These easy soft pretzels do not require any yeast or proofing. They start with the popular 2 ingredient dough from the Weight Watcher’s program and are ready in less than an hour. Perfect for a snack, a party, tailgating, and more.
After successfully making 2 Ingredient Pizza Dough and 2 Ingredient Bagels, I knew I wanted to turn the dough into soft pretzels. Next to bagels, one of the foods I miss most from my childhood in New York are soft pretzels. I can never resist stopping by all the soft pretzel stands when I’m visiting.
I came across a few different Weight Watcher’s recipes using this 2 ingredient dough for pretzels. But the recipes basically just shaped the dough into pretzels instead of bagels. While there is nothing wrong with that, I wanted mine to be as close to real soft pretzels as possible.
I went through a soft pretzel baking phase a few years ago and I learned the two most important steps in achieving that distinctive soft pretzel taste:
1. Dipping the soft pretzel dough in a baking soda hot water mixture. This helps achieve the dark brown crust is responsible for the very mild bitterness that is on the crust of soft pretzels.
2. Sprinkling the pretzels with coarse salt. Even if you like scraping off the salt from your pretzels (yes I do that), soft pretzels simply don’t taste the same without a little of that intense bite of salt.
Because this is not a traditional yeast dough, I had to make a few tweaks but I am really happy with the results.
Taste and Texture
The crust of the pretzel has that distinctive soft pretzel taste. The interior is soft, though lighter and airier than regular soft pretzels.
Unlike the bagels which I thought still had a lot of that tangy flavor from the yogurt, I barely tasted the yogurt in these pretzels. My husband thought I had baked regular soft pretzels and was shocked when I told him this was a shortcut version using yogurt.
This recipe is a little bit more complicated than the 2 ingredient bagels and it took a few tries for me to get the hang of making smooth and even pretzel shapes, but I love how easy these are compared to regular soft pretzels.
Recipe Tips
Making the Dough:
- Non-fat plain Greek yogurt is key to this dough. It cannot be substituted with regular yogurt. Make sure you use a brand that makes a thick Greek strained yogurt. Not all brands offer the same consistency. I used Fage for these.
- You can knead the dough by hand or using a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment. I personally prefer using the stand mixer method as it doesn’t take as much kneading. You do need to watch the mixer carefully. As soon as the dough comes together in one ball and is no longer sticking to the sides of the bowl, it’s ready. If you over-knead it, it will actually start becoming too sticky to work with again.
- This dough works best for making 2 (by halving the recipe) or 4 soft pretzels. I don’t recommend doubling the ingredients because it is a lot harder to knead and achieve the right consistency for the dough. If you wish to make a large batch of pretzels, I would recommend making the dough in several batches.
- Try to make your dough ropes as even and smooth as possible so that your soft pretzels will be smooth. I re-rolled the dough a few times until they were smooth and even. A lightly floured surface should help.
Cooking the Dough:
- The key to the dark brown pretzel crust and its distinctive flavor is dipping the soft pretzel dough in a baking soda hot water mixture before baking. Usually, soft pretzels will cook in the baking soda water for about 30 seconds. However, for these pretzels, the boiling ruins the shape and makes the pretzels puff up evenly. So instead, I dipped them in the hot baking soda water for about 30 seconds. The pretzels puff up slightly while still maintaining their smooth appearance and they achieve a beautiful brown crust during baking.
- Make sure you use a small enough pot that will allow the pretzel to be completely submerged in the water. If your pot is too big, your water level will be too low.
No Yeast Soft Pretzels
Ingredients
- 1 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
- 1 cup self rising flour or mix 1 cup all purpose flour + 1 1/2 tsp baking powder + 1/2 tsp table salt
- 1/4 cup baking soda
- 1 egg whisked (for egg wash finish)
- coarse sea salt for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, add yogurt and flour. When measuring out the yogurt, make sure that you strain out any excess liquid. Any extra liquid sitting in your yogurt will cause the dough to be too wet.
- Using a large spoon or spatula, mix together flour and yogurt until it begins to form a crumbly dough. Use your hands to push the dough together into one ball. The dough will be very sticky.
- Add your dough to a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment. Knead the dough on medium speed until it becomes one ball and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Your dough ball should feel tacky and no longer too sticky. This should only take a few minutes and you should be watching your mixer carefully and remove the dough as soon as it is tacky. If you over-knead it, the dough will become sticky again. If you do not have a stand mixer, you can knead the dough by hand. You will need to cover your kneading surface with flour and knead the dough by hand until it is tacky and no longer sticky.
- Divide dough into four equal balls. Roll out ball on a lightly floured surface until it becomes a 14-inch long rope. Try to make the rope as even and smooth as possible. You can re-roll a few times until it is smooth and even. Form a pretzel shape with the rope. Repeat with remaining dough balls.
- Add 4 cups of water and baking soda to a medium pot. Your water level should be high enough to completely submerge one pretzel. If it's not, you may need a smaller pot. Bring water baking soda to a simmer. Then turn off heat but leave the pot on the stove so the water stays hot. Gently submerge one soft pretzel in water for about 30 seconds. The pretzel should puff up slightly but should not lose its form. Do not boil the pretzels in the baking soda because this causes the dough to puff unevenly and lose its form. Remove pretzel and place onto prepared sheet pan. Repeat with remaining pretzels.
- Brush the entire surface area of the pretzels generously with egg wash. Sprinkle coarse sea salt over pretzels.
- Bake pretzels for about 25 minutes or until pretzels are cooked and the crust is dark brown. Let pretzels cool a few minutes before eating.
Notes
- Non-fat plain Greek yogurt is key to this dough. It cannot be substituted with regular yogurt. Make sure you use a brand that makes a thick Greek strained yogurt. Not all brands offer the same consistency. I used Fage for these.
- You can knead the dough by hand or using a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment. I personally prefer using the stand mixer method as it doesn't take as much kneading. You do need to watch the mixer carefully. As soon as the dough comes together in one ball and is no longer sticking to the sides of the bowl, it's ready. If you over-knead it, it will actually start becoming too sticky to work with again.
- This dough works best for making 2 (by halving the recipe) or 4 soft pretzels. I don't recommend doubling the ingredients because it is a lot harder to knead and achieve the right consistency for the dough. If you wish to make a large batch of pretzels, I would recommend making the dough in several batches.
- Try to make your dough ropes as even and smooth as possible so that your soft pretzels will be smooth. I re-rolled the dough a few times until they were smooth and even. A lightly floured surface should help.
- The key to the dark brown pretzel crust and its distinctive flavor is dipping the soft pretzel dough in a baking soda hot water mixture before baking. Usually, soft pretzels will cook in the baking soda water for about 30 seconds. However, for these pretzels, the boiling ruins the shape and makes the pretzels puff up evenly. So instead, I dipped them in the hot baking soda water for about 30 seconds. The pretzels puff up slightly while still maintaining their smooth appearance and they achieve a beautiful brown crust during baking.
- Make sure you use a small enough pot that will allow the pretzel to be completely submerged in the water. If your pot is too big, your water level will be too low.
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
I love your recipes. Is there a non-dairy alternative to the Greek Yogurt?
Thank you! We have not tested this recipe with a a non-dairy alternative but it cannot be substituted with regular yogurt. It has to be a brand that makes a thick Greek strained yogurt. Not all brands offer the same consistency.
Are used full fat Greek yogurt no problem. I also let them sit on the counter for an hour to relax the dough a little bit then I put them in the soda bath. They are perfect especially for somebody that cannot eat yeast. I don’t have a gluten issue I’ve had cancer and cannot have any yeast. they are absolutely wonderful. I thank you.
We’re so glad you liked the recipe!
Thank you for your easy receipt s.
You’re welcome!
Tastes disgusting. Followed recipe and it said 1/4 CUP of baking soda. Do not do this people, amd use only a 1/4 tsp.
1/4 cup of baking soda is for the boiling water, not for the dough. If you added that to the dough of course it won’t come out right. Please make sure you follow the instructions instead of blaming the recipe. Adding 1/4 tsp of baking soda to the water will not achieve the the results needed for the crust of the soft pretzels. It needs to be boiled in a baking soda water to achieve the salty finish and to brown enough when baked.
I can’t get them to bake in the middle. The consistency still looks uncooked after 45 minutes in the oven. Dark brown on the outside, but looks uncooked. Gave up because I didn’t want to burn them. Up until this, the recipe was easy to follow!
Did you divide the dough into 8 equal parts and roll out 14″ ropes? It sounds like maybe your pretzels were bigger.
Was that the issue? We made 4 equal parts with 4 pretzels instead of 8! We must have missed that revision in the recipe! Either way we will try again!
Oh, I’m sorry for the confusion! You’re right, it should be divided into 4 parts (not eight) – be sure to roll them into 14″ ropes. If they are shorter your pretzels will be thicker and will take longer to bake. If you did do this, it could be your oven temperature? When we bake them at 350°F for 25 minutes they come out fine – if your oven is cooler, that could be the problem.
I do not have a stand mixer and that probably was the reason this recipe didn’t work for me. The pretzels fell apart when I was trying to take them out of the water. They tasted okay, but did not resemble pretzels after baking.
You can knead the dough by hand (as mentioned in the recipe) but it will take longer than a stand mixer. If you didn’t knead the dough before shaping the pretzels they won’t hold together.
When you say one cup yoghurt, how many grams is that?
Sorry, but we don’t have that information.
Hi. So I am sure if you are able to post a comment and to access it that you have internet connection and could probably look it up yourself. But as I have had to look for this before I can tell you that 1 cup is 250ml which converted to grams is for yoghurt it is approximately 265g.
Hope that helps.
Good luck
I love soft pretzels! Now, if I don’t mess these up, I will be a very happy d lady!!
Hope you loved them!
I love this, I have made this recipe about 5 times for my family and friends and they have all enjoyed it! Keep up the good work! Lots of love!
I’m so glad your family is enjoying the recipe!
Soooooooo crispy & delicious. I was skeptical but these came out amazing! Use a lot of egg wash
I’m so glad you liked them!
Hey Kirbie! Could I use this same recipe to get them into the hard pretzel kind? Thanks a ton in advance.
Regards,
AJ
I don’t think it will work for a hard pretzel
Awesome! My boy loved these!
I’m so happy to hear that!
How do you submerge them in the water? The first one I dropped in but couldn’t get out and the other 4 I have to make a weird contraption with some spatulas lol maybe a video would be helpful?
I used a large slotted turner, like the kind you would use for cooking. I placed the pretzel on the turner, submerged the pretzel and then used the large turner to remove them.
I love pretzels. The recipe seems so simple can’t wait to try it out.
I hope you enjoy
Must the yogurt be nonfat or will whole or 2% work as well?
it needs to be nonfat
I am celiac, can you let me know what kind of flour I can use other than, self-rising or all purpose? Thank you!
this recipe only works with self rising flour. If you are looking for a gluten free version, please check out my low carb bagels: https://kirbiecravings.com/low-carb-keto-bagels/
Hi! Can you store the uncooked dough overnight and will it remain the same consistency?
Thanks!
I have not tried storing the uncooked dough.
I love your recipes, and I was super excited to try this one. However, the pretzels didn’t cook. I know this is an issue on my end, not on yours- the recipe seemed to work out for all the other commenters, and I’ve had this same problem every time I’ve used 2 ingredient dough in other recipes. Do you have any idea why it always comes out raw, or what I could do to fix it?
I think most of the time when people can’t get the 2 Ingredient dough to work, it is the yogurt they are using. It has to be a super thick Greek yogurt. Moisture is your enemy for this recipe. The yogurt consistency should be so thick that when you spoon it up, it doesn’t move. It doesn’t slide, lose it’s form, etc. Not all brands of Greek yogurt are thick enough. I am currently using the Costco Kirkland brand of nonfat Greek yogurt. I hope this helps!
These were great!
If you have a wetter yoghurt, what worked for me is simply to keep adding flour – still turned out great!
thanks for sharing your experience!
are you kidding…NOT LOW CARB!
DOES NOT SAY LOW CARB ANYWHERE IN THE RECIPE OR POST
These are amazing!!! Pretzels with cheese are my favorite food and I have been craving since on weight watchers. This was the second recipe I tried and it is so much better than the recipe that didn’t give them a dip in the baking soda water. Thank you so much
So glad you enjoyed this recipe!
These turned out wonderful! I am going to try them with a gluten free flour for my DIL who has Cieliacs. I am hoping they are just as good. She misses so much.
I hope they turn out!
yummy!!! so good, not as brown as yours so added more egg and they were soooo good
so glad you enjoyed them!
Thank you so much! I’ve made them every Sunday and my wife and grown children like them.
I made up a mustard dipping sauce from Dijon, regular mustard, small amount of mayo, honey, and small amt of butter, served very warm.
Your instructions are absolutely wonderful. During last 10 minutes, I rotate the baking sheet 180 degrees and crank heat to 500. For our oven, that works well.
Ps contrary to several sites giving credit to Weight Watchers for 2-ingredient bagels,, I don’t think it actually came from them. I even asked customer support and was told no. Maybe some kind of internet legend? If you have an official source I’d be glad to know!
Kirk from Minneapolis
I’m so glad you like the recipe! My understanding is that the 2 ingredient bagel dough recipe became very popular in the Weight Watchers community which is why it is often associated with them.
Nevermind I left them in a bit longer and they browned beautifully!
Yay! So glad you got them to brown!
Mine are finishing up in the oven but I noticed they aren’t as dark as yours. Is it possible to add and extra cost of egg wash to brown it more?
These look delicious! Excited to try it. If I can’t finish them, how can I store them, and how long will they last?
you can store them in the fridge for about 2-3 days
Hi Kirbie!
Thanks for posting the pretzels.. I’m orgionally from Philly (go Eagles), so I know and love pretzels. I turned the dough into pretzel bites and coated them with the Everything Bagel seasoning from TRader J. Amazing!
My question is; do u think I could swap the AP flour for a lower carb option like Almond? It’s a stretch I know. Lmk your thoughts.
Thanks
Jessica
Princeton NJ
Hi, unfortunately I do not believe this will work with almond flour.
Wow, ready in less than an hour, these pretzels look soft and yummy! Can’t wait to try these out :0
i hope you enjoy!