These Homemade German-Style Pretzels are chewy, slightly crunchy, and so totally tasty.

They make a great Oktoberfest appetizer, or an “any time of year” party snack. What’s more, they’re simple and fun to make.

You likely have all the main ingredients already in your cupboard:

• active dry yeast
• all-purpose flour
• salt (table/plain and coarse)
• sugar
• butter
• baking soda

These homemade German-style pretzels require some easy steps and wait times. That’s about it. Start to finish, they won’t take much longer than a couple hours, and most of that time is letting the dough ingredients sit…

…and chilling the prepped pretzels.

Baking Tips

• Allow enough time: the dough prep has a few “rest” times: before you mix in the dough, after you mix it, plus an hour chill time before baking.
• You roll out 12 equal portions into ropes 20 inches long. Try to get them a consistent size end-to-end.
• The soda bath is key to their great flavor and beautiful golden brown color.
• Give your boiling pot of water the space it needs when you add the baking soda. It will look like a grade-school science project for a few seconds.
• The bake time is short and sweet, just 15 minutes.
• For a mustard sauce, I simply combined equal parts Koops stone ground mustard and mayonnaise.

While this recipe isn’t a blue ribbon winning recipe, that I know of, it certainly could be! The recipe is based on this one from Amanda’s Cooking. My friend Nancy requested authentic German pretzels for an Oktoberfest party she was hosting and sent me the link to Amanda’s version. It worked out so perfectly the very first time. Her tips and insights were so helpful. I re-worked Amanda’s recipe into my own words and to match our format. This recipe is one I will make again and again. We hope you make and enjoy it soon too!

-Cyndi