This easy Pretzel Bark recipe takes less than 10 minutes to make and is the perfect sweet and salty treat, made with layers of melted chocolate, caramel and crunchy pretzels.
Pretzel Bark is the #1 Easiest Sweet and Salty Treat
Pretzel Bark is the #1 Easiest Sweet and Salty TreatIt hits all the right notes of sweet, salty, crunchy, and chocolatey, without any complicated steps (and they're easy enough for my little kids to make!). All you need is a sheet pan (here's my favorite one), chocolate chips, caramel, and sea salt.
Pretzel Bark tastes like a homemade candy bar but only uses four ingredients, and you don’t need a candy thermometer or any special tools. It's one of our favorites for the holidays or when we want a sweet and salty snack. I like to gift pretzel toffee in these cute holiday cookie boxes or plain white boxes for any time of year.
Try my other candy recipes, like Rocky Road, Graham Cracker Toffee, Chocolate Fudge, or Chocolate Covered Marshmallows!
How to make Pretzel Bark:
Melt and Spread Chocolate: Grab some high-quality chocolate chips (Ghirardelli and Guittard are my favorite brands for smooth melting. Other chocolate chips wont melt properly.) and microwave in 30 second intervals until completely smooth. Spread melted chocolate on a lined baking sheet. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
Add Pretzels: Gently press mini pretzels into the melted chocolate. Don’t worry about making them even, just scatter them on for a fun, rustic look.
Melt and Drizzle Caramel: I use Kraft Caramel Bits but you could also use my homemade caramel recipe if you prefer from-scratch. Drizzle the warm caramel generously over the pretzels. It acts like glue to hold everything together!
Add More Chocolate and Sea Salt: Drizzle a little more melted chocolate over the top, then finish with a light sprinkle of flaky sea salt. YUM! Let the bark set in the fridge until firm (about 30 minutes). Break or cut into pieces and start snacking!
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Recipe
Pretzel Bark Recipe
Ingredients
- 12 ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips , good quality chocolate divided into pieces (I like ghiardelli or baker's chocolate bar best for melting)
- 8 ounces mini pretzel twists , half of a regular 16-ounce bag
- 11 ounce bags Kraft Caramel Bits , or homemade caramel
- flake finishing salt for sprinkling
Instructions
- Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Melt Chocolate: Melt 8 ounces of the chocolate chips gently in the microwave (on low heat, stirring every 15 seconds) until smooth.12 ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Spread chocolate evenly over the parchment. Immediately add pretzel twists over the top (it's ok if they overlap!) and gently press them into the chocolate.8 ounces mini pretzel twists
- Melt caramel: Add caramel bits to a microwave safe bowl with 2 tablespoons water and melt according to package instructions (on high for 2 minutes). Stir well and drizzle melted caramel over pretzels.11 ounce bags Kraft Caramel Bits
- Top with remaining chocolate. Melt remaining 4 ounces of chocolate and drizzle over the caramel. Sprinkle with flake salt.flake finishing salt for sprinkling
- Refrigerate until set. Cut or tear into pieces, Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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I originally shared this recipe February 2017. Updated August 2019 and November 2025.
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I wanted to love these but found that the semi sweet chocolate wasn’t quite sweet enough to give that good sweet and salty taste….perhaps the water added to the caramel could be reduced more than the instructions on the packaging too? I’ll try a different brand of chocolate chips next time and maybe use less water in the caramel. Otherwise, I didn’t have trouble with anything sticking or cutting these!
I loved this recipe, so easy and tasty. Using premium chocolate definitely makes a difference. I layered mine and cut into thick pieces right after chilling then I got a little creative and used Oreos instead of pretzels.
I’ve made this multiple times. It’s super easy, and everyone loves it!
I did leave a question but it seems to have been lost. I cannot find Krafts carael bits? Can I use skor bits or Hersheys sea salt caramel chips?
Skor bits would not work to melt. I’d grab wrapped caramel candy squares if you can. The Hershey’s sea salt caramel chips don’t see like real “caramel” but would be fine.
These are excellent! I thought they may be hard to cut into nice pieces but I took them out of the fridge for about 20 minutes and they cut with no problem. I will definitely be adding them to my Christmas goodies list.❤️
Is there a way to have the chocolate not melt at room temp? I keep them in the refrigerator but when I put them out for Thanksgiving on our dessert table once they were out for 30 minutes or so they were messy to try and eat because of the chocolate sort of being “melty”. Can I add something when I melt the chocolate? I used the Hershey bars melted because my son has nut allergies so can’t use Ghirardelli brand. These were delicious by the way and even completely worth the mess.
Hi Carol, yes, you can temper the chocolate, which will help. Reserve a little of the whole chocolate off to the side. Melt the rest of the chocolate and then once it’s warm and melted, stir in the whole chocolate pieces and allow the warm chocolate to melt them. That will temper it and help it to hold up better at room temperature.
I made these last year for the first time and fell in love with them. We decided to make it our Christmas thing. Such an easy and yummy recipe. I do prefer the whole caramels though. I feel like the ones we made using the bits the caramel got hard and biting into them wasn’t as pleasant. But using the wrapped square caramels it was like a soft caramel that you could pull. So good.
Is it ok if I used fudge? I didn’t have caramel 😬😬
Roughly how much of an area do you spread the chocolate? Looks like a 9×13″ or a jelly roll pan? Thanks
I used a bakers half sheet and it didn’t quite fill it all the way.
How well do these freeze???
I haven’t tried it but I think i would work well.
Can you use wrapped caramels
Yes you can. Follow the package directions for melting caramels. This may include diluting with a bit of water or milk.