How to Make Chocolate Dipped Pretzels

If you are looking for an easy and fun kitchen craft, you have come to the right spot! Find out how to make these deliciously festive chocolate dipped pretzels for a fun treat for the family or gifts for coworkers and loved ones.

How to Make Chocolate Dipped Pretzels

If I remember correctly, making chocolate dipped pretzels became a tradition 6 years ago. My mom, and her friend, Teresa, came up with the idea to have a mother-daughter day to make pretzels as gifts for coworkers and friends. Wanting to do something special for the holidays for my 20 plus coworkers, I thought this was the perfect idea! Plus I always love hanging out with my mama and sister.

3 Perks to Giving Chocolate Dipped Pretzels:

They are handmade – Who doesn’t love a handmade gift? I love receiving gifts that someone has put time, thought, and creativity into!

Anyone can enjoy them! – Even if someone isn’t the biggest fan, they are still beautiful to look at and they can share them with someone else. I’ve had coworkers that don’t eat sweets, but let me know that they shared them with their kids and/or spouse and they loved them. As long as someone enjoys them, that makes me happy.

You can make A LOT for a little – Understandably, sometimes holiday budgets are tight, but you still want to give something special to those you care about. You can get a lot of bang for your buck making these guys. I calculated that it costs about $35 to make 70 pretzels, so about 50 cents each. This includes the cost of the pretzels, melting chocolate, sprinkles, and packaging.

So back at it, how do you make these tasty chocolate dipped pretzels?

What you will need:

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Pretzel Rods
Candy Melts/Chocolate– You can choose how many colors you want to work with.
Coconut oil
Sprinkles – Having a variety of sprinkles makes it more fun!
Packaging – I’ve packaged my pretzels in a handful of ways and you can get creative here. Craft stores and even Walmart carry a variety of goodie bags, even some that are specific for pretzel rods. I’ve used baggies that hold 2 pretzels and baggies that hold 4, then used clear tape to seal them. Advice: You’ll be tempted to buy the fancy decorated bags, but GET THE CLEAR ONES! The clear bags spotlight your beautiful creations. I also like to make a big batch for my husband’s grandma who loves them. This way she can share them with her friends, or stick them in the freezer for a rainy day. This year since we are in a pandemic and won’t be able to see her in person, I found a cute Christmas box at Home Goods and wrapped the pretzels up with plastic wrap, then sealed them in a Ziploc bag so I could mail them to her.
Parchment paper
Optional: Candy molds (we have found specific molds for pretzel rods) and frosting bags/Ziploc bags (for drizzling).

Directions:

1. Set up all of your supplies – Open up you pretzel bags, take all the tops off of your sprinkles, lay out a large piece of parchment paper on your counter for the pretzels to dry on, and lay out a cookie sheet for catching extra sprinkles/chocolate drizzle.

2. Melt your candy melts/chocolate – We have tried numerous methods of melting the candy melts/chocolate, but have found that using tall coffee mugs in the microwave works best. Fill your mug about ⅔ full of candy melts/chocolate plus roughly 1 tablespoon of coconut oil (which will help get a good dipping consistency). Microwave in 15-30 second increments, stirring in between until completely melted and smooth with no lumps. Be careful not to overheat your melts/chocolate or they will burn and clump up.

3. Start dipping! Dip your pretzels into the melted candy melts/chocolate. Use a spoon to dump chocolate on the top of the pretzel that doesn’t fit inside the mug to make sure it has plenty on it! I only leave about 2” of pretzel bare. Next, hold the pretzel rod over the cookie sheet and sprinkle sprinkles on while the chocolate is still wet. OR, melt more melts in a frosting bag, and drizzle over the pretzel rod. You can definitely add more sprinkles after you drizzle too!

4. Lay your pretzel on the parchment paper to dry.

5. Repeat the process – Use different colors of candy melts/chocolate, sprinkles, chocolate drizzles until you are out of pretzels!

6. Package your pretzels – Once your pretzels have completely set up (this shouldn’t take too long, about 15 minutes), start bagging and tagging! See my note above about packaging.

A few tips:

Host a little party! – Our little mother-daughter day has turned into an annual tradition. It is the perfect way to get in the holiday spirit while spending time with the ones we love. Over the years, who has attended has adapted a bit as we have included extra friends and family members which has been fun. (Because of the current state of our world, we did not have a pretzel dipping party this year, but I still wanted to make some, so I made some alone in the safety of my own house.)

If you choose to have a party, we have perfected the method of keeping everyone’s beautiful creations separated. We pull out an extra folding table (or two) and cover it with parchment paper. Then, with a Sharpie, we section out the paper and write each person’s name in their section to lay their pretzels to dry.

Share supplies – We have found that it works best if everyone brings a little bit of everything, then everyone can share each other’s supplies. This gives us more variety to get creative while decorating our pretzels. For example, I might bring 3 bags of red candy melts, 3 bags of green melts, and 3 different types of sprinkles, and Kristen might bring 6 bags of dark chocolate melts, 2 different types of sprinkles, and frosting bags for drizzling. By sharing we have so many more design options.

Save your products! – We invested in a storage tub to store our extra pretzel making supplies. In this bin, we keep extra packaging supplies, sprinkles, frosting bags, candy molds, and candy melts. Sprinkles have an average shelf life of 3-5 years, and candy melts last about 18 months, so before shopping for new products, we will take inventory of our bin. We will use any unopened candy melts that have not expired before using any newly purchased melts, as well as the sprinkles.

I hope you enjoy making and giving these chocolate dipped pretzels as much as I do!