These pear chocolate chip sourdough muffins combine a delicious combination of flavors. The soft fruit, chocolate, sweetness and a little tang from sourdough all work so well together. And they're easy to make, too.

Pear chocolate chip sourdough muffins in tin with cup of coffee to side

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I used to make sourdough now and then a while back but all too often, it has fallen by the wayside and I've had to abandon my starter. I told myself when we moved, though, I would get back into it. So I got a starter going not too long after we got here.

Little did I know that it would become all the rage with the changing events.

one muffin in front of others split open to show pieces of chocolate and pear

While I do like making bread relatively often, I was also keen to explore other uses for sourdough starter since I assume we weren't the only people who didn't necessarily need a loaf all the time.

Plus, I do sometimes find the timeline for making then enjoying a loaf doesn't always work out for us.

You may have already seen my sourdough pancakes and sourdough cinnamon rolls, both of which we loved. I was keen to try sourdough in muffins and have played around with additions. Having landed on this combination, I knew I had to share as this worked so incredibly well.

adding wet ingredients, pear and chocolate chips to dry ingredients

Using sourdough starter in baked goods

Don't think of your sourdough starter just as a leavening agent, it can also add flavor to baked goods that have another raising agent. Just as the starter adds a lovely slightly sour flavor to bread, it can add an extra depth and slight sourness to other things.

Really, the options are pretty much endless in terms of what you can add it to. As long as there is both flour and some liquid, you can swap in some starter.

Exactly how much can vary, so it can be a little trial and error, but a good place to start is around a ½ cup of starter for a medium-sized recipe, as I have used here.

Assuming your starter is 100% hydration (so you have been adding the same weight of both water and flour), then you can use it to replace roughly equal amounts of both flour and liquid from a recipe.

So if you add in ½ cup of sourdough starter, you can reduce the flour by about ¼ cup and the liquid by ¼ cup (roughly speaking).

You can use both an active and less active sourdough discard as well. If the starter os more active, it will add more list to whatever you add it to. If it's not active, you may need a little extra leavening agent (baking soda, baking powder or yeast) to compensate. But again, it depends a little what you are making.

Pear chocolate chip sourdough muffins with cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top, ready to bake

Making sourdough muffins

Here, the sourdough is really just for flavor and so you don't need to worry too much whether the starter is active or not. It also means you don't have to wait around for anything to rise, so these come together quickly.

They follow the typical formula for muffins:

Mix the wet ingredients in one bowl.
Mix the wet ingredients in another bowl (as well as the sugar).
Add them together, along with the add-ins, in this case chunks of pear and chocolate.

Half of a pear chocolate chip sourdough muffin held in hand

The pear should be ripe but still firm for these. That way, the chunks add a nice sweetness but don't become mush.

I've topped these with a little cinnamon sugar to give a nice extra little burst of sweetness, flavor and crunch on the top. You could add a streusel topping if you prefer but this is easier and still works really well.

Will leftover muffins keep?

If you have leftover muffins, you can store them in an airtight container at room temperature for a day or two. I'd recommend warming them slightly before eating - just around 10-20 seconds in the microwave is plenty, or warm in a low oven.

Pear chocolate chip sourdough muffins with one sitting on top of tin, others in tin

These pear chocolate chip sourdough muffins are easy to make, with a delicious combination of flavors. They have sweetness, a slight tang and wonderfully gooey chunks of chocolate. Both a great way to put your starter to use in a different way and a tasty treat with a cup of coffee or tea.

Try these other tasty sweet treats:

Mini lemon almond flour muffins
Apple snack cake
Persian love cake cupcakes
Apple and bacon cornmeal scones
Rhubarb muffins
Plus get more snack recipes, both sweet and savory, in the archives.

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5 from 2 votes