How to Make Chocolate-Covered Pretzels

Chocolate with a twist.

This chocolate-covered pretzel recipe teaches you how to make the best chocolate-dipped pretzels, two ways: with tempered chocolate if you’re feeling a little fancy, or with melted chocolate chips for ease. This is a fun and special no-bake treat. Plus: pro tips for tempering chocolate, decorating the pretzels, and more. 

An All-Time Favorite Chocolate Treat, Even Better Homemade

Chocolate-covered pretzels are a perfect just-sweet-enough snack. They hit just the right salty-sweet note and feel just a little bit decadent, all with a fun crunch. Whether you use dark, milk, or white chocolate, chocolate-covered pretzels from scratch feel special. Make them plain, or decorate by adding a sprinkle of sea salt, rainbow sprinkles, nonpareils, or a drizzle of contrasting chocolate.

These make an outstanding edible gift, especially around Valentine’s Day or Christmas holiday.

Recipe Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need to make chocolate-covered pretzels:

• 9 ounces of dark, milk, or white baking chocolate, or chocolate chips. I prefer Guittard, Valrhona or Ghirardelli brands of chocolate.)
• 12 to 14 medium hard pretzels (Utz Sourdough Specials are my recommendation)
• 2 ounces additional chocolate if you’d like to do complementary streaks for decorating
• Sprinkles or nonpareils for decorating (optional)

What chocolate to use for chocolate-covered pretzels

Depending on your taste, you can make dark-chocolate covered pretzels, milk chocolate pretzels, or dip your pretzels in white chocolate. For dark chocolate pretzels, choose bittersweet chocolate, in the 60% to 72% cacao range.

Don’t feel like you need to just choose one type of chocolate. You can use multiple! Dip your pretzels (standard size, minis, or pretzel rods as you like) in one chocolate, and decorate by streaking them with another. Just have fun.

And for another good dark chocolate recipe, it’s this gooey Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie recipe for the win.

How to Make Chocolate-Covered Pretzels: Two Ways

Chocolate-covered pretzels are relatively straightforward to make: 1) select your pretzels; 2) select your chocolate (dark, milk, or white) and melt it; and 3) dip, decorate and let the chocolate-dipped pretzels dry.

The main difference in the method lies in whether or not you want to temper the chocolate.

• Tempered chocolate: results in smooth, glossy chocolate with a crisp snap
• Melted and hardened chocolate chips: contain emulsifiers, so the result will not be as glossy or as crisp. The chocolate may also be a little thicker. They’ll still taste great, though, and you’ll save time.

Tempering chocolate is not complicated, but it is precise. You’ll need an accurate kitchen probe thermometer, as well as a bowl to melt the chocolate, plus a double boiler (I’ll explain below) or microwave for melting the chocolate — which you’ll also need for the easy, quicker method of melting chocolate chips.

Method 1: How to Make Chocolate-Covered Pretzels With Tempered Chocolate

Tempering chocolate will give your dipped pretzels a shiny, smooth dark chocolate with real snap. Un-tempered chocolate can look streaky, with a less crisp texture.

To temper dark chocolate:

1. Divide chopped chocolate into a 2:3 ratio. Here, we will do 9 ounces of chocolate total, divided into two portions: 6 ounces and 3 ounces. (Again, you are using “real” dark chocolate, not chocolate chips.)
2. Melt the larger (6-ounce) proportion to 115° to 118° F. Do this either over a double boiler or in the microwave in short time increments, stirring often. If you are using a double boiler, keep the water at a low simmer and leave a space between the water and the bottom of the bowl; you want the steam to heat the chocolate, not the hot water.
3. Remove the melted chocolate from the heat and begin seeding it with the reserved (3 ounces) chocolate in several additions, stirring frequently and letting one addition almost fully melt before adding the next.
4. Stir occasionally while seeding with the reserved chocolate until the temperature of the chocolate is 87 to 89° F, and all the chocolate is fully melted. This is your working temperature range. Your chocolate is now in temper.

Note: Milk and white chocolate use different temperatures than dark for tempering. Milk chocolate should be melted to between 108° and 113° F before seeding. White chocolate’s melting range is 105° to 110° F. The final working temperature after seeding should be between 84° and 86° F for both milk and white chocolate.

Pro tip: Keep your chocolate in its temperature range by wrapping the bowl with a gently warmed kitchen towel or tea cozy. You can also place it back on top of the double boiler, stirring, for a few seconds. 

Method 2: How to Make Chocolate-Covered Pretzels With Melted Chocolate Chips (Quick Method)

This is the easier method. The result will not be as crisp and glossy as tempered chocolate, but they’ll still be very tasty and save time.

To dip pretzels with melted chocolate chips:

1. Melt the entire 9 ounces of chocolate slowly, stirring occasionally.
2. Proceed with dipping.

Decorating Chocolate Covered Pretzels

After dipping your pretzels by dipping them in the bowl of melted chocolate and placing them on a wire cooling rack (put a rimmed sheet pan lined with parchment paper or waxed paper underneath to catch the drips and sprinkles), add decoration by sprinkling them with your sprinkles of choice. Make sure to to add the sprinkles before the chocolate hardens, or they won’t stick.

To decorate with another type of melted chocolate, wait until the dipped pretzel fully dries. Dip a fork into the melted alternate chocolate and drizzle it over each pretzel, forming streaks.

Chocolate Pretzel F.A.Q.s

How far in advance can I make chocolate-covered pretzels in advance?

Chocolate-covered pretzels will keep for about two weeks.

How to I store chocolate-covered pretzels?

Store your homemade chocolate-covered pretzels in an airtight container at cool room temperature. Do no refrigerate or freeze, as it will affect the chocolate.

Love these homemade chocolate-dipped pretzels? You’ll also love:

• Mexican Hot Chocolate
• How to Make Chocolate Bowls from Scratch
• Chewy White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Why you should trust this recipe: I’m a C.I.A. pastry graduate with years of experience as a professional pastry chef and food writer. I develop and test each recipe from scratch, and am committed to ensuring that each recipe is accurate and trustworthy. Learn more.