These Brown Butter Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies are everything you love in a classic cookie—but with a rich, toasty twist. Browned butter adds a deep, nutty flavor that pairs perfectly with melty pools of chopped chocolate. The sourdough discard brings a slight tang and chewy texture that makes each bite unforgettable.
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These chewy cookies are perfect for cozy fall baking, holiday cookie swaps, or anytime you need a comforting treat. They’re a hit at bake sales, birthday parties, or tucked into lunchboxes for a sweet surprise. Whether you're baking for a crowd or just craving something special, they fit every occasion.
If you love brown butter as much as I do, try my brown butter coconut pecan cookies and my brown butter oatmeal cookies! If sourdough cookies are more your speed, check out my sourdough malted chai chocolate chip cookies.
Ingredients
These cookies are made with simple ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen, like butter, sugar, eggs, and flour. The brown butter and sourdough discard add a special touch without requiring anything fancy.
- Unsalted butter - room temperature
- (salted is fine too just use less salt)
- Brown sugar - I used dark brown sugar.
- Cane sugar
- Sourdough discard (room temperature preferred but cold will work)
- Vanilla extract
- Eggs (room temperature preferred)
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Baking chocolate or chocolate bars
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
This sourdough cookie recipe is easy to follow, with just a few basic steps from browning the butter and chopping the chocolate to mixing and scooping. Advanced techniques needed—just classic cookie baking with a sourdough twist.
Step 1: Brown the butter over medium heat. You will start out with 170g of butter and by the end of the browning process you should have 140g.
Allow the butter to cool before mixing it with the brown sugar, cane sugar, vanilla, sourdough discard, egg and egg yolk.
Step 2: In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together the butter and remaining wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients and slowly incoorporate it into the wet mixture.
(adding all of the dry ingredients at once can cause the flour to fly out of the bowl when you start to mix it in if using a stand mixer, so best to do it slowly).
Step 3: Chop 8 ounces of chocolate and mix into your sourdough cookie dough.
Chill for 30 mins to an hour before baking at 350F for best results. (I've skipped chilling and they baked fine, however, chilling or resting the dough creates a deeper flavor with an even better texture in the end).
Step 4: Scoop into 2-tablespoon (40g) balls and bake at 350F for 10-12 mins until the edges are golden brown and the top looks just set.
10 minutes for unchilled cookie dough and 12 minutes for chilled cookie dough is what typically works for me.
Hint: Take them out of the oven when you start to see golden brown edges and the center is matte and domed (it shouldn't look shiny or raw on the outside). They will collapse a bit while cooling. Taking them out before they overbake is essential to making a perfectly chewy cookie!
Substitutions
If some of these ingredients don't work for you, that's okay! Here are some of my tried and true baking substitutions:
- Butter: Use a non-dairy butter like Country Crock's plant butter. A neutral oil (like coconut oil) would work well here too!
- Note: this butter is salted, so you might want to use a little less salt in the rest of the dough. I normally don't find the need to adjust it when using salted butter, but if you are sensitive to salt, you might want to cut the additional salt in half to start.
- Chocolate: Use this oat milk chocolate bar (use two of them for this recipe). One 12-ounce bag of chocolate chips would work fine in this recipe too.
Variations
These sourdough chocolate chip cookies are extremely versatile and easy to make your own! Try some of these fun ideas and let me know what you think!
- Walnut Crunch: Add ½ cup of chopped walnuts for a toasty crunch that pairs beautifully with the brown butter and chocolate.
- Espresso Boost: Mix in 1 teaspoon of instant espresso powder to deepen the chocolate flavor and give the cookies a subtle coffee kick.
- Peanut Butter Chip: Swap half the chocolate chunks for peanut butter chips for a nutty, melty variation that’s extra indulgent.
- Double Chocolate: Replace ¼ cup (30g) of the flour with cocoa powder and keep the chopped chocolate for a rich, brownie-like cookie.
Equipment
- Kitchen scale
- Stand mixer
- Baking sheets
- Parchment paper
- Two-tablespoon cookie scoop
- Butter warmer saucepan
Storage
You can store brown butter sourdough chocolate chip cookies at room temperature for up to 5 days. I think they are best on days 2 and 3, but then start to become stale each day after that.
You can freeze these sourdough cookies as preportioned cookie dough balls or as baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 6 months. I'd recommend wrapping them in plastic wrap as well to prevent any sort of flavor contamination from the container or freezer.
Top tip
Weigh your ingredients! I can't recommend this enough. Kitchen scales are easy to find, affordable, and beneficial to your baking journey. It is the best way to make sure your recipes turn out as accurate as possible. See my "equipment" section above for links to scales I recommend.
FAQ
Yes! See my "substitutions" section for my favorite dairy-free baking ingredients. Nondairy butter might not brown the same as dairy butter. If that is the case, just use 140g of melted butter in its place.
I prefer chopped chocolate bars because they melt better and create larger, more interesting pockets and puddles of chocolate on the cookies. You can use chocoalte chips if you prefer those!
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Brown Butter Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- Kitchen Scale
- Stand Mixer
- Baking sheets
- Parchment Paper
- Two-tablespoon cookie scoop
- Butter warmer saucepan
Ingredients
- ¾ cup unsalted butter 170g
- 1 cup brown sugar packed, 200g
- ¼ cup granulated sugar 50g
- ⅓ cup sourdough discard 100g
- 1 egg + 1 egg yolk room temp preferred
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ¾ cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 345g
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 8 ounces baker's chocolate or your favorite chocolate bar (chopped)
Instructions
- Brown the butter. Start by putting your butter in a small saucepan and melting it on medium heat, stirring or whisking constantly to prevent burning.¾ cup unsalted butter
- You will know when it is done browning when it starts to smell nutty and the bubbling butter develops a film on top. You will start with 170g of butter, and by the end of the browning process, you should have 140g.
- If you have less than 140g at the end, add milk to the butter until you reach 140g.
- Allow the butter to cool before mixing it with the sourdough discard, brown sugar, cane sugar, vanilla, egg, and egg yolk.1 cup brown sugar, ¼ cup granulated sugar, ⅓ cup sourdough discard, 1 egg + 1 egg yolk, 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Mix the dry ingredients separately and mix them into the liquids until fully combined.2 ¾ cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt
- Stir in the chopped chocolate or chocolate chips.8 ounces baker's chocolate
- Chill for 30 minutes to an hour before baking for best results.*
- When ready, preheat the oven to 350°F and bake for 10-12 minutes**. Allow them to cool on the pan for 5 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.
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