My husband and I are huge fans of the show Breaking Bad. Now that the series is over, we certainly miss the wonderful acting and the colorful characters that entertained us over the years. I bring up Breaking Bad because this week I felt a bit like Walter White, the main character. During the span of the show, Walter went from mild-mannered, middle-aged chemistry teacher to genius creator of blue tinted meth.
No. I haven’t tried my hand at cooking illicit substances (no recipes like that here), but I have discovered a snack food that is quite addictive and hard to quit cold turkey – Garlic Ranch Pretzels.
I know you’re skeptical (I was) because pretzels are kind of ho-hum and not that special. But let me tell you, once these five simple ingredients are mixed together and baked up, they create one of the most irresistible snacks I’ve ever had.
These pretzels hit all the right notes of salty, good flavor, and a little bit of spice! They’re the perfect pairing to your next bottle of beer or to have on hand for a summer barbecue or get together.
This snack is such a big hit with my friends that they started to call them Crack Pretzels since no one can stop eating them. In fact, a friend described them as, “salty, then spicy, then flavor, then spicy, then amazing”. I encourage you to give them a try for your next pretzel fix and I swear, I’m not the next Walter White!
Garlic Ranch Pretzels
Recipe adapted from K. Tansey at All Recipes
Makes: a 24 ounces, Difficulty: Beginner
Pretzels:
- 2-12 ounce bags of mini twist or square pretzels
- 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 (1.5 ounces) packets of dry Ranch salad dressing mix
- 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. In a medium bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil, dry dressing mix, garlic powder and cayenne pepper. Place pretzels in a large roasting pan. Pour oil mixture over pretzels and stir with a wooden spoon until the pretzels are evenly coated.
Bake pretzels uncovered for 2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes so the pretzels bake evenly and the flavorings distribute. Remove from oven and let cool in pan. Store in an airtight container.
Pixel Baking 