay her though. HA!
What if I don’t have quick rise yeast?
Under the recipe notes, this is listed: If you only have active yeast and not quick-rise, allow the dough to rest for 15 minutes before rolling.
So you’ll be fine, but it will take 15 extra minutes.
Fabulous-such a fun recipe to make with my child; I used my regular yeast in my fridge (just brought it up to room temperature) and it worked just fine. Next time I want to use up some of my bread flour instead of all purpose. So much fun to make them in the air fryer-when they expanded they stuck to each other -so fun! Loved how simple the recipe was and how many it made-fun to cut on our pastry mat that has 1 inch markings!
My prediction with the bread flour is that they’ll definitely puff up a bit more. Still tasty, but maybe give them a bit more room to expand in the air fryer.
love them
I’m so glad Breanna! They’re one of our favorites. 🙂
I could not get my pretzel bites to brown! They looked like albino pretzel bites. They tasted okay but I think the appearance through me off. I baked them in the oven. Next time I will try our air fryer. Hopefully they will look as good as yours!
Leigh, was your oven rack in the middle position? Your oven may not want to brown them unless they are in a bit of a higher position.
These were amazing! They only took about half an hour to make including cooking. They tasted so good! I split the recipe in half and really enjoyed it. Will defiantly be making these again.
So glad you enjoyed them Sydney! Did you have any good dips for them? I’m nosy. 🙂
I have made homemade pretzels before and baked them and really wanted to try this.. but have been busy with life! New Years Eve is appetizer night in our house and although we have all the junk from the store the husband bought( Mama has been recovering from surgery) I really wanted pretzel bites! I whipped up the dough and let it sit about 8 minutes while I cleaned up the kitchen. We did the first batch just tossed into the air fryer and they were light brown and yummy… I did the baking soda method for the rest and they turned out dark brown and delish! We are loving them with yellow or grainy mustard to dip and I have tossed all of them into a bowl with melted butter and a few shakes of garlic salt.. SO FREAKING GOOD!
1) appetizer night is always fantastic, even if you’re not recovering from surgery.
2) I hope you’re feeling better.
3) pretzel bites rock, and I love that you created garlic butter for these. YUM!!
I have made the regular pretzel bread and these bites and they are both fantastic! My kids ask for the bites often because they are faster. Any recipe that is fast, delicious, and easy is a winner in my book.
Tried and failed. I used active yeast, left for 15 minutes to rise and used my Phillips airfryer at 160 celcius for 20mins!!! Still not cooked inside and didnt puff up either. What did I do wrong??!!!
Hi Bee, when was the last time you used the yeast? When my bread goods won’t rise, I typically look at two things 1) age of the yeast 2) temp of the water. If the yeast was old or the water TOO hot, you have “dead” yeast.
I had to google it, but 160 C is only 320 F. This recipe calls for 390 F, so, it looks like that would be 198 C (so maybe 200?).
So good!! I made the melted butter on top version but think I’ll try the baking soda next time, just as a test. These were so easy to make. I froze half the dough for later. You can’t go wrong with fresh pretzel bites to pregame for Sunday Night Football and the Seahawks.
I know everyone has a different favorite method, so I can’t wait to hear what you think of the baking soda bath!
Man, that ending of the Seahawks game was heart-breaking.
I’m making these for an Oktoberfest party for everyone to snack on while I finish cooking the rest of the meal (I’m never ready when they arrive). I made them today (beforehand) to try them out and they are AMAZING!!! I am going to really impress my friends!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them. And I have to say, I love a planner, so bravo to you for testing out a recipe now to use in a few weeks!
Will all purpose gluten free flour work?
A friend did it but needed to add a bit more water to make the dough workable. She was unable to roll the dough to make ropes, but she could free form the dough balls. Her preference was to do the baking soda bath with them.
These are amazing and super easy to make! I have a small air fryer and was still done in less than an hour. My kids like them better with the water method but I like them best when they’re in my tummy! Thank you for adapting your already delicious pretzel rolls!
Ha, you can’t go wrong with any of the methods! So glad you all enjoyed them.
If I freeze them. How would I do the baking soda step? Can I do that frozen? Fresh, I prefer the flavor and softness of the baking soda step. They were great thanks!!!
I haven’t tried that, but I *think* if you defrost them fully you should be able to do the baking soda bath. If you try it please let me know how it works out and I’ll update the notes.
I thawed them and it worked!!! I froze them on a platter and stored in a ziplock. Today I thawed them in the fridge. I did the baking soda method and cooked them in the air fryer. They were perfect!!Thanks so much!
Awesome! Thank you so much for letting me know. 🙂
I cannot wait to try this recipe!
They’re so good and fun. And the uncooked dough freezes really well.
I absolutely love this recipe! I look for any excuse to make them. They make a dull meal fun. I have to make a half batch because they are too yummy to last.
Awwww I love hearing this Emily!!! So glad you like them and glad they help perk up non-exciting meals.
Yum! I made these for a Super Bowl snack last night. I just made half a batch and I regret it because they were awesome. I loved how chewy they were and how quickly they came together. I suspect that I will make these again soon as a side to soup.
I’ve never had them with soup; you’re a freaking genius, Louisa!
If you do make a full batch next time, you can freeze the unbaked bites for future meals. We had them yesterday and I just popped them into the air fryer for 6 minutes.
I have been eyeing these off for awhile now and finally made them for superbowl today. Both my husband and I love them! We didn’t have pretzel salt but some fine seat salt did the trick. I’m so glad I have a bunch left in the freezer now because I’d be lying if I said I’m already dreaming about the next time I try them!
oh I should have specified as well – I just did the butter!
So glad you and Adam liked them! Pretzel salt makes a fun difference but sea salt works in a pinch. Get it…in a pinch (of salt)?