Kidney Diet Tips

Addictive Pretzels: A Low Phosphorus Snack

Following a kidney diet can be very challenging because many favorite snacks and drinks may not fit into your new eating plan. You are asked to limit or give up snacks kike salted chips and pretzels, cheese crackers, nuts and milkshakes. DaVita dietitians have been cookin’ up some tasty treats in their “test kitchens” to make the transition not so painful!

Nutrition

Addictive Pretzels are a great low phosphorus, low sodium snack that you can enjoy anytime! Unsalted pretzels, tossed with ranch flavored powder, garlic powder and dill, are toasted to perfection in minutes, cooled, and are ready for snacking!

Using unsalted pretzels in this recipe saves you approximately 800 mg of sodium per one cup serving.  Current recommendations for daily sodium intake range from 1500 mg to 2000 mg a day for most people with chronic kidney disease or those on dialysis. Having one cup of salted pretzels takes up approximately half of your daily sodium allowance! Wow!

Shopping and Prep for Addictive Pretzels

The ingredients were easy to find at multiple grocery stores. Preparing this recipe was extremely simple! There was very little preparation, and most of the time, you just stir ingredients together!

A Snack that Travels

  • Portion into zip-top bags to take on the go
  • Great for gatherings with family and friends
  • Perfect for a homemade gift at holiday time, dressed up in mason jars or cookie tins

Our Village Tasters

The Addictive Pretzels were a hit with the patients and teammates! Many continue to ask for more! Everyone loved the ranch and garlic flavors as well as how easy the recipe was to prepare.

Substitutions and Additions

While this recipe is great on its own, consider swapping out some of the pretzels for air popped popcorn and oven toasted rice cereal in order to add a variety of textures. Add these substitutions before the baking step in the recipe.

Mix up your toasted pretzels or pretzel mixture (if including the substitutions above) with dried cherries, dried cranberries, or even consider a few plain candy coated chocolate pieces  for a sweet and savory flavor explosion!

Similar Recipes from Davita.com

In addition to Addictive Pretzels, try one of these kidney-friendly snack recipes:

Honey Maple Trail Mix

Dill Nibbles

Garlic Oyster Crackers

Poppy Krunch

Spicy Crunch and Munch Snack Mix

 

Thank you to University of Maryland Eastern Shore Dietetic Interns Holly Bargar and Stephanie Brewster for assisting with this blog post.

Joseph Ewing, RD, LDN

Joseph Ewing, RD, LDN is a renal dietitian with DaVita, a freelance dietitian and a personal chef in addition to being a co-author of four cook books. Among them is the "Feed Your Athlete: A Cookbook to Fuel High Performance". Joseph has degrees in culinary nutrition and culinary arts from Johnson and Wales University and completed a dietetic internship program at the University of Maryland. Joseph has over a decade of experience in the culinary nutrition industry.