Chocolate peanut butter pretzels

19 July 2021 | Last Updated: 22 July 2021 By Aleksandra

These chocolate peanut butter pretzels are a delicious no-bake snack that can be made in no time with just a couple of ingredients. Sweetened peanut butter sandwiched between pretzels and coated in chocolate. This salty, sweet, and crunchy peanut butter and chocolate combo is just irresistible – it’s really hard to stop snacking on these tasty little treats! They make a great gift and are also great for the holidays.

If you love all things chocolate peanut butter like we do, try also these chocolate chunk peanut butter cookies, chocolate peanut butter smoothie, or 7-layer magic bars.

Chocolate peanut butter pretzels on a piece of parchment paper. Chocolate pieces and pretzels scattered around.

Ingredients

Here’s what you need to make chocolate peanut butter pretzels:

peanut butter – I used natural peanut butter which is more runny than regular creamy peanut butter, you can also use regular peanut butter or crunchy peanut butter – add more butter if the peanut butter mixture is too thick
powdered sugar – you can add more sugar if you want it sweeter, if the mixture is too thick – add more soft butter
vanilla extract – to flavor the peanut butter mixture, you can omit it
butter – makes the peanut butter mixture more soft, make sure to use soft butter or it won’t incorporate well with peanut butter, use unsalted butter to control the salt levels
mini pretzels – you can also use pretzel crisps, saltine crackers, or graham crackers instead, but don’t use pretzel sticks
chocolate – you can use regular chocolate, chocolate chips or good-quality baking chocolate which is my preference, when using regular chocolate – the pretzels will have grey dots on them the next day – this doesn’t impact the flavor but may look unattractive (it’s just cocoa fat that has risen to the surface), when using baking chocolate which is already tempered – they look the same the next day, here you can read more on tempering chocolate
flaky sea salt – you can omit it but I really recommend using it, the combo of peanut butter, chocolate, and salt is just irresistible, it takes these treats from tasting just sweet and flat to amazing!

Labeled ingredients needed to prepare chocolate peanut butter pretzels.

To make these more festive you can also sprinkle them with:

colorful sprinkles (for example white green and red for Christimas, red white blue for 4th of July, and red/pink for Valentine’s Day), you can dip them in white chocolate to showcase the sprinkles better
ground nuts or shredded coconut
chocolate shavings or drizzle it with melted chocolate (for example with white chocolate for a nice color contrast)

Step by step instructions

Chopped chocolate in a bowl hung over a pot. Chopped chocolate is being melted using a double boiler method.

STEP 1+2: Melt the chocolate using a double-boiler method or in a microwave.

If using the double-boiler method: place a heat-proof bowl over a small pot with boiling water. The bottom of the bowl shouldn’t touch the surface of the water. Add chopped chocolate/chocolate chips to the bowl. Stir until the chocolate is melted. Take the bowl off the pot and set it aside.

How to melt chocolate in a microwave: microwave the chocolate for 30 seconds (or 20 seconds if at a high temperature) then take the bowl out and give it a stir. Place the bowl back in the microwave and repeat the process of cooking for 30 seconds, stopping, stirring, and returning to the microwave until the chocolate has melted.

Ingredients for peanut butter spread in a white bowl. Sweetened peanut butter is being spread on a pretzel.

STEP 3: In a medium bowl, add peanut butter, powdered sugar, soft butter, and vanilla. Stir until combined. You want the mixture to be thick but spreadable. I used natural peanut butter which is rather runny. You can adjust the consistency of the peanut butter mixture by adding more butter if it’s too thick or more sugar if it’s too runny. If it’s too runny you can also put it in a fridge or freezer to thicken.

STEP 4: Using a knife spread some peanut butter mixture on one pretzel.

Please note you may use fewer pretzels and chocolate if you spread a thicker layer of peanut butter on the pretzels! My layer wasn’t very thick – I prefer it that way. I think when you add a super thick layer of peanut butter they become super rich and heavy. Just experiment what you like best!

Sweetened peanut butter between two pretzels. Peanut butter pretzels on a tray lined with parchment paper.

STEP 5: Top with a second pretzel.

STEP 6: Place the pretzel sandwiches on a tray lined with parchment paper.

Peanut butter pretzel is being dipped in chocolate. Chocolate peanut butter pretzels are being sprinkled with flaky sea salt.

STEP 7: Dip each pretzel ‘sandwich’ in melted chocolate. You can hold the pretzels by hand if you want to dip just half of a pretzel. If you want to dip whole pretzels (like on the photos), use a fork and tap it against the edge of your bowl to remove the excess chocolate.

STEP 8: Place the pretzels on a tray lined with parchment paper and sprinkle with flaky sea salt while the chocolate is still wet. Place the tray in the fridge until the chocolate is set (it will take 30-60 minutes).

Enjoy!

Storage

How to store chocolate peanut butter pretzels: store them in a tightly closed container in the fridge for up to a week. They taste good cold and at room temperature.

How to freeze them: they freeze very well but the pretzels won’t be crunchy.

How to make them ahead: if you want to make them ahead I would really recommend using baking chocolate which looks great also the next day. You can also store peanut butter pretzels (without the chocolate) in the fridge for up to a week and coat them with chocolate later.

Did you make this recipe? RATE THE RECIPE or tell me in the COMMENTS how you liked it! You can also add a photo of your dish. It would make me very happy and will help other readers. Thank you!!