Keto Pretzel Bites – Air Fryer or Oven

These tender keto pretzel bites are made with coconut flour fathead dough. Totally nut-free, not to mention absolutely delicious! This post is sponsored by Pete and Gerry’s Organic Eggs.

The air fryer really is a great little kitchen appliance. It’s fun and easy to use, and crisps up foods deliciously. And it’s a whole lot less messy than deep frying.

It also cooks many things, like wings, in far less time than a conventional oven. I use mine almost daily.

I typically use my air fryer to cook dinner recipes like keto chicken wings, air fryer pork chops, and crispy keto fish sticks. But I decided it was time to shake things up a bit and do a little air fryer baking.

First stop: Keto Pretzel Bites! I was blown away by how well these turned out. Puffy and soft, with a wonderful chewy pretzel texture.

Fathead dough in an air fryer?

Heck yeah! I had my trepidations too but it really works. Possibly better than in a regular oven.

These keto pretzel bites are based on my coconut flour bagels. It’s a great version of fathead dough that uses only coconut flour, so it’s completely nut free.

To get a good rise out of these air fryer pretzel bites, you really need both baking powder and an egg. The egg gives the dough more structure, to help it hold together.

And of course, I don’t just use any eggs. I do not trust factory farm eggs for freshness or quality, not to mention how they treat the chickens. So Pete and Gerry’s Organic Eggs are my go-to.  I love how transparent they are on their site about how their Certified Humane Free Range hens are raised and treated on organic small family farms.

I was a little nervous to put the fathead dough in an air fryer. I thought that it might melt and spread too much. Thankfully, the dough held up well and puffed up beautifully, with a golden brown top. And they didn’t deflate as they cooled!

Ideal keto pretzel bites. We gobbled them down with some spicy brown mustard dipping sauce.

How to make Keto Pretzel Bites

This recipe is really quite straightforward, but fathead dough can always be a bit tricky. Here are my best tips for getting it right:

1. Prep your dry ingredients before melting the cheese. This way, you can add them all at once, together with the egg, and start kneading the dough right away.
2. Don’t worry about the egg getting “cooked” by the hot melted cheese. Just make sure you add the dry ingredients first, then the egg, then start mixing and kneading right away.
3. Depending on your coconut flour, your dough may be a little sticky at first. This recipe uses a similar method to many conventional wheat doughs, where you work more flour in as you knead the dough, until it’s no longer sticky.
4. Make sure the bites aren’t touching each other in the air fryer basket, as they do expand a bit. If you need to work in batches, that’s fine because these only take about 5 minutes to air fry.
5. Spray your air fryer basket so the pretzel bites don’t stick. Also, brush the tops of the bites with melted butter and then sprinkle with coarse salt for a real pretzel experience.
6. Keep your eye on them because every air fryer is a bit different and you don’t want them to burn!

Can you make these keto pretzel bites in the oven?

You can! I recommend a few things to make them work in the oven.

1. Set a baking rack over a baking sheet and spray the rack with non-stick cooking spray, to allow the air to circulate around the pretzel bites.
2. If you have a forced fan (convection) oven, use that setting and keep the temperature at 350F. If your oven does not have convection, set the temperature at 375F.
3. Watch them carefully. They will probably take a few minutes longer than in an air fryer.
4. You may also want to rotate your pan halfway through baking, to get even browning on all the bites.

Ready to make some delicious keto pretzel bites?

Please see the full recipe on Pete and Gerry’s website.

Nutritional Analysis for Keto Pretzel Bites

Serves 4 (makes about 32 bites)
Food energy: 202kcal
Total fat: 13.47g
Carbohydrate: 5.87g
Total dietary fiber: 3.16g
Protein: 12.09g