Pretzel With Beer Cheese Dip Recipe
Bake warm soft pretzels and scoop them into an easy beer cheese dip. Every bite has a chewy, golden crust with soft, fluffy centers. Homemade pretzels are the perfect appetizer for relaxed weekends at home or big game-day football parties! And they just take about an hour. You can shape the pretzel dough like footballs, small soft pretzel nuggets, knots, or the classic pretzel shape...
Prep Time45 minutes mins
Cook Time15 minutes mins
Total Time1 hour hr
Course: Appetizers, Dips, & Snacks
Cuisine: American
Keyword: beer cheese dip, football pretzels, homemade pretzels, pretzel bites, pretzel recipe, pretzels and beer cheese dip, soft pretzel recipe, soft pretzels
Servings: 12
Calories: 388kcal
Beer Cheese Dip
- 12 oz pale ale beer blonde ale
- ¼ cup all purpose flour
- 8 oz sharp Cheddar cheese coarsely grated
- 8 oz Swiss cheese
- 4 oz. cream cheese ½ block, room temp
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard or ground mustard
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon hot sauce
Soft Pretzels
- 1 ½ cups warm water lukewarm around 100 degrees
- 1 packet active dry yeast or instant yeast 2 ¼ teaspoons
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar can swap in brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 4 cups all purpose flour extra for kneading
- 1 large egg whisked beaten egg wash
- ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt or pretzel salt
Baking Soda Water Bath
- ½ cup baking soda
- 9 cups water
Beer Cheese Dip
In a medium saucepan, heat the beer until boiling over medium heat, then whisk in the flour until smooth.
Turn the heat down, and add the grated cheddar and Swiss cheese one handful at a time and continue whisking until smooth.
Whisk in the cream cheese, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, and hot sauce until thoroughly combined.
Remove from heat and serve warm with soft pretzels.
Make Pretzel Dough
In a large bowl (if hand kneading) or large mixing bowl of a stand mixer, whisk the yeast in warm water, stir until it dissolves and let it sit for a few minutes. Whisk in sugar, salt, and melted butter.
Slowly add 4 cups of the flour, a cup at a time with a wooden spoon or dough hook attachment in your mixer on low speed until the pretzel dough is no longer floury, shaggy, or sticky. If sticky, add just a little more flour, a tablespoon at a time until it forms a ball. Push your finger into the dough ball, if it bounces back you are ready to knead it.
Dough Knead & Rise
Turn out the dough onto a floured surface, knead for about 5 minutes and shape it into a ball. Or knead the dough in a stand mixer with the hook attachment at low speed for 5 minutes. Put the dough in a bowl, in a warm place, cover it with a towel, and put it in a warm place for 30-60 minutes.
Make-Ahead Tips: At this point, the pretzel dough can be refrigerated for up to three days or frozen for three months. Defrost frozen pretzel dough in the refrigerator, before shaping and baking. The dough can be shaped cold into pretzels, but let the pretzels puff up on your sheet pan before dipping and baking. Keep the pretzel dough in a good food safe airtight container or freezer container.
Make The Baking Soda Bath
Meanwhile, while the dough is resting, make the baking soda boiling water bath. Pour 9 cups of water into a large pot with high sides, and bring to a boil.
Then add ½ cup of baking soda, it will foam up doubling in volume when adding the baking soda. Reduce heat to medium-low to maintain a simmer, not a boil.
Water Bath Dipping Pretzels
Bake Pretzels
Whisk an egg for the egg wash, and brush all over the tops of the pretzels. Sprinkle coarse salt or pretzel salt lightly on top of the pretzels.
Bake the pretzels for 15-20 minutes, check on them at 15 minutes. They are done when they are golden brown. Serve with warm beer cheese dip, nacho cheese sauce, or yellow mustard.
Beer Cheese Sauce Flavors
- Variety of Cheeses: Try some different cheeses like pepper jack, Mexican queso Blanco, Monterey jack, or smoked, sharp, or American cheddar. For best results, grate cheese at home and avoid pre-grated cheeses as they don't melt as well due to the anticaking agents in the packaging process.
- Spicy Additions: If you like it hot, add in some chopped jalapeños, Hatch chiles, serranos, cayennes, chipotle, or a hot sauce like Tabasco. Tapatio, or buffalo sauce.
- Kind of Beer: Use the type of beer you prefer, darker beers bring on a much stronger flavor. Buy the best beer, like a good amber ale, my favorite beer is pale ales, they taste just right in this recipe. You can also use a non-alcoholic beer if you prefer.
- Leftover Dip: If you have extra cheese dip, use it as cheese fondue with bread cubes, mix it into a casserole dish of mac and cheese, or pour over scalloped potatoes for dinner.
Pretzel Flavors To Try
- Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels: Skip using the egg wash and coarse salt, melt salted or unsalted butter, brush on the pretzels, then dip the pretzels into a shallow bowl filled with 1 teaspoon cinnamon and ½ cup sugar mixed together. Eat these right away, as they don't hold well.
- Cheesy Jalapeno Pretzels: Use the egg wash, then top with different grated cheeses. And top with thinly sliced jalapenos and bake!
- Everything Bagel Pretzels: Egg wash, or brush with garlic butter, then sprinkle on everything bagel seasoning mix and bake.
Calories: 388kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 67mg | Sodium: 1905mg | Potassium: 115mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 556IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 330mg | Iron: 2mg