These sourdough chocolate chip cookies will be the BEST homemade cookies you’ll ever bake. This easy sourdough recipe features a soft, gooey center that perfectly contrasts the crisp edges. Best of all, it is PACKED with chocolate!

Today, we are making sourdough chocolate chip cookies. I’ve tested countless sourdough cookie recipes in my kitchen for over a year to perfect this recipe. Needless to say, I’ve put in a ton of work to develop these cookies!

Likewise, I’m pretty proud of this sourdough cookie recipe and I know that you’ll love it. So, let’s get started with the perfect sourdough chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Why Are These My FAVORITE Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies?

• Crispy edges with a soft and gooey middle
• PACKED with chocolate chunks in every bite!
• Bakery-style BIG.
• The most indulgent cookie you will ever make.
• The sourdough adds a slight tang, which goes oh so well in this sweet recipe.

Key Ingredients For Sourdough Discard Cookies

The cookie dough is made with your standard cookie ingredients: flour, baking soda/powder, salt, butter, vanilla, etc. However, unlike your regular run-of-the-mill cookie recipe, this one features a (not so) secret ingredient: sourdough starter discard.

• Sourdough Discard: Adds a slight tang to these cookies that pairs well with the sweet chocolate. It’s better to use discard than an active sourdough starter.
• Browned Butter: Adds a delicious nuttiness to the cookies. This process takes 15 minutes on the stovetop but I promise it is worth it! Plus, since sourdough discard had liquid, we need to remove liquid from the recipe elsewhere, or else the cookies will be flat.
• Brown Sugar and White Sugar: brown sugar adds flavor, moisture, and a golden-brown color. White sugar adds sweetness, and texture, and helps the cookie spread during baking.
• All-Purpose Flour: I’ve tested this recipe with half cake flour and half bread flour. Honestly, the
• Chocolate Chips: I use over one pound of semi-sweet chocolate chips (yes, that’s a lot!). Feel free to use other types of chocolate chips or even a chopped-up dark chocolate bar.
• Egg Yolk and One Whole Egg: The extra egg yolk is a surefire way to make these discard chocolate chip cookies super chewy.

2 Important Tips For Success

1. Brown The Butter. This step is worth it and needed! To brown the butter, you need to cook butter on the stovetop on medium heat in a stainless steel pan. Although this process takes 15 minutes, the flavor the browned butter adds is so intense that we might as well be camping (ba-dum tush!).

Not only does this process add a ton of flavor, but it’s also needed. Since these are sourdough cookies and discard is 50% liquid, the discard adds liquid to the cookie batter. If the cookie batter has too much liquid, then the cookies will spread too much during the baking process. We do NOT want this.

2. Chill The Cookie Dough. For best results, you must chill the cookie dough in the fridge. Chilling the cookie dough is so important! Before baking these cookies, the dough must be chilled in the refrigerator for at least two hours. This helps the cookies stay thick.
For an even better cookie, I recommend chilling the dough for 24 hours or up to 72 hours. Even baking the next day will yield better results. The three-day fermentation in the refrigerator helps develop that sourdough tang and adds even more flavor to these delicious cookies.

Can I Freeze The Dough?

Yes, you absolutely can freeze the cookie dough. After you roll them into balls, freeze them in a large freezer-safe bag.

I bake them straight from the freezer and keep them in the oven for an extra two minutes. This way, you can batch-make these cookies and pop them into the oven whenever you’re hungry.