Sourdough Discard Chicken and Dumplings is the perfect comfort food, blending the rich warmth of homemade chicken soup with pillowy, tangy dumplings. Let’s face it comfort food is where it’s at.
Comfort food is like edible nostalgia—a warm, familiar hug on a plate. It’s the type of food that feels nourishing and soul-satisfying, often tied to memories of home, family, or simpler times. Comfort food dishes are usually rich in flavor, hearty, and filling, and they evoke a sense of coziness, safety, and calm.
Here’s my favorite recipe for Sourdough Discard Chicken and Dumplings that’s comforting, hearty, and a great way to use sourdough discard!
Ingredients
For the Soup:
1 whole chicken (about 4-5 pounds) or 1 pound of boneless chicken thighs/breasts
8 cups chicken broth
2 large carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 large onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried thyme
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 tbsp olive oil or butter
For the Sourdough Dumplings:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sourdough discard
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp melted butter or olive oil
Fresh herbs like parsley or chives (optional)
Instructions
Step 1: Make the Soup
In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat olive oil or butter over medium heat. Add diced onion, carrots, and celery, cooking until softened (about 5-7 minutes).
Add the garlic, cooking for another minute until fragrant.
Pour in the chicken broth, add bay leaf and thyme, and season with salt and pepper.
Place the whole chicken or chicken pieces into the pot and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer, cover, and cook until the chicken is cooked through (about 20-30 minutes for boneless pieces, 1-1.5 hours for a whole chicken).
Remove the chicken from the pot. Let cool slightly, shred the meat, and discard any bones or skin. Return shredded chicken to the soup.
Step 2: Make the Sourdough Dumplings
In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Stir in the sourdough discard, milk, and melted butter until just combined (avoid over-mixing). If desired, add fresh herbs to the batter.
The batter should be thick but spoonable.
Step 3: Cook the Dumplings
Bring the soup to a gentle simmer. Drop spoonfuls of the dumpling batter onto the soup (about 1-2 tbsp per dumpling).
Cover the pot and let the dumplings steam for 10-12 minutes, until they are puffed and cooked through. Avoid lifting the lid during this time.
Step 4: Serve
Remove the bay leaf and adjust the seasoning of the soup as needed.
Ladle soup and dumplings into bowls, garnish with fresh herbs if desired, and serve warm.
This dish is a hug in a bowl! The combination of warm, savory broth, wholesome vegetables, tender chicken, and sourdough dumplings is deliciously filling and satisfying, perfect for cozying up on a chilly day. Enjoy your cozy bowl of Sourdough Discard Chicken and Dumplings!
Here’s a delicious recipe for Sourdough Pumpkin Cookie Bars—perfect for fall and a great way to use sourdough discard!
Ingredients:
Wet Ingredients:
1/2 cup sourdough discard (unfed)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
Dry Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp salt
Optional Add-ins:
1 cup chocolate chips or white chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts (e.g., pecans or walnuts)
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and grease a 9×13-inch baking dish or line it with parchment paper for easy removal.
Mix the wet ingredients: In a large bowl, combine the sourdough discard, melted butter, pumpkin puree, brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg, and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth and fully incorporated.
Mix the dry ingredients: In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients: Gradually fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture using a spatula until just combined. Do not overmix.
Add optional ingredients: If using chocolate chips or nuts, gently fold them into the batter.
Bake: Spread the batter evenly into the prepared baking dish. Bake for 25–30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
Cool and slice: Allow the bars to cool completely in the pan before slicing into squares or bars.
Enjoy!
These cookie bars are soft, moist, and packed with warm fall flavors. The sourdough discard adds a subtle tang that pairs beautifully with the pumpkin and spices!
Ever since I shared some sourdough discard crackers over on my instagram I have had a zillion questions about them. If you haven’t jumped into the sourdough craze you are definitely missing out. I will admit that at first it seemed like a LOT of work and time, but it really isn’t. I mean how much time do we spend mindlessly scrolling when we could spend a tiny bit of time eliminating garbage from our diet and making something soulful and delicious?
Before I share the super simple cracker process, let’s chat about sourdough.
What is sourdough?
Sourdough relies on a mix of wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria, rather than baker’s yeast, to leaven the dough. It’s richer in nutrients, less likely to spike your blood sugar, contains lower amounts of gluten, and is generally easier to digest than bread made with baker’s yeast.
Store bought bread has so many ingredients in it and most of them are useless ingredients that just add junk to our food. Homemade sourdough is flour, water, salt. Three ingredients compared to over twenty in a store bought version. Hmmm.
By using a special starter of wild yeast and bacteria, the positives of consuming sourdough far outweigh the negative ideas that we should be avoiding bread. Sourdough bread is a baking art form that is, by its very nature, a healthier choice – according to A Bread Affair in Vancouver here are the reasons why…and have to agree 100%.
The Benefits of Sourdough:
1. It is easy to digest.
The bacteria-yeast composition will start to breakdown the starches found in the grains before it even reaches your stomach. That means there is way less work to be done, making it much easier on your gut.
2. It has a lower glycemic index.
Compared to many other types of bread, sourdough is fermented in a way that depletes bad starches within it. This means that it won’t cause your blood sugar to rise so drastically upon eating it.
3. Better for gluten-sensitivity.
The longer prep time for sourdough bread means that much of the protein gluten is broken down into amino acids before you consume it. The extensive soaking, rinsing, and other preparation steps means that it is easier to eat and digest, especially if you have mild sensitivities to gluten.
4. More “good acid”.
Lactobacillus a kind of bacteria found in sourdough bread more so than other types of bread and it results in higher levels of lactic acid. This is important because it means there is less room for phytic acid, which can be potentially dangerous. Larger quantities of lactic acid also result in easier digestion and accessibility to more minerals.
5. Provides healthy bacteria.
Sourdough bread is fermented in a way that fosters more beneficial bacteria in the bread and in your body when you eat it.
6. Less yeast.
Healthy bacteria in sourdough bread works to reduce yeast populations, so the likelihood of infection and/or overgrowth is substantially lower.
7. Natural origins.
Sourdough bread made with whole flour, wild yeast and bacteria comes from a very “natural” origin. It is the oldest form of leavened bread; we have been eating it as part of a natural diet for a long, long time.
8. Fewer preservatives.
Sourdough bread contains acetic acid, which naturally prevent the growth of mold. It naturally preserves itself, meaning that toxic preservatives are not required to make it last. So it won’t go bad – and you can opt out of the hazardous build-up of preservatives in the food supply chain.
9. Good fuel.
Made from wheat, sourdough bread fuels the production of good bacteria in your gut – much like the inulin and oligosaccharides found in onions, leeks, bananas, garlic, asparagus, and so on.
10. It’s nutritious.
Sourdough contains a variety of vitamins and nutrients, making it super beneficial to your day-to-day health. Sourdough bread has small to moderate amounts of: iron, manganese, calcium, B1-B6, B12, folate, zinc, potassium, thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, selenium, iron, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, and vitamin E. What a great selection! Compared to other breads, sourdough maintains many of the original nutrients that are processed out of other kinds of bread.
11. The taste!
Sourdough bread tastes great on top of being a healthier alternative. What more could you want?
Crackers?? You got it! I also use sourdough to make all kinds of fun things like pizza dough, pancakes, cookies and this weekend I am making English muffins!
First, you’ll need some sourdough “starter”. This consists of flour and water that becomes the base for your bread and other baked goods.
Simply put: a sourdough starter is a live fermented culture of fresh flour and water. Once combined, the culture will begin to ferment and cultivate the natural yeasts found in our environment. A small portion is added to your bread dough to make it rise. Commercial yeast IS NOT required.
The Process of Sourdough:
At first I felt overwhelmed with having to “feed” something and initially wondered if I had a new child to worry about but realized I was way over thinking it.There are some sourdough people out there that measure everything to to the gram and while that does produce a perfect loaf, after awhile you do learn to eyeball things, especially feeding the starter. I usually just pour some out into my discard jar and add 1/2 cup flour and 1/4 cup water and call it good for the week. The day before I bake bread I do feed her a twice so she is extra happy.
For crackers, cookies, muffins, pizza dough and so much more you’ll need some of the “discard”.
Sourdough discard is the unfed portion of your sourdough starter that you remove before you add fresh flour and water. Because of its unfed state, it’s not used to bake the delicious bread you know as sourdough, but more often than not, used in sourdough discard recipes like crackers!
There are a zillion recipes out there but after a few times following one you might learn to wing it like me.
Sourdough Discard Crackers
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
In a small mixing bowl add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil or melted butter. To this add seasonings you love. I have been adding Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salutewhich is a smooth blend of onion, black pepper, celery seed, cayenne pepper, parsley, basil, marjoram, bay leaf, oregano, thyme, savory, rosemary, cumin, mustard, coriander, garlic, carrot, orange peel, tomato, lemon juice and lemon oil. The perfect savory flavor!
After combing the seasonings and oil, add 2 cups of sourdough discard and mix well.
Sprinkle Himalayan Pink Salt on top
Pour mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper
Bake for 10 minutes and then score into bite size squares with a pizza wheel
Bake an additional 20-30 minutes or until crispy and golden brown
I store these once cooled in a sealed container or jar (if they last that long)
Other combinations include parmesan cheese and rosemary or making an Italian herb blend flavor. Some people love the everything bagel flavor but I find smelling like garlic for days to be a slight downside. I saw someone also make cinnamon sugar crackers that were cut slightly smaller for a cereal type snack!
You might be able to see how this can easily become a part time obsession and finding new ways to use the discard is constantly fun.
Stacie believes that it is her life purpose to share the gift of Yoga with anyone who is willing to say yes. In addition to raising a family and being an advocate for those with disabilities, Stacie is founder of Embracing Spirit Yoga which specializes in bringing adaptive Yoga into community centers and rehabilitation clinics. Bringing her depth of compassion to the mat–or the chair–she offers students the opportunity to grow as an individual in all aspects of their life.
