I’ve officially created the most perfect cookie of my dreams, and it’s these Brown Butter Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies. This has been a long time coming, but I finally figured it out.
While working as a professional baker for over 15 years, one question I got asked constantly was: What’s your favorite dessert? Without hesitation — chocolate chip cookies. Always and forever.
But for years, I never had a recipe that felt perfect enough to share it with the world and put my name on it. Until now.
These ridiculously delicious chocolate chip cookies are soft and chewy in the middle, with crisp golden edges and deep, toffee-like flavor from the brown butter. The sourdough starter adds a subtle tang that makes them taste complex and perfectly balanced. There’s extra vanilla, extra salt, and lots and lots of melty chocolate. Truly, this is my soulmate chocolate chip cookie.
Table of Contents
Why you’ll love these cookies
- All the best flavors. Brown butter + sourdough with heavy vanilla, chocolate, and sea salt gives these cookies incredible depth of flavor. They’re nutty, caramel-y, and just the slightest bit tangy.
- Texture heaven. Soft gooey centers. Chewy middles. Golden brown edges. Little puddles of molten chocolate, and big chunks of crispy chocolate. Crunchy salt flakes!!!
- Put that discard to use. A great way to use up leftover sourdough discard so you don’t have to feel sad about throwing it out.
- One-bowl baking. Because we’re working with melted butter, there will be no butter-and-sugar creaming and no electric mixers necessary, just a whisk and a bowl.
Recipe overview
⏱️ Prep: 20 minutes • Chill: 30 minutes • Bake: 9-13 minutes
🍴 Yield: 28-30 cookies
💪 Skill level: Beginner
How to make brown butter sourdough chocolate chip cookies
For full recipe details and ingredients, scroll down to the recipe card below. Here is a quick rundown on the process of making these delicious cookies:
- Brown the butter: Melt butter in a light-colored saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally as it foams, sputters, and begins to brown. Watch for a golden color and nutty aroma — this takes 3–5 minutes. Immediately transfer to a bowl to cool slightly.
- Mix wet ingredients: Whisk sugars thoroughly into brown butter. Add the eggs and vanilla, stirring until silky and smooth. Whisk in the sourdough discard.
- Add dry ingredients: Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl. Stir dry ingredients into the butter mixture until about halfway combined.
- Fold in chocolate: Use chopped dark chocolate and/or chocolate chips. I personally love mixing in a variety for texture.
- Chill the dough: Refrigerate for about 30 minutes. This helps the flavors deepen and gives you that bakery-style chew.
- Scoop & bake: Bake at 350° F for 9-13 minutes, until golden around the edges but still soft in the middle. Let cool on the sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack.
Tips for browning butter
Don’t be intimidated — browning butter is simple once you know what to look (and listen!) for.
- Use a light-colored pan: It’s easier to see the butter change from yellow to golden brown.
- Watch and smell: Butter is ready when it turns deep golden and smells nutty and rich, about 3–5 minutes.
- Listen closely: It’ll sizzle and sputter, then quiet down right before it starts browning.
- Act fast: Pour it into a heatproof bowl right away to stop it from burning.
- Don’t strain it! Those caramelized brown bits are full of flavor, so scrape them all in.
If you love using brown butter in your bakes, be sure to check out these recipes: Brown Butter Pecan Galette, Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies, Strawberry Rhubarb Brown Butter Cake, and Brown Butter Pear Clafoutis.
Pro tips for bakery-style chocolate chip cookies
Let the brown butter cool. After browning, give the butter at least 10 minutes to cool down before whisking in the sugars. You don’t want it to be too hot when you add the eggs in.
Use unfed starter. You don’t need an active sourdough starter for this, but rather your sourdough discard. However, if it’s been fed recently (within 5 days or so), it will have more flavor and tang.
Whisk the eggs in well. After adding the eggs and vanilla, whisk for a minute or two, until the mixture falls from the whisk in a smooth, continuous ribbon that sits on the surface for a few seconds before slowly sinking back in. This is key for that final chewy texture.
Rest the dough. I found that chilling the dough for about 30 minutes gives the perfect texture. You can bake them right away, but they’ll spread more and won’t be as chewy. If you chill the dough for an hour or longer, it starts to get a bit firm and tricky to scoop.
Planning to rest it overnight for even more flavor? Just let the dough warm up slightly before scooping so it’s easier to handle.
Use a combination of chocolate. My favorite chocolate chip cookie trick is using multiple kinds of chopped chocolate and chocolate chips. It adds so much to the overall texture! I used a mixture of semisweet chocolate chips and dark chocolate that I chopped into both small and large chunks.
Scoop evenly. For consistent cookies that are done baking at the same time, use a cookie scoop before baking.
Use the pan-banging method. A wise pastry chef taught me this trick in my early days. Banging the cookie sheet down hard on the oven rack partway through baking and then right when you take them out of the oven works wonders on the final texture.
Storage & make-ahead
Storing: Keep brown butter sourdough chocolate chip cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Freeze cookie dough: Scoop and freeze cookie dough balls on a tray (not touching), then transfer to a freezer bag once solid. Bake from frozen, adding 1–2 minutes to bake time.
Rewarm cookies: A quick minute in a sauté pan (swirling often) brings back that gooey, fresh-from-the-oven feel.
Variations
- Add chopped toasted pecans or walnuts for a nutty crunch. Pistachio fan? Try my Salted Pistachio Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.
- Use your favorite chocolate: dark, milk, semisweet or even ruby chocolate all work beautifully.
- Add orange zest or ½ tsp cinnamon to the dough for an extra punch of flavor.
More sweet ways to use sourdough discard:
Did you make these Brown Butter Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies? Please leave a star rating and review below the recipe card. It means everything to me!
Brown Butter Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- Large (3tbsp) spring loaded scoop
- Baking sheet
Ingredients
- 8 ounces (1 cup) unsalted butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ½ cup sourdough discard
- 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 2 cups chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
Instructions
- Brown the butter. Melt 8 oz butter in a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. Continue to cook, swirling occasionally, until butter becomes brown. It will pop and sputter a lot at first, but then it will quiet down. It's ready when the popping has calmed down, there are brown specks at the bottom of the pan, and it smells toasty and nutty. Pour into a large mixing bowl and set aside to cool for about 10 minutes.
- Make the cookie dough. Add 1 cup brown sugar and ½ cup sugar to melted brown butter; whisk thoroughly.
- Add 2 eggs, whisking in one at a time until fully incorporated. And 2 tsp vanilla; whisk mixture until homogenized and silky smooth. Whisk in ½ cup sourdough discard.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together 2 ¼ cups flour, 1 tsp baking soda, and 1 ½ tsp salt. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture, folding with a spatula until about halfway combined, with streaks of flour remaining. Add 2 cups chocolate chips/chunks, folding in gently until just combined and no streaks of flour remain.
- Chill. Rest cookie dough in the fridge for about 30 minutes. You can skip this step, but the cookies will spread more and turn out a bit different!
- Bake. Preheat oven to 350° F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop cookie dough using a large 3 tbsp scoop, leveling it off so it's even with the scoop. Place cookie dough balls about 2 inches apart on baking sheets (I always put 8 cookies on each sheet). Bake until golden around the edges and not quite set in the centers, about 9-11 minutes. Remove cookies from oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for a minute or two before transferring to a cooling rack.
Notes
Did you try this recipe?
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