Best Pretzel Dogs Recipe
Posted Jan 26, 2017, Updated Jul 12, 2024
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These are the best pretzel dogs ever! A from-scratch pretzel dough is wrapped around high-quality hot dogs making these a much better choice than store bought varieties!
If you’re looking for a great appetizer or hand-held meal to enjoy while watching your favorite sporting event, then these homemade pretzel dogs are for you!
This pretzel dogs recipe is the best! A from-scratch pretzel dough is wrapped around high-quality hot dogs making these a much better choice than store bought varieties! Plus they’re delicious and freezer friendly!
This Homemade Pretzel Dogs recipe combines two of my family’s favorite foods, my Homemade Pretzel Bread and hot dogs, so they’re always a winner in our house.
Pretzel Dogs: Ingredients & Substitutions
- Whole Milk. 2% milk, half and half or cream are all possible substitutions that work well.
- All-purpose flour. Bread flour is the only other flour I have used to make this recipe and it produces an incredibly delicious final product!
- Hot Dogs: Choose a brand and variety with a short ingredient list and one that is made with all beef! We always use Nathan’s!
How to Make Pretzel Dogs
As always, we’ll walk through the process of making this recipe, and don’t forget to watch the video!
Make the Pretzel Dough
Begin by making the dough. Start by proofing the yeast, then adding the wet ingredients.
Add the dry ingredients and using a standing mixer fitted with a dough hook, or by hand, knead the dough until it’s slightly tacky.
Oil a large bowl, place the dough ball in the bowl, and cover with a damp towel in a warm place to let rise for one hour or until doubled in size.
Wrap the Hot Dogs
Once the dough has risen and been punched down, it’s time to wrap the hot dogs. Make 8 balls of dough the same size, which I always do using a food scale. The total weight of the dough comes out to be about 800 g, so each ball should weigh about 100 g.
Take one dough ball and roll it into a thin rope, 8-10” long. Wrap it around one hot dog making sure the ends are secure. Repeat this with all 8 hot dogs.
Baking Soda Bath
To make the baking soda bath, bring the 4 quarts of water to a boil. When the water is boiling, slowly add the baking soda. Be careful or you will have a baking soda/water explosion.
Boil Wrapped Pretzel Dogs
Gently place two dough-wrapped hot dogs into the boiling baking soda water. Boil for 60-90 seconds on each side, turning it once to guarantee both sides covered. Drain the excess water and place them on an oiled baking sheet.
Sprinkle with Salt & Bake
As soon as the boiled pretzel dogs are placed on the baking sheet, sprinkle coarse sea salt over the dough to your specific tastes and bake in the preheated oven for 22-25 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet once halfway through baking.
Note: These Homemade Pretzel Dogs have a tendency to stick to the pan. Greasing it thoroughly helps with this issue, or use a silicone baking mat.
Brush with butter
Once removed from the oven, immediately brush the melted butter over the Pretzel Dogs to guarantee a soft, buttery crust.
Serve
This pretzel dog recipe is delicious served as an appetizer with mustard, ketchup or cheese sauce (or all three)!
Or, you can serve them as a main dish with a delicious salad or roasted broccoli on the side. They also pair very well with our famous homemade mac and cheese!
Store
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Freeze
Let the pretzel dogs cool to room temperature. Freeze in an airtight container or plastic bag for up to 2 months.
Pretzel Dogs Recipe FAQs
You can cook these pretzel dogs from frozen, just decrease the baking temperature by 50 degrees F and tent the baking sheet with foil. You can also warm them at 250 covered in foil or in a baking dish with a lid.
Baked pretzel dogs last for 5-7 days in the refrigerator and 2 months in the freezer.
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Homemade Pretzel Dogs Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
Pretzel Dogs:
- 2 ¼ teaspoons yeast
- 1 cup water (105-110 degrees F)
- 2 Tablespoons whole milk*
- 3 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 4 Tablespoons salted butter (melted)
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 8 bun-length hot dogs
- 1-2 Tablespoons Coarse Sea Salt
- 2 Tablespoons salted butter (melted)
Baking soda Bath:
- 4 quarts water
- ½ cup baking soda
Instructions
- Combine yeast, water, and brown sugar in the bowl of your standing mixer fitted with the dough hook. Let stand for 5 minutes (until foamy).
- While yeast is proofing…melt butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Mix in milk and set aside.
- Once yeast is proofed, add milk/butter to yeast mixture and mix on low speed with dough hook until just combined.
- Add salt and flour and mix with dough hook until flour is fully incorporated.
- Knead in your mixer on high speed until the dough forms a slightly tacky, but firm ball, you may need to add a little more flour 1 TBS at a time, but be careful, you want your dough a little tacky but not too sticky to handle.
- Oil a large bowl, place the dough ball in the bowl, and cover with a damp towel in a warm place to let rise for one hour or until doubled in size.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and bring the 4 quarts of water to a boil. When the water is boiling, slowly add the baking soda (Be careful or you will have a baking soda/water explosion)!
- Remove the dough from the bowl and gently press out the air bubbles.
- Make 8 balls of dough the same size (Note: The total weight of the dough comes out to be about 800 g, so each ball should weigh about 100 g).
- Take one dough ball and roll it into a thin rope, 8-10” long. Wrap it around one hot dog making sure the ends are secure. Repeat this with all 8 hot dogs.
- Gently place two dough-wrapped hot dogs into the boiling baking soda water. Boil for 60-90 seconds on each side, turning it once to guarantee both sides covered. Drain the excess water and place them on an oiled baking sheet.
- Immediately sprinkle coarse sea salt over the dough to your specific tastes. Repeat with the other 6 hot dogs. (Do not let it rise at all here! Straight from boiling into the oven).
- Cook the Pretzel Dogs for 22-25 minutes, rotating the baking sheet once. Pretzel dogs are done when they are deep brown!
- Once removed from the oven, immediately brush the melted butter over the Pretzel Dogs to guarantee a soft crust.
- Serve with your favorite condiments and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Whole Milk. 2% milk, half and half or cream are all possible substitutions that work well.
- All-purpose flour. Bread flour is the only other flour I have used to make this recipe and it produces an incredibly delicious final product!
- Hot Dogs: Choose a brand and variety with a short ingredient list and one that is made with all beef! We always use Nathan’s!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi! Could you let the dough rise overnight?
I live in a small town and i am known for my Breads and pizzas. My husband came to me and said he wanted me to make him Pretzels. I didn’t know what i was doing. LOL I did do a lot of research and came across your recipe. I Loved the fact you use Bread flour and brown sugar. I have made this for my Grandkids several times now. My Grandkids told me to Thank you for this awesome recipe!
Thank you so much Lee!! This made my day!
These are super yummy! Great recipe.
These are fun to make and taste great!!!
Thank you Aimee!
Great recipe! We make these often. Yesterday, my 5 year old granddaughter helped me wrap the dough around the hot dogs. She has never eaten her hot dogs with a bun. Last night, she tried these and gave it a big thumbs up! My question is, how do you reheat these from the refrigerator? I usually make a big batch and wrap each one individually. My husband takes them out of the freezer, microwaves them for 2 minutes at 60% and then into the toaster oven for 3-4 minutes. That gets the dog hit plus crisps up the bread. We’ve never reheated them from the refrigerator. Any suggestions?
I’d try the same method for reheating them from the refrigerator just for less time. I’m often in a hurry and just microwave them.
Hello! I want to make these ahead of time for a get together. You say they’re freezer friendly but I can’t see any instructions around that. Do you freeze these before or after boiling and baking?
Thank you!
I freeze them after I boil and bake them! I will update the post to give better instructions!
This is super sweet. I love that your husband will eat anything, and that you love to serve him things that he really loves to eat. These look like the perfect perfect food. I love corn dogs,(did I just say that?), and these look like a step up from those (a HUGE step).
LOL YES these are a tad better than corn dogs!