Beer Pretzels | Homemade Beer Pretzels | Eat the Love (2024)

These soft beer pretzel twists have beer inside the actual dough, leading to a more complex, deeper flavor. Perfect for parties, game night or just a snack!

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I’m not much of a drinker, though somehow I always have beer in my refrigerator. I do occasionally crack open a bottle to drink, but more often the beer is an ingredient in whatever I’m making. For example, I use it in my beer cheese dip which is probably the best thing ever to accompany my homemade soft pretzels or to smear on my pretzel buns for a third cheese on my double cheeseburger. But then I realized why not just add the beer into my soft pretzel dough? The resulting soft beer pretzel twists have to be my new favorite thing!

What are soft beer pretzel twists?

These soft beer pretzels are made with beer instead ofwater, giving the pretzel an extra layer of hoppy wheat flavor. The beer flavorisn’t super strong, but it’s pronounced enough to give the pretzel a deeper,more complex flavor than traditionally made soft pretzels.

What’s the difference between pretzels and pretzel twists?

You can definitely use this recipe to make more traditional pretzel shapes. However, I opted to go with a twist shape after being inspired by Kelly over at Just a Taste’s twist pretzels. They’re like the inside “knot” of a pretzel; no wings, just inner knot! The twist shape looks fun but also creates a softer pretzel as it bakes up like a mini challah bread loaf, all soft and tender, with no risk of a hard or overbaked part of the pretzel, like a more traditional pretzel shape.

How do you make soft beer pretzel twists?

Making the dough is easy. You warm up the beer and add alittle bit of malt syrup or brown sugar to it. Sprinkle the yeast over theliquid and let it proof. Then you knead in the flour, melted butter and salt.Set the dough to rise.

Once the dough has risen, you divide the dough into 12pieces, form the pretzel twists, then boil the formed pretzel twists in a bakingsoda solution. Brush with an egg yolk wash, sprinkle with coarse salt and thenbake!

How do you shape these pretzel twists?

Unlike traditional pretzels shapes, which has you twisting arope of dough over just once, these twists start out as a rope, but are twistedthree or four times. Then the ends of the rope that are twisted together arepassed through the hole at the top.

It’s not as difficult as it sounds but once you get the hangof it, they’ll look like you spent all day making these twists!

Do you need to use lye to make soft pretzels?

Traditional pretzels are dipped in food safe lye, a strong basicsolution, to give the pretzel it’s characteristic dark caramelized bitter browncrust. Though you can certainly mail-order food safe lye to use, I opted tocreate a less caustic basic solution using baking soda and water. The bakingsoda isn’t as strong a base as lye, but baking soda is readily available at grocerystores and doesn’t require mail ordering it or wearing protective gloves whileusing!

What sort of beer should I use for these pretzel twists?

Once you’ve created the dough, boiled them and baked themwith the egg wash and salt, the beer flavor in the pretzels diminishes quite abit. So I opted to go with a very hoppy IPA beer as my liquid. But you can usewhatever beer you have on hand and like to drink. Here are a few common beersand how they would taste in the pretzel:

• Lager/Pilsner: This is a typical mild and malty American beer like Miller Light, Budweiser, and Coors. The resulting pretzel will only have a subtle malty beer flavor.
• Pale Ale: This hoppy beer is fairly middle of the road. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Anchor Liberty Ale are two popular brands. You’ll taste it in the pretzel but it won’t be super pronounced.
• IPA: This falls under the Pale Ale category but is more little more forward in flavor, often with a lot of hops. One of the most popular IPAs is Lagunitas Indian Pale Ale (which is the beer I used when testing this recipe). The more hoppy or bitter the beer, the more you’ll taste it in the pretzel.
• Stout: This dark brewed beer is fairly flavorful but not too bitter. Guiness is probably the most familiar brand of Stout beer. It will give a malty coffee or chocolate richness to the pretzel.

Can I make these non-alcoholic?

Sure! The alcoholic content of most beers hover around 4%, almost all of which will burn off when you boil and bake them. But if you are avoiding alcohol, you can still get a deeply flavored soft pretzel by using a non-alcoholic beer. Popular non-alcoholic beer brands include O’Doul’s or Beck’s Non Alcoholic Beer.

That said there is a burgeoning movement for non-alcoholic craft beers, which means if you look hard enough, there are some other great options out there! Keep in mind that even though the beer is labeled non-alcoholic, these beverages often have a little residual alcohol in them (under .5%) so check the label if that is a concern.

You can also opt to use a hop water, which is completely non-alcoholic. Lagunitas, as well as other companies, makes a hoppy water refresher that is sparkling water flavored with hops. Hops are a flower used in flavoring beer. It’s what gives beer floral, citrus and naturally bitterness. There is no alcohol or sugar in most hoppy water.

Finally you can always just use a recipe like my homemade soft pretzels which omits the beer completely and uses plain water in the dough.

What do you serve these homemade beer pretzels with?

I often eat soft pretzels all by themselves. But if you’reserving them at a party (or you want to treat yourself) try serving or eatingthem with some dips! Here’s a few suggestions:

• Beer cheese dip
• Queso
• Pimento Cheese
• Yellow mustard
• Whole grain mustard
• Hummus
• Carrot Yogurt Dip
• Spicy Guacamole

How do I store homemade pretzels?

Let the soft pretzels cool completely to room temperature.Then store homemade soft pretzels in an airtight container or resealable Ziplocbag. Soft pretzels will last two to three days at room temperature.

Can I freeze these soft pretzels?

Yes! Homemade soft pretzels freeze great. Let them coolcompletely, then place them in a resealable Ziploc bag or airtight container.These pretzels well keep for about 2 months in the freezer.

One thing to note, the salt on the pretzel tends to dissolve when you place them in an airtight container and freeze them. However, this won’t affect the taste or flavor of the pretzels, as the crust of the pretzel will still taste salty from the dissolved salt!

If you like this beer pretzels recipe, check out some other awesome snacks and appetizer recipes suitable for a party:

• Fried Mac and Cheese Bites
• Pimiento Deviled Eggs
• Irish Meatballs
• Korean BBQ Wings
• Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken

And check out some of these other recipes that use beer:

• Beer Cheese Dip
• Olive, Green Onion and Cheese Beer Bread
• Apple Brown Butter with IPA beer
• Mexican Chocolate Pecan Pie with Negro Modelo Beer
• Pumpkin Spice Eclairs with Chocolate Beer Pastry Cream and Ganache