These homemade Sourdough Crackers are crisp and delicious, and one of our favorite discard recipes. They also have just three ingredients: sourdough discard, melted butter, and salt. It doesn’t get much simpler than that.
There’s no prep ahead, refrigeration, or rolling out the dough – and you end up with a crunchy cracker that keeps well and is perfect for dipping. Watch the video tutorial and see how easy this tasty snack is to make.
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
We love sourdough recipes from Sourdough Pancakes to our classic Sourdough Bread. If you are on the Sourdough bus, these crackers are a must-try (and stay tuned for more sourdough discard recipes to come)!
Sourdough Discard Crackers Video
Watch Natasha make these Sourdough Discard Crackers. With just 3 base ingredients, you will be shocked at how easy they are to make and how delicious they taste. With their irresistible crunch and classic sourdough flavor, these homemade crackers are sure to become a staple in your snacking repertoire.
Sourdough Discard Crackers Recipe
For those of you who have started your sourdough journey, you will love this sourdough discard idea that my sister Svetlana shared with me (a friend shared it with her, and that is proof that a good recipe travels fast!). This is a brilliant way to use sourdough discard, which is essentially an unfed/stirred starter that is blended with butter and salt, spread thinly, and baked into the tastiest crackers.
We have struggled with finding the perfect store-bought crackers for our family. My kids are drawn toward those filled with questionable additives and preservatives, and they don’t like the healthier ones I prefer. I am happy to report that our homemade sourdough crackers have won over every member of our family.
What is Sourdough Discard?
When you feed a starter, you add fresh flour and water to make it grow. To prevent a sourdough starter from becoming too large and maintain it’s health and balance, a portion is discarded before feeding. The portion removed is the sourdough discard.
Sourdough discard is essentially an unfed or inactive starter. While it’s typically not strong enough for baking sourdough bread on its own, it still contains beneficial wild yeast and bacteria, along with a tangy sourdough flavor, and can be used in a variety of recipes from baked goods to savory dishes.
If you want to feed your starter just to make these crackers, that is perfectly ok (I do this all the time because the crackers are worth it).
Ingredients for Sourdough Crackers
If you’ve started your sourdough journey, chances are you have plenty of sourdough discard – this is a brilliant way to use it up.
- Sourdough discard – adds the tanginess of sourdough to the crackers and creates a light and crisp texture. All of the flour needed for this recipe is in the discard which means that the flour is already fermented, making it easier to digest.
- Butter -helps bind the ingredients together and contributes to the overall texture and moisture of the crackers.
- Salt – enhances the flavor of the crackers, balancing the tanginess of the sourdough while enhancing the other seasoning flavors.
- Seasoning – Customize the flavor to your preference with a variety of seasonings on top – sprinkle your favorite herbs, spices, seeds, or other flavorings (see the variations below).
Seasoning Variations
These sourdough crackers are totally customizable depending on your taste and accompaniments.
- Seeds – sunflower, sesame, chia, flax, or poppy seeds (or go for it all with Everything But the Bagel seasoning)
- Salt and pepper – sea salt or herbed salt
- Cheese – try grated parmesan or finely shredded cheddar cheese. You’ll love our Sourdough Cheese Crackers.
- Dried herbs – rosemary, thyme, basil, or oregano
- Hemp hearts
Time-Saving Tip:
You can make the batter in one large measuring cup. Melt the butter in the cup and let it cool until just warm. Set the cup with butter on a kitchen scale, zero it out, then add 200 grams of sourdough discard.
How to Make Sourdough Discard Crackers
- Preheat – Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper.
- Melt and Combine – Melt the butter in a large measuring cup or mixing bowl and let it cool until just lukewarm. Add the sourdough discard and salt, stirring together with a spatula until well combined.
- Spread – Pour the mixture onto your prepared baking sheet. Use an offset spatula to spread the batter into an even, thin layer that is almost transparent (my dough rectangle was 13×11 inches).
- Season – Lightly sprinkle the top with flaky salt or seasonings of choice. Avoid adding too much salt, as the crackers are thin and can quickly become overly salty.
- Bake and Score – Immediately bake for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven and use a pizza cutter to score the partially baked dough into bite-size squares.
- Final Bake – Return to the oven and bake for another 15-20 minutes, or until the crackers are golden, hardened, and crisp to the tap. If the batter wasn’t spread thin enough, it could take longer to bake. Remove from the oven and let the crackers cool on the baking sheet to fully dry out.
Pro Tip:
Have your oven preheated and ready to go so you can bake the crackers right after spreading the batter onto the parchment paper. If you wait, it’s more likely your crackers will stick to the parchment.
What is the Best Tool to Score Crackers?
Use any of these tools to make clean cuts quickly and efficiently without dragging or tearing the dough. I personally love the pastry wheel because it adds a nice scalloped edge that looks fancy but is equally as simple as using a knife or pizza cutter.
- Pizza cutter
- Ravioli cutter or pastry wheel
- Knife
For a different style, use the back of a spoon to create small smears of batter on the sheet pan, or skip scoring altogether and break the baked rectangle into small pieces. This will give you rustic, artisanal pieces perfect for your spread.
Pro Tip:
Use the imperfect baked trimmings from the perimeter of your rectangle to use as a delicious, crispy salad topping.
What to Serve with Sourdough Crackers
Our preferred presentation for these sourdough discard crackers involves creating a captivating charcuterie board with a variety of enticing accompaniments:
- An assortment of nuts, cheeses, fresh vegetables, olives, and pickles
- Delectable spreads like olive tapenade, fig jam, honey, or flavored cream cheese.
- Indulgent herbed or honey butter, adding an extra layer of flavor.
- Diverse dips such as hummus, veggie dip, 7-layer dip, tzatziki, whipped feta dip, or spinach and artichoke dip.
In addition to perfectly enhancing the savory tang of these crackers, these options create a delightful culinary adventure for every palate to enjoy.
How to Store Homemade Crackers
Allow the crackers to cool completely and then store them in an airtight container, glass jar, or zip bag. For the best taste and texture, enjoy the crackers within a few days. While they may still be edible after this time, they might lose some of their crispiness.
Sourdough may seem trendy to some, but its roots stretch back thousands of years. While trends come and go, sourdough’s timeless appeal and cultural significance make it a beloved staple in baking and cuisine. Stay tuned—we’re just getting ‘startered.’
More ‘Made from Scratch’ Recipes
If you love good food but are starting to pay more attention to the ingredients in your store-bought favorites, then you won’t want to miss these delicious DIY swap recipes. You can easily make your favorites at home, knowing exactly what’s in them!
HUNGRY FOR MORE? Subscribe to Natasha’s Newsletter and YouTube for meal-time inspiration and let’s connect on social! Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and X for a peek behind the scenes of Natasha’s Kitchen.
Sourdough Discard Crackers
Ingredients
- 200 grams sourdough discard, 1 cup stirred and unfed starter
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- Seasonings to taste – flaky sea salt, everything bagel seasoning, sesame seeds, etc.*
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Melt the butter in a large measuring cup or mixing bowl and let it cool until just lukewarm. Add sourdough discard* and salt, and stir together with a spatula until well combined.
- Pour the mixture onto your parchment-lined baking sheet and use an offset spatula to spread it into a thin, even layer that is almost transparent (for reference, my dough rectangle measured approximately 13×11 inches).
- Lightly sprinkle the top with flaky salt and your seasonings of choice. Avoid adding too much salt since the crackers are thin and can quickly become overly salty.
- Transfer to the oven right away to prevent sticking to the parchment and bake for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven and use a pizza cutter to score your crackers into bite-size squares.
- Return to the oven and bake for another 15-20 minutes, or until the crackers are golden and hardened. If the crackers are not firm, it may be due to not spreading them thinly enough. Continue to bake until they are firm when you tap the tops with your nail.
- Remove from the oven and let the crackers cool on the baking sheet to allow them to fully dry out. Once completely cooled, store in an airtight container or zip bag.
Notes
*Variations for Toppings:
- Seeds – sunflower, sesame, chia, flax, or poppy seeds
- Everything But the Bagel seasoning
- Salt and pepper – sea salt or herbed salt
- Cheese – finely grated cheddar or parmesan
- Dried herbs – rosemary, thyme, basil, or oregano
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
Good Things
If you’re looking for a good read, this is my favorite book right now. It checks all of the boxes because it makes you want to be a better human. Have you read this one (or should I ask how many times)? 😉 Let me know what’s on your reading list right now.
I made these for the first time two days ago, using everything bagel seasoning as the topper. Less than 48 hours later, I am on my 5th batch because my husband keeps scarfing them down almost as fast as they come out of the oven! For (temporary, so far) storage, I’m using an empty Firehook crackers plastic box, it seems to keep them pretty crisp.
While these crackers were easy to make, and tasted pretty yummy, DO NOT put them in a plastic bag to save them. I cooled them for about an hour, and then put them in a ziploc for later. What a disaster! 5 hours later, they lost all crispness, and I had to trash the whole bag. What a disappointment. I will try them again because I liked the way they tasted, but will have to look for a different storage method.
Hi Jan, in my experience if they aren’t fully crisped in the oven and completely cooled before storing, they will lose their crunch. Sorry that happened to you, but it is critical to make sure they are fully dried out and crisp to the tap in the oven.
Would you mind telling me what 1 serving weighs?
Thank you SO much,
Hi Cynthia! I’m sorry, I didn’t measure it that way. I got about 25 crackers out of my whole batch. Each serving is 5 crackers, which means the whole batch makes 5 servings. If you weigh your crackers as a whole, you can divide by 5 to figure out the serving size.
Love them, so quick and easy and they taste delicious!
My crackers stuck to the parchment paper real bad. I put it in the oven right after spreading on the pan
What did I do wrong,?
Hi Trudi, this can happen if the crackers are spread paper-thin. They will still taste great but cracking is more likely. You may want to make a thicker layer.
These are so easy and turned out perfect!
I am in love with these crackers! They are so crunchy crispy and delicious. I baked them on my baking stone. They turned out great. I also used my starter right out of the fridge and my butter turned solid again, but they turned out fine when I first pulled them out of the oven, I took out the ones on the edge in the thinner ones that were definitely hard, but there were some thicker ones in the middle that were still soft so I put them back in for about five more minutes till they were crispy. I also noticed that the crackers crisp up after they cool so that’s good to know if they’re not completely crispy when you take them out, they should be fine. I used salted butter and everything bagel and they did not last. Everybody was in love with them… I’m tempted to do churro flavor. thank you for this delicious recipe.
That’s great- and a churro flavor sounds amazing!
Why are my crackers sticking to the parchment paper any answers doing everything right?
Hi Jack! Did you make sure to use parchment (not wax paper) and bake soon after you spread it onto the parchment? Did you spread it thin enough and bake long enough to get crispy? I’ve made these countless times and haven’t had it stick but I have my oven preheated and I always bake right away. I added that information in the pro tip above.
tasty and easy. I added cold discard& my butter clumped, will try again with room temp discard.
thanks for creating this for us!
I’ve been making these for a while. I decided to double the recipe because the batch goes so quickly. I think I’ll triple it next time lol. My entire family loves them from my husband and I down to the 1 year old
Substituted olive oil for butter – still came out delicious! I topped with thyme, oregano, and fresh cracked black pepper. I went light on the salt per the recipe, I think next time I’ll add just a touch more salt for flavor! This will be a repeat recipe for sure.
Glad you enjoyed it!
I just made these crackers for the first time. They taste great, and they’re a quick and easy way to use sourdough discard. I topped half with avocado toast seasoning and the other half with everything bagel seasoning which is my favorite. Thank you for another great recipe!
How long do these stay fresh . I love them but want to travel with them
Hi Crystal, for the best taste and texture, enjoy the crackers within a few days. While they may still be edible after this time, they might lose some of their crispiness.
Love love these crackers!!
I have made them twice now and keep getting random areas that brown very quickly and get crispy. Thinking it may be from not mixing the butter in enough? Please let me know what you think! 🙂
Hi Amber! I think that could be one of the reasons. Also- the pan/material it’s made of can cause uneven baking. Or if your oven has uneven hot spots.
Such a great and easy cracker. I have made them three times in two weeks, everyone was great: 1.) just sea salt 2.) Parmesan and a herb table blend 3.) with 1.5tsp of ChexMix seasoning in the butter and a dash of sea salt on top.
Thanks for sharing! I”m happy that you enjoyed them!
Hi Natasha!
Do you think I can replace the butter for olive oil?
Thank you!
Hi Liz, Olive oil should be alright, just keep in mind that the flavor and texture will be a bit different, but it will still be delicious.
Oh my! Sprinkled with everything bagel topping and no salt. I will be feeding my starter more often, just to have discard for these crackers. Can’t wait to various topping options. So quick to make!
That’s my favorite thing about it, Debbie! So quick and very easy. I’m glad you thought so too!
When I have extra discard, it’s because I’m running low on time. This recipe is the easiest I’ve found! Very good too. Thanks!
You’re very welcome, Rachel!