20 Sourdough Discard Recipes That Freeze Well
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If you love a bit of freezer meal prep, then you'll love these easy sourdough discard recipes that you can stock your freezer with. They're perfect for filling lunch boxes, grab and go snacks or even back ups to get you out of a bind.
As a busy mom of 3 boys, I love having a freezer stash of sourdough discard recipes for those days when we are too busy to cook or things just get crazier than normal! Being able to pull a handful of sourdough discard pizza rolls or some pre rolled sourdough pizza bases from the freezer makes me feel like I've got my life together ... and ensures my kids are eating something nutritious, rather than reaching for junk food all the time.
If you're looking for some other helpful posts, you might also enjoy this collection of sourdough snack recipes or these instructions for freezing and reheating sourdough bread.
Methods of Freezing
There are lots of ways to freeze your sourdough discard bakes to ensure they survive the freezer and thaw out perfectly when you need them. The method you choose really depends on whether you're baking the food before you freeze it, or after. Here are a few of the methods I use:
Snap Freezing
Snap freezing is a method where individual snacks, like sourdough waffles or pancakes, or even slices of sourdough bread are spread out in a single layer on a baking sheet and placed in the freezer. Once frozen, they are placed into a ziploc bag and sealed. This prevents the snacks from sticking together, allowing you to grab just the amount you need later.
You can snap freeze items before baking like sourdough chocolate chip cookies or sourdough peanut butter cookies or you can snap freeze them once cooked like waffles, pancakes and bread.
Snap freezing is perfect for maintaining the shape of each portion and makes it easy to reheat individual portions without defrosting an entire batch. So you can just grab a few pancakes or waffles from the bag, without having to use the whole batch. It also works really well for sourdough discard pretzel bites too!
Bake & Freeze
This method involves fully baking snacks before freezing them. Once cooked and cooled completely, the snacks are packed into airtight containers or freezer bags for storage. Bake-and-freeze is especially useful for quick meals or snacks, as you only need to reheat the food, typically straight from the freezer. For example, pre-baked pizza rolls can be reheated in the oven or microwave for a convenient, ready-to-eat treat.
You might also find this post on how to freeze sourdough discard helpful.
Which Sourdough Discard Recipes Freeze Best?
Baked goods such as sourdough discard muffins, waffles, pancakes, and sourdough quick breads freeze exceptionally well, making them perfect for quick snacks and busy days.
Waffles and pancakes are particularly freezer-friendly, as they can be reheated directly from frozen in a toaster or skillet, maintaining their crisp edges and fluffy interiors. Muffins and quick breads also hold up wonderfully, preserving their moist crumb and rich flavor.
I've put together a selection of freezer friendly discard recipes below.
Sourdough Discard Waffles
Sourdough discard waffles are so easy to make (so easy my kids can do it). But even better than this, they are so easy to freeze and they thaw perfectly. You can reheat them in the oven from frozen or even zap them in the microwave for a quick breakfast on the go. You might even like to try this sourdough chocolate waffle recipe too.
Sourdough Discard Pizza Rolls
If you love sourdough pizza, then you are going to love having a stash of these sourdough discard pizza rolls in your freezer! I love setting aside a Sunday every so often to make a few batches of these for the freezer. We make them with homemade pizza sauce (as a side note, the pizza sauce freezes really well too). My kids love them with ham or bacon and sometimes even pepperoni and pineapple.
Sourdough Discard Pizza Dough
If you have sourdough discard pizza bases in the freezer, you'll never need to order take out again! Seriously, these are a such a life saver! Did you know you can actually bake these sourdough pizza bases from frozen?
Here's how! Shape your dough into pizza bases. Place each pizza base onto a piece of parchment paper and then onto a pizza peel. Snap freeze the base by allow the base to freeze uncovered in the freezer for around an hour. Once all the bases are frozen, stack them (ensuring you leave the parchment paper between them) and then wrap the stack in aluminium foil or place into a large zip loc bag.
To make sure they freeze flat, I place the stack on a wooden pizza peel in the freezer and then remove that once they're frozen. This ensures that the frozen sourdough pizzas are flat and easy to use when frozen.
When you want to use one, take out a base and top it with whatever you like - you don't even have to let it defrost, it will defrost as you add the topping!
You'll never have to order pizza in again!
Sourdough Discard Chocolate Chip Cookies
Like a lot of sourdough cookie doughs, sourdough discard chocolate chip cookies are perfect to freeze. The easiest way to freeze these sourdough cookies are to snap freeze the cookie dough balls and then place them in a ziploc bag. You can then bake a handful of cookies whenever you need them.
Alternatively, this recipe is also suitable to freeze after baking if you want to use them for lunch boxes or snacks on the go.
You might also enjoy these sourdough breakfast cookies or sourdough cowboy cookies which can also be frozen.
Sourdough Discard Tortillas
Sourdough discard tortillas are so easy to make and freeze. These are easy to snap freeze and then put into a ziploc bag for easy lunches or dinners. You can also freeze these with sheets of parchment paper in between if you don't have time to snap freeze them first. I don't recommend freezing the dough before cooking for these ones.
Sourdough Discard Pancakes
Just like sourdough waffles, sourdough discard pancakes are such a great recipe to make and freeze. I love making a double batch, or even making a batch of sourdough sheet pan pancakes and then freezing them for busy mornings.
Sourdough Discard Banana Bread
This easy sourdough discard banana bread freezes really well. You can freeze it as a whole loaf or in slices. When freezing this one, I like to wrap the whole loaf in aluminum foil once fully cooled. If freezing in slices, wait until the loaf is cooled before slicing and then freeze individually wrapped or place pieces of parchment paper between each slice and place in a ziploc bag.
You can also freeze this sourdough discard cranberry banana bread easily too.
Sourdough Discard Pie Crust
Having a stash of sourdough discard pie crust in the freezer is pure genius! I love having a few pie crusts formed in the freezer. You can easily do this by using an aluminum pie dish or using your ceramic pie plate, freezing the pie crust before baking and then removing it once frozen and leaving it in the freezer.
This sourdough pie crust also makes delicious sourdough pop tarts which also freeze really well!
Sourdough Discard Bagels
Chewy sourdough discard bagels freeze really well and can be thawed and toasted for a fast and tasty breakfast. I store batches of sourdough bagels in plastic ziploc bags in the freezer where we can grab only what we need, without having to defrost the whole bag. Sourdough bagels defrost well at room temperature, but can also be gently defrosted in the microwave if necessary.
I love having a few different types of sourdough bagels in the freezer including sourdough jalapeno cheddar bagels and sourdough cinnamon raisin bagels.
Sourdough Discard Dumplings
Sourdough dumplings are a must have in your sourdough freezer stash! They are such an easy way to bulk up your favorite soup or stew and turn it into a hearty meal. These are simple to make in large batches and snap freeze on trays before transferring to ziploc bags. You can drop them into hot soups or stews frozen and for quick dinners without opting for take out!
I'd love to know which sourdough discard bakes you stash in your freezer for busy days!
