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Sourdough pop tarts are the homemade version of everyone’s favorite toaster pastries, made with simple ingredients and a flaky sourdough pie crust. This easy recipe skips the long fermentation time and is the perfect way to use up sourdough starter discard, making a delicious homemade treat that tastes way better than store-bought.
Sourdough pop tarts are one of the best sourdough discard treats to keep around. They’re wonderful for busy mornings, kid snacks, or a sweet dessert after dinner. Just like easy sourdough pancakes, they store well in the freezer for mornings when you need something fast.
If you love homemade breakfast staples that also use up extra sourdough discard, be sure to try sourdough granola bars, sourdough banana bread, sourdough discard cinnamon roll focaccia, and sourdough blueberry scones.
Why You’ll Love Sourdough Pop Tarts
- Use Up Sourdough Starter Discard: These homemade pop-tarts are a great thing to make when you have extra discard in the fridge. It blends right into the sourdough pastry dough, turning a pantry staple into a delicious, buttery crust.
- Freezer-Friendly: These toaster pastries are perfect for storing away extras (if there are any!) for quick breakfasts or snacks. Just let the frozen pop tarts thaw on the counter, reheat in a 350 degree oven for 5-10 minutes, then frost and enjoy.
- Enjoy Different Flavors: Strawberry jam is a classic, but you can also make blueberry pop tarts using blueberry honey freezer jam (if they will be eaten the same day), fill with brown sugar and cinnamon, homemade slow cooker apple butter, homemade pumpkin butter, or just a different flavor of jam.
Ingredients
Find the full list of ingredients, amounts, and instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Flour: Use all-purpose flour for tender, flaky layers.
- Butter: Grate cold, unsalted butter so it doesn’t melt too quickly, and for the best crust texture.
- Sourdough Discard: Cold discard in the pie dough adds flavor and helps bind the dry ingredients without adding too much water.
- Jam: We like to use strawberry jam for this recipe, but you can use any flavor for the filling and icing.
- Egg Wash: Brush egg wash over the tops of each filled pastry to help seal the edges and add a rich brown color.
- Glaze: A simple mix of powdered sugar, milk, vanilla bean paste, and a little bit of jam gives the pastries a glossy topping that hardens just like real pop-tarts.
How to Make Sourdough Pop Tarts
Here are the step-by-step instructions for making homemade pop tarts.
Step 1: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and sugar.
Step 2: Using a cheese grater, grate the cold butter into the flour mixture (Photo 1) and use a fork or pastry blender to mix until the ingredients come together (Photo 2).
Step 3: Add the cold discard and vanilla extract to the bowl. Use a fork, dough whisk, or your hands to mix until combined (Photo 3). Slowly add the ice water a tablespoon at a time and mix with your hands until the dough forms a ball (Photo 4).
Step 4: Divide the dough into two equal parts and on a lightly floured surface use a rolling pin to roll each part into a 9×12 inch rectangle (Photo 5). Flour your rolling pin as needed so that the dough does not stick.
Step 5: Using a pastry cutter or pizza cutter, cut the edges of the dough to clean up the rectangles (Photo 6). Cut the rectangles into 9 equal sized smaller rectangles (Photo 7). In the end you will have 18 smaller rectangles.
Step 5: Place 9 of the rectangles on the baking sheet (Photo 8) and put 1 tablespoon of jam in the center of each and spread a little towards the edges (Photo 9).
Step 6: Place the 9 remaining rectangles on top of each jam topped ones and use a fork to crimp the edges shut (Photo 10). Mix the egg wash and brush over each pop tart (Photo 11).
Step 7: Bake in your preheated oven, on the center rack for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown (Photo 12).
Step 8: Let the pop tarts cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.
Step 9: Allow the pop tarts to completely cool and then make the glaze.
Step 10: To make the glaze add the milk, strawberry jam and vanilla bean paste to a small bowl and whisk until combined. Add the powdered sugar and mix until the glaze is smooth. To make the glaze thicker add more powdered sugar a teaspoon at a time and to make the glaze thinner, add milk a teaspoon at a time.
Top each pop tart with a teaspoon of the strawberry glaze and enjoy!
How to Store
Store homemade sourdough pop tarts in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.
How to Freeze
You can freeze baked unfrosted pop tarts in an airtight freezer safe container for up to 3 months. Let them thaw at room temperature. Put in a 350 degree oven to reheat.
You can also freeze unbaked pop tarts by flash freezing them on a cookie sheet and then putting them in a freezer bag. Here’s how:
- Assemble the pop tarts completely — dough, filling, and sealing the edges.
- Do not egg wash them before freezing (wait until you’re ready to bake).
- Place them on a baking sheet in a single layer, not touching.
- Freeze for about 2–3 hours until solid.
- Transfer to a freezer-safe bag or container, separating layers with parchment paper if stacking.
- Label and date — they’ll keep well for up to 2 months.
Baking from frozen:
- No need to thaw.
- Brush with egg wash (optional, for shine).
- Bake at 350 degrees, adding 5–10 extra minutes to the bake time, or until golden brown.
Tip
You can use any flavor of jam for the filling and icing.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, you can freeze these pop tarts! Just leave them unfrosted and freeze fully-cooled pop tarts in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months.
Yes! If you’d like to long ferment these, mix up the dough and put it in a sealed container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Then roll them out and bake as directed in the recipe.
More Sourdough Discard Recipes
- Sourdough Discard Crackers
- Sourdough Granola
- Lemon Poppy Seed Sourdough Scones
- Sourdough Blueberry Bread
- Sourdough Coffee Cake
- Blueberry Sourdough Muffins
If you make this recipe and enjoy it, please leave a comment with a 5-star recipe rating and let me know! Thank you so much!
Sourdough Pop Tarts
Equipment
- Pizza Cutter or Pastry Wheel Cutter
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 cups all purpose flour, spooned and leveled (269 grams)
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, (3 grams)
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, (29 grams)
- 1 cup unsalted butter, cold and grated (226 grams)
- 1/2 cup sourdough discard, cold (142 grams)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, (3 grams)
- 1/4 cup ice water, (57 grams)
Filling
- 1 13 ounce jar of strawberry jam, (or another flavor) I like to use Bon Maman
Egg Wash
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon water
Glaze
- 2 tablespoons milk, (29 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste, (9 grams), or vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon strawberry jam, (5 grams) or your preferred jam flavor
- 1 cup powdered sugar, (106 grams)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and sugar.
- Using a cheese grater, grate the cold butter into the flour mixture and use a fork or pastry blender to mix until the ingredients come together.
- Add the cold discard and vanilla extract to the bowl. Use a fork, dough whisk, or your hands to mix until combined.
- Slowly add the ice water a tablespoon at a time and mix with your hands until the dough forms a ball.
- Divide the dough into two equal parts and on a lightly floured surface use a rolling pin to roll each part into a 9×12 inch rectangle. Flour your rolling pin as needed so that the dough does not stick.
- Using a pastry cutter or pizza cutter, cut the edges of the dough to clean up the rectangles.
- Cut the rectangles into 9 equal-sized smaller rectangles. In the end you will have 18 smaller rectangles.
- Place 9 of the rectangles on the baking sheet and put 1 tablespoon of jam in the center of each and spread a little towards the edges.
- Place the 9 remaining rectangles on top of each of the jam-topped ones and use a fork to crimp the edges shut. Mix the egg wash and brush over each pop tart.
- Bake in the preheated oven, on the center rack for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
- Let the poptarts cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.
- Depending on how large you made your pop tarts, you may have enough dough scraps to make 3 more pop tarts repeating the above steps.
- Allow the pop tarts to completely cool and then make the glaze.
- To make the glaze, add the milk, strawberry jam and vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract to a medium bowl and whisk until combined. Add the powdered sugar and mix until the glaze is smooth. To make the glaze thicker add more powdered sugar a teaspoon at a time and to make the glaze thinner, add milk a teaspoon at a time.
- Top each pop tart with a teaspoon of the strawberry glaze and enjoy!
Notes
- Assemble the pop tarts completely — dough, filling, and sealing the edges.
- Do not egg wash them before freezing (wait until you’re ready to bake).
- Place them on a baking sheet in a single layer, not touching.
- Freeze for about 2–3 hours until solid.
- Transfer to a freezer-safe bag or container, separating layers with parchment paper if stacking.
- Label and date — they’ll keep well for up to 2 months.
- No need to thaw.
- Brush with egg wash (optional, for shine).
- Bake at 350 degrees, adding 5–10 extra minutes to the bake time, or until golden brown.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
My family loved this!
They’re so good! Thank you so much for the positive review, Cristy!