Healthy Low Carb and Gluten Free Soft Pretzels
These Healthy Low Carb and Gluten Free Soft Pretzels are so light, buttery, and addicting, you’d never guess they’re made without the sugar, butter, and white flour! They taste anything BUT healthy, sugar free, low carb, high protein, high fiber, and gluten free. They taste like pure sin.
These babes are sinlessly delicious!
Soooo, ummm… if you’ve been following along for some time now, or if you’ve read My Story, then you know about my first job ever. At Auntie Anne’s. Where I gained 12lbs in about 3 months and basically ate pretzels all day, all night, at home, at work, on my break, for snacks and sometimes even as my dinner. I was totally addicted.
Pretty sure the dictionary should update the definition of “addiction” to “baked bread dripping with melted butter and doused with salt.” Because that would just make waayyyy more sense.
Okay, now get ready for a serious surprise… I like salted pretzels more than those tooth-achingly sweet cinnamon-sugar pretzels.
*GASP*
What? Me?! A diehard sweet tooth liking something savory over sweet?? I think something’s wrong with me… who am I?? But it’s true. I’m sorry if I let you down there, but I think this totally awesome recipe will help me make it up to you 😉
Healthy Gluten Free Soft Pretzels
Ingredients
- 30g (3 tbs) Psyllium Husk Powder
- 11g (1 tbs) Active Dry Yeast
- 1 cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
- 124g (½ cup) Unsweetened Applesauce
- 5 Large Egg Whites (reserve one of the yolks!)
- 1 tbs Natural Butter Flavor
- 168g (1½ cups) Organic Soy Flour
- 140g (1¼ cups) Coconut Flour
- 2 tsp Double-Acting Baking Powder
- ½ tsp Baking Soda
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 1 Large Egg Yolk
- 1 tsp Water
- 2 tsp Flaked Sea Salt
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together the psyllium and yeast.
- In a stand mixer bowl fitted with a beater attachment, add the almond milk, applesauce, egg whites, and butter flavor. Turn on medium speed. While mixing, sprinkle in the psyllium/yeast mixture. Mix until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then mix until smooth again. Mixture should look like thick gravy.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the soy flour, coconut flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to the stand mixer and mix on low speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix on last time. Dough should be very thick, dense, and slightly sticky.
- Shape the dough into a ball and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Place the bowl in a warm area for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line two cookie sheets with Silpats or parchment paper.
- Divide the dough into 8 equal portions. Carefully roll the dough into long logs (if the log breaks, just stick it back and it'll be fine... these are gluten free, so that's kinda expected right?) and carefully shape into pretzels. Carefully transfer the pretzels onto the prepared pans.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolk and water. Brush the pretzels with the egg wash and sprinkle with the salt. Bake for ~23-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool slightly and serve warm!
Recipe Notes
Whoop whoop! HEALTHY PRETZELS HERE I COME! Compared to one Auntie Anne’s pretzel, one of my Gluten Free Pretzels has:
- 140 less calories
- 46g less carbs
- 6g less sugar
- 11g more fiber
- 7g more protein
Auntie Anne’s pretzels are high calorie and high carb, which doesn’t necessarily mean unhealthy, but when you look at their ingredient list it’s quite obvious that they’re not the best for you. They use bleached white flour, refined white sugar, and low-quality, hormone-filled butter (and lots of it… I know firsthand).
My healthy Low Carb and Gluten Free Soft Pretzels are nutritionally balanced with only 200 calories each, healthy fats, filling fiber, and a whopping 15g of protein.
Now that’s what I call a healthy pretzel.
Here are a couple pictures of my very first batch:
They were suuuuper soft and fluffy, but I needed to revamp the recipe because they were incredibly delicate and a pain in the ass to roll and shape into pretzels. This new recipe is way easier to handle, shape, and bake. And eat, of course.
See how soft it is?! I’m dying, I’m dying, I’m dead.
These Low Carb and Gluten Free Pretzels make for an incredibly satisfying breakfast, lunch, or snack.
Eat them alone or dip them in melted cheese or your favorite mustard. Whatever option you choose, your taste buds are in for a real treat. They’ll never know you’re fooling them with healthy food.
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With love and good eats,
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– Jess
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Indulge − no strings attached!
i am obsessed with home made pretzels at the moment, especially when they are hot out of the oven. love how guilt free this recipe is, thanks for sharing!
Thalia @ Butter and Brioche-
Homemade pretzels are literally, THE. BEST. THINGS. EVER.
No wonder we, I mean, you, are obsessed 😉
-Jess
Hi Jessica. Can you please tell me if you can substitute the soy flour for say sorghum flour or buckwheat? Will they turn out different? I’m assuming you are using the soy because of its high protein content. I’m all for that, but have an issue with too much soy.
This recipe sounds delicious.
Thanks. Terri.
Terri-
I’m afraid there isn’t a substitute for the organic soy flour. It absorbs a lot of liquid, similar to coconut flour, but is not as crumbly as coconut flour. It also binds very well due to the fiber content, similar to oat flour, but it doesn’t bake the same as oat flour. It took a lot of trial and error to get this recipe where it is so I am hesitant to give any substitutions. HOWEVER, if you’re feeling up to experimentation you can try substituting the 2 cups of soy flour with 1/2 cup coconut flour and 1+1/4 cups oat flour. If the dough is too dry, try adding a whole egg (or as many as you need to get it into a dough). Eggs will help keep the coconut flour less crumbly.
I have no idea if this is going to work, but I am crossing my fingers it does!!
I think that conventional/genetically modified soy is unhealthy, but organic soy is nutritious and good for us (in moderation, of course). I mean, people have been eating soy for millennia… it’s only recently that soy has been sprayed with pesticides and other harmful chemicals, genetically modified to be bigger, last longer, etc. We just need to be careful of the soy we are consuming! 🙂
If you get to try out the recipe, I really hope it turns out and I hope you LOVE it!
-Jess
I seriously LOVE visiting your blog to come see all the unique ingredients that are beneficial for you!
Kira – The Healthable Old Soul-
Thank you SO much Kira!! 🙂
-Jess
Hello Jess,
I have made the pretzels and I love them but they were just a bit dry so I know I’ve done something wrong.
When I weighed my 16 grams of psyllium it came out to be over 5 tablespoons. The same goes for all of my measurements. I believed that weighing might be more accurate but since they came out dry I’m not so sure. Do you have any suggestions?
Thanks
Hi Leigh,
I’m glad you got a chance to make the recipe!! Though, I’m not sure why 16g of psyllium came to 5 tbs… did you use the psyllium husk powder that’s linked in the recipe or whole psyllium husk? Whole psyllium husk is kind of flaky looking. If that’s what you used, then that will be the problem… the psyllium needs to be a fine powder 🙂
Weighing is generally the most accurate way to go, especially with this recipe, so you’re on the right track! It could just be a difference in the products we used. If weird numbers start showing up when you’re baking, try calibrating your scale or possibly even changing the batteries (this happened to me once!)
I hope this helps!
-Jess
Hi! Can we play an awful game that I know food bloggers despise? It’s called “Can I Substitute…?” and I’m wondering if applesauce and/or the vanilla almond milk can be substituted. Any ideas? 🙂 Thank you for sharing this recipe, by the way! I love your blog.
Brittany-
HAHAHA! I secretly loved reading your comment 😉
I haven’t tried using any substitutions in this recipe yet, but for the applesauce I would recommend 100% pure canned pumpkin puree, sweet potato puree, or any other pureed fruit. I’m sure even carrot babyfood would work (sounds gross, but you probably won’t taste it since you don’t taste the applesauce in the original recipe).
And the almond milk can be substituted with regular organic dairy milk or your favorite non-dairy milk substitute (organic soy milk, coconut milk, etc.).
I hope this helps! Thanks so much for the laugh 🙂
Hope you LOOOOVE the pretzels!
-Jess
i have no soy flour either… can I use ANY other flour or a possible all purpose gluten free flour?
Shweta-
I’m afraid the soy flour can’t be replaced. I’m sure it can be with a lot of recipe-testing, but it took me multiple trials to perfect this recipe so I’m hesitant to recommend any substitutes 🙁
-Jess
Hi Jessica,
thank you for this awesome recipe. Lots of my friends can’t have gluten and I’m sure they would love this! One quick question, do I have to use butter flavoring? I don’t normally use butter flavoring. Also I would like to save money if I can!
Thank you!
Joanne-
I wouldn’t recommend omitting the butter flavoring because without it, the pretzels won’t have that classic butter flavor. It also helps cover up some of the soy flour taste (I’m not a huge fan of its flavor).
I hope you like the pretzels!
-Jess
How about using regular butter or ghee? Instead of butter flavoring?? Thank you for answering!
Joanne-
If you want to brush the pretzels with butter instead of the egg wash before baking, feel free to do that! It still won’t provide that much butter flavor though, so you can brush them with butter after baking as well 🙂
-Jess
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Hi,
I hate to leave a bad comment but my pretzels turned out inedible. I am used to substituting and making things that are a little odd, but these were just very yeasty and the texture was almost spongy. It was probably my fault, – are you not supposed to pre-proof the yeast? I have worked with yeast before and usually you have to add warm water before using. I did this before reading the instruction to sprinkle it in, so I just went with it but I have a feeling this is what did them in. Any ideas?
Oh no! So sorry the pretzels didn’t turn out for you 🙁
You said you substituted something in here, but this recipe is very finicky. What did you substitute?
I didn’t pre-proof the yeast when I make these, but I could try that the next time I make a batch. I kinda like the flavor of yeast breads, so I guess it’s a matter of opinion 🙂
-Jess
Thanks for this wonderful recipe which looks great. I haven’t yet tried to make these pretzels, but why use butter flavoring instead of actual butter or Smart Spread? Yes the fat content and resulting calories would be a little higher but it seems like with the healthy mix of protein and fiber some more fats would be a great addition.
Adding butter or a spread to the recipe will throw off the wet:dry ratio. You can try adding butter to the recipe, but you’ll need to add a bit more coconut flour to the recipe. I’m not sure how much, though, because I haven’t tried it.
Um… 65 g of carbs? That’s not low. In fact it’s exactly as many carbs as Auntie Anne’s original pretzel.
Did you read the statement above the 2 nutrition labels?
“Auntie Anne’s nutrition label is on the left, the Desserts with Benefits nutrition label is on the right” — MY pretzels have 17g carbs, NOT 65g 🙂
Ah! No. I didn’t see that… and in my phone it displays differently. No matter. I see the two now. 17g is much better, though I would call it “lower” or “reduced” carbs and not “low”. In any case it’s definitely an improvement. Thank you for setting me straight.
17 grams of carbs is relatively low, carbs aren’t the devil you know.
Oh I know, carbs are the opposite of the devil. Carbs are amazing! This recipe is suited towards diabetics (but anyone could make/love these), who aren’t really able to enjoy carby things like pretzels 🙂
I’m new to gluten-free baking, but will be trying this soon. Can the recipe be used to make hard pretzels? Perhaps by rolling a narrower dough and using a different baking temperature and/or time?
I haven’t tried making crunchy pretzels before so I can’t be sure if this dough will work or not. I think this dough might be too fluffy and the pretzels too soft… unless you try double-baking them (kind of like biscotti)?
wow! Ill have 10 right now. These look great, I love playing with psyllium husk, soaks up so much liquid, its awesome. It was hard not to get fat when I owned the coffee shop! So much temptation!
Would you believe that last week I made regular pretzels because I had given up on trying to find a good healthy pretzel recipe!? I’m so excited to try this one because I LOVE pretzels! 🙂
Is there a way to make the pretzels vegan by replacing the eggs? Would flax eggs, Ener-G egg replacer, Follow My Heart egg replacer, or any other “vegan egg” work?
I doubt this recipe would work without the egg whites, they’re crucial for the fluffy texture. If you’d like to try recipe testing, feel free to test out those substitutes! 🙂
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Thank you so much for this, my mother-in-law can not have gluten, nor any nuts (and i did read your milk substitute) and my father-in-law has diabetes, so finding a snack they both can eat has been hard. My MoL can have coconuts, so i hope to try this out soon and let you know how well ut worked for us.
soy flour is death. please don’t publish recipes with that shit in it
A little dramatic there huh? Soy flour is not death. Especially organic soy lol
Soy flour is fine in moderation. If it were death, all of Asia would be extinct already. Instead they have some of the longest living populations on a diet with plenty of soy in fermented and non-fermented forms. Granted it isn’t laced with pesticides & preservatives like US grown soy. If you don’t like it, visit a different page instead of barking orders at someone you have no authority over
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Something unique and amazing one, will love to try this “Healthy Low Carb and Gluten Free Soft Pretzels”, thanks for sharing this recipe with us.
Healthy Low Carb and Gluten Free Soft Pretzels seems amazing and unique , never tried this before . Infact never seen this before.
Super excited to try these Healthy Low Carb and Gluten Free Soft Pretzels, my kids gonna love this one . Thanks for sharing this recipe with us .
Thanks for sharing this health friendly Pretzels, seems amazing . Excited to try this