Here’s How To Freeze Chocolate Covered Pretzels (With Storing Tips)
You can freeze chocolate covered pretzels to make them last for one to two years. They will last for some months in the fridge but the best way is to store them at room temperature.
In this article, I’ll show you how to store your chocolate covered pretzels so that you maintain maximum taste and freshness and avoid them going stale.
Before diving into the nutritional details, please review our Nutritional Disclaimer page for important context and clarifications.
How to store chocolate covered pretzels?
Your storage options must cover two dynamics. The first is that they need to deal with the unique storage challenges presented by chocolate, given its perishability.
Further, the pretzels themselves are subject to going stale, and so your chosen method must be able to keep the pretzels fresh.
One of the best methods is to place the chocolate covered pretzels in a glass or plastic container. This method may last several months, particularly if the pretzels are fully dipped and covered in chocolate.
Keep out of direct sunlight and at room temperature. Find a cool, dry area where the stored pretzels can be left alone.
Grabbing a digital thermometer with a humidity sensor is a great idea for monitoring this. These can sit snugly in the pantry and monitor the humidity and temperature, with in-built alarms accessible remotely.
As a general rule of thumb, storing in the fridge will extend the shelf life by at least 25%.
Another storage option is freezing the pretzels. As freezer burn will be disastrous to the taste, ensure the container is freezer-safe and airtight.
Ensure the chocolate is dry and hard; you don’t want a liquid freezing in the freezer.
Use freezer bags, wax paper, or other separators to keep the pretzels from touching and fusing. Chocolate will absorb vapors and smells like you would not believe, so ensure the pretzels are well wrapped and in a solid container.
Use an airtight, freezer-safe container, perfect for storing large quantities of chocolate-covered pretzels to maintain them at peak freshness. These can also be used to safely store pretzels in a pantry.
You can expect up to 12 months of storage for frozen chocolate covered pretzels in these conditions. Use a label or marker to write the storage date to be sure when the expiry date rolls around.
If you’re really keen on keeping track of the dates, set up a reminder in your calendar that will go off a few weeks before expiry. This will give you an opportunity to eat the items before they expire.
Can you freeze store-bought pretzels?
No secret formula goes into store-bought pretzels, so you can follow the same process as above. In other words, you can easily freeze store-bought pretzels.
The benefit of store-bought pretzels is that they’re likely to come in an airtight bag already, offering many months of storage without much effort from yourself.
This means that store-bought pretzels are the superior choice for specific uses. This is particularly the case if you’re traveling or at a holiday house, as you can easily pack up the pretzels and take them home.
Making your own chocolate covered pretzels is a bit of a messy affair, so if you’re away from the kitchen, it’s much easier to buy some premade pretzels rather than having to set everything up in a foreign environment.
How long will homemade chocolate covered pretzels stay fresh?
When making your own pretzels, you can determine how long they will stay fresh by picking quality ingredients and covering the pretzel completely with chocolate.
The chocolate will act as a protective covering, allowing the pretzels to maintain moisture and stay fresh.
The key to making the best homemade pretzels is giving yourself enough space. You’ll need a few separate pots or bowls to allow you to dip, decorate and properly dry them to allow the chocolate to set. You’ll never lock in that freshness if they don’t dry properly.
You’ll also have to be quick when dipping the chocolates, as the bowl of melted chocolate will harden relatively quickly. You can stop this by having the double pot boil in the background and moving the chocolate back on to melt it again.
You’ll also want to keep stirring the chocolate mix to keep it even and, therefore, make the drying process smooth.
So, set up your area ahead of time to guarantee that you have plenty of space for every pretzel to be laid out where people can’t reach them.
Melting the chocolate too quickly will cause possible separation issues of the constituent parts.
To maximize freshness, when you remove the frozen pretzels from the freezer, keep them wrapped while they thaw. Once they get to room temperature, unwrap and enjoy.
Chocolate is relatively stable and will keep fresh for quite some time when stored at room temperature. Many boxed chocolates can last six to nine months, even after they have been opened.
Aim for between 54°F and 61°F (or 12°C to 16°C) to maintain the chocolate from melting. One common misstep in this area is to store chocolate covered pretzels near passive heat sources.
For example, fridges will get very warm and expel heat, so keep chocolate inside or away from it in a dark, cool place.
If you don’t have the proper means to store, particularly to wrap, the pretzels, avoid storing them in the fridge or freezer.
Dark chocolate will tend to last longer than the alternative, so look for high cocoa if you’re really looking to get the most out of the shelf life. This is not to say that white chocolate will spoil immediately, you can still get a few months out of it with proper storage.
Chocolate also has the advantage of containing little to no water, further boosting its longevity. On top of this, the flavonoids protect the fats in the chocolate from oxidation, meaning chocolate is not prone to spoiling.
How long do chocolate covered pretzels last?
If chocolate covered pretzels are not stored properly, they’re liable to only last a few hours. In a container, you can expect anywhere from a few weeks to a few months if using a quality container.
Properly wrapped and put into the freezer, you can expect an average 12 months. If you want to push the boundaries, properly stored chocolate covered pretzels will last up to two years.
One strategy to make them last longer is to use smaller pretzels. The smaller the surface area of the pretzel, the less chance it has of being exposed to the elements and going stale.
How long do pretzels covered in Almond Bark last?
Almond Bark as an ingredient is not going to change much in regards to the shelf life of the chocolate covered pretzels. Storage in the pantry or fridge will be fine, freezing is also an option.
You may find that the higher the Almond Bark, the less time the food stays fresh, but this is unlikely to have a massive impact.
How long do pretzels covered in chocolate chips last?
Given the thickness of the mixture, chocolate chips can have a different consistency than the chocolate covering the pretzels, which is likely to have a big impact on the shelf life.
Baking or semi-sweet chocolate contains less dairy, therefore, having a longer shelf life. If you follow the above storage tips, at room temperature or in the fridge you can expect it to last for up to two years plus change.
Chocolate chips are quite rich and maintain their flavor even after losing some of their initial freshness. If you plan on having chocolate covered pretzels as an emergency snack, then you couldn’t do much better than chocolate chip pretzels.
How to know if chocolate covered pretzels have gone bad?
The smell is one of the biggest indicators that your pretzels have gone bad. Pretzels will develop a distinctive mold odor as they appear, or it may just be an off odor. They could very well change color, and any color change is a sign that you should not eat them.
A white film on chocolate pretzels could be fine, as that is more likely sugar bloom or fat bloom. This will give them a soft taste, appearing as a powdery, white-gray film.
Of course, a bitter or dull taste will defeat the purpose of this delightful treat, so if you’re aware that the chocolate covered pretzels have been stored for some time and the first bite is bad, you can be pretty sure the whole batch has gone off.
