These Football Shaped Soft Pretzel Bites are super cute, and a great game day snack for your Super Bowl Party! Perfect for themed charcuterie boards.
Seems like a good time to share a couple new recipes that are great for the big game!
A little while ago, I went on a big charcuterie designing binge. So far, I’ve shared my Christmas Charcuterie Board and the Thanksgiving Charcuterie Board.
Today’s recipe - football pretzel bites - was designed specifically as a fun accompaniment for my Super Bowl Charcuterie Board.
These football shaped pretzel bites are absolutely perfect for any game day charcuterie board, but are also great on their own - they’re one of my new favorite game day foods!
Soft pretzels and a melty cheese chip are one of my favorite appetizers ever - game day appetizer or otherwise!
The football theme of these pretzels makes them and even more fun way to serve that combination, IMHO.
Anyway, some of my favourite dips to serve these with include:
Jalapeno Popper Dip
Spinach Artichoke Dip
Hot Cheeseburger Dip
Cheddar Cheese Queso Dip
Jalapeno Jack Dip (In my recipe for Beer pretzels)
Jalapeno Artichoke Dip
As-is, the recipe makes 32 mini football pretzel bites, but it’s easy enough to scale that up for bigger Super Bowl parties.
Let’s get to it!
Ingredients
This recipe uses really simple ingredients. For many people, they’re pantry staples - but they’re easily found in any grocery store, for those who don’t already have them on hand.
A few notes:
All Purpose Flour
This recipe uses all-purpose flour, both in the dough and in the piping paste.
You can use bread flour, but I wouldn’t recommend swapping the all purpose flour out for anything like a self rising flour or whole wheat flour.
Butter and Oil
This recipe uses 2 forms of fat: Butter in the dough, and oil in the bowl for rising.
I find that butter tastes better in the dough, but you can swap it out for ¼ cup of oil if you’d like - vegetable oil, corn oil, olive oil, etc.
I use oil in the bowl for ease - the liquid is easier to swirl than using more butter.
That said, you can use pan spray or melted butter in the bowl, if you prefer
Beer
I use warm beer in this soft pretzel bites recipe, as I tend to do in any of my homemade pretzel recipes. I just like the bit of complexity that it gives the dough.
That said, if you want to skip the beer, you can.
Just use the same amount of warm - not hot! - water.
Everything Else
Rounding out this recipe, you will need:
Light Brown Sugar
Active Dry Yeast
Baking Soda
Large Egg
Salt
.... nothing to add, here. As I said, really basic ingredients!
How to Make Football Soft Pretzel Bites
The full recipe is in the printable recipe card at the end of this post, here is the pictorial walk through:
Make the Pretzel Dough
Combine warm beer with brown sugar, stir until sugar is almost dissolved. Add yeast, stirring until incorporated. Set aside in a warm place for 10 minutes, or until foamy.
Note: The first 4 photos in this tutorial were taken when making a double batch.
Add melted butter, stirring until well distributed. Pour in yeast/beer mixture, stirring until well combined.
Alternately - as I do - “knead” it in a stand mixer with the dough hook for about 7 minutes.
Either way, dough should be soft, smooth, and elastic when it’s ready.
Add freshly kneaded dough to the bowl, turning to coat with the oil.
Cover with plastic wrap, set aside in a warm spot to rise for an hour or two, until doubled.
Once the dough has doubled in size:
Divide dough into approximately 32 equal-sized chunks.
I find it easiest to divide the dough in 4 equal pieces, then each of those into 4 equal pieces, and - finally - each of those 16 pieces in half.
One at a time, roll each dough piece into a smooth ball, then more of an oval.
Arrange formed pretzel bites on parchment lined baking sheets, cover loosely with plastic wrap.
Allow to rise in a warm place for 20 more minutes, then re-pinch the ends if they’ve rounded out during the rise.
After the rise, they may loose their shape a bit. Easy enough to fix!
Boil and Bake
Preheat oven to 375F.
Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Add baking soda, stir until combined, and turn the heat down until you have a gentle simmer.
Boil the pretzel bites, about 10 at a time, to about a minute. Gently stir as they boil, to ensure that the entire surface of each is in contact with the water at some point.
Use a slotted spoon to transfer each popper to prepared baking sheets. If any have rounded out, you can re-pinch them at this point.
Whisk together eggs and water, brush this mixture across the tops of the poppers.
Carefully spoon into a pastry bag, trying to avoid creating any air pockets as you go.
Snip the tip off the pastry bag, and pipe “stitching” on top of each pretzel bite.
You may need to snip the end of your paste line as you go, depending on how much the gluten developed.
If you have any lace ends sticking up after piping, use a clean wet finger to gently tap them down.
Bake pretzel bites for 15 to 18 minutes, until golden brown. Allow to cool for a minute or two before eating.
Leftovers and Serving
If you’re not eating them right away, allow them to cool to room temperature before transferring them to an airtight container - we’ll usually use a large Ziplock freezer baggie.
Store in the fridge until ready to use - best served at room temperature or warmer.
For that fresh baked taste, reheat for a minute or two in a 400 F air fryer, after allowing them to come up to room temperature.
Also note: this recipe can easily be doubled if you need to make more!
Looking for More Recipes for "The Big Game"?
... or other watching party, or just to up your snack food game for the hell of it? I've got you covered with the BEST Super Bowl Party food ideas!
40+ Fantastic Wing Recipes
Ahi Tuna Nachos
Air Fryer Jalapeno Poppers
Armadillo Eggs
Baked Reuben Poppers
Beer Pretzels with Jalapeno Jack Dip
Buffalo Chicken Meatballs
Cheesy Jalapeno Popper Dip
Colourful Coleslaw
Creamy Dill Pickle Coleslaw
Dill Pickle Cream Cheese Dip
Fat Elvis Cupcakes
Game Day Popcorn
Ginger Wasabi Dip
Gluten Free Fried Chicken
Gluten-Free Pasta Salad
Gluten Free Pizza Bites
Hot Cheeseburger Dip
Hot Smoked Bacon Jalapeno Poppers
How to Cook Perogies in an Air Fryer
Jalapeno Artichoke "Backfire" Dip
Jalapeno Popper Stuffed Pretzels
Keto Fried Chicken
Keto Mozzarella Sticks
Loaded Baked Potato Skins
Loaded Pierogi Nachos
Muffaletta Skewers
Peanut Jalapeno Beer Brittle
Perogy Pizza
Porter House Guacamole
Porter's Epic Popcorn
Queso Dip from Scratch
Sauerkraut Buns
Smoked Cheese Balls
Smoked French Fries
Super Bowl Charcuterie Board
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Football Shaped Soft Pretzel Bites
Equipment
- 2 Baking Sheets
- Parchment Paper
Ingredients
Dough
- ¾ cups Warm Beer or water
- 2 tablespoon Light Brown Sugar
- 1 package Active Dry Yeast About 2 ¼ tsp
- 2 ½ cups All Purpose Flour
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 2 oz Unsalted Butter Melted
- Olive Oil
Assembly
- 3 quarts Water
- ¾ cup Baking Soda
- 1 Large Egg
- 1 tablespoon Cold Water
- ½ cup All Purpose Flour
- 8 tablespoon Water
Instructions
Make the Dough
- Combine warm beer with brown sugar, stir until sugar is almost dissolved. Add yeast, stirring until incorporated. Set aside in a warm place for 10 minutes, or until foamy.
- In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Add melted butter, stirring until well distributed. Pour in yeast/beer mixture, stirring until well combined.
- Turn dough out onto a clean surface, knead for a couple of minutes. Dough should be soft and smooth.
- Pour about 1 tablespoon of olive oil into a large, clean metal or glass bowl. Add freshly kneaded dough to the bowl, turning to coat with the oil. Cover with plastic wrap, set aside in a warm spot to rise for an hour or two, until doubled.
Once the dough has doubled in size:
- Divide dough into approximately 32 equal-sized chunks. I find it easiest to divide the dough in 4 equal pieces, then each of those into 4 equal pieces, and - finally - each of those 16 pieces in half.
- One at a time, roll each dough piece into a smooth ball, then more of an oval.
- Pinch the two short ends of each oval to form a football shape.
- Arrange formed pretzel bites on parchment lined baking sheets, cover loosely with plastic wrap.
- Allow to rise in a warm place for 20 more minutes, then re-pinch the ends if they’ve rounded out during the rise.
Boil and Bake
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Add baking soda, stir until combined, and turn the heat down until you have a gentle simmer.
- Boil the pretzel bites, about 10 at a time, to about a minute. Gently stir as they boil, to ensure that the entire surface of each is in contact with the water at some point.
- Use a slotted spoon to transfer each popper to prepared baking sheets. If any have rounded out, you can re-pinch them at this point.
- Whisk together eggs and water, brush this mixture across the tops of the poppers.
- In a small bowl or coffee mug, whisk together the remaining flour with water until a smooth paste forms.
- Carefully spoon into a pastry bag, trying to avoid creating any air pockets as you go.
- Snip the tip off the pastry bag, and pipe “stitching” on top of each pretzel bite. You may need to use kitchen scissons snip the end of your paste line as you go, depending on how much the gluten developed.
- Bake pretzel bites for 15 to 18 minutes, until golden brown.Allow to cool for a minute or two before eating.
Notes
Nutrition
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