Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies

These sourdough chocolate chip cookies are an essential recipe to have in your sourdough collection. There’s no brown butter, no stand mixer and no mandatory overnight ferment. You can mix the dough, chill it for a few hours and bake, or leave it in the fridge overnight for even deeper flavor.

I’ve made thousands of these cookies over the past few years, tweaking and testing the recipe until it was exactly how I wanted it. I make them every single week for my family, and I love them so much they even earned a place in my book, Easy Sourdough On Any Schedule!

You can make them with active sourdough starter or discard, and they bake up with crisp edges and soft, chewy centers. They’re never cakey.

Ingredients + Recipe Testing Notes

I have worked on this recipe over many years, tweaking it here and there to bring you this tried and true version. I’ve made at least two batches of these cookies most weeks for years, so it’s safe to say I’ve baked thousands of them. With this in mind, I wanted to share with you why I’ve settled on the ingredients in this recipe.

• All-purpose Flour – You want to use flour with a lower protein for the best cookies. I know you’re used to using high-protein bread flour for sourdough bread, but trust me on this one — stick with all-purpose flour.
• Baking Soda – Baking soda helps the cookies spread, encourages browning and contributes to their chewy texture. Don’t substitute baking powder, these cookies don’t need the extra lift.
• Cornstarch – Cornstarch helps the cookies stay soft and gives the centers that fudgy, chewy texture. I’ve tested these cookies without it and there’s a noticeable difference in the finished texture.
• Salt – Just a pinch of regular cooking salt goes into the cookie dough, and you can add flaky salt to the tops before baking if you like.
• Chocolate Chips – I always use semisweet chocolate chips for this recipe. I make so many of these sourdough chocolate chip cookies that I buy my chocolate chips in 2 kg bags from Costco! If you prefer a more molten chocolate texture, you can use chocolate chunks or chopped chocolate, but honestly, I want a fast option when mixing these, so I opt for chocolate chips.
• Sourdough Starter or Sourdough Discard – You can use either active sourdough starter or discard for this recipe. I’ve tested this recipe with more sourdough starter, but the additional starter made the dough too wet and pushed the finished cookies towards a cakier texture. I’ve found 100 g is the sweet spot: enough to bring sourdough flavor and allow for an overnight cold ferment without compromising the classic cookie texture. This recipe is tested with 100% hydration starter.
• Melted Butter – I use salted butter, melted and then allowed to cool a little so it isn’t too hot when mixed with the eggs. I’ve tested these cookies with brown butter too, but once the dough had been cold fermented overnight, I didn’t think the difference in flavor justified adding another step. I wanted a sourdough chocolate chip cookie I could make quickly, throw in the fridge and bake whenever I needed it. Seriously, with 3 hungry boys in the house, chocolate chip cookies on demand are essential!
• Sugar – I use a combination of granulated white sugar and light brown sugar. The brown sugar adds moisture and chewiness, while the white sugar helps create those crisp edges.
• Egg + Egg Yolk – The whole egg gives the dough structure, while the extra yolk adds richness and helps create that soft, chewy center without adding the extra liquid you’d get from another whole egg.
• Vanilla Extract – Vanilla rounds out the chocolate and caramel flavors in the cookies.

How To Make Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sourdough chocolate chip cookies are pretty easy to make. Most of the time is simply waiting for the dough to chill in the fridge!

Place the all-purpose flour, baking soda, cornstarch, salt and chocolate chips into a large bowl and combine. Make sure the chocolate chips are really well distributed. Set this aside.

In a separate bowl, combine the sourdough starter, melted butter, brown sugar, white sugar, egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract. Whisk together until the mixture resembles runny caramel.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and bring together using a spatula. The cookie dough will be very soft and glossy at this stage. Don’t be tempted to add more flour, chilling is what firms the dough up. Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for at least 1 to 2 hours, or leave it overnight for a longer cold ferment.

When you’re ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 165ºC (330ºF) and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Use a cookie scoop or large spoon to scoop out balls of cookie dough. I use a 2 or 3 tablespoon cookie scoop for these cookies, depending on how big we want them. Depending on the size of your cookies, you’ll yield between 18 and 38 cookies from this recipe.

Place the cookie dough balls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, making sure you leave plenty of room around them to spread. You can flatten the cookie dough balls slightly or leave them as balls. I like to flatten them just slightly and place some extra chocolate chips on top.

Bake until the edges are set and lightly golden brown but the centers still look soft and slightly underdone. The baking time may differ depending on your oven and the size you make the cookies, so take note the first few times you bake them and adjust the timing to suit your preference.

Once the cookies are baked to your liking, remove them from the oven. You can use a round biscuit cutter to swirl the cookies into a perfect circle if you like them nicely rounded.

Let the cookies firm up on the tray for around 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. They’ll continue to set as they cool, which is what gives you those soft, chewy centers.

You could also make these cookies into a sourdough cookie skillet or change them up into these sourdough chocolate chip cookie bars or sourdough brookies.

Tasty Flavor Variations

There are lots of variations that you can make with these cookies. Here are a few of my family’s favorites:

• Peanut Chocolate Chip – Add 100 g of roasted peanuts along with the chocolate chips for a delicious peanut twist. A sprinkle of flaky sea salt on top takes them to the next level.
• White Chocolate, Cranberry & Macadamia – Replace the semisweet chocolate chips with 50 g each of white chocolate chips, dried cranberries and roughly chopped macadamia nuts.
• Spiced Cookies – Add your favorite chai spice or pumpkin spice to the dry ingredients for a warm, spiced variation.

If You Have 2 Hours

Mix the cookie dough, cover it and place it in the fridge for around 1 to 2 hours, or until it has firmed up enough to scoop. Once chilled, scoop and bake as directed. This is the quickest way to make these cookies and is perfect when you want sourdough chocolate chip cookies the same day.

If You Have Overnight

Mix the cookie dough, cover it and place it in the refrigerator overnight. The longer cold ferment gives the sourdough starter more time to work and develops a deeper flavor in the finished cookies. This is my personal favorite way to make them. The next day, scoop the chilled dough and bake as directed.

If You Want Fresh Cookies On Demand

This is probably my favorite option! Make the cookie dough and chill it for at least 1 to 2 hours, then scoop the dough into individual cookie dough balls. Place the balls onto a parchment-lined baking tray and freeze until firm. Once frozen, transfer them to a resealable freezer bag or airtight freezer-safe container.

Freeze the portioned cookie dough for up to 3 months. Now you’ve essentially got your own stash of sourdough cookie dough ready to go. When you want fresh cookies, take out however many cookie dough balls you need and place them onto a parchment-lined baking tray. Allow them to soften slightly while the oven preheats, then bake as directed. They may need an extra minute or two in the oven depending on how cold they are.

This means you can bake two cookies, six cookies or the whole batch. Your sourdough starter definitely isn’t the boss of your cookie schedule!

How To Store Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies

Once baked, these sourdough chocolate chip cookies will stay fresh for around 3 to 4 days when stored in an airtight container at room temperature. I find they stay particularly lovely in a glass cookie jar, although they rarely last very long in our house!

Freezing Baked Cookies

These cookies also freeze really well once baked. Allow them to cool completely, then freeze them in a single layer on a baking tray. Once frozen, transfer them to a resealable freezer bag or airtight container. Baked cookies can be frozen for up to 3 months. I love keeping a batch in the freezer so I can grab a couple for lunchboxes whenever I need them. Allow frozen cookies to thaw at room temperature before eating. You can also warm them briefly before serving if you want that just-baked texture again.

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