How to Reheat Pretzel in air fryer
When it comes to bread-based food items your air fryer is sure to make easy work of it, where focus will be on avoiding any browning or toasting of a once freshly baked pretzel.
Reheating a pretzel of any kind isn't really that difficult on your part, where you must focus on maintaining its original baked finish by keeping the texture to a nice soft but hopefully well reheated centre. To reheat a loaded pretzel sandwich, do ensure to disassemble the fillings to reheat alongside the pretzel.
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Don't think about it too hard as any size pretzel can be air fried, providing it fits fully closed in your air fryer basket.
Pretzels which could be sliced in half would need to be closed into a full pretzel, in an effort to maintain the taste and texture of your once fresh pretzel. It will be hard to reheat a pretzel to a soft texture, if the fluffy middle is exposed to direct heat.
We're reheating a already made pretzel here and thus we aren't dealing with a complicated fresh pretzel air fryer recipe - even though your air fryer can cook a pretzel fresh if you wanted to try it.
Reheat an enclosed pretzel of any size at a temperature of 355°F / 180°C, for a total of 4 minutes; flipping the pretzel over once half way through cooking, on the 2 minute mark.
Don't forget to sprinkle the pretzel with water to help maintain the softness, while shaking off access crumbs which will only burn in the air fryer.
What can get a little complicated is reheating a pretzel sandwich, which you can air fry a sandwich of this kind providing your fully disassemble it first thing.
It will involve scraping out access sauce, possibly melted cheese and any salad; while adding any meats that must be reheated inside the air fryer basket. Do give any meat a few extra minutes head start to properly heat through; all while time it so the pretzel can be thrown into the basket for the final 4 minutes.
Preserve your sauce if possible to re-apply back on the pretzel, while not forgetting all salad must be added to a re-built pretzel sandwich.
I've used the following instructions to reheat croissants several times using similar directions, which I've found to be reliable every time.
Prepare
Let's not rush into reheating a pretzel in the air fryer just yet until you've made a few preparations. Noting to serious or complex I assure you. It involves preheating the air fryer for 4 minutes; shaking off access crumbs; and sprinkling the pretzel with water.
- STEP 1: Preheat air fryer for 4 minutes - Get started be setting the air fryer temperature to 355°F / 180°C; with a possible 5-6 minute preheating time
- STEP 2: Shake off access Pretzel crumbs - Keep your air fryer basket clean as possible by brushing/shaking off access pretzel crumbs which can burn in the air fryer
- STEP 3: Sprinkle a little water over the Pretzel - Like any bread-based items, its important to lightly sprinkle the pretzel with tap water to ensure the soft texture is preserved
- STEP 4: Add Pretzel directly into basket - Only thing to do now is open your air fryer basket to centre your pretzel in the middle
Reheat pretzel
With just a plain old pretzel to reheat up in an air fryer - with no fillings to worry about - you can have it properly warmed through in a matter of 4 minutes. Admittedly, pretzel size and weight will change that, but for now I suggest 4 minutes, 5 minutes maximum.
- STEP 1: Set temp to 355°F / 180°C; set time to 4 minutes - Set air fryer temperature to 355°F / 180°C; with the timer set to a full 4 minutes (5 minutes if its a big thick pretzel)
- STEP 2: Reheat for 2 minutes - With the pretzel facing upside down on the air fryer basket, cook for a full 2 minutes without taking any breaks in between
- STEP 3: Flip over, air fry other side - Once the 2 minutes has elapsed, its time to turn the pretzel the right way over, to cook for 2 final minutes
- STEP 4: Carefully remove Pretzel - With a full 4 minutes of cooking time, remove the pretzel out of the basket and serve right away
Air fry enclosed Pretzel slices
If you are thinking about reheating a pretzel that is already cut into two slices, it would be a good idea to close the pretzel - like a sandwich - so it can be reheated without toasting what must be a soft fluffy middle.
A reheated pretzel tastes far better when its gently warmed through when its closed, and its easier to maintain its original baked texture.
Its best to sprinkle a little water over the outside of a pretzel to stop it going crispy like texture of toast. To air fryer an open face pretzel, it will lead to browning the white fluffy centre, and ruin the flavour all together.
I will also add a pretzel must be air fried as a full enclosed pretzel, as two halves wouldn't really fit inside even the largest of air fryer baskets.
Disassemble Pretzel with fillings
As you can tell, I've taken the easy option by demonstrating how to reheat a pretzel in an air fryer, using a simple medium size store-bought pretzel.
Understandably, you may have brought home a fully loaded pretzel sandwich which will require both pretzel and all of the fillings to be reheated.
How to reheat a pretzel sandwich isn't all that difficult, and is close to reheating a burger in a bun; where all fillings must be reheated along side the beef patty and bacon for example - while the cold salad and sauces must be kept to one side.
You'll first need to disassemble your pretzel sandwich by removing every filling available. You will then reheat any meat fillings previously served hot; to then give them a head start in the air fryer as they will need approximately 5-7 minutes to reheat.
Meanwhile the pretzel bread will only need 4-5 minutes to reheat fully and thus can be added to the air fryer when the meat is nearly cooked through. At which point, you can re-assemble your pretzel sandwich, not forgetting to re-apply sauces and the salad.
Summary
To simply reheat a plain pretzel only in an air fryer would involve shaking/brushing off access crumbs to stop them burning under the heating element, while lightly sprinkling water over the pretzel to maintain its fresh bake softness.
Reheat a plain pretzel at 355°F / 180°C for 4 minutes in total, where a larger pretzel will need 5-6 minutes.
Presumably you'll be warming up a full enclosed pretzel; whereas a sliced in half pretzel must be air fried by closing both halves into a full pretzel.
Indeed, you may need to reheat a fully loaded or lightly filled pretzel which is topped with all kinds of traditional fillings. In which case its important to disassemble the pretzel sandwich, to reheat the fillings first while adding the pretzel bread in the air fryer for the final 4 minutes of reheating any meats.
Reheating a pretzel in an air fryer is easy enough, all you need to focus on is air frying the pretzel to the texture as seen when bought at the vendor or bakery. Pretzel texture must be soft of course and thus do avoid toasting the bread.