The Only Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzels You'll Ever Need (2024)

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Leah Maroney

The Only Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzels You'll Ever Need (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 05/30/24

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The Only Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzels You'll Ever Need (2)

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.

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

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.

Tips for Making Homemade Pretzel Recipe

  • Pretzel salt looks and tastes the best in the recipe, but you can also use 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.

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 (500 grams) milk

  • 4 tablespoons (56 grams) salted butter

  • 1/3 cup (70 grams) brown sugar, packed

  • 2 teaspoons active dry yeast

  • 5 cups (745 grams) all-purpose flour

  • 2 teaspoons salt

For the Topping:

  • 2 cups (454 grams) warm water

  • 1/3 cup (90 grams) baking soda

  • 4 tablespoons (56 grams) butter, melted

  • Pretzel salt, to taste

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather your ingredients.

    The Only Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzels You'll Ever Need (7)

  2. Heat 2 cups (500 grams) milk in a small pot. Do not boil; just heat the milk until it is hot all of the way through.

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  3. Add 4 tablespoons (56 grams) salted butter and 1/3 cup (70 grams) brown sugar, packed 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).

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  4. Add the 2 teaspoons active dry yeast to the top of the milk mixture and allow it to soften for a few minutes.

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  5. Using the bread hook attachment on your stand mixer, add in the 5 cups (745 grams) all-purpose flour and 2 teaspoons salt and stir with the hook attachment until completely combined and a smooth ball forms.

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  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.

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  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.

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

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

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

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  11. Whisk together 2 cups (454 grams) of warm water and the 1/3 cup (90 grams) baking soda in a shallow dish. Dip the pretzels into the baking soda bath. Flip and dip the other side.

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

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

    The Only Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzels You'll Ever Need (19)

  14. Brush the pretzels with 4 tablespoons (56 grams) melted butter.

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  15. Sprinkle them with coarse pretzel salt. Dig in immediately. They are best when eaten hot and fresh out of the oven.

    The Only Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzels You'll Ever Need (21)

How to Store Copy Cat Pretzels Recipe

  • 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.

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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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The Only Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzels You'll Ever Need (2024)

FAQs

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

The answer lies in a brief dip in an alkaline water bath before baking. This bath essentially gelatinizes the outside of the pretzel, preventing it from fully “springing” during baking (as bread does) and giving pretzels their signature chewy crust. It also gives them their unique and indelible “pretzel” flavor.

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? ›

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.

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.

What is the lie for making pretzels? ›

Lye is the secret ingredient that gives pretzels their characteristic look and taste. Without lye, you have a breadstick. When you dip raw dough into a hot lye bath, the lye breaks down proteins and starches on the surface.

Why does pretzel dough taste different? ›

They're Boiled, Not Baked.

The dough is first shaped into a long rope and then boiled in water before being baked at a higher temperature than bread. This process creates a distinctive pretzel shape and gives them their unique taste.

Does Auntie Anne's put butter on their pretzels? ›

ORIGINAL PRETZEL

The original twist that started it all; a simple, buttery and salty soft pretzel that is better than the best. Make it vegan by ordering this item without butter.

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.

Can vegans eat Auntie Anne's pretzels? ›

Do you have vegan / vegetarian pretzels? Yes, many of our products are vegetarian as standard. We can also adapt some of these to become fully vegan by using a vegetable spray instead of butter. Please ask at the store.

What is Auntie Anne's secret? ›

Instead, they mix hot (but not boiling) water with baking soda until the baking soda dissolves, then dunk the pretzels in that solution prior to baking. According to The Daily Meal, the baking soda solution slapped onto each pretzel is what gives them that signature Auntie Anne's crust.

What is Auntie Anne's real name? ›

“Auntie” Anne Beiler started baking pretzels to help fund her husband's desire to provide free family counseling services for their community.

What's the difference between Wetzel pretzel and Auntie Anne's? ›

Wetzel's Pretzels was founded in 1994 and is based mainly in California, with few stores out-of-state. Auntie Anne's on the other hand, was founded in 1988 in Pennsylvania, and remains the nationally recognized brand.

Does Subway own Auntie Anne's? ›

Both Cinnabon and Auntie Anne's are part of Focus Brands, the Atlanta-based operator owned by Roark Capital, the private equity group trying to buy Subway.

Why is Wetzel pretzel so good? ›

Every Wetzel's Pretzels bakery lives by the original vision of its founders; that each super-premium pretzel will be crafted from fresh dough and baked in-store consistently throughout the day, to ensure a delicious offering for each customer, regardless of when the craving for a pretzel strikes.

What company owns Auntie Anne's? ›

GoTo Foods is the parent company of Auntie Anne's, Cinnabon, Carvel, McAlister's Deli, Jamba, Moe's Southwest Grill and Schlotzsky's. In total, the company operates more than 6,700 units worldwide. Holthouser took over as CEO in 2020, when he announced his goal to unify the company's seven franchises.

What gives pretzels their distinctive taste? ›

Flavor: the baking soda bath gives pretzels their unique flavor. Glossiness: the alkaline bath also gives the pretzel the characteristic glossy look.

What makes a pretzel bun taste like a pretzel? ›

Lye-dipped pretzels, or in this case, pretzel buns, have a distinctive flavour that is both savoury and slightly bitter. The lye, a strong alkaline solution, is used to give the pretzels their characteristic dark brown colour and chewy exterior.

What is unique about pretzel dough? ›

Soft pretzels are just a yeast bread is that formed into a pretzel shape. The one big difference in pretzel making, as opposed to a regular bread, is that pretzels are boiled and then baked. It is the boiling that gives the outside of the pretzel its beautiful golden brown color and uniquely crisp and chewy texture.

What chemical are pretzels dipped in? ›

Lye is primarily used to make pretzels, and it's the reason for their unmistakable shiny, mahogany color. To prepare, shaped pretzels are dipped in a lye bath, then baked in the oven.

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