Pizza Dough Soft Pretzel Bites With Beer Cheese
This post may contain affiliate links. We only promote products we actually use and truly love!
Make these super easy homemade soft pretzel bites with store-bought pizza dough and combine them with a rich and decadent beer cheese sauce for your next game day snack.
We can’t get enough of this recipe. In fact, we make these easy soft pretzels so much more than we should, and then somehow (much to our chagrin) eat all 6 servings or so by ourselves. There’s something about a little fluffy, buttery, salty, ball of pretzel dipped in a rich and creamy beer cheese dip that is just irresistible. Put them in front of us and it’s just too easy to keep saying “Just one more…”
What This Recipe Entails
These homemade soft pretzel bites are made super easy by using store-bought pizza dough. And the best part, even with the shortcut, they taste just like some of the best restaurant soft pretzels we’ve ever had.
- Ready in: 40 minutes
- Serves: Appetizer for about 6 people
- Great for: An easy game day appetizer or party snack
- Flavor profile: Buttery and savory soft pretzels with a rich and creamy cheese sauce
- Why we love it: So easy to make and so hard to stop eating. Tastes exactly like our favorite restaurant appetizer.
Ingredients
For the soft pretzels:
- 1 pound pizza dough ball – Using store-bought pizza dough makes soft pretzels a breeze to make. You can use any generic store bought pizza dough.
- Baking soda and water – The pretzels get boiled in a combination of water and baking soda. This is what gives them their pretzel-like crust and chewy interior.
- Butter – All the best soft pretzel bites we’ve had are super buttery. So we brush the pretzels with butter before baking. This also helps the sea salt to stick to them.
- Sea salt – We prefer coarse ground salt for our soft pretzels, it gives them that classic soft pretzel texture and taste. “Soft pretzel salt” also exists, but we find the regular coarse salt to work well.
For the beer cheese dip:
- Cream cheese – Philadelphia cream cheese is the best hands down. This isn’t the place to skimp on ingredients.
- Beer – Choose your favorite. We love using a light, citrusy lager like a Sam Adams Summer Ale or a Blue Moon. But many breweries use an IPA which also works very well. You can taste the beer in the cheese dip, so use something you like.
- Cheddar cheese – We recommend buying a block of cheddar cheese and shredding it yourself. It melts easier and gives the cheese dip a better consistency than when it’s made with pre-shredded cheese. Pre-shredded cheese is coated with anti-caking agents that keep it from melting and combining as well.
How To Make Soft Pretzel Bites And Beer Cheese
Making soft pretzel bites from pizza dough:
- Shape the dough – Cut the dough ball into 8 roughly equal chunks and then roll each one out into a long snake, about ½ to ¾ inch thick. Then slice each snake into equal bite size pieces, about ½ to ¾ inch long. The pretzels should be cylinders that are about as tall as they are wide.
- Boil the pretzels – Boil the pretzel bites in a large pot of water and baking soda for about 30 seconds. Remove and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet making sure to spread them out evenly with a little space between each – they will expand slightly while baking.
- Brush with butter and sprinkle with salt – Brush each pretzel with melted butter and then sprinkle them with coarse ground sea salt or pretzel salt.
- Bake – Bake for about 12 to 15 minutes until they’re golden-brown.
Making the beer cheese sauce:
- Melt the cream cheese in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat.
- Add the beer, stirring constantly to incorporate.
- Add the shredded cheddar in small batches, stirring to help it melt. Let each batch melt fully before adding more cheese.
Helpful Equipment
- Spider Strainer – A proper spider strainer makes boiling and draining the pretzels so much easier as it can handle a much larger load the a regular slotted spoon.
- Bench Knife – Bench knives are perfect for cutting dough. This makes it really easy to seperate your dough into chncks, slice it into bite sized pieces, and even measure the size of your dough snakes.
Serving Suggestions
We have a lot of great game day appetizers. And I mean a lot. But these soft pretzel bites are probably one of the best. However, even the best appetizer can’t make a proper game day feast on its own. So, here are some of our favorite kinds of recipes to pair with these little balls of joy.
- A flavor packed protein – Something like buffalo chicken wings or coconut shrimp.
- Nachos – You can’t go wrong with any nachos, but may we suggest BBQ pulled pork nachos or carne asada nachos?
- Something fried – Cheeseburger egg rolls or buffalo cauliflower bites are our go-tos.
- A dip – Football parties aren’t complete without chips and dips. Mix it up with our Mexican street corn dip or go with a classic like our creamy spinach and artichoke dip.
- Cocktails! – Drinks always round out the party. Try something that can be made in a big batch for easy serving like our pineapple coconut margarita or our spicy mojito.
These delicious, poppable soft pretzel bites when paired with our easy, three-ingredient beer cheese dip are the kind of snack you can’t stop eating, no matter how hard you try. They’re sure to be the hit of the party. Give them a try for your next game day feast or family party and let us know what you think by commenting, sharing, and rating below!
If you are looking for more football appetizers for the big game, check out our 31 Best Game Day Recipes For Sunday Football!
Expert Tips
Love this recipe? You may also enjoy these game day appetizers:
Tell us what you think!
We hope you enjoy this recipe! When you try it out, please leave a review and a star rating in the comments below. Happy cooking! – Nicole and Alex
Easy Soft Pretzel Bites And Beer Cheese Dip
Make these super easy homemade soft pretzel bites with store-bought pizza dough and combine them with a rich and decadent beer cheese sauce for your next game day snack.
Save this recipe!
Enter your email and we’ll send it right to you.
Equipment
- Spider strainer or slotted spoon
Ingredients
Soft Pretzel Bites
- 1 pound store-bought pizza dough straight from the fridge
- 12 cups water for boiling
- ½ cup baking soda
- 4 tablespoons butter melted
- Coarse sea salt
- Flour for dusting
Beer Cheese Dip
- 8 ounce block cream cheese
- ½ cup beer
- 8 ounce block extra sharp cheddar cheese shredded
Instructions
Soft Pretzel Bites
- Combine water and baking soda in a large pot and bring to a gentle boil over medium-high heat.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Get the dough out of the fridge and then lightly dust a working surface and your hands with flour. Then put your dough on the working surface and dust it lightly with flour as well.
- Slice the dough into 8 equal chunks.
- Roll and stretch out each chunk of dough into a long snake. Start by rolling it between your palms, then once it's slightly oblong grab each end and gently pull in opposite directions. Repeat these motions as needed until each dough snake is about 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch in diameter.
- To form the pretzel bites, slice each dough snake into equal, bite-sized pieces, about 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch thick. A bench knife makes this really easy. For better looking pretzels, gently round each one back into a cylinder (they get a little smushed during slicing).
- Using a spider strainer (or a slotted spoon, if you don't have a spider strainer), dunk a batch of the pretzel bites into the boiling water for 30 seconds. Remove from water, drain, and transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets. Spread them out evenly on the baking sheets, leaving a little space between them. Repeat as necessary to boil all the pretzel bites.
- Brush pretzel bites with melted butter, then sprinkle with sea salt.
- Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until golden-brown.
Beer Cheese Dip
- Melt cream cheese in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat.
- Add the beer and stir until fully incorporated.
- Once all the beer has been stirred in, add shredded cheddar cheese in small batches. Stir constantly and melt each batch of cheese completely before adding more.
- Serve hot.
One last step:Please consider leaving a review to let us know how it was!
Notes
Prep – Get the sheet pans prepped, water boiling with baking soda, and the oven pre-heated before you start working with the dough. You want everything ready when the dough is ready so it doesn’t sit on the counter for too long, warm up, and lose its shape.
Use some flour – Flour your working surface and your hands before working with the pizza dough to prevent it from sticking. You’ll also want to lightly dust the pizza dough with flour as you work.
Don’t skip the boiling – Boil the pretzel bites in a mixture of baking soda and water before baking. This is what gives them that pretzel-like crust and chewy interior – without this step, they would just taste like little balls of pizza dough!
Get a spider strainer – Boiling the pretzels is easiest with a spider strainer (although a slotted spoon also works well enough). It allows you to dunk big batches of pretzel bites at a time and drain them super well. This is the one we have and it’s the perfect size, without being too big to store in the cabinet.
Don’t be shy with the butter and salt – That’s what makes a good pretzel good.
Choose a beer you love – You can taste the beer in the beer cheese, so make sure you choose one you enjoy. A Sam Adams Summer Ale or a Blue Moon are easy safe choices if you don’t know where to start.
Measuring the beer – Pour the beer slowly when measuring, you don’t want a head here! The foam will make it look like you have enough beer when you don’t, and the foam can even mess up the texture of the cheese sauce.
Use block cheese – Don’t substitute pre-shredded cheese for the block of cheese. The pre-shredded cheese has a coating on it that keeps it from melting together well!
Keep the dip warm – Serve the beer cheese dip in a small porcelain dish or preheated cast iron skillet (we love our mini ones for single servings) to keep it hot during the game!
Storing – You can store leftover pretzel bites in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Store leftover beer cheese in the fridge for up to 5 days. Freezing option: Both the pretzels and dip will keep in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Reheating – Reheat leftover pretzel bites in the oven at 300 for 5 minutes (from room temp) or 10 minutes (from frozen). The beer cheese is best reheated in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until warmed through.
Nutrition
Serving: 1servingCalories: 455kcalCarbohydrates: 41gProtein: 21gFat: 23gSaturated Fat: 13gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0.3gCholesterol: 62mgSodium: 3874mgPotassium: 142mgFiber: 1gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 632IUCalcium: 414mgIron: 2mg
Like this recipe?Please leave a review below! We read and respond to every single comment.
If you have any questions regarding the information presented in this post, please refer to our Nutrition Disclaimer here.
We’ve learned to make a half batch of these because no matter how many we make, we eat them all. So we need to limit how many soft pretzels we eat by making a more reasonable number….