Vegan Soft Baked Pretzels are a fun homemade appetizer or game day snack! Made with under 10 ingredients, they're cute & delicious dipped in mustard.
Jack here with my second recipe on the Love and Lemons blog. This recipe is one near and dear to my heart – big, doughy, German-style pretzels!
Now, while Germans tend to dip their Laugenbrezel in butter, that’s not how I do it. I dip them in spicy brown mustard. And when we started working with Sir Kensington’s, the first thing I said when I opened up the sample package of Ketchup and Mayonnaise was “Where is the mustard?” Sir Kensington himself has heard my call, and here is the mustard. And its best friend – pretzels.
The traditional recipe for Laugenbrezel is nothing short of terrifying. Why? Because they make the dough, twirl it up and dip it in lye. As in, the stuff that soap used to be made of. As in, the stuff you wear rubber gloves and eyewear to handle. We will not be doing that. But one thing we will be doing – and what does NOT terrify me – is making dough.
Dough has become one of my favorite things to work with. Many of you may not know this, but I’m a software engineer by trade, and I like things to be… measured. When I’m cooking with Jeanine, it’s always “a pinch of this, a splash of that.” Also, Jeanine has a fairly well documented problem with waiting in lines. Well, working with dough is full of exact measurements, and waiting for it to rise may as well be waiting in line to her. So I’ve found my “thing” for the blog now, and my thing is dough.
These pretzels are wonderful and simple, because you’re essentially making fairly standard dough, using baking soda and boiling water to smooth out the outside, then baking it. That’s really about it. The hardest part, probably, is twirling the pretzel. My main modifications from Laugenbrezel are to use maple syrup instead of barley malt syrup, oil instead of butter, and baking soda instead of severe burns and lawsuits (lye).
And of course, serve these wonderful vegan pretzels with your favorite spicy brown mustard. Might we suggest Sir Kensington’s?
Vegan Soft Baked Pretzels
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- ½ package (1/2 tablespoon) active dry yeast
- ¾ cup water (1/4 cup for proofing, ½ cup for dough)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil or canola oil
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 tablespoons baking soda (this is for the boiling water NOT the dough)
- 6 cups water, in a pot (for boiling)
- Coarse salt (for sprinkling)
- Proof the yeast: Put ¼ cup warm water, maple syrup, and yeast into a small cup and stir until yeast dissolves. If yeast does not foam, try again with another yeast packet.
- Make the dough: If you have a mixer with a dough hook, put the flour, salt, oil, proofed yeast mixture, and an additional ½ cup of water (for a total of ¾ cups water) into the mixer. Run on medium low for about 5-6 minutes (until the dough pulls away from the bowl). If you don’t have a dough hook, mix and knead dough ingredients for about 8-10 minutes.
- Brush the inside of a large glass bowl with a little bit of oil. Form the dough into a ball and put it in the bowl. Cover and allow the dough to rise for about 40 minutes, or until it has doubled in size.
- Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.
- Uncover your dough and punch it down few times. Really let it have it.
- Prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper on it. Set aside.
- Prepare an oiled work surface. Cut the dough into 4 or 6 equal sections (depending on the size you want your pretzels), and roll each out to an approx. 18-24 inches long rope.
- Grab the ends of each dough rope to make a U shape, then form into a pretzel shape.
- Put 6 cups of water into a pot and dissolve the 2 tablespoons of baking soda into the water and bring to a rolling boil.
- Drop pretzels, one at a time, into the pot (get close so it doesn’t splash!). Each should sink a little then rise up. Wait 30 seconds, then lift out using a slotted spoon and place each onto the cookie sheet. While still wet, sprinkle liberally with coarse salt. Take a sharp knife and cut a 4-6 inch slit along the bottom of the pretzel. (This slit will open up during baking).
- Bake for about 14 minutes. Watch them like a hawk – when they’re golden brown, they’re done.
This recipe is built up of some research of multiple recipes, but is mostly based on this recipe from Saveur.
This post is sponsored by Sir Kensington’s. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that keep us cooking!
Can i use instant yeast instead?
yep, instant yeast will work great.
I made this following the exact recipe. I was amazing. The dough was much stickier after mixing than I anticipated. I didn’t think it would work out but it did!!
I don’t usually leave reviews, but this is so good I had to make an exception: thanks to this recipe, I have been declared the family pretzel baking queen. They are a hit every time, and so easy to make. We can’t get enough of them! Thank you so much for the recipe!
I’m so glad you loved them!
Delicious and great recipe!
I’m so glad you loved them!
These pretzels were fun and easy to make. And they turned out wonderful!!
Yay, I’m so glad you loved them!
Love this recipe! I have made it a few times now a s always double it because they go so quick! Easy and delicious. Thank you
I’m so glad you’ve been loving them!
I’ve been using this recipe for over two years so figured it may be time to rate it!
This is the best soft pretzel recipe- they come out so good every single time and I make no alterations (except I like to add rosemary on top when I salt them). I recommend this recipe to everyone I know!
Thanks Erin! I’m so glad you’ve been loving it so much!
I made this recipe last night and my husband and I couldn’t believe how yummy the result was! I’m a first time baker so I followed the recipe as is. Did everything by hand and for this pretzel being vegan, it came out crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. Thank you!
I’m so glad you both loved them!
Hi! I made these and they were devoured quickly. Would like to make pretzel bites using this recipe. Any recommendations to change in method of baking time? Thank you!
I’m so glad you loved them! They might need less time in the oven, I’d just check them a little bit earlier!
Rolled them out to 1/2″ thick and cut 1″ length and they came out perfect at 10 minutes. Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Hi! Thinking about trying these now in bun format. Do you think this would work?
Hmmm, I’m not sure but I can’t see why not. I’d probably increase the baking time. Can you let me know how it goes?
They came out perfect in taste as usual! I sliced too deeply but that’s ok. Cook time was 15 min. Such a fun recipe. Thank you!
I just made a batch of these and they disappeared in 5 minutes – they were SO good! I found them very easy to make as well. My family says thank you!
Hi Katie, I’m so glad you all loved them!
Im currently making these and I double the recipe.
Which may have been a mistake.
The dough is sooooo sticky. I added some more flour and kneaded by hand forever. But it was torturous to get off my hand. Its sitting now to rise, Maybe someone will see this during my rising time and give me any advice to salvage them??
Thanks!!!
Hi Stephanie, I’m sorry I didn’t see this quick enough. It sounds like you could have sprinkled a little more flour.
No problem!! I did end up adding more flour but had a terrible time rolling it out into thin enough rope.
They came out atrocious looking.
But even so. were delicious!!!!!!!!!!!!
Will def try again but following the recipe precisely and see if it helps rolling it out any easier
Omg are these ever good! So easy to make and delicious! Thank you!!
I have tried this recipe a few days ago and I have to admit that these pretzels are just incredible. So crispy on the outside and yet so soft on the inside. <3
I really recommend to eat them the day you bake them. They are amazing later on, too. However, the crust is just not as crispy anymore.
All in all – probably the best pretzel I've ever had in my life. Thank you for this amazing and easy recipe.
This recipe is fabulous
This recipe is fabulous!!! So easy to follow and they turned out perfect the first time!!
So glad you loved them!
Made this recipe a couple of weeks ago, and it came out amazing!
If I would like to double or triple the amounts for my next attempt, how should I change the proportions of water and baking soda?
Thanks for sharing!
Can you make the dough ahead of time and store it in the fridge?
I haven’t tried that so I’m not sure how it’ll affect the rise.
These were excellent, and mine looked almost just like the pic here (although my knots weren’t quite as lovely and perfect!) And they tasted even better than I expected they would. My tip would be to let the dough rise for as long as it needs to double in size (might depend on how warm your house is). I made several batches for a bake sale, and I sometimes let it rise for well over an hour. Thanks for a great recipe!
These are amazing!! I didn’t have maple syrup so I used corn syrup. I should have made a double batch…the fam ate them before I could even get them on a plate! Thanks for a great recipe!
Worked perfectly, added a tad more water. We shaped them into hearts for Valentine’s Day. Delicious
aww, cute! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
LOVE this recipe!
I’ve made them dozens of times since discovering it and each batch is just as soft & delicious as the last! Easy as could be with wonderful results! Thanks a bunch