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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.
These are my go to cookie. Sometimes the mixture gets refrigerated and sometimes they are cooked straight away. I make a triple batch once a fortnight & freeze two batches, and they are always gone before baking day!
Table of Contents
What Makes This Recipe Different?
No Brown Butter – I’m a busy mom who doesn’t have time for brown butter. These cookies just use melted, salted butter, but still have the best flavor!
No Mixer Required – Everything comes together with a whisk and spatula. Melted butter means there’s no creaming butter and sugar, so you can have the dough mixed and in the fridge in minutes.
Chill and Bake or Ferment Overnight – This cookie dough can be chilled for around 1-2 hours and then baked or fermented overnight in the fridge. My personal preference is to ferment the dough overnight, but they still taste great when baked after just a quick chill.
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.
Kate’s Pro Tip
Make These Sourdough Cookies Fit Your Schedule
One of the best things about these sourdough chocolate chip cookies is that you can make them work around the time you actually have. You don’t need to commit to an overnight ferment every time, but if you do have the time, you can absolutely use it to develop more sourdough flavor. And if you freeze the cookie dough in individual portions, you can have freshly baked sourdough chocolate chip cookies almost whenever you want them!
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.
Sourdough Discard Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- Baking Tray
- Cookie Scoop (2 or 3 tablespoon)
Ingredients
- 350 g All-purpose Flour
- 3 g Baking Soda
- 6 g Cornstarch
- 2 g Salt
- 250 g Chocolate Chips, (semi-sweet are best)
- 100 g Sourdough Starter, (or Sourdough Discard)
- 180 g Melted Butter
- 160 g Light Brown Sugar
- 100 g White Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1 Egg Yolk
- 5 g Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- Mix the flour, baking soda, cornstarch, salt and chocolate chips in a large mixing bowl. Set this aside.
- Now in a separate bowl, combine the sourdough starter, melted butter, brown sugar, white sugar, egg + egg yolk and vanilla extract. Whisk together until they resemble runny caramel.
- Now pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir together to form the wet cookie dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place into the fridge to chill for 1-2 hours. Note – At this point, you can leave the dough to ferment in the fridge for up to 48 hours if you want to.
- When you are 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 dough. Place the cookie dough balls onto the prepared baking sheets leaving plenty of room between them to allow the cookies to spread.
- Place the cookies into the oven for 13 to 16 minutes at 165ºC (330ºF) or until they are just golden brown on the edges, but still soft in the centres.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the tray for around 10 minutes. The cookies will continue to bake for a few minutes after they are removed from the oven and will firm up as they cool. After 10 minutes, carefully transfer to a wire rack and allow them to cool completely.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Rate and comment below!
These are literally THE BEST chocolate chip cookies I have ever made! Idk that I will ever make a different recipe again.
Hi,
Can I make these cookies, separate onto a baking sheet and then freeze to bake at another time? Would thawing them overnight be sufficient time for starter to do it’s thing?
Thank you
You can. You don’t really need to thaw them – just let them soften a few minutes before baking as directed. 🙂
I have made this recipe twice now and have not changed a thing. They went into the fridge overnight then cooked for morning tea. Wow these are the best choc chip biscuits I have ever eaten or made. Thank you Pantry Mama for sharing so many free recipes, photos and all.
Wow………
Oh wow thank you for your kind words, I’m so glad you love them! xo
This genius recipe has replaced each and every chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve ever made in many years of baking . I add walnuts.
Thanks as always for a fantastic recipe!
I’m so glad you love this recipe! Oh yum walnuts would be such a delicious addition for sure xo
My son absolutely loves these cookies! I replace the chocolate chips with m&ms and white chocolate chips, make 50g cookies and bake at 320 for about 20 mins. And he devours them! He would if I’d let him.
Usually I double the recipe and freeze a bunch of dough in balls and then take them out to bake for the week.
Oh yum! I’ll have to try it with m&ms for my 3 boys, they would love that! Such a great idea to freeze the sourdough cookie dough 🙂 Thanks so much for commenting xx
These are my go to cookie. Sometimes the mixture gets refrigerated and sometimes they are cooked straight away. I make a triple batch once a fortnight and freeze two batches, and they are always gone before baking day!
I’m confused do you use the discard or the active starter? I can’t wait to make these!
You can use either active sourdough starter or sourdough discard for these cookies, it really doesn’t matter since it’s not providing any leavening.
How long can we leave in the freezer ! Thank you 🩷 best cookies in the world!!!!!!
Thank you, Marissa! They will keep for about 3-4 months if they last that long 😉
Hello, I am writing from Turkey. It’s very nice, but it’s sweetened to my taste, so next time I’ll try to reduce the sugar.
I’m confused about the eggs. Is it 1 whole egg + 1 yolk?
One whole egg plus one egg yolk. 🙂
This is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I have ever made!! I would love to try to sub in cocoa powder to make them a chocolate base with peppermint chips! Any recommendation on how to sub in cocoa powder?
That sounds delicious! We haven’t tried that with this recipe, so can’t say for sure. But you can use this chocolate cookie recipe or this one (and leave out the filling) and add peppermint ships.
Try this recipe for the first time using my rice sourdough starter discard. When I made my new starter for this recipe, I did use bread flour instead of rye when I fed it. They came out so soft and chewy and just scrumptious. This recipe is a keeper
Absolutely the best chocolate chip cookies ever. I make these for everyone and they always beg for more. Perfection.
I made these for the first time, and they were devoured in two days. My husband said they are the best chocolate cookie I’ve ever made.
Thank you for sharing your recipes!
Hi Kate – we love these but I have a question; storage suggestions I live in Australia pretty hot summer – eg can I store in fridge and can these be frozen when made thanks ☺️
Hey Leah – I’m in Australia too and recommend not storing in plastic at all. I always store in a biscuit tin or glass jar as they stay much fresher this way. I keep all the tins from Christmas for this reason! There’s no reason you can’t put them in the fridge, but I find that they are fine at room temp. They do freeze well both before and after baking 🙂
Have you tried mixing in a stand mixer and achieved the same results as hand mixing?
That should work with the paddle attachment 🙂
Why not 2 eggs instead of 1 egg + 1 egg yolk?
The extra yolk helps give the cookies a nice chewy texture 🙂
Is this one egg plus an egg yolk? Or just the egg including the yolk?
Hi Sarah, It’s one whole egg, plus an additional yolk.
I’m so glad I found you! I live in the US and I try and bake almost everything long ferment sourdough so to be healthier, and you do so many things sourdough! I’ve not even searched out all you do! And tho in the states, I prefer baking with metric measurements, it’s so much more accurate and easier. Thank you.
Yay! We’re so glad you’re here, Karey! Kate is such a great baker and has so many delicious recipes here. Thank you so much for your comment. 🙂
How long would the cookie dough be good for in the fridge? Made the dough then forgot about it after 3 days. Want to make sure it’s still good to bake!
Yes it will still be good … I’ve left mine a week and it’s been fine when baked 🙂
I made these with sugar substitutes on a 1:1 basis. The dough was extremely stiff and the cookies didn’t spread out as I expected. I ended up smashing them down with a fork midway through. Do you think the substitute sugar (monk fruit/allulose) affected this? I haven’t baked all of them yet, so I have time to adjust or add something before I finish them tomorrow. They taste good 🙂
Yes, changing the sugar will definitely change the recipe. The brown sugar helps the cookies to spread, so changing this will definitely affect the structure of the cookie. I haven’t used monk fruit or allulose so I can’t comment on how to use them in this recipe, I’m sorry.
These are perfect and my go to recipe! Would love to add some pumpkin puree to them for Fall. Any suggestions on how much of the pumpkin puree to add? Would I need to alter other ingredients?
If you watch out towards the end of this week, I’ve got a sourdough pumpkin chocolate chip recipe coming! It will use 150g of pumpkin puree if that helps 😉 xx
In your sourdough chocolate chip recipe you say refrigerate for 24 hours in one paragraph and the next you say 12 hours. Which is it, 12 or 24?
Thank you.
You can refrigerate this recipe for as little as 2 hours or as much as 24 or even 48 hours, so it’s really up to you! The flavor deepens the longer you leave it in the refrigerator.
Hello Pantrymama
why do you only use some of the mixed dry ingredients into the wet ingredients? When do you add the rest? It’s not stated in your recipe.
All of the ingredients are added, it’s just that the sugars (which are technically dry ingredients) are added to the wet ingredients, so I just say to add some of the dry ingredients, as otherwise, people might just add the sugars into the dry ingredients 🙂
Hi! Hoping to make these but unsure if using my discard straight from the refrigerator is okay? Does it need to get to room temp first? Thank you!
You can use sourdough discard straight from the fridge 🙂
Can I bake in convection setting? And if so could I put both cookie sheets in at the same time ? And what temp for convection?
I always use a fan forced oven (which is convection) so this temp will work for that, but of course, every oven is different, so keep an eye on yours and adjust as necessary. Yes I always bake multiple baking trays at the same time 🙂
Hi ,
How can I make these less sweet and so they’ll also flatten out when baking?
I did 20g less brown and regular sugar and they were not sweet enough but the full amount late time I tried were too sweet for me?
They should flatten out when you bake them. Try baking at a slightly higher temperature to help with this (every oven is different, so you might need to play around with temperature). The sugar is there, not only for the sweetness, but also for the structure and texture of the cookie, so I don’t recommend playing with this. You could add less chocolate chips to reduce the sweetness. Another tip is to sprinkle the tops with flaky sea salt which can cut through the sweetness.
When will they go soft and chewy? I got them out of the oven several hours ago in airtight container.
If they aren’t soft and chewy, then I would say they are a little overdone 🙂 You want them to be still soft in the centre when you remove them from the oven 🙂 Try adding a slice of bread into the container with the cookies and this should help post bake 🙂
These are far and above the best Chocolate Chip Cookies I have ever HAD – homemade or store bought – my deepest thanks for all of your hard work and generosity to share your recipe for making our “baking treasures” truly memorable.
Hi, thank you so much for all the wonderful recipes.
Can we portion the dough and frozen, and after cook only the cookies we need?
Absolutely you can freeze the cookie dough 🙂 You’ll find instructions for this in the post above, as well as some extra info in this post on best sourdough discard recipes to freeze xx