The Best Frozen Soft Pretzels Come From A Popular Mall Food Court Chain

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Soft pretzels aren't just an NYC street treat or an artisanal appetizer served at your local beer garden. You can now pick them up in the freezer aisle of most grocery stores. We tried and ranked eight frozen soft pretzel brands, evaluating them on taste, texture, and quality. According to our ranking, the best frozen soft pretzels come from Auntie Anne's, a famously popular mall food court chain.

Auntie Anne's evokes some serious nostalgia for most of us who can almost smell the buttery, fresh-baked goodness wafting through their local mall's food court, at the mention of the chain's name. The brand has successfully converted the food court experience into a homemade snack, replete with coarse salt and melted butter for a decadent finish. Not only did the pretzel's pleasant amount of salt and butter stand out from the competition, but Auntie Anne's yeasty and slightly sweet dough was also unlike the more savory doughs of other competitors. Furthermore, these pretzels were pillowy soft, which only added to their decadence. We loved how the melted butter added even more richness and kept the crumb from becoming dried out. The flaky salt on top gives these pretzels a crunchy contrast against the soft dough, while also enhancing the yeasty notes and sweet finish. A stellar taste and texture, coupled with its nostalgia factor, landed Auntie Anne's Soft Pretzels in first place, outranking even more traditional Bavarian pretzel varieties.

We weren't the only ones who loved Auntie Anne's frozen soft pretzels. We found countless glowing customer reviews on the Target website, which averaged a respectable 4.3-star rating. Many lauded the frozen pretzels for being almost identical to the mall version. One review proclaimed, "Amazing flavor and cooked so well. My whole family felt like a professional pretzel maker." Customers loved the included butter packet, which really gave the finished product an extra flavor boost. While there was overwhelming praise for Auntie Anne's pretzels from Target customers, there were some reviewers who had differing opinions. One Target shopper wrote, "They are more like a buttered roll than a pretzel. Too buttery for me." Others said that they appeared burnt before they finished heating and complained they tasted greasy.

Still, most reviews were highly complimentary of Auntie Anne's frozen pretzels and fans had plenty of ideas on how to make them even better. For example, customers recommended throwing them in the toaster or air fryer after microwaving them to ensure that they had crispy edges to contrast their chewy crumb. Others suggested serving the salted soft pretzels with a cheese dip like store-bought queso, hummus, or even a dollop of spicy mustard. If you want the sweet Auntie Anne's pretzel, you can sprinkle a cinnamon and sugar mixture over the pretzel right after slathering on the melted butter. To that effect, another popular frozen appetizer you can buy is Auntie Anne's Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel Nuggets.