When you have jumped on the sourdough bandwagon and keep an active sourdough starter you almost always have some amount of discard. Having easy recipes like this sourdough crackers recipe on hand makes for a great way to use up discard.

Tipped over colander full of discard sourdough crackers. Crackers are dumping out onto a white kitchen towel with blue stripe.

If you are not sure that that is, be sure to check out our post on What Is Sourdough Discard.

This easy recipe makes a small batch that you can whip up really fast. However, if you are having a party this recipe can easily be doubled or tripled to fit your needs.

To make this a super fast recipe to whip up, we made them in the air fryer. But you could also bake them in the oven if you wanted. It will just take a little longer baking time.

Sourdough Discard Crackers Ingredients:

Sourdough Starter Discard – you can use discard that has been in the fridge for days or fresh from your starter. Both work just as well. If you also have excess starter it will work too.

Water – bottled or tap water works fine.

Italian Seasoning – we used dried seasoning but you could use a blend of fresh. It just needs to be ground or chopped up so that it is fine.

Onion Powder – any dry onion powder works.

Garlic Powder – garlic powder really helps to pop the flavor of the herbs.

Avocado Oil – I find that avocado oil really is the best in the kitchen but you could also another oil such as olive oil.

Salt – you can use table salt or sea salt.

Flour – we just used all purpose flour but you could use other flours such as whole wheat flour.

Butter Flavor Salt – I like to use the really fine ground option like used on popcorn. That way it really sticks to the crackers. This one is optional but is the perfect way to make all those flavors just pop.

How To Make Homemade Sourdough Crackers:

In a medium bowl add water and discard. Mix until you just have milky-looking water.
Add in garlic, onion powder, oil, and Italian seasoning, and mix well.
In a small bowl mix the salt and flour together.
Then add the flour to the discard mixture. Mix well until the dough forms. The dough will be pretty sticky.
Dump the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface.
Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough. Then using your hands or rolling pin flatten the dough so that it is about as thick as a pie crust. You may have to keep lightly flouring as you go to keep from sticking.
Using a sharp knife, pizza cutter, or dough scraper, cut the cracker dough into long strips. Then cut those strips into about 1-inch pieces. (see tips for other options and textures)
Carefully used a dough scrapper to place the pieces on a vented air fryer tray.
Place the tray into the air fryer and cook at 350F for 6 minutes or until lightly golden brown. (time will depend on the fryer used. I used an Instant Vortex Plus)
Remove from the fryer and lightly sprinkle with butter-flavored salt if you wish.

Dough rolled out on a mat and cut into about 1 inch squares.

Important Teaching Tips For Easy Sourdough Crackers:

Texture – you have a few options when it comes to the texture of the cracker. It is adaptable to fit what everyone likes.

Puffy and Chewy: If you like puffy yet chewy then cut them as we have in the directions and place them right in the air fryer.
Rally puffy and crispy: cut them as noted in the recipe but let the dough rest on the air fryer tray until they have puffed and doubled in size before baking. The time for this will depend on the room temperature. If the room is really warm it should take no longer than 15-20 minutes.
Crunchy: if you like really crunchy crispy crackers the best way to get this is to cut the dough into large sheets and place it on a baking sheet for the fryer. Then bake about halfway. Remove from the fryer then cut into about one-inch pieces. Place the pieces back on the cookie sheet and finish baking.
Crunchy & Chewy: bake the dough in large sheets as a whole. Cook for a few extra minutes then the recipe calls for. When you remove it from the fryer you can cut or simply brake it apart to make the crackers.

Topping – While these crackers are seasoned in the dough you can also add your favorite toppings just as we added butter salt. One thing to note is that when you add different toppings such as sesame seeds or bagel seasoning like everything seasoning, it works best when sprinkle it on the uncooked dough and then lightly pressed in with your hand before baking.

How To Serve Homemade Crackers:

These crackers make a great snack just as is or with a dip. Some favorite dips are heated cheddar cheese, hummus, or herb sour cream dip. These also go really well on a charcuterie board.

Hand flat out holding a few sourdough discard crackers. More crackers in background.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q. Can I change the flavor of this cracker recipe?

A. Good news, yes you can! You can even make the dough without adding flavoring, divide it and then add different flavors to each part of the dough. Some great flavor options are fresh herbs such as fresh rosemary, parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese, black pepper, poppy seeds, ranch seasoning, etc.

Q. Can you change the shape of the crackers?

A. Absolutely! Simply cut them to the shape you want. The easiest way to do that is to use a cookie cutter. Just keep in mind simple shapes work best.

Q. How should the crackers be stored?

A. They should be stored in an airtight container.

Q. Can you use active starter in place of discard?

A. You sure can! If you don’t have any discard and you do have extra sourdough starter it will work just fine.