Homemade Pretzels and Cheese Sauce

Warm, soft, chewy, and with that perfect kick of salt, every bite of these homemade pretzels feels like heaven. The only thing better is when you dip it in a scrumptious cheese sauce made from scratch.

This homemade soft pretzel recipe, made from canned biscuits, beats out store-bought soft pretzels by a mile in my opinion. They’re the perfect chewy yet soft pretzels with that much-needed kick of salt. Every bite truly feels like pretzel heaven. Me and Katy try to reserve them for special occasions when the whole family is here because we can hardly be left alone with them! These are not just a “good substitute” for a soft pretzel in a pinch. After you taste these, you’ll find yourself reaching to make these over anything you could buy. They are that good!

Fortunately, they’re pretty easy to make. Besides the canned biscuits mentioned, the only other ingredients you need to make homemade biscuit pretzels are baking soda, butter, and coarse salt. Then you’ve got the homemade cheese sauce, which is SO good, folks. It’s a creamy and cheesy combination of sharp cheddar cheese, milk, flour, butter, and salt and pepper. One bite and you’ll be going back for more… and more.

Recipe Ingredients

Homemade Pretzels

• Can of Pillsbury Grands Southern Homestyle biscuits
• Baking soda
• Butter
• Coarse salt

Homemade Cheese Sauce

• Freshly shredded sharp cheddar cheese (from a block)
• Milk
• Flour
• Butter
• Salt and pepper to taste

How to Make Homemade Pretzels

Now we get to use those kindergarten play-doh skills. Roll each biscuit into a rope, about 12-15 inches long. Then, fold the rope into a pretzel shape, as shown, pinching the overlapping pieces together. 

Place these on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze for 1-2 hours. You don’t need to cover it, just put it in the freezer like this.

Now, if you don’t want to make these right away, after that 1 to 2-hour freezing time, remove them from the parchment paper, place them in a zipper seal freezer bag, and return them to the freezer until you want to make your pretzels. 

Bring to a boil about 3 to 4 cups of water in a medium-sized saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in the baking soda. It will foam up and then go clear again and that is how you know you’re ready.

Popping the pretzels in this baking soda bath before baking is going to help them brown fully without having to cook for very long, which allows the inside texture to be nice and chewy. 

Drop the pretzels, one at a time, into boiling water and let boil for just one minute, no longer. Remove with tongs and put back onto the parchment-lined cookie sheet. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle pretzels with coarse sea salt. 

Bake these at 450 for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. 

Oh my, look at those beauties! 

How To Make Cheese Sauce from Scratch

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.

Stir in flour and cook for about a minute, stirring the entire time. Whisk in milk, salt, and pepper, and stir constantly until thickened (about 3-5 minutes or so).

Remove from heat and stir in cheese until melted. If it’s too thick for your liking, you can stir in more milk to thin it a bit. 

Serve pretzels warm with homemade cheese sauce. 

Oh goodness, gracious! 

All the soft chewy warmth of a pretzel made easy! Yum! 

Enjoy this fun and easy treat! 

Storage

• Store leftover pretzels, covered with plastic wrap, at room temperature for up to 3 days. To reheat, I recommend popping them in the air fryer for a few minutes.
• You can freeze either unbaked or baked pretzels for up to 3 months. Thaw before following the directions from the baking soda bath if unbaked or reheat as above if already baked.
• As for the cheese sauce, store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat either in the microwave or on the stovetop.

Recipe Notes

• You want to buy this cheese in a block and shred it yourself. Pre-shredded cheese is coated in cellulose, which prevents it from sticking together but also prevents it from being as smooth as it could be in a sauce. It will certainly work if you want to use what you have on hand, but shredded from a block is the ideal. 
• Want to make a spicy nacho cheese sauce instead? Go ahead and add 2 tablespoons of hot sauce and 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper when you stir in the other ingredients. You can add or subtract these ingredients depending on how much heat you like.
• Instead of melted butter, you can brush each homemade soft pretzel with an egg wash consisting of one or two beaten eggs. I prefer the buttery flavor though (it’s how Auntie Annie’s does it).
• Make soft pretzel bites by cutting the biscuit dough into small pieces rather than twisting it into pretzels.
• Instead of cheese sauce, serve your pretzels with mustard, ketchup, or buffalo chicken dip.
• To make cinnamon sugar pretzels, substitute the salt for a cinnamon sugar mixture (simply mix together cinnamon and either brown sugar or white sugar in a small bowl).
• You can also enhance the cheese flavor (because there’s no such thing as too much cheese), and sprinkle some extra shredded cheese or parmesan cheese on top before baking.

You may also like these recipes:

Baked Apple Cider Donuts

Festive Snowman Pretzels

How To Make Homemade Doughnuts

Broccoli with Homemade Cheese Sauce

Pimiento Cheese Dip Good N Gooey

 

 

This post was featured on Meal Plan Monday and Weekend Potluck!