Vegetarian Recipes

Sourdough Chocolate Chip Scones

I recently posted my recipe for sourdough starter here on the blog, so I couldn’t leave y’all hanging! Once you get the hang of maintaining your starter, you can start getting into super easy sourdough discard recipes—like this one! I find it hard to let any of my discard go to waste, considering how much time and effort I put into caring for it and feeding it. It’s a needy ingredient, but it’s worth the extra effort, as you’ll see when you taste these fluffy, subtly sweet Sourdough Chocolate Chip Scones! Don’t have any discard? I’ve also shared how to make these delicious scones without it.

Overhead view of homemade chocolate chip sourdough scones on a parchment lined wire rack.

Easy Recipe for Sourdough Discard Chocolate Chip Scones

Even if you don’t really think of yourself as a baker, I promise you might surprise yourself with these sourdough chocolate chunk scones. They’re honestly so simple and so, so good. The discard from your sourdough starter gives them a super tender texture and just a little tang that plays really well with those melty chocolate chunks. My trick for tall, bakery-style fluffy scones is using cold butter (don’t let it soften!) and giving the dough time to rise before baking. This recipe is seriously an easy win and such a satisfying way to use up that discard you’ve been saving.

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Chocolate Chip Sourdough Scones

These tender Sourdough Chocolate Chip Scones are the perfect way to use up your leftover sourdough discard. Includes a no-discard option, too!

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine $0.04, American

Total Cost $5.91 recipe / $0.98 serving

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 15

Proof Time 1

Total Time 1 30

Servings scones

Calories 537kcal

Author Jess Rice

Equipment

Mixing Bowls
Parchment Paper
Baking Sheet

Ingredients

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour + extra if needed $0.23
2 tsp baking powder $0.08
3 Tbsp granulated sugar $0.06
½ tsp salt $0.01
6 Tbsp cold butter* $0.66
1 cup chocolate chunks** $2.97
¼ cup sourdough discard*** $0.00
¼ cup milk + 1 Tbsp, divided (1 Tbsp reserved for icing) $0.06
2 eggs $0.82
1 tsp vanilla extract $0.47
1 cup powdered sugar $0.55

Instructions

Gather ingredients and preheat the oven to 425ºF.
Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt, in a large bowl. Stir until they are very well combined.
Grate the butter into the flour mixture and stir until the butter is well incorporated and no large lumps remain.
Add the chocolate chunks to the flour mixture and stir to combine.
Whisk together the sourdough discard, milk, eggs, and vanilla extract in a separate bowl.
Pour the wet discard mixture into the bowl with the flour mixture and chocolate chunks. Stir everything together until it forms a cohesive ball of dough, with no dry flour remaining on the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too dry to come together into a single ball of dough, add a splash more milk (1 Tbsp or so) until it comes together.
Form a dough ball at the bottom of your mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow your scone dough to proof for 1-3 hours, until your dough ball noticeably grows in size, at least by a quarter the volume, ideally the volume will double. (Yes, this step takes a little extra patience, but the fluffy texture from the sourdough makes these scones a little extra special! You could also bake this right away, they just won’t be as fluffy and will be more like a classic scone.)
Press the dough out into an 8-inch diameter circle on a piece of parchment paper. Cut the circle into 6 wedges. (To stretch this recipe further, you could cut into 8 wedges.) Place the cut scones on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake the scones in the preheated 425ºF oven for 15-17 minutes, or until they are golden brown. Transfer the baked scones to a wire rack to cool.
While the scones are cooling, combine powdered sugar with 1 Tbsp milk until it forms a thick glaze. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled scones, then enjoy!

See how we calculate recipe costs here.

Notes

*I put a stick of butter into the freezer 5-10 minutes before I start baking to make it easier to grate. You want it to be cold and stiff, not frozen solid; otherwise, it’ll be too hard to grate.

**You could use chocolate chips, but I find scones to be too bready without the larger pockets of chocolate created by using chunks.

***I use the discard from my 100% hydration starter. If you do not have any sourdough discard, you can make this scone recipe with 2 cups of flour instead, skipping the discard ingredient, and there’s no need to proof the dough for 1-3 hours.

Nutrition

how to make Sourdough Chocolate Chip Scones step-by-step photos

The ingredients for making homemade sourdough chocolate chip scones.

Gather all of your ingredients together and preheat the oven to 425ºF.

Flour, baking powder, sugar. and salt in a white mixing bowl.

Mix the dry ingredients: Add 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 3 Tbsp sugar, and ½ tsp salt to a large bowl. Mix until well combined.

Butter being grated into a mixing bowl of flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.

Cut in the butter: Remove your butter from the freezer and grate 6 Tbsp of butter into the flour mixture. Stir until the butter is fully incorporated into the flour. There shouldn’t be any large lumps.

Chocolate chunks added to a four and butter mixture in a white mixing bowl.

Add the chocolate: Stir 1 cup chocolate chunks (or chocolate chips) into the butter and flour mix.

Sourdough discard, eggs, and milk in a mixing bowl.

Combine the remaining wet ingredients: In a different bowl, mix together ¼ cup sourdough discard, ¼ cup milk, 2 eggs, and 1 tsp vanilla extract.

The wet and dry ingredients for sourdough chocolate chip scones being combined in a bowl.

Make the dough: Pour the wet sourdough mixture into the bowl with the flour and chocolate chunks. Stir everything together until it forms a cohesive ball of dough. There should be no dry flour remaining on the bottom of the bowl. If the dough seems too dry to come together into a single ball of dough, add a splash more milk (1 Tbsp or so) until it forms into a ball.

Chocolate chip sourdough scone dough in a mixing bowl, being covered with plastic wrap.

Proof the dough: Place the dough ball into your mixing bowl and cover it with a sheet of plastic wrap. Leave your bowl in a warm location and let it proof for 1-3 hours until the dough ball has grown in size (by at least a quarter of the volume, but ideally, it will have doubled). You could bake the scones right away without proofing…but I highly recommend letting it proof so the texture of your sourdough chocolate chip scones will be extra special and fluffy.

Sourdough scone dough on a piece of parchment paper.

Form the dough: Lay a piece of parchment paper on your work surface. Lay the proofed dough ball onto the parchment and press it out into an 8-inch diameter circle.

Sourdough chocolate chunk scone dough divided into 6 pieces.

Slice the dough into 6 equal wedges (or 8 wedges if you want to make smaller scones).

Six shaped sourdough chocolate chip scones on a parchment lined baking sheet ready to be baked.

Place the cutout dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. If you have any leftover chocolate chunks, feel free to press some into the top of the dough before baking (as I did here).

Freshly baked sourdough chocolate chip scones on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake: Place the baking tray into your preheated oven and bake for 15-17 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer the scones to a wire rack to cool completely.

Powdered sugar and milk in a mixing bowl, being mixed with a spoon to make a glaze.

Make the glaze: As you wait for your delicious sourdough scones to cool, you can make the simple glaze. Add 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 Tbsp milk to a bowl and combine until a thick glaze forms. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled scones, then enjoy!

Hands breaking a sourdough chocolate chip scone in half.

Just look how fluffy that crumb is…and don’t even get me started on the pockets of ooey gooey chocolate!

Use cold butter. I pop a stick of butter in the freezer for 5–10 minutes before baking. It should be cold and firm but not rock-hard. Cold butter creates steam pockets as the scones bake, which makes them rise beautifully and gives you that tender, flaky texture.
Grate the butter. Grating makes it super easy to mix the butter into the flour so it’s evenly distributed throughout the dough. No pastry cutter needed!
Don’t skip the rise (unless you really want to!). Letting the dough rest and rise for 1–3 hours gives the sourdough discard time to work its magic. It helps the scones puff up and turn out extra fluffy. You can bake them without letting the dough rise, but they’ll turn out much flatter.
Don’t overmix the dough. I combine the wet and dry ingredients just until the dough comes together. Overmixing can make the scones tough instead of tender.

Storage Instructions

Keep your homemade chocolate chip sourdough scones in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. You can also freeze them for up to 3 months. Let them thaw at room temperature and reheat (if desired) in the microwave or in a low oven.

You can also try freezing the unbaked, shaped dough by placing the wedges on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freezing until solid. Transfer the frozen dough to a freezer-safe bag and then bake from frozen, adding a few extra minutes to the bake time.

Lemon Blueberry Scones

$3.07 recipe / $0.38 each

Strawberry Scones on a wire cooling rack

White Chocolate Strawberry Scones

$3.29 recipe / $0.41 each

Apple Pie Scones

$2.53 recipe / $0.32 each

A hand taking one Cranberry Orange Cream Scone from the batch on a cooling rack.

Cranberry Orange Cream Scones

$1.94 recipe / $0.11 each

The post Sourdough Chocolate Chip Scones appeared first on Budget Bytes.

Vegetarian Recipes

Homemade Kimchi

Once upon a time, I auditioned for one of those reality food shows, and my kimchi spring rolls got me to the next level of auditions (If you haven’t tried them yet, I posted a budget-friendly version here on the blog!) Why would a recipe like that get me flown to Los Angeles, you ask? Well, the judge asked me how I made my kimchi, and apparently, I aced his test; it’s not simply pickled; it’s fermented! I’ve always loved fermented foods, and this Homemade Kimchi is easy, vegan, budget-friendly perfection—the longer it sits, the better it gets! However, the process is super important, so let’s dive in!

Easy Recipe for Homemade Kimchi

Kimchi is a spicy, tangy, and veggie-packed Korean side dish made by fermenting fresh vegetables (think of it like pickles with a probiotic boost!). Instead of vinegar, the magic happens through lacto-fermentation, where good bacteria (the kind that’s great for your gut) naturally preserve the veggies and build the signature sour-savory flavor. I love serving it on rice bowls, tucked into wraps, or eaten straight from the jar as a quick snack. 😋

When I was in my 20s, I took a holistic nutrition course with a Naturopath Doctor in Indonesia. On my sojourn, I had a very long layover in South Korea, where I swear I ate 100 different kinds of kimchi. It helped me pinpoint the veggies I love most in my homemade recipe, but you can use just about any hardy vegetable you have on hand; I like to do a seasonal version as well, using raw pumpkin or butternut squash in the fall. Veggies like cucumbers and zucchini can be used, but because of their super high water content, they turn too mushy for my liking. Cabbage truly helps the texture no matter what else you add, so be sure to pick out a nice fresh head of cabbage!

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Homemade Kimchi Recipe

This easy Homemade Kimchi recipe is made with fresh veggies and simple ingredients. Tangy, fermented, and budget-friendly—no special tools required!

Step-by-step photos can be seen below the recipe card.

Course Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine Korean

Total Cost $6.41 recipe /$0.17 serving

Prep Time 30

Fermentation 2

Servings oz (3 x 12 oz jars, 1 oz per serving)

Calories 11kcal

Author Jess Rice

Equipment

3 12 oz Canning Jars
Food Processor
Large Mixing Bowl

Ingredients

1 Tbsp agave $0.14*
1 jalapeno seeded, $0.41
1 red bell pepper seeded and divided, $1.48
½ red onion divided, $0.54
2 inch piece fresh ginger peeled, $0.24
2 large cloves garlic $0.06
½ green cabbage mine was about 1 ¾ lbs, $1.66
¼ red cabbage mine was about ¾ lb, $0.86
4 green onions $0.48
2 ribs celery $0.30
2 carrots $0.16
1 Tbsp sea salt $0.08

Instructions

Begin by sanitizing your workspace and running three 12 oz canning jars through your dishwasher on high heat to sanitize them. Alternatively, you can also sanitize your jars by submerging them in boiling water and then allowing them to air dry.
Meanwhile, in a food processor, combine agave syrup, 1 jalapeno (seeded), ½ red bell pepper (seeded), ¼ red onion, peeled ginger, and garlic cloves.
Pulse vegetables and agave in a food processor until all vegetables have been broken down into a paste-like consistency, with any visible vegetables all being the same size, minced. Set aside.
Prep all the vegetables: roughly chop or slice both cabbages, roughly chop the green onion (discarding only the very tip of the root), dice celery, julienne carrots, remaining ½ red bell pepper, and remaining ¼ red onion. This step is a great time to practice your knife skills or skip laboring over cutting everything and just chop it up coarsely. Kimchi is very forgiving, and it’s fun to have a lot of different shapes that will contribute to the texture once it is fermented later.
In a large mixing bowl, combine all prepared veggies and salt. With clean hands, massage the salt into the prepared vegetables until they are all very soft. (It’s arm day, y’all! Use those muscles, and don’t stop!)
After at least 10 minutes of massaging the vegetables and salt, add the prepared, processed vegetable and agave mixture. Continue to massage the vegetables and the spicy-sweet processed mixture together for another 5-10 minutes, or until a significant amount of water is released from the veggies, and you can see it pooling at the bottom of our bowl.
With clean hands, spoon your mixture into jars and push it down firmly with the spoon once full. You should see a significant amount of liquid brine rising to the top, covering your vegetables whenever you push it down with the spoon (or clean fingers!) Don’t waste the brine; top off the jars as much as you can to cover the veggies.
Place lids on jars loosely and wipe down the jars. Transfer the jars to a dark place in your kitchen for 24 hours. I like to place my jars in a spare Tupperware container and keep them under the sink, so they are contained and in a warm(ish) place to help with the early fermentation process.
After 24 hours, carefully “burp” each jar by simply removing the lid to allow some of the naturally occurring gasses to escape. If your kitchen is particularly warm, you may want to burp your kimchi after just 12 hours to avoid a small (potent!) explosion. 🙂
After the initial 24-hour fermentation period, burp your kimchi every 8-12 hours until you see consistent, active bubbles every time you open the lid. Once you see a lot of bubbling on a regular basis, you can screw the lid on tight and transfer the jars to your refrigerator. It’s done!

See how we calculate recipe costs here.

Notes

*I like to add a little agave to balance the flavors of my homemade vegan kimchi, but I also find it helps speed up the fermentation process and helps create more brine. The touch of agave helps the enzymes from the healthy bacteria really get going! Personally, I wouldn’t skip it. But it is a very small amount of sweetener when considering the high yield on this recipe, so you could omit the agave altogether if you don’t have any on hand.

The total amount of time for fermentation to take place can depend on various factors, such as the temperature of your kitchen. Keep burping the jar every 8-12 hours after the initial 24-hour (or 12-hour) fermentation period until you see consistent bubbles.

Nutrition

how to make Homemade Kimchi step-by-step photos

The ingredients to make homemade kimchi.

Gather all of your ingredients. Before starting, completely sanitize your workspace and run three 12 oz canning jars through your dishwasher on high heat to sanitize them. Or, you can alternatively sanitize your jars by submerging them in boiling water and then allowing them to air dry. I’ve also shared more on this below the step-by-step photos for reference.

Jalapeno, red bell pepper, red onion, ginger, and garlic in a food processor.

Prep the veggies: While you wait for your jars to sanitize, you can get started on the vegetables. Add 1 Tbsp agave syrup, 1 jalapeno (seeded), ½ red bell pepper (seeded), ¼ red onion, 2 inch peeled fresh ginger, and 2 large garlic cloves to a food processor.

Processed vegetables in a food processor.

Pulse them in the food processor until all the veggies break down into a paste-like consistency. Any visible veggies should roughly be all the same size, minced. Set this mixture to one side for now.

Sliced green cabbage, sliced red cabbage, sliced green onions, chopped carrots, red bell pepper and red onion on a wooden cutting board.

Now roughly chop or slice ½ green cabbage and ¼ red cabbage, roughly chop 4 green onions (discarding only the very tip of the root), dice 2 ribs celery, julienne (thinly slice) 2 carrots, remaining ½ red bell pepper, and remaining ¼ red onion. You can also chop up everything coarsely if desired (this recipe is very forgiving!)

Prepped kimchi veggies in a mixing bowl.

Massage the vegetables: Add the prepped vegetables to a large mixing bowl and sprinkle with 1 Tbsp salt. With clean hands, massage the salt into the vegetables until they are all very soft (about 10 minutes).

Processed vegetables and prepped vegetables in a mixing bowl.

After at least 10 minutes of massaging, add the processed vegetables and agave mixture from your food processor to the bowl.

A hand massaging salt into prepped vegetables in a bowl.

Massage the vegetables with the spicy-sweet processed mixture for a further 5-10 minutes or until a significant amount of water has been released from the veggies.

You should see it pooling at the bottom of your bowl, as shown in the photo above.

Prepped and massaged kimchi vegetables in a mixing bowl, with a spoon portioning some into a glass mason jar.

Add to jars: Again, with clean hands, use a spoon to add your veggie mix to the sterilized jars.

Extra vegetable brine being added to a jar of homemade kimchi.

Push the mixture down firmly with your spoon once full (a significant amount of liquid brine should rise to the top, covering the homemade kimchi as you push down).

Don’t waste any of the brine from the bottom of the mixing bowl! Try to top off each jar with as much as you can. You ideally want all the veggies to be submerged in the brine for fermentation.

Lids added to three jars of homemade kimchi.

Ferment: Place the lids on the jars loosely and wipe down the sides of the jars. Now, place the jars in a dark place in your kitchen for 24 hours. (I like to place my jars in a spare Tupperware container and keep them under the sink so they are contained and in a warm(ish) place to help with the early fermentation process.)

Once it’s been 24 hours, carefully ”burp” each jar by removing the lid. This allows some of the naturally occurring gases from the fermentation process to escape the jars. If your kitchen is quite warm, you may want to ”burp” your jars after 12 hours, not 24, to release the gases and avoid any small explosions!

After the initial 24-hour fermentation period, you want to burp your jars every 8-12 hours until you see consistent and active bubbles whenever you open the lid. As soon as you see lots of bubbling on a regular basis, screw the lid on tight and transfer the jars into your refrigerator. Now it’s ready to be eaten!

Overhead view of homemade kimchi on a bed of white rice.

What is lacto-fermentation?

I mentioned lacto-fermentation earlier, but I just wanted to touch on what that actually means. It’s a natural preservation process where good bacteria (lactobacillus) feed on the sugars in the veggies and produce lactic acid. That acid gives kimchi its tangy flavor and helps keep it safe to eat. This is the same process used when making sauerkraut and dill pickles. But before that can happen, we need to salt the veggies.

Salting helps draw out moisture, slows the growth of harmful bacteria, and creates a brine that sets the stage for fermentation. So, yes, all that massaging the veggies isn’t just a good workout—it’s vital for the lacto-fermentation process!

CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN! Whether you’re experimenting with this recipe, sauerkraut, pickling, brewing beer, or making kombucha, you want to make sure you’re always working with clean materials when it comes to fermentation. We are trying to promote healthy bacteria, not the bad kind!
Sanitize your jars. Following on from the previous point, you must sanitize your jars before starting this recipe. Run them through the dishwasher on high heat, submerge them in boiling water and let them air dry, or give them a bath in a food-grade hydrogen peroxide and water mix (follow the label for the correct ratio and instructions).
Keep it submerged. You can use the rough ends of your cabbage and red onion or the butts of carrots to help keep the prepared vegetables submerged in the brine during the fermentation process. Just put the lid on top after you add the rough vegetable ends. Before you get to the refrigerator step, discard those pieces of veggies that didn’t go beneath the brine. If you skip this tip, you can scrape off the top of the kimchi if it doesn’t sit underneath the brine. (Sometimes this happens if you are short on brine.) Everything underneath will be fermented just right and safe to eat!
Don’t tighten the lid during fermentation. Make sure to leave the lid loose while your vegetables ferment. Tightening the lid too early can lead to pressure buildup (and possibly a kimchi explosion…not fun!)
Use a sea salt with no additives. Stick to plain sea salt with no additives. Additives can interfere with fermentation, and I want you to give those good bacteria the best chance to thrive!

Serving Suggestions

I love piling this recipe for kimchi on scrambled eggs…it adds just the right kick to a simple breakfast. For lunch or dinner, I’d toss it into fried rice or add it to an easy rice bowl (our Bibimbap recipe is perfect for this!). And, of course, I couldn’t make my kimchi spring rolls without it. Or, if you want a comfort food twist, it’s amazing in quesadillas with some melty cheese. You can also spoon it over grain bowls, stuff it into wraps and sandwiches, or add it to any salad for an extra punch of flavor.

How to Store

This recipe can last for several months in an airtight jar in the fridge. Be sure to use clean fingers or utensils whenever you grab some, as introducing new bacteria can shorten its life span or throw off the flavor. Also, make sure the top layer is always submerged under the brine to keep everything fresh and safe. If anything starts to look or smell off, it’s best to toss it and start a new batch.