Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzels (2024)

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Leah Maroney

Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzels (1)

Leah Maroney

A recipe developer and food photographer, Leah Maroney is an ardent home cook and food blogger who has written over 300 recipes for The Spruce Eats.

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Updated on 03/11/24

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Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzels (2)

Prep: 30 mins

Cook: 10 mins

Rise Time: 60 mins

Total: 100 mins

Servings: 10 servings

Yield: 10 pretzels

106 ratings

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Everyone loves an Auntie Anne's pretzel. The second you walk into the mall, you can't help but smell them—and crave them. It's hard to resist the crunchy, chewy, buttery goodness of these pretzels.

This recipe allows you to make these wonderfully addictive pretzels yourself, plus have the amazing smell wafting through your own home. Easy to make, they require a simple dough and a little rise time. Twisting the pretzels is easy to do, and it's so much fun to do in a group or with kids.

You can easily double this recipe if you need an extra-large batch of pretzels. They freeze well—just toast them up when you're ready to serve. You can serve them with mustard, nacho cheese sauce, or any savory or sweet dip.

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What You'll Need to Make This Auntie Anne's Pretzel Recipe

A Nice Small Saucepan
A Zippy Stand Mixer
A Great Baking Sheet

Ingredients

For the Dough:

  • 2 cups milk

  • 2 ounces (4 tablespoons) salted butter

  • 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed

  • 2 teaspoons active dry yeast

  • 5 cups (745 grams) all-purpose flour

  • 2 teaspoons salt

For the Topping:

  • 2 cups warm water

  • 1/3 cup baking soda

  • 2 ounces (4 tablespoons) butter, melted

  • Pretzel salt, to taste

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather your ingredients.

    Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzels (7)

  2. Scald the milk in a small pot. Do not boil; just heat the milk until it is hot all of the way through.

    Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzels (8)

  3. Add the butter and sugar to the hot milk. Stir until the butter melts and the sugar has dissolved. Set it aside and cool until just a bit warmer than room temperature. If the milk is too hot, the yeast will die; too cold, and it won't rise as quickly (around 100 F is ideal).

    Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzels (9)

  4. Add the yeast to the top of the milk mixture and allow it to soften for a few minutes.

    Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzels (10)

  5. Using the bread hook attachment on your stand mixer, add in the flour and salt and stir with the hook attachment until completely combined and a smooth ball forms.

    Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzels (11)

  6. Cover the bowl with a clean dish towel and allow the dough to rise for 1 hour or until it doubles in size. Then punch down the dough in the bowl.

    Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzels (12)

  7. Turn the ball of dough out onto a cutting board. Cut the dough into 10 equal pieces. If you are looking to make smaller pretzels, cut the dough into smaller pieces. This will give you smaller pretzels. You need a decent size piece of dough to make the large, skinny pretzels that are Auntie Anne's signature.

    Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzels (13)

  8. Preheat the oven to 450 F. Roll a piece of the dough into a long and very skinny "rope," about 36 inches long.

    Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzels (14)

  9. Loop the dough in half and then twist the ends together 2 or 3 times.

    Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzels (15)

  10. Pull the ends back over the loop to make the classic pretzel shape, pressing the ends to make them stick.

    Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzels (16)

  11. Whisk together 2 cups of warm water and the baking soda in a shallow dish. Dip the pretzels into the baking soda bath. Flip and dip the other side.

    Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzels (17)

  12. Place the dipped pretzels onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. You should be able to fit 2 or 3 onto each baking sheet.

    Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzels (18)

  13. Bake the pretzels for 7 to 8 minutes or until golden brown.

    Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzels (19)

  14. Brush the pretzels with melted butter.

    Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzels (20)

  15. Sprinkle them with coarse pretzel salt.

    Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzels (21)

  16. Dig in immediately. They are best when they are eaten hot and fresh out of the oven.

Tips

Try serving the freshly baked pretzels with beer cheese dip, chipotle pumpkin queso dip, or for a salty and sweet combo, serve with chocolate sauce or caramel sauce.

Recipe Variations

  • Pretzel salt looks and tastes the best in the recipe, but you can also use a regular coarse salt like kosher salt.
  • You can substitute the milk with water and non-dairy butter for the butter if you are looking to cut out dairy.

How to Store and Freeze

  • You can refrigerate the dough for up to 24 hours as it rises.
  • You can also freeze the dough for three months. Move to the fridge to defrost overnight and proceed with the recipe.

What Makes Auntie Anne Pretzels so Good?

Auntie Anne Pretzels are somehow more delicious than your average pretzel. A healthy dose of sugar makes for a tasty dough, and a topping of melted butter and salt makes them positively addictive. Another reason the popular pretzels are so good is they are made and served fresh and warm.

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Nutrition Facts (per serving)
359Calories
11g Fat
56g Carbs
8g Protein

×

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 10
Amount per serving
Calories359
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 11g14%
Saturated Fat 7g33%
Cholesterol 28mg9%
Sodium 2576mg112%
Total Carbohydrate 56g20%
Dietary Fiber 2g7%
Total Sugars 8g
Protein 8g
Vitamin C 0mg1%
Calcium 78mg6%
Iron 3mg17%
Potassium 154mg3%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

Recipe Tags:

  • Pretzels
  • snack
  • american
  • back to school

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Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzels (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret solution for Auntie Anne's pretzels? ›

Whisk together 2 cups of warm water and the baking soda in a shallow dish. Dip the pretzels into the baking soda bath. Flip and dip the other side. Place the dipped pretzels onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.

What is the secret ingredient which makes a pretzel taste like a pretzel? ›

But it's the distinctive "pretzel" flavor that makes this bread extraordinary. That comes from dipping the shaped dough in an alkaline solution — traditionally a small amount of food-grade lye dissolved in water — before baking.

What are the ingredients in Auntie Anne's original pretzels? ›

ENRICHED WHEAT FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, MALTED BARLEY FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), WATER, BROWN SUGAR, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF THE FOLLOWING: DOUGH CONDITIONERS (WHEAT FLOUR, MALT BARLEY FLOUR, ASCORBIC ACID, ENZYMES, SALT, VEGETABLE PROTEIN [CORN-BASED]), YEAST, CALCIUM ...

What makes Auntie Anne's pretzels so good? ›

All those pretzels are made and twisted on the spot.

Auntie Anne's definitely doesn't serve pre-made pretzels! Every location receives shipments of the signature flour mixture, which is put in a mixer along with water and yeast. They're baked, brushed with real butter, salted and served right there.

Does Auntie Anne's use lye or baking soda? ›

Well, the cheery ladies were very clear with me: they do NOT use lye. No sodium hydroxide/poison/caustic soda—none whatsoever—in their pretzels. (They do, however, dip their pretzels in a baking soda solution.)

Does Auntie Anne's fry or bake their pretzels? ›

Products sold at Auntie Anne's franchise locations are baked fresh in-store. In order to provide you with a great Auntie Anne's experience at home, we use the same proprietary blend of flour used in our stores.

Why don't my pretzels taste like pretzels? ›

Bake longer

If you're not baking your pretzels long enough, they'll come out pale and dull. It's important to bake them until they're a deep golden brown. Likewise, the dough inside is cooked through and won't taste raw or doughy when you bite into it.

What does Auntie Anne's dip pretzels in? ›

Choices include Cheese, Hot Salsa Cheese, Sweet Glaze, Caramel, Honey Mustard, Marinara, and Light Cream Cheese.

What is the secret ingredient in pretzels? ›

According to King Arthur Baking, lye and caustic sodas are used in the process of baking pretzels because lye's reaction to the pretzels, much like baking soda, gives them that chewy texture, light interior, and brown crust.

What meat does Auntie Anne's use? ›

Our classic Auntie Anne's Pretzel dough wrapped around a Nathan's Famous®, all beef hot dog. Individually wrapped and available by the dozen.

What company owns Auntie Anne's pretzels? ›

GoTo Foods (formerly Focus Brands) is an American company that currently owns the Schlotzsky's, Carvel, Cinnabon, Moe's Southwest Grill, McAlister's Deli, Auntie Anne's and Jamba brands. It is located in Sandy Springs, Georgia, and operates over 5,000 stores.

What is Auntie Anne's real name? ›

Anne Beiler began twisting pretzels in 1987 to support her husband's vision of offering free counseling services in their community. What began as a single farmer's market stand grew into Auntie Anne's Inc., the world's largest hand-rolled soft pretzel franchise.

Why is Auntie Anne's only in malls? ›

Auntie Anne's had access to lots of customers.

Truth be told, Auntie Anne's was not initially intended to become a fixture of malls. According to Restaurant Business Online, the whole love affair between Anne's and the food court fell together because of the high amount of foot traffic.

What do they dip Auntie Anne's pretzels in? ›

Choices include Cheese, Hot Salsa Cheese, Sweet Glaze, Caramel, Honey Mustard, Marinara, and Light Cream Cheese.

What does Auntie Anne's dip their pretzels in? ›

Our Original Pretzel only contains 5 grams of fat, and, yes, it is lightly dipped in butter. Since Auntie Anne's Pretzels are made fresh in our stores, you can request your pretzel without butter for a lower calorie option or order your pretzel without salt.

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