Everything Bagel Pretzel Bites

Easy everything pretzel bites are the perfect bite-sized baking project. This basic pretzel dough has onions in it for maximum everything bagel flavor.

The best part? No fancy shaping required! Just roll out the onion flavored pretzel dough, cut it into snack sized pieces, and get ready make the everything bagel pretzel bites of your dreams.

Whether you're serving these as a snack or an appetizer, they go great with my raspberry honey mustard pretzel dip!

Jump to:

• About Everything Bagel Pretzel Bites
• Ingredient Notes
• How to Make Bite Sized Everything Bagel Pretzels
• Boiling and Baking Pretzel Bites - Why Use Baking Soda
• Other Everything Bagel Pretzel Shapes
• Equipment Notes
• Storage Tips
• Practical Tips & Recipe Notes
• Recipe FAQ
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

About Everything Bagel Pretzel Bites

I am so excited about these everything pretzel bites! They combine two of my favorite foods — homemade bagels and pretzels.

This recipe uses my soft sourdough beer pretzel recipe as a base, though I've swapped out the starter and beer for regular flour and water.

I've also added onions to the dough to really emphasize the everything bagel flavor throughout the dough.

Because the onions add a bit of water to the dough, I reduced the amount of water the recipe calls for. Depending on how watery your onions are, you may need to add a bit more flour to the dough while mixing!

I tested this pretzel dough in a bunch of different shapes so I could give you all of the best tips and tricks for how to get the dough and pretzel crust just right. Make sure you read through the post so you don't miss anything!

This is definitely not a traditional pretzel recipe — it's just my take on it with a fun everything bagel topping I really like!

Ingredient Notes

Here are all of the ingredients you'll need to make everything bagel pretzel bites! Nothing too fancy or special, you should be able to get all of this at your local grocery store. See recipe card at the end of the post for quantities.

• All Purpose Flour - Regular all purpose flour is fine here. I use King Arthur Baking Company flour, and their all purpose flour has a slightly higher protein content than other flours which means chewier pretzels.
• Minced Onion - I recommend using a mini food processor or other type of food chopper to mince the onion if you can. The food processor doesn't just chop the onion, it also mashes the pieces, making them softer than if you were to just mince with a knife.
• Instant Yeast - Instant yeast is also sometimes called "rapid rise" or "bread machine" yeast. You can also use active dry yeast, but the dough may take slightly longer to rise. See recipe card notes for adjusting quantity for active dry yeast.
• Sugar - Plain white granulated sugar is just fine here, though you can also use brown sugar for a little bit more of a molasses-y flavor.
• Salt - I use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt which half as salty as other brands. If measuring by weight (which you should be!), it doesn't matter what brand of salt you use. But if you're measuring by volume and using a different brand of salt, even a different brand of kosher salt, cut the amount of salt in half.
• Melted Butter - Melt the butter first so it has a little bit of time to cool before you add it to the dough. I recommend unsalted butter, but if you only have salted butter, just reduce the amount of salt slightly.
• Water - Warm or lukewarm water. You don't want it to be hot, just slightly warm is ideal.
• Everything Bagel Blend - You can make homemade everything bagel seasoning or use your favorite store-bought everything bagel blend! I like King Arthur Baking's Everything Bagel Topping, but Trader Joe's Everything But the Bagel Seasoning will also work, as will Spicewalla's Everything Bagel Seasoning. Pay attention to the salt content of your everything blend — if you have a salt free blend, you may want to add pretzel salt to your everything bagel pretzel bites as well.
• Baking Soda - Boiling pretzels in a solution of baking soda and water is what gives them that classic pretzel taste. Make sure your baking soda is fresh, and that you have plenty of it before you begin boiling!
• Egg - To get a gorgeous brown pretzel crust and to help the everything bagel topping stick to your pretzel bites, you'll need an egg wash.

How to Make Bite Sized Everything Bagel Pretzels

Making this everything bagel pretzel bites dough is very simple and straightforward. Combine all of the dough ingredients — flour, salt, onion, yeast, sugar, and water — in the bowl of a stand mixer.

Remember, yeast is a living organism. Try not to put it in the bowl right under or on top of the onion or salt — they can kill the yeast.

Pretzel dough is a relatively low hydration dough. Dough hydration is the percentage of liquid (usually water) in the dough compared to the total amount of flour in the dough.

In this pretzel dough, the onions contribute to the water content. Since not all onions have the same amount of water in them, you may need to make some adjustments to get the dough to the right consistency.

If your pretzel dough is too wet, soft, or sticky, your pretzels will not hold their shape when you boil them. You're looking for a dough that is smooth, supple, and has some elasticity to it. It should feel a like a slightly stretchy play-doh.

If the indentation in the dough springs back and fills back in immediately and completely, let the dough rest a little while longer.

If the indentation in the dough fills in slowly and not all the way, your dough has risen perfectly. Move on to the next step!

Plop the pretzel dough out onto a lightly floured countertop and gently roll it into a rectangle about half an inch thick. Use a bench scraper or sharp knife to cut the dough into squares about 1x2 inches in size. These really don't have to be perfect!

TIP: Don't drag the knife or bench scraper in a slicing motion when you cut the dough. Move the blade in a straight up and down motion to get clean cuts without stretching the dough.

To get an even grid you can be finicky and use a ruler. Or you can eyeball it.

I usually eyeball my cuts by cutting the dough in half lengthwise, then dividing each half into thirds. Then I divide the dough in half in the other direction, divide each half in half, and divide each half in half again.

Boiling and Baking Pretzel Bites - Why Use Baking Soda

Like bagels, pretzels need to be boiled before you bake them. Unlike bagels, pretzels are boiled in an alkalized solution before baking. This is what gives them that slightly bitter, pretzel-y flavor.

Traditionally, pretzels are dipped in food grade lye. But we're not going to mess with that here. We're going to use baking soda.

You can just sprinkle the everything bagel seasoning blend on top of the pretzel bites — it's faster that way! But you'll get better everything bagel seasoning coverage if you dip them.

Other Everything Bagel Pretzel Shapes

You can use this dough to make a lot of other fun everything bagel pretzels in different shapes!

Instead of rolling the dough into a rectangle and cutting it into squares, you can also roll it into a 1 inch thick rope and cut it into 2" pretzel nuggets.

You could also do everything bagel pretzel knots, pretzel rolls, pretzel twists, etc. Just look up the different ways to shape. They should all boil for around the same time as the pretzel bites.

Bake time will vary depending on how thick your pretzel shapes are!

Equipment Notes

You don't need a lot of fancy equipment to make these everything bagel pretzel bites. But there are a few tools that will make it a lot easier! Here's what I used:

• Saute Pan (3 Quarts) - A high-sided saute pan 3 quarts or bigger is perfect for making pretzels. It's shallow, which means the water will boil quickly. And it's wide enough that you can fit a lot of pretzel bites in at once.
• Bench Scraper - A metal bench scraper with a sharp edge is the best way to cut these pretzel bites.
• Wire Spider - The best way to get the everything bagel pretzel bites in and out of the hot water without splashing. The pretzel bites are quite delicate, and the wire spider will give them plenty of support so they don't tear!
• Mini Dowel Rolling Pin - This is a fairly small batch dough, you don't need a huge rolling pin to roll it out. I used my trusty bamboo dumpling rolling pin.

Storage Tips

These soft everything bagel pretzels are best eaten same day or within a day or two of baking. They are very small and will quickly start to dry out or go stale.

If you would like to save some everything bagel pretzel bites for later, I recommend freezing them!

To Freeze: Arrange on a clean lined sheet pan. Once frozen, store in a large airtight bag in the freezer. Reheat from frozen in a 350F oven for 10-20 minutes, or until soft and warmed throughout.

Practical Tips & Recipe Notes

• Get the water boiling before you begin rolling and cutting the dough. You don't want the pretzel dough hanging out too long once it's shaped. The dough will continue to rise while it rests and the pretzels will be airy and light, rather than having that dense, tight classic pretzel interior.
• An egg wash can be a plain beaten egg, or you can add a splash of water (about 1 teaspoon) and a small pinch of salt to help break up the egg proteins. This makes it easier to whisk and to brush on to the pretzel dough.
• Real garlic lovers can replace 5 grams of onion with a grated clove of garlic in the dough.
• If you only have active dry yeast, use 4 grams instead of 3 grams. Or keep the measurement the same, but just know your dough might take slightly longer to rise.

Recipe FAQ

📖 Recipe