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National Pretzel Day

Food ยท April 26

A day for the pretzel, the twisted baked bread that comes soft and chewy or hard and crunchy, usually with coarse salt on top.

National Pretzel Day

National Pretzel Day falls on Monday, April 26, 2027. That is 181 days away.

A pretzel is bread dough rolled into a rope, twisted into a loose knot and baked. Before baking, it gets a quick dip in an alkaline bath, which gives the crust its deep brown color and that particular tang you cannot get any other way.

There are two main families. Soft pretzels are big, warm and chewy, the kind sold from street carts and ballpark stands, often with a scatter of coarse salt that falls off in your lap. Hard pretzels are their dry, crunchy cousins, baked longer until they snap, and they come as twists, rods, sticks and little rings in bags and tins.

Most people eat them plainly, but pretzels take well to company. Mustard is the classic partner for a soft one. Cheese sauce is popular too, and so is cinnamon sugar for anyone who leans sweet. Hard pretzels get dipped in chocolate, crushed into pie crusts and tossed into snack mixes, where their salt keeps everything else from getting too rich.

Making soft pretzels at home is easier than the shape suggests. The dough is simple, and twisting the knot takes about three tries to get right. The first few tend to look like loose shoelaces, and they taste fine anyway.

The salt on top is usually a coarse pretzel salt, chosen because its large flakes stay put through baking instead of melting into the crust.

Ways to celebrate

Dates

YearDate
2026Sunday, April 26
2027Monday, April 26
2028Wednesday, April 26
2029Thursday, April 26
2030Friday, April 26

All national days on April 26

Also on April 26

Categories: Food days