Easy Gluten Free Soft Pretzels (2024)

These gluten free soft pretzels are simply PERFECT: wonderfully soft and deliciously chewy, they have that classic, mouth-watering pretzel flavour, and they’re also incredibly easy to make! As the recipe doesn’t require any proofing, they’re ready in less than an hour. And the dough is a joy to work with: you can actually knead it and shape the pretzels without having to worry about them tearing. You’d honestly never guess that they’re gluten free!

This has been one of the most frequently requested recipes lately. So, I’m super excited to finally share with you the final, perfected version of THE BEST homemade gluten free soft pretzels.

These pretzels are 100% the real deal: super soft, deliciously chewy and with that classic, mouth-watering pretzel flavour. They’re also incredibly easy to make and they’re ready in less than an hour!!

There’s no proofing in this recipe: you don’t need to let the dough rise, which really cuts down on the total time that it takes to whip up a batch of these delicious beauties.

And thanks to the magic that is psyllium husk (you can read all about its role as a binder in gluten free baking here), the dough is a joy to work with: you can knead it and shape the pretzels without having to worry about them tearing. You’d honestly never know that they’re gluten free!

Below, I’ve included plenty of step-by-step photos and all my tops tips that will help you to achieve gluten free pretzel perfection, including how to shape them, how to prepare a baking soda bath (and what that actually is), and possible substitutions, so you can tweak the recipe to suit your requirements and the ingredients you have on hand.

Before we get to the bits and bobs of making these amazing pretzels – if you like what you’re seeing, subscribe to my newsletter to keep up to date on the latest recipes and tips!

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Note: the whole recipe, including the ingredient quantities, can be found at the bottom of this page – just scroll down to the bottom, or click the ‘Jump to Recipe’ button at the top of this post.

How to make THE BEST gluten free soft pretzels

Making your own gluten free soft pretzels is incredibly simple. Plus, as they don’t require any proofing, the whole process takes less than an hour: you need about 15 minutes to make the dough, about 20-30 minutes to shape the pretzels, about 5 minutes to dip them into the baking soda bath and 12-14 minutes to bake them to deep golden brown perfection.

I recommend making the dough with a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. The mixer makes the process much easier *and* the final dough will be much smoother. However, if you don’t have a stand mixer (or you don’t feel like using it for whatever reason), you can also make the dough by hand. Just make sure to knead it thoroughly until smooth.

Ingredients for homemade gluten free soft pretzels

• Active dry yeast. This contributes a wonderful flavour and makes the pretzels deliciously soft. If using active dry yeast, you’ll need to first activate it in a bit of warm water – this also tells you whether or not your yeast is active. If you don’t see any bubbles or frothing appearing on top of the water-yeast mixture after about 5-10 minutes, then your yeast isn’t active and you need to use a new batch of yeast. (If you want to use instant yeast instead, check out the substitutions section and the recipe below.)
• Light brown sugar. The sugar gives the yeast something to feed on, which in turn makes the yeast more active and the finished pretzels even softer. It also gives them an added depth of flavour – that’s why I prefer to use light brown sugar rather than granulated sugar for this recipe.
• Warm water. You’ll use this water to activate the yeast, that’s why it’s important that it’s either warm or lukewarm. You’ll also use water to make the psyllium gel.
• Psyllium husk. This acts as a gluten substitute and it’s what gives the final baked pretzels their soft and slightly chewy texture. It also gives you a dough that you can actually knead and shape – without psyllium husk, there’s no way you’d be able to roll the gluten free dough into individual ropes and twist them into the characteristic pretzel shape. You can’t substitute the psyllium husk with another ingredient (not even flax seed, no matter what Google tells you). This recipe uses WHOLE psyllium husk, but you can also use psyllium husk powder – if you use the powder form, use only 85% of the amount listed in the recipe below. You can read more about the role of psyllium husk in gluten free baking here!
• Tapioca starch. (For substitution options, check out the substitutions section or the recipe below.)
• Millet flour. (For substitution options, check out the substitutions section or the recipe below.)
• Sorghum flour. (For substitution options, check out the substitutions section or the recipe below.)
• Xanthan gum. This also acts as a gluten replacement. Using a mixture of both psyllium husk and xanthan gum gives a softer, more delicate crumb – so, it’s perfect when making soft pretzels, as well as cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls or doughnuts. In comparison, using psyllium husk only would give a more robust, hearty, chewier crumb, which is desirable when making crusty artisan loaves. You can read more about the role of xanthan gum in gluten free baking here!
• Salt. It’s important to add salt to any bread recipe, as it brings out all the flavours.

In addition to the ingredients above that are required to make the dough, you’ll also need:

• Baking soda for the baking soda bath. This is a simple at-home alternative for the more traditional lye bath, which gives pretzels their characteristic flavour and texture. A baking soda bath gives an “American-style” pretzel that’s slightly lighter in colour and softer in texture. A lye bath, on the other hand, gives a “Bavarian-style” pretzel that’s much darker in colour and has a slightly chewier texture.
• Whisked egg for egg washing the pretzels just before baking.
• Flaky sea salt for sprinkling the pretzels just before they go into the oven. You can also use pretzel salt, which is the more traditional topping, but I used flaky sea salt as it’s more convenient and easier to find in shops.

Making the gluten free dough

Making the dough for these gluten free soft pretzels couldn’t be easier: just activate the yeast and make the psyllium gel (by mixing the psyllium husk with water), and then combine them with all the other ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook (or just a large bowl if making them by hand), and knead everything together into a smooth, soft, sticky dough.

The dough will be sticky to the touch, but don’t panic! Just make sure to work on a lightly floured surface and with lightly floured hands when shaping the pretzels in the next step – and if the dough starts sticking at any point, sprinkle on some extra flour. Just resist the temptation to incorporate more flour into the dough, as that can make the final pretzels too dense and dry.

How to shape homemade soft pretzels

First, give the dough a gentle knead on a lightly floured surface and divide it into 12 equal pieces.

Then, shape the pretzels:

1. Roll out each piece of dough into a rope about 16-18 inches/40-46cm long.
2. Form it into a U-shape.
3. Cross the ends of the U-shape by placing one over the other
4. and then twist them around each other.
5. Bring the twisted ends down, creating the classic pretzel shape.
6. Gently press down on the ends to make sure that they stick.

Don’t stress if your pretzels don’t look perfect on first try. Working with gluten free dough can take some time to get used to, as it’s more fragile than “regular” wheat-based dough. If you’re not happy with the shape of your pretzel, you can always re-knead that piece of dough, re-roll it into a long rope and then shape it again – just make sure not to incorporate too much extra flour into it.

Place the shaped pretzels onto lined baking sheets. Be careful and gentle when you handle and transfer them, as gluten free dough is a bit softer and more delicate than “regular” dough made with wheat flour. You can use a bench scraper to help transfer the shaped pretzels onto the baking sheet.

Note also that you can play around with the shape of your pretzels – specifically with their size and thickness. The length of the dough “ropes” can be anywhere from 16 inches/40cm, which results in quite “chubby” pretzels with small-ish holes, to 18 inches/46cm, which gives thinner pretzels with more pronounced openings.

Just keep in mind that the longer you make the ropes, the trickier they will be to handle, especially if it’s your first time making this recipe. In the step-by-step photos above, my pretzels are on the “chubbier” side, with all dough ropes in the region around 16 inches/40cm. However, I’ve made several batches of this recipe and a few photos in this blog post also show the other version made with longer, 18 inches/46cm ropes.

No need to proof the gluten free pretzels!

The great thing about this recipe is that is doesn’t require any proofing at all, which makes it extra quick. So, it’s really great if you’re an impatient baker like myself.

Of course, as you’re shaping the pretzels, the ones that you’ve already formed will have some time to proof as they stand around, but that just makes them a bit softer and fluffier.

Baking soda bath: a simple at-home alternative to a lye bath

Traditionally, pretzels are dipped in a lye bath before baking. Lye, or sodium hydroxide (NaOH), is a highly basic (alkaline) compound and dipping raw, unbaked pretzels into its solution promotes browning and gives them their characteristic flavour, chewy texture and dark colour.

The pH of a lye solution is around 13 to 14, which means it’s extremely corrosive and needs to be handled with care – you need to use safety goggles and gloves, and work in a well-ventilated space when using it. This can be stressful, potentially dangerous if you don’t handle it with enough care, and not really something I’d recommend, especially if you haven’t used it before. That’s why I prefer to use a milder and safer base for making pretzels: baking soda.

A baking soda solution (baking soda bath) is less alkaline with a pH around 8 to 9. The effect it has on pretzels is less pronounced compared to that of lye, but it still produces delicious soft pretzels with that wonderful characteristic flavour and soft, chewy texture.

Some recommend heat-treating baking soda in the oven before using it. This transforms baking soda, sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO₃), to the more alkaline sodium carbonate (Na₂CO₃), raising the pH from about 8 to about 11. However, this step can be time and energy consuming, so I just use untreated baking soda in this recipe.

How to prepare the baking soda bath & dip the pretzels

First of all: the amount of water you use will depend on the volume of your pot and on how many pretzels you want to dip into it simultaneously. But while the amount of water and therefore of the baking soda solution can vary you always have to use the same proportion of baking soda to water (that is, keep the concentration of baking soda in the solution constant).

Use 16g (about 1 tablespoon) of baking soda per 240g (1 cup) of water. I used a medium-sized pot/saucepan for dipping one pretzel at a time, so I used 80g (5 tablespoons) of baking soda and 1,200g (5 cups) of water.

To make the baking soda bath, bring a pot/saucepan of water to a gentle boil. Add the baking soda and mix well until dissolved. The solution will bubble and froth a bit as some carbon dioxide is released due to the heat.

While preparing the baking soda solution is very simple, there are a few things to keep in mind:

• Be sure not to over-fill your pot or saucepan. As you drop your pretzels into the baking soda bath, the level of solution will naturally rise – and over-filling the pot will result in it overflowing.
• After you’ve added the baking soda, make sure that the baking soda solution is very hot and close to boiling – but don’t actually let it come to a boil. If your solution starts boiling, it can bubble up and start foaming quite violently when you drop in your pretzels. This isn’t really dangerous, but it can flood your stovetop and is best avoided. (And yes, I’m 100% speaking from personal experience here.)

To dip your pretzels into the baking soda bath:

1. Make sure that your baking soda bath is very hot and close to boiling, but not actually actively boiling (as explained above). Gently drop your pretzel into it, being careful not to splash yourself with the hot liquid.
2. Keep the pretzel in the hot baking soda bath for 20-30 seconds. Any longer than that, and your pretzels can take on a slightly metallic flavour.
3. You can gently press down on the pretzel to keep it fully submerged in the baking soda bath.
4. Use a slotted spoon to gently lift the boiled pretzel out of the bath, and allow any excess water to drip away. Then, transfer it onto a large lined baking sheet.

I recommend dipping the pretzels into the baking soda bath just before you’re ready to put them in the oven. If you’re baking them in two batches of six (as I did) that means that you should first dip half of the pretzels into the baking soda bath, and while this first batch is baking, dip the other six into the baking soda solution.

Egg wash & sprinkle with salt

To get that gorgeous deep golden brown colour on your pretzels, egg wash them before baking.

Finally, sprinkle them generously with salt – I used flaky sea salt (as it’s widely available and easy to find either online or in shops) but you can also use coarse sea salt or the more traditional pretzel salt.

Bake until deep golden brown

Finally, bake the gluten free soft pretzels in a pre-heated oven at 450ºF (230ºC) for 12-14 minutes until puffed up, cracked in places and deep golden brown.

I like my pretzels quite caramelised, as you can see from the photos, so I usually bake them for 14 minutes. For pretzels that are lighter in colour, bake them for only 12 minutes.

Note that the oven temperature above refers to a conventional/non-fan oven. If you’re using a convection/fan oven, reduce this temperature by 25ºF (20ºC). This is a general rule of thumb that holds true for most recipes.

And then, allow the pretzels to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack. These are best served warm – that’s when they’re at their softest and fluffiest.

How do you make sure that all the pretzels are of the same size?

Keeping all your pretzels of the same size is very important – not just to make them look good, but also so that they all bake evenly and at the same rate.

To make sure that they’re all of exactly the same size, it’s best to use a digital kitchen scale and weigh the individual dough pieces. When you divide the dough into 12 equal portions, each piece should weigh about 112g.

What gives gluten free soft pretzels their characteristic flavour and texture?

The crucial step in the recipe that gives these gluten free soft pretzels their classic flavour and chewy texture is the baking soda bath – so don’t be tempted to skip it!

As mentioned above, the baking soda bath is a simple, at-home alternative to the more traditional lye bath. And while it doesn’t affect the flavour and texture of the pretzels as intensely as the lye solution (mainly because the baking soda bath is less alkaline, with a pH of 8 to 9, compared to the lye bath with a pH around 13), it still produces super delicious pretzels.

How long do gluten free soft pretzels last?

Just like “regular” pretzels made from wheat flour, these gluten free pretzels are at their very best while still warm or on the day of baking.

However, you can keep them in a closed air-tight container at room temperature until the next day. Then, before serving, reheat them either in the microwave or in the oven. This will return some of their softness – but note that they won’t be quite as soft and delicious as on the first day.

Can you double or halve the recipe?

Yes, definitely! You can easily double or halve the recipe just by doubling or halving all the ingredient quantities.

Possible substitutions

Although all the ingredients in the recipe should be easily accessible either in your local grocery store or online, I still wanted to include a list of substitutions you can make. (NOTE: all substitutions should be madeby weightand not by volume.)

• Active dry yeast:You can use instant yeast, in which case you don’t need to activate it, but just add it straight to the dry ingredients along with the sugar. Add the water that would be used in activating the active dry yeast to the dry ingredients along with the psyllium gel.
• Psyllium husk: YOU CAN’T SUBSTITUTE IT WITH A DIFFERENT INGREDIENT. But if you use psyllium huskpowderas opposed to the whole psyllium husk, use only 85% of the weight listed in the recipe.
• Tapioca starch:You can use an equal weight of cornstarch, potato starch or arrowroot starch instead.
• Millet flour:You can use an equal weight of finely ground/milled brown rice flour instead, but your pretzels might be slightly less fluffy.
• Sorghum flour:You can use an equal weight of white teff flour, light buckwheat flour or oat flour instead (the latter only if you’re not sensitive to oats).

A note on measurements (tl;dr: if possible, use a scale)

While I’ve included the volume measurements (cups and spoons) in the recipe card below, if at all possible (and I really cannot overemphasise this): USE METRIC GRAM MEASUREMENTS IF YOU CAN.

They’re much more precise and produce more reliably delicious results. This is true for pretty much all of baking – a kitchen scale will invariably give better results than cups and tablespoons.

And there you have it: this covers absolutely everything you need to know in order to make the most fabulous gluten free soft pretzels. I really hope you’ll love them as much as I do.

Happy baking!

More gluten free bread recipes

If you’re looking for more amazing gluten free bread recipes that are nearly indistinguishable from their “regular” equivalents made from wheat flour, you’re definitely in the right place!

• The Ultimate Gluten Free Bread (Artisan Style Loaf)
• The Softest Gluten Free Dinner Rolls
• Gluten Free Seeded Loaf (Mixed Seed Bread)
• Easy Gluten Free Flour Tortillas (Only 5 Ingredients!)
• The Ultimate Gluten Free Doughnuts
• Gluten Free Boston Cream Doughnuts
• The Ultimate Gluten Free Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
• Gluten Free Poppy Seed Rolls

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