With 30 million page views and counting since 2013, these super soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies are the most popular cookie recipe on my website. Melted butter, more brown sugar than white sugar, cornstarch, and an extra egg yolk guarantee the absolute chewiest chocolate chip cookie texture. And you don’t even need a mixer!
I originally published this recipe in 2013 and have since added new photos, a video tutorial, and more helpful success tips. This recipe is such a fan (and personal) favorite that I included it in my New York Times best-selling cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
One reader, Adrienne, commented: “These are the best cookies I’ve ever had. Incredible. Don’t cut corners or you’ll miss out. Do everything she says and you’re in for the best cookies of your life. ★★★★★“
There are thousands of chocolate chip cookies recipes out there. Everyone has their favorite and this one is mine. Just a glance at the hundreds of reviews in the comments section tells me that this recipe is a favorite for many others too! In fact, if you asked me which recipe to keep in your apron pocket, my answer would be this one. (In addition to a classic cut-out sugar cookies and flaky pie crust, of course!) Just read the comments on a post in our Facebook group. These cookies are beloved… and, a warning: they disappear FAST.
Why Are These My BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies?
- The chewiest of chewy and the softest of soft.
- Extra thick just like my favorite peanut butter cookies!
- Bakery-style BIG.
- Exploding with chocolate.
I’ve tested this cookie recipe over and over again to make sure they’re absolutely perfect. I still have a big space in my heart (and stomach) for these soft chocolate chip cookies. Today’s recipe is similar, but I increased the chewiness factor.
One reader, A.Phillips, commented: “Look no further. This is it. This is the perfect cookie recipe. Follow her instructions exactly and the cookies will be chewy and amazing. … These are the most perfect cookies I’ve made and I’ve tried at least 20 different recipes. ★★★★★“
You can make them with chocolate chips or chocolate chunks.
Key Ingredients for Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
The cookie dough is made from your standard cookie ingredients: flour, leavener, salt, sugar, butter, egg, and vanilla. It’s the ratios and temperature of those ingredients that make this recipe stand out from the rest.
- Melted butter: Melted butter produces the chewiest cookies. It can, however, make your baked cookies greasy, so I made sure there is enough flour to counteract that. And using melted butter is also the reason you don’t need a mixer to make these cookies, just like these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin crumb cake cookies, and M&M cookie bars.
- More brown sugar than white sugar: More brown sugar than white sugar: The moisture in brown sugar promises an extra soft and chewy baked cookie. White granulated sugar is still necessary, though. It’s dry and helps the cookies spread. A little bit of spread is a good thing.
- Cornstarch: Why? Cornstarch gives the cookies that ultra soft consistency we all love. Plus, it helps keep the cookies beautifully thick. We use the same trick when making shortbread cookies.
- Egg yolk: Another way to promise a super chewy chocolate chip cookie is to use an extra egg yolk. The extra egg yolk adds richness, soft tenderness, and binds the dough. You will need 1 egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature, just like in these brown butter marshmallow crispy cookies. See the recipe Notes for how to bring your eggs to room temperature quickly.
The dough will be soft and the chocolate chips may not stick because of the melted butter. Just keep stirring it; I promise it will come together. Because of the melted butter and extra egg yolk, the slick dough doesn’t even look like normal cookie dough! Trust the process…
The most important step is next.
2 Major Success Tips
1. Chill the dough. Chilling the cookie dough is so important in this recipe! Unless you want the cookies to spread into a massive cookie puddle, chilling the dough is mandatory here. It allows the ingredients to settle together after the mixing stage but most importantly: cold dough results in thicker cookies. Cover the cookie dough and chill for at least 2–3 hours or up to 3 days. I usually chill it overnight.
(No time to chill? Make these soft & chewy chocolate chip cookie bars, giant chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chip cookie cake, or crispy chocolate chip cookie bark instead!)
- Further reading: How to Prevent Cookies from Spreading
2. Roll the cookie dough balls extra tall. After the dough has chilled, scoop out a ball of dough that’s 3 Tablespoons for XL cookies or about 2 heaping Tablespoons (1.75 ounces or 50g) for medium-large cookies. I usually use this medium cookie scoop and make it a heaping scoop. But making the cookie dough balls tall and textured, rather than wide and smooth, is my tried-and-true trick that results in thick and textured-looking cookies. We’re talking thick bakery-style cookies with wrinkly, textured tops. Your cookie dough should look less like balls and more like, well, lumpy columns, LOL.
Watch the video below to see how I shape them. I also demonstrate how I use a spoon to reshape them during baking if I see they’re spreading too much.
Because of the melted butter in this dough, the dough is very soft and a little greasy before chilling, so it’s harder to shape the cookie dough balls. We recommend chilling first, then shaping. If after chilling the dough is very hard and difficult to scoop, let it sit at room temperature for 15 minutes and then try again.
We typically do not recommend jumping right to the freezer without chilling the dough first. A quick freeze like that can cause the dough to chill unevenly and then spread unevenly during the baking process. For best results, we recommend following the recipe as written. If you don’t have time to wait for the dough to chill, try this recipe for 6 giant chocolate chip cookies instead, which doesn’t require dough chilling (see recipe Notes in that post for details on using the dough to make 24 regular-size cookies).
Tools I Recommend for This Recipe
I’ve tested many baking tools and these are the exact products I use, trust, and recommend to readers. You’ll need most of these tools when making sugar cookies and snickerdoodles, too!
- Baking Sheets
- Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Sheets
- Medium Cookie Scoop
- Cooling Racks
- See More: Best Cookie Baking Tools and 8 Best Baking Pans
Can I Freeze This Cookie Dough?
Yes, absolutely. After chilling, sometimes I roll the cookie dough into balls and freeze them in a large zipped-top bag. Then I bake them straight from the freezer, keeping them in the oven for an extra minute. This way you can bake just a couple of cookies whenever the craving hits. (The chewy chocolate chip cookie craving is a hard one to ignore.)
If you’re curious about freezing cookie dough, here’s my How to Freeze Cookie Dough page (with video tutorial).
Facebook member, Leigh, commented: “These are the only CC cookies I’ve made for years (and this recipe is how I came to be such a fan of SBA!) This recipe worked great when I lived in Denver and had issues with baking at altitude, and it’s still our favorite now that we’re back at sea level. I usually make 4x-6x batches and freeze tons of cookie balls to bake later.“
In Short, Here Are the Secrets to Soft & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies:
- Cornstarch helps product soft and thick cookies.
- Using more brown sugar than white sugar results in a moister, softer cookie.
- An extra egg yolk increases chewiness.
- Rolling the cookie dough balls to be tall and lumpy instead of wide and smooth gives the cookies a bakery-style textured thickness. It’s a trick we use for cake batter chocolate chip cookies, too.
- Using melted butter (and slightly more flour to counteract the liquid) increases chewiness.
- Chilling the dough results in a thicker cookie. Almost as thick as peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, or their gluten-free counterparts, flourless peanut butter oatmeal cookies 🙂
Q: Have you baked a batch before?
Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 13 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours, 45 minutes
- Yield: 16 XL cookies or 20 medium/large cookies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These super soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies are the most popular cookie recipe on my website for good reason. Melted butter, more brown sugar than white sugar, cornstarch, and an extra egg yolk guarantee the absolute chewiest chocolate chip cookie texture. The cookie dough is slick and requires chilling prior to shaping the cookies. This recipe is also in my New York Times best-selling cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch*
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (170g/12 Tbsp) unsalted butter, melted & cooled for 5 minutes
- 3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/4 cups (225g) semi-sweet chocolate chips or chocolate chunks
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt together. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until no lumps remain. Whisk in the egg and egg yolk until combined, then whisk in the vanilla extract. The mixture will be thin. Pour into dry ingredients and mix together with a large spoon or spatula. The dough will be very soft, thick, and shiny. Fold in the chocolate chips. The chocolate chips may not stick to the dough because of the melted butter, but do your best to combine them.
- Cover the dough tightly and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days. I highly recommend chilling the cookie dough overnight to prevent overspreading.
- Preheat oven to 325°F (163°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. If the dough has chilled for longer than 2 hours, let it sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes.
- Using a cookie scoop or Tablespoon measuring spoon, scoop the chilled cookie dough, about 3 scant Tablespoons (about 2 ounces, or 60g) of dough for XL cookies or 2 heaping Tablespoons (about 1.75 ounces, or 50g) of dough for medium-large cookies. Roll into a ball, then use your fingers to shape the cookie dough so that it’s taller rather than wide—almost like a cylinder. This helps the cookies bake up thicker. Repeat with remaining dough. Arrange the cookies 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake the cookies for 13–14 minutes or until the edges are very lightly browned. The centers will look very soft, but the cookies will continue to set as they cool. Cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. While the cookies are still warm, I like to press a few more chocolate chips into the tops—this is optional and only for looks!
- Store tightly covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Allow to come to room temperature, then continue with step 5. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Wooden Spoon or Rubber Spatula | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Cornstarch: If you don’t have cornstarch, you can leave it out. The cookies are still very soft.
- Egg & Egg Yolk: Room-temperature egg + egg yolk are best. Typically, if a recipe calls for room-temperature or melted butter, it’s good practice to use room-temperature eggs as well. To bring eggs to room temperature quickly, simply place the whole eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes.
- Can I add nuts or different add-ins? Yes, absolutely. As long as the total amount of add-ins is around 1 to 1 and 1/4 cups, you can add anything including chopped nuts, M&Ms, white chocolate chips, dried cranberries, chopped peanut butter cups, etc. I love them with 3/4 cup (135g) butterscotch morsels and 1/2 cup (100g) Reese’s Pieces. You could even add 1/2 cup (80g) sprinkles to make a sprinkle chocolate chip cookie.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking success tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Reader Comments and Reviews
THE BEST cookie recipe!
Can I tefrigerste dough for couple days before baking so I can bake fresh for an event??
Hi Mina! Refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.
AMAMAMAMAMAZINGGGGGGGGGGG
This recipe was PERFECT. When I say my kids and my husband love them, it’s an understatement. They devoured them almost as soon as they hit the plate. Will make this again and again.
How well does this recipe work doubled?
Hi Cecelia, you can double this recipe. Enjoy!
So slay
Hi,
I made these cookies, they are awesome
But I need the nautrients.
Hi Ivan, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
And how many servings is it?
16 XL cookies or 20 medium/large cookies.
How come cooking only takes 13 mins & prep takes 15 mins but total is 2 h & 45 mins? It is like this on a fair few of your recipes…
Hi Bailey! The total time includes chilling the dough.
I made your chocolate chip cookies yesterday but cooked them today and they are the best I ever had!!! Thank you so much ❤️
Hi, what will happen if i don’t chill them at all?
Hi Jazz, chilling the dough prevents the cookies from spreading.
I made these cookies, but with brown butter (+a tbsp of milk) and it was spectacularrr
I also added chocolate chunks ( dark, milk, and white) and called them calico cookies
Hi, if I have to make them eggless then what should I substitute the egg and egg yolk with
Hi Janhavi, We haven’t tested an egg-free version of this cookie, but let us know if you do any experimenting. If you’re interested, here are all of our naturally egg-free recipes. Glad these are a favorite for you!
This is the best recipe! I have a question though. I left out the cornstarch (because I thought I had some but I didn’t, oops!) and these came out incredible, even still.
My question is: what does the cornstarch do? I figured it was for a more stable, crispy edge, but these are pretty perfect as is! As I frequently say in my house when picking out a baked good recipe “Sally’s never fails!”
Hi Anna, Cornstarch promises an extra soft and thick chocolate chip cookie. We’re so glad you loved them without it too!
When I chill them do I cover them with cling film or not
Hi Haf, yes, we do recommend covering the cookie dough when chilling to prevent it from drying out.
I made these over the holiday and my family cannot get enough. These cookies are just the right amount of chewy and oh so good. The best I’ve made. Thank you!
The batter was a little crumby, but after I baked it, they were very delicious. The batter was kinda hard to work with because I didn’t add enough liquids. They still turned out good though.
I made these cookies two days ago—they are amazing!! One thing: I refrigerated the dough over night and left it out for 15 minutes when I was ready to bake as directed. Even after those 15 minutes the dough was a bit hard and crumbly to manipulate. Left it out another 30 minutes and same. I then started squeezing the dough and forming dough balls with my hands and that was what warmed it up enough to soften and stick together. Is that normal and is that because the melted butter had chilled and was therefore a harder texture?
Thank you so much
Came out rich soft and chewy
Amazing
Hi Sally, these were very delicious but I think I made some mistakes. I’m new to baking. After mixing in the wet and dry ingredients it was very dry and hard to mix things together. And then the cookie dough was rather hard and a bit crumbly. When baking in the oven, they ended up not spreading well and were very thick. They still tasted really good! But what do you think the primary problems were?
Hi Alex, How did you measure your flour? Be sure to spoon and level to avoid the dough being crumbly.
Hi Sally! Does this recipe work in high altitudes? Or are there some changed I should make? I’ve used this recipes for YEARS but just moved up to Denver!
Hi Samantha, we wish we could help, but we have no experience baking at high altitude. Some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
This is the best chocolate chip recipe I’ve tested.
As an added step, I’ve been soaking the brown sugar in 2 tbsp of bourbon (or rye) for half an hour before following the recipe. It adds a slight boozy flavor and enhances the caramely taste of the cookie itself.
Hello Sally,
Can I add a small piece of frozen nutella in the cookie as I shape it? to basically make nutella filled cookies.
Thank you in advance,
Hi Stefania, we can’t see why not! Let us know how they turn out if you try.
I usually do not write reviews but I had to. These cookies are the best I have ever made and eaten. So chewy and delicious! I am 73 and it took me this many years to find the perfect Recipe. Thank you Sally.
I forgot the cornstarch lmao but they became crispy edged, with delicious chewy center. Well loved and appreciated by the family. Used a bigger scoop and had to cook them 15-16 minutes in case anyone else tries
I haven’t made the cookies yet but I am mixing the dough and its a bit crumbly, is that normal if not how do I fix it?
Hi Nour, How did you measure your flour? Be sure to spoon and level to avoid the dough being crumbly.
To soften the dough back up use a little bit of butter to make it more softer to be more wet but just enough if any thing it will be a little bit more buttery so to fix that add a half a tea spoon of vanilla that or should even things out enjoy PS mix just enough
I never leave comments on recipes, but these turn out just too perfect not to! I sometimes edge on a little less flour so they spread a bit more and get slightly crispy edges.
*chef’s kiss*
Hi Sally, I accidentally got milk chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet chips. Is that okay to add? Thank you!
Hi Gina, Absolutely. You can use milk chocolate, but they will be sweeter!
These cookies are so good. They actually are soft and not all thin looking
I have been making these cookies for a few months now for both my family and my coworkers and all agree that these are the best chocolate chip cookies they have ever had. Even people who say they don’t care much for cookies are enjoying these cookies. I fully understand why it’s so popular. They are wonderful and delicious and easy to make.
Slaps
Hello, the recipe is really good and i love the cookies. I want the same recipe but with cacao, Can i put cacao in it or will it ruin it? And if yes how much do i put??
Hi Rama, here is our recipe for double chocolate chip cookies instead!