Sourdough Discard Scones are incredibly customizable, and this base recipe is ideal for mixing in your favorite add-ins! They're delicious on their own, drizzled with a little bit of icing, or with add-ins like chocolate chips or blueberries. They're only lightly sweet and make a great afternoon snack or treat to eat with a cup of coffee or tea.

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DELICIOUS!! Lets just say they were gone within 30 minutes. The family loved them...making another batch tomorrow with added blueberries.
- Stephanie
Why you'll love this recipe
- These scones require no rise time, so you'll have a tasty treat in no time!
- If you're looking for other no-rise recipes, try this Sourdough Discard Pumpkin Bread or this Sourdough Lemon Loaf Cake.
- You can modify this recipe to use active sourdough starter instead of sourdough discard, if you prefer.
- Sourdough Discard Scones are very customizable and you can easily add your favorite add-ins like chocolate chips, blueberries, and more.
- Try these Sourdough Lemon Blueberry Scones, too!
- Scones freeze well, so you can enjoy some now, and freeze the rest for later!
- Looking for other easy breakfast recipes? Try these Sourdough Discard Bagels and these Sourdough Discard Waffles.
Ingredients
The secret to this recipe is keeping the ingredients cold, but there are only a few key things you will need.

- Sourdough discard: The sourdough discard should be unfed and cold, straight from the refrigerator. This recipe is designed for a sourdough starter that uses a 1:1 ratio (when you feed your starter, it's with 1 part flour and 1 part water). If your starter uses a different ratio, you may need to adjust some of the ingredients in this recipe.
- Learn more about making a homemade sourdough starter.
- Unsalted butter: Likely the most important ingredient in this recipe! The butter should be frozen, and I recommend grating it on a box grater, rather than cubing or using a food processor to grate the butter (which you might do for something like a pie crust).
- Add-ins (optional): Think about any add-ins you might like to incorporate, like chocolate chips, lemon zest, blueberries, cranberries, and more.
See full recipe below for detailed directions.
Substitutions & Variations
This is a very adaptable recipe, and below are a few easy substitutions and variations you can try. I highly encourage you to make these your own and try different add-ins!
- Use active sourdough starter - If you'd like to use active sourdough starter instead of discard, you can! You would not change any of the other ingredients or directions. Replace sourdough discard with active starter (200g).
- Add chocolate chips - Add ½ cup chocolate chips to the mixture after you mix in the butter (and before the liquid ingredients). Continue with the recipe as written.
- Add blueberries - Add ½ cup fresh or frozen blueberries to the mixture after you mix in the butter (and before the liquid ingredients). Continue with the recipe as written.
- Try these Sourdough Lemon Blueberry Scones and these Sourdough Discard Blueberry Bagels, too!
- Add lemon or orange zest - For a citrus kick, add 1 Tablespoon of fresh lemon or orange zest after you have mixed in the butter. Continue with the recipe as written. You might also like this Sourdough Lemon Loaf Cake!
How to Make Sourdough Discard Scones
There are only a few steps, but working quickly and keeping the ingredients (and dough) as cold as possible is important! The full recipe with ingredients is at the bottom of this post.

- Step 1: Whisk together the liquid ingredients until smooth, then place the mixture in the refrigerator. We want to keep this as cold as possible!

- Step 2: Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

- Step 3: Grate the frozen butter on the large holes of a box grater. Be careful! The cheese grater is not forgiving with fingers...

- Step 4: Using your hands, a pastry cutter, or forks, incorporate the butter into the flour mixture. Then add the liquid mixture and use a spatula to stir until a rough dough forms.

- Step 5: Gather and press the dough, lightly kneading until the dough comes together. Press the dough into an 8-inch disk.

- Step 6: Divide the dough into 8 equal-sized pieces. Making the cuts as straight as possible is important here so the scones don't fall over when baking! Freeze the scones for 20 minutes.

- Step 7: Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.

- Step 8: Bake until golden and browning at the edges.
Expert Baking Tips
- Keep the liquid ingredients as cold as possible. Use sourdough discard straight from the refrigerator (instead of room temperature), cold eggs, and cold milk.
- Freeze your butter and use a box grater to grate it. BE CAREFUL. While I find this is the best way to grate butter, it's slippery and the grater is unforgiving for your fingers (speaking from experience on that one!).
- Incorporate the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter, forks, or your hands. It's more than just tossing the butter with the flour mixture. You want to end up with fairly uniform pea-size (or smaller) pieces of butter throughout.
- This is a similar technique to making Sourdough Discard Pie Crust.
- When cutting the scones, make your cuts as straight as possible and avoid twisting motions with your knife. This will help the scones stay upright (rather than falling over) while baking.
- Freeze the scones for 20 minutes before baking to help prevent spreading too much in the oven.
Common Scone Challenges
There are a few common challenges that can come up with scones. Below are a few ways to help work through those:
- Scones are falling over: If your scones are rising, but then falling over in the oven, make sure the cuts you're making are as straight as possible. If you're making any twisting motions with your knife, or cutting unevenly, that can cause your scone to be uneven and fall over. They'll still be delicious, though!
- Scones are spreading too much: If your scones are spreading too much while baking, make sure your ingredients are as cold as possible, and your butter is frozen. Also, don't skip the freezer step for 20 minutes before baking!
Storage
Room Temperature Storage: Once cooled, store the scones in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2-3 days. You can reheat the scones in the microwave for about 30 seconds to make them warm and soft again.
Freezer Storage: You can freeze the scones before or after baking.
- Freezing after baking: Once cooled, transfer the scones to a freezer-safe bag or container and freeze for up to 3 months. Reheat in the microwave for about 60 seconds to make warm and soft again.
- Freezing before baking: If you want to bake the scones later, you can freeze the dough. After cutting the scones to shape, place them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and let them freeze until firm. Then transfer the frozen dough into a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 3 weeks. When you're ready to bake, place the frozen scones on a baking sheet and bake as directed, adding 5-10 minutes to the baking time.

Recipe FAQs
Sourdough discard is what is leftover after you feed your sourdough starter. You can either literally discard it (in the trash or compost), or you can use it to make sourdough discard recipes like this one!
If you're new to working with sourdough starter, check out these in-depth posts on how to feed sourdough starter, how to use sourdough discard, and tips for struggling sourdough starter.
Yes, and I encourage you to do so! This is a great base recipe that you can easily add to. Try chocolate chips, blueberries, lemon zest, and more! You might like these Sourdough Lemon Blueberry Scones, too!
More Sourdough Discard Breakfast Recipes
If you tried these Sourdough Discard Scones or any other recipe on my website, please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I'd love to hear from you! Happy Baking!

Sourdough Discard Scones (Base Recipe)
Equipment
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 200 grams (about ¾ cup) sourdough discard cold, straight from the refrigerator
- 1 egg
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon milk non-dairy or regular dairy
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter frozen
- ½ cup add-ins (such as chocolate chips) optional
For Topping
- 1 egg whisked with 1 Tablespoon water for egg wash
- 2 teaspoons turbinado sugar
For the Glaze
- 1 cup confectioner's sugar
- 2 Tablespoons milk non-dairy or regular dairy
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the cold sourdough discard, egg, vanilla extract, and milk until smooth. Place the bowl in the refrigerator (we want to keep ingredients as cold as possible!).
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Grate the frozen butter on the large holes of a box grater. Be careful with your fingers as you're doing this!Add the grated butter to the flour mixture, and incorporate using a pastry cutter, forks, or your hands. Press the butter into the flour until you have a coarse mixture with approximately pea-sized butter pieces. Stir in any add-ins (such as chocolate chips), if using.
- Pour the cold liquid mixture into the flour mixture and use a large spatula to stir until a rough dough forms. It will seem really dry, but resist adding more liquid at this point. Transfer the dough to a work surface, then gather and press it together, lightly kneading until the dough comes together and no dry spots remain. The dough should not feel sticky. If the dough seems too dry and is not coming together, add more milk 1 teaspoon at a time until you reach your desired consistency.
- Flatten the dough into a disk about 8 inches in diameter. Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into 8 roughly equal-size pieces. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet. Place the baking sheet with the dough in the freezer for 20 minutes while you preheat the oven.
- Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃).
- After freezing, brush the scones with egg wash, then sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until set and browning at the edges (the internal temperature of the baked scones should be 200℉).
- While the scones cool, make the glaze. In a small bowl, whisk together the confectioner's sugar and milk. Drizzle over the cooled scones and serve.






Jordan says
Obsessed. I’ve made these every weekend for the past 3 weekends. They are SO good and this recipe is so versatile! I’ve only used dried fruits and other flavors before. To make these chocolate, I don’t know how to do a substitution for the cocoa powder. And if I want to use fresh fruit instead of dried do you have any suggestions? I want to venture into more flavors!!
Jessica Vogl says
I just posted a recipe for lemon blueberry scones, which might be helpful as a base if you want to make fruit substitutions: https://www.thisjess.com/sourdough-lemon-blueberry-scones/. For chocolate, that's not something that I've tested, but I'd probably add some chocolate chips (maybe up to 1/2 cup) as well as some cocoa powder (somewhere between 1/4 - 1/2 cup, I'd guess). With the cocoa powder, you may need to add a bit more liquid to the dough, but that's something you'd have to test / feel out!
Ashley says
You can sub coco powder for part of the flour
Valerie says
Hi Jess! If I wanted to make 20 scones it’s asking for 200g of discard but if I wanted to use active starter do you know how much I would need?
Jessica Vogl says
If you want to make this recipe with active starter, you would replace the sourdough discard with active starter (200g). You don't need to change any other ingredients.
Cheryl says
These are very good! I mixed in 1/2 c of dried cranberries and 1/2 c of chopped walnuts, and added lime zest to the glaze (I wanted to use orange zest, but didn’t have oranges). I increased the baking time to 35 minutes. Really delicious and a great way to use sourdough discard
DB says
Can I substitute buttermilk for the milk?
Jessica Vogl says
Sure! Your scones will be richer.
Jennifer says
These are incredible. Super, super easy to throw together. Even having to sub a few ingredients my second time making them (bread flour & turbinado sugar instead of white sugar), they still came out amazing and have the flavor of a soft sugar cookie! I skip the glaze and just enjoy plain with coffee! So good!
Stephanie Dos Santos says
DELICIOUS!! Lets just say they were gone within 30 minutes. The family loved them with the chocolate chips. Making another batch tomorrow with added blueberries
Mia says
Do you have a savory version or am I able to use this one without the vanilla and sugar? I love this recipe for sweet scones, they are not dry and can put anything in them!
Jessica Vogl says
I don't have a savory version at the moment, but I love the idea! I would use this one as the base and probably reduce the sugar (perhaps to 1-2 Tbsp) as you'll want a little bit in there. It's something I'd have to play around with!
Amber Juarez says
These were so yummy! Best scone recipe I’ve tried! Thank you!
Bethany says
So delicious! I added chocolate chips and the whole family loves them!
Alina says
Me again. Forgot to say I made only half the amount of glaze and it was more than enough.
AV says
Super easy and tasty recipe