Baseball season is just around the corner and with it all of the ballpark game day eats! Is there anything better than biting into a soft, warm pretzel flecked with generous sprinkles of salt? Gluten and Dairy Free Pretzels give you everything you love about this perennial favorite in an easy to make form everyone will love.

Let’s be honest. It doesn’t matter what the sport is, as long as there is tasty food to be had. Whether it’s Gluten Free Authentic Detroit Style Coney Dogs or these warm and pillowy treats, it’s all as much about the fun and festive food as it is the game itself. Whether you’re diving in for that mustard dip or slathering your hot pretzel in a cheese sauce, these are sure to become a new gam day tradition.

Ingredients

Making homemade Gluten and Dairy Free Pretzels is easy, rewarding, and allows you total control over all of the ingredients. With just a handful of pantry staples and a few simple steps, these are easy to shop for and create in your own kitchen. They’re also a fun activity to get the family into the kitchen and introduce them to how much fun baking can be.

Gluten Free Flour – Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour is my go-to flour for both sweet and savory recipes. It makes it easy to measure for recipes that aren’t traditionally written as Gluten Free without having to add any additional ingredients.
Baking Powder
Kosher Salt
Brown Sugar – Gives slight sweetness to these pretzels while also helping to feed the yeast.
Instant Rise Yeast – Gives these pretzels they’re soft and chewy interior.
Egg
Dairy Free Butter – Make sure that your butter is room temperature. This gives a little richness to the dough.
Warm Water – Helps activate the yeast.
Baking Soda – Used to quickly boil the pretzels prior to baking, giving them that trademark shiny, snappy exterior.

How to Make Gluten and Dairy Free Pretzels

Skip the frozen food aisle and head straight to your pantry. In just six easy steps you’ll be serving up these soft yet pillowy pretzels with the perfect amount of chew.

Time needed: 2 hours

These classic pretzels are a fun weekend treat or perfect just because. Get your family into the kitchen and let them help you shape them into that cheery and familiar twist.

Bloom
Add your warm water, sugar, and yeast to a mixing bowl fitted with a paddle. Stir to combine and let it sit for five minutes. It will begin to foam.
Mix
Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and mix on love for five minutes.
Rise
Place the dough into an oiled bowl and cover it with plastic wrap and a towel. Allow it to rise for an hour, or until it has doubled in size.
Shape
Divide your dough into 12 fairly equal sized pieces. Roll each piece into about a 12″ log and twist into a pretzel shape. Continue with the remaining pieces of dough.
Boil
Bring four quarts of water to a boil and add 1/4 cup baking soda, and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Carefully add one pretzel at a time to the boiling water. It will sink to the bottom and then float. Once it floats remove it from the pot and place it on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Brush with melted Dairy Free butter and sprinkle on kosher salt. Repeat with the remaining pretzels.
Bake
Allow the pretzels to bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown in a 425-degree oven. Serve by themselves or with your favorite dipper!

Variations

Have fun with your toppings with these homemade soft pretzels. Skip the salt and sprinkle on everything bagel seasoning. Another option is skipping the salt and adding Dairy Free parmesan cheese. How about ranch soft pretzels? Sprinkle on your favorite Dairy Free ranch seasoning. The toppings are limitless!

Substitutions

This recipe is completely dairy free and gluten free. However, you can replace the Dairy Free butter in this recipe with regular dairy butter. The measurements will be the same.

How to Store Gluten and Dairy Free Pretzels

These soft pretzels are a fantastic make ahead treat. They great warm but also delicious at room temperature. Keep them stored in an airtight container at room temperature and they will last for up to five days.

To reheat them, place them on a baking sheet and allow them to warm through in a 300 degree oven for about ten minutes.

Top Tip for Gluten and Dairy Free Pretzels

When it comes to forming your pretzels, you don’t want to make them too large. When the pretzels get too big they tend to break in the water bath. After you remove each individual pretzel from the water bath, always allow the water to come back up to a boil before adding the next bagel.

Gluten Free Flours

My go to for baking is Bob’s Red Mill 1:1. It is a blend of several different gluten free ingredients and I find it just works consistently well for what I need. I could blend flour myself but I choose to spend my time other ways and the 1:1 is a really good product.

Oat Flour can give you a chewier, more moist product. It can lend a nice sweet flavor to baked foods and is a flour I tend to mix with others if I want a lighter or fluffy result. I am always very careful to buy organic gluten free oats because they can be sprayed with nasty stuff and be processed in a way that they are no longer gluten free.

Almond Flour has a nice nutty flavor but can tend to dry out what you are preparing. I like to balance it with an extra egg if I am adding it to meatloaf for example and add banana or egg if it is in a sweet treat. Your end product could be a bit denser if you are using straight almond flour as well. I do like using almond flour as bread crumbs or a crunchy topping on savory dishes.

Arrowroot is my normal choice for a thickener in sauce or gravy. It is great for things you want a good crunch on that would normally be dredged in flour. Arrowroot can also be used to temper other gluten free flours for sweets and baked goods.

Brown Rice Flour can also be used in combination with other gluten free flours for baked goods. I like to use it when making a roux and brown rice noodles are a favorite.

More Gluten Free Flours

Amaranth is another gluten free flour that works well when blended. It has a nice nutty flavor that makes it good for crusts, tortillas and breads.

Coconut Flour has a bit of a sweet coconut flavor. It tends to absorb liquid so you will need to adjust your recipe but it does give a nice light texture.

Corn Flour is a great thickener, makes delicious tortillas and one of my favorites, corn bread. Just make sure the corn flour you are buying was proceed in a gluten free environment and from a clean source.

Cassava Flour is the most similar to white or all purpose flour but can be expensive if you are using it often and is high in carbohydrates.

Tapioca is a great thickener as well for soups, pies and sauces and works well when combined with other flours.

Chickpea or garbanzo is used often in Indian and Middle Eastern cuisine… Think hummus, falafel, flatbreads. It has lots of healthy benefits and a mild nutty flavor. You can also use the water from the beans, called aquafaba, as an egg replacer or instead of cream for whipped cream. Crazy, I know, but it works so stop dumping it down the drain.

Gluten Free Grains

The gluten free grains we grab for most often are…

Quinoa- easy to make and flavor and is high in fiber and protein. It is actually one of the plant proteins that is a complete protein.

Oats are also good for fiber and a bit of protein but make sure they are clean and gluten free.

Buckwheat actually has no wheat in it but does have fiber, protein and trace minerals. I love buckwheat noodles. I also add them to salads and soups for texture and a bit of “chew”.