This sourdough pop tarts recipe is so easy to make and brings back the best childhood memories. Made with sourdough discard and filled with strawberry jam, you only need a few pantry staples to make this classic treat in your own kitchen.
Raise your hand if you have memories of eating Pop Tarts before school or snagging one out of the vending machine for a snack.
Easy to eat and filled with sugar, how could you not love them?
Of course, now that I know more about whole food and avoiding the long list of ingredients found in pop tarts from the store, you won’t typically find this treat on my grocery list.
I just couldn’t resist trying to make this childhood favorite at home for my own kiddos. Of course, if it happens in my kitchen, it will likely include my sourdough starter.
I used my go-to sourdough pie crust recipe that I use to make everything from apple pies to chocolate pies. After letting my dough ferment in the fridge for a couple of days, I filled small rectangles of dough with homemade strawberry jam I canned last season.
To finish it off, I had to add the all-important glaze on top.
What I ended up with was a delicious sweet treat that had that extra flavor boost from the sourdough discard.
My kids loved them. Luke and I loved them, too, honestly.
So, if you want to enjoy an old-school treat but with more wholesome ingredients, this recipe is for you.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Nostalgic – Many of us remember enjoying Pop Tarts as kids. This recipe brings back all those memories.
Simple ingredients – Made with pantry staples, I wouldn’t be surprised if you had all of the ingredients for this on hand right now. The best part about the homemade version of this iconic snack is there is no high fructose corn syrup, preservatives, or other unwanted ingredients.
Great way to use discard – If you find yourself with a lot of discard or need to use up some of your starter before you feed it next, this recipe is perfect. It’s a fun treat, and you will most definitely impress your kids with this.
Tips
- For those that like to prep a lot of food in advance, double this recipe and freeze the unbaked pop tarts. Flash freeze first on a baking sheet before adding to a freezer safe bag. Bake in the oven when ready to enjoy as directed below.
- If you want to make these extra special, add a few sprinkles on top. These would make a great birthday breakfast or snack.
- To long ferment, let your dough chill in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
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Ingredients
For dough
All purpose flour
Sugar
Salt
Butter – The butter needs to be cold in order to get those delicious flaky pastry layers.
Sourdough starter discard
For Filling
Jam – Use your favorite store bought jam or make your own. We like to use my homemade Strawberry Jam Sweetened with Honey!
Egg – You’ll need to create an egg wash to brush the top layer to ensure you get a beautiful brown color after baking.
For Glaze
Powdered sugar
Milk
Tools You May Need
Large Bowl
Cheese Grater or Pastry Cutter – Either of these work well to incorporate the cold butter.
Pizza Cutter – This is optional, but it makes it really easy to cut the dough into perfect rectangles.
Pastry brush
How To Make Sourdough Pop Tarts
Make the Dough
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, and sugar with a dough whisk.
Add in the cold butter to the flour mixture. Use a cheese grater to grate the butter in or add it in chunks and use a pastry cutter until you get about pea-sized chunks of butter. Be careful not to over mix.
Add in the sourdough discard and mix until just combined. You can use a dough whisk, but I like to use a fork.
Divide the dough in two. I like to use a bench scraper for this. Shape each section of dough into a disc shape and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour or up to 3 days for longer fermentation.
Make the Filling
If you don’t have any jam on hand, you can make your own while your dough chills. My strawberry jam recipe makes 5 pints, but you can cut down the recipe to make as much as you need.
A blueberry, raspberry or blackberry jam would also be delicious in these.
Build the Pop Tarts
On a lightly floured surface, take one of the dough discs and roll it out into a large rectangle, approximately 1/8 inch thick.
Trim the edges as necessary and divide the rectangle into 4 equal-sized long rectangles. I like to use a pizza cutter for this, but a sharp knife or bench scraper works, too.
Fill one end of the rectangles with the jam or filling of choice, leaving some room around the outer edges.
Take the other end of the dough and fold it over the jam.
Crimp the edges together using a fork.
Carefully place each pop tart onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
Repeat with the other disc of dough.
Bake
In a small bowl, whip up one egg to create an egg wash and brush it on top of each pop tart.
Bake the pop tarts at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Add the Glaze
While the pop tarts are baking, make a glaze by combining the powdered sugar and milk in a medium bowl.
Allow the pop tarts to cool completely before spooning on the glaze.
FAQ
Pop tarts are a sweet treat and have quite a bit of sugar. I do feel better making a homemade sourdough version of this classic kid’s favorite though. Plus, in this sourdough version, the fermented grains tend to be easier to digest and make the nutrients in the grains more bioavailable to the body.
I use pie dough for these. It’s the same recipe I use for my sourdough pie crust.
I like to use jam, but, just like store-bought pop tarts, there are a variety of ways you can fill it! You could make a cinnamon brown sugar filling, a chocolate filling, etc. Feel free to get creative!
How to Store Sourdough Pop Tarts
Store your pop tarts in an airtight container. These are best enjoyed fresh, but will last a couple of days.
You could also freeze these. I suggest freezing unbaked pop tarts and then when ready to eat, bake according to the directions above.
Self-Paced Online Course
Simple Sourdough
What’s in this course?
- Make your own robust starter
- Bake your first loaves of sourdough bread
- Understand sourdough better
- Expand your sourdough bread repertoire
- Download my Complete Recipe Book
Try Some of My Other Sweet Sourdough Recipes
- Sourdough Discard Cinnamon Bread
- Homemade Sourdough Graham Crackers
- Easy Sourdough Blueberry Bread
- Homemade Brioche Donuts with Vanilla Custard Filling
- Sourdough Swedish Cinnamon Buns Recipe
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone
Homemade Sourdough Pop Tarts with Jam Filling
Equipment
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 1 Pizza Cutter
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour, 280 g
- 1 teaspoon salt, 5 g
- 1/4 cup sugar, 50 g
- 16 tablespoons cold butter cubed, 1 cup 227g
- 1 cup sourdough starter discard, 285 g
Filling
- 1 cup jam
- 1 Egg, For egg wash
Glaze
- 1 cup Powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
Make the Dough
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, and sugar with a dough whisk.
- Add in the cold butter to the flour mixture. Use a cheese grater to grate the butter in or add it in chunks and use a pastry cutter until you get about pea-sized chunks of butter. Be careful not to over mix.
- Add in the sourdough discard and mix until just combined. You can use a dough whisk, but I like to use a fork.
- Divide the dough in two. I like to use a bench scraper for this. Shape each section of dough into a disc shape and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap.
- Chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour or up to 3 days for longer fermentation.
Make the Filling
- If you don’t have any jam on hand, you can make your own while your dough chills. My strawberry jam recipe makes 5 pints, but you can cut down the recipe to make as much as you need.
- A blueberry, raspberry or blackberry jam would also be delicious in these.
Build the Pop Tarts
- On a lightly floured surface, take one of the dough discs and roll it out into a large rectangle, approximately 1/8 inch thick.
- Trim the edges as necessary and divide the rectangle into 4 equal-sized long rectangles. I like to use a pizza cutter for this, but a sharp knife or bench scraper works, too.
- Fill one end of the rectangles with the jam or filling of choice, leaving some room around the outer edges.
- Take the other end of the dough and fold it over the jam.
- Crimp the edges together using a fork.
- Carefully place each pop tart onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
- Repeat with the other disc of dough.
Bake
- Use the remaining egg wash and brush it on top of each pop tart.
- Bake the pop tarts at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Add the Glaze
- While the pop tarts are baking, make a glaze by combining the powdered sugar and milk in a medium bowl.
- Allow the pop tarts to cool completely before spooning on the glaze.
Notes
- If you plan to make homemade strawberry jam, check out my recipe here.
- For those that like to prep a lot of food in advance, double this recipe and freeze the unbaked pop tarts. Flash freeze first on a baking sheet before adding to a freezer safe bag. Bake in the oven when ready to enjoy as directed below.
- If you want to make these extra special, add a few sprinkles on top. These would make a great birthday breakfast or snack.
- To long ferment, let your dough chill in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
These were so good. I made a brown sugar filling and brown sugar cinnamon icing and they were great.
I’ve made these with all butter and all lard. The lard worked but was a lot harder to roll out. I had to add a lot of flour bc it stuck so much. I think I could do a mix just to save on butter. The all butter tasted better but both super great, flaky and golden on top. Used a little jam to mix in the confection glaze to make a light pink which my daughter loved.
Omg I made the pop tarts and they came out so amazing I was so shocked. Thank you so much!!! Btw if the dough smells sour when you leave it In the fridge after 3 days the pop tarts come out so tasty when you bake them!
I had pop tart dough in the fridge for 3 days when I opened it it smelled very sour like it was bad is it supposed to be like that?
Yes, that is fairly normal. It is fermenting still in the fridge and becoming more and more sour.
This recipe is easy to follow and they turned out delicious! Any tips on how to get your jelly from oozing out during baking?
Sometimes less can be more with the jelly. Also getting those sides pressed down well with a fork to seal the edges.
Can I do this recipe without the sour dough and just use flour?
Yes.
First attempt at a recipe using cold butter and I struggled. I look forward to getting the hang of this recipe, because while my first batch was hideous, they were DELICIOUS! A winner in the making. I can tell.
Do you have to wrap in plastic wrap? Is there an alternative? I’m new, wondering what the purpose of the plastic wrap versus just towel? Thanks!
Plastic wrap helps to keep it from drying out. You could also use a wet tea towel or beeswax wrap.
Yes, you can use Ziploc bag!
Hi! my son is dairy free. Would the recipe work using Smart Balance substituted for the butter. Thanks Gina
Yes, that should work.
I’ve made these before and they’re amazing! But I forget what I had done when I made them before – since I’m refrigerating them overnight, should I get them out to thaw a bit before rolling them out?
Thank you for such a great recipe!
Yes, you can let them thaw for a bit before rolling out. It will probably help.