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
I don’t know what sets these cookies apart from other recipes but it is a standout! They baked up perfectly chewy and with the best edges. I always come to Sally first for a recipe and this did not disappoint! I won’t make a different recipe again! It’s so convenient that all my favorite recipes are on one page!
Sally. You should remake this recipe with less dry ingredients. It is very dry and crumbly. I tried to add more egg white and butter, but it didn’t help. My friends and I were really hoping for a nice homemade recipe, but was a little disappointed. Any advice would be helpful.
Hi Gus, sorry everyone was disappointed. If the butter cooled down too much, it won’t soak in as much flour and the dough will be dry.
Tried this recipe twice and both times came out much to floury and big. They also were much more tall than wide, and I can’t figure out why. It probably was because I refrigerated for half the time and used an extra egg white, but it’s not anything that could cause it to be so muffin like. Could you tell me the most likely reason?
Hi Gabby, the most likely cause is too much flour in the dough. How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post. Also, the recipe calls for 1 egg + 1 egg yolk; using 2 whole eggs will yield a less chewy cookie. Hope this helps for next time!
These were the best chocolate chip cookies ever! I have never been able to make good cookies that didn’t go flat, but went by the recipe exactly and they turned out perfect!
Do we use apf bleached or unbleached?
Hi Angie, you can use either, but we usually use bleached flour for cookies.
This is a great recipe, but I love the taste of browned butter. If I brown the butter instead of just melting, will it work the same? Or would I need to adjust the amount? I’d appreciate your input, thanks!
Hi Patti, You can certainly use brown butter here, and the flavor is outstanding. But they can be a little more crumbly using brown butter – we suggest using the recipe for Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies instead.
Love the chocolate chip recipe
Made these for a party and they were a hit! Everyone loved them and asked for the recipe! Definitely will make again. Can’t recommend enough!
Made these for a party and they were a hit! Everyone loved them and asked for the recipe! Definitely will make again. Can’t recommend enough!
I mistakenly doubled the butter didn’t realized until I had chilled the dough. How is this going to affect cookies
The cookies will spread with the extra butter, and taste quite buttery/greasy.
I made these for a party, and I doubled the recipe. They turned out amazing! I’ve also made a single batch, and it turned out great as well.
They were great I made them and they were very thick and chewy just like the recipe says and soft. However, didn’t turn out exactly like the pictures despite making them into the tower shape as recommended by the recipe. Great recipe overall!
I’ve had that problem too. I found that keeping it in the refrigerator over night helps.
The best recipe I have tried for chocolate chip cookies! My friends and fam all love it when I make this recipe specifically 🙂
Really nice cookies but definitely don’t turn out like the pictures despite trying it twice.
Hi Rob, We are happy to help troubleshoot. How did they turn out?
Very nice cookies, havnt tried them yet, just got them out of the oven but wdym Store tightly covered at room temperature for up to 1 week, like bro I wanna eat em now.
Hi Matilida, You can eat them right away! Any leftovers will stay fresh covered for up to a week.
A very solid recipe! It was more of a base, as a lot of changes were made. These included creaming the butter without melting it, using pure brown sugar and temperature/time changes. This did not affect too much, and they turned out very gooey and delicious.
Yield: 22 medium-small cookies (and a mini).
I made these last night into today and they turned out great,I made the dough last night and refrigerated it overnight, this morning when I pulled the dough from the fridge, it was rock hard , so I left it on the counter for 35 minutes to soften baked per instructions (my cookies didn’t need closer to 16 1/2 minutes then 13 to 14) let them cool for a few minutes on the baking tray and then move them to a cooling rack for another 30 to 45 minutes, they turned out amazing!
Thanks so much, Gianna
Olá, Sally, sou eu, o André, o teu maior fã! Eu e a minha avó Linda fazemos sempre estes biscoitos. Eles são tão saborosos! Tenho uma dúvida: posso usar farinha para bolos?
tenha uma boa semana
Andre
Hi Andre, We are so happy you enjoy these cookies! We don’t recommend cake flour in these; it’s too light. All-purpose is perfect.
I LOVE THIS LADY!!! I have mastered bagels because of Sally. EVERY TIME I look for a recipe, i wind up choosing Sally’s! Thank you for making baking super easy!!!
Love this recipe! It is my go-to for my chocolate chip cookies. Also did a butterscotch chip version.
I found that if you mix the chocolate chips in the flour before adding the butter mixture, it is so much easier.
Never need another chocolate chip cookie recipe again. These are AMAZING!!
Hi Sally,
For this recipe and any other recipe that includes vanilla extract on your site, can vanilla bean paste be used as a substitute? TIA!
Hi Audrey, yes, generally it’s fine to substitute in a 1:1 ratio!
This is my go to cookie recipe. My nephews love adding sprinkles and a mix of chocolate chips. I’m trying them out now with M&M’s and pretzel pieces
I added a 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon to the mix and that gave the cookies a warm kick
Hello my dearest and lovely friend Sally. My name is Linda. I always make your cookies for my grandson Andre and his friends. But He hhas a new friend who is lactose intolerant- should i remove the butter and what should i put instead? margarine? thank you sally for your amazing recipes! have a lovely halloween.
Hi Linda, you can try using a plant-based butter alternative such as Earth Balance, Country Crock, or similar. There are lots of posts online from bakers who have tested different options, if you want to do a little research before you buy!
I made these for the first time tonight 7/25/25 My wife says they are better than the ones we usually buy from the Amish bakery near us. Looks like I’ll be making more in the near future.
I’ve always had flat cookies and have tried multiple ways to not have them go flat. I’ve followed the chocolate chip morsel recipe perfectly and they still went flat. I made yours and after DECADES, they are fluffy and look like you buy them in a store. Thank you!!!
the cookies where the best thing ever I sold them at a bake sale everyone LOVED THEM! amazing recipe best to do everything perfectly though DELICIOUS!
I love these cookies as is but would like to substitute honey for the white and brown sugar. Have you tried using honey? And if so how much should be used/do I need to adjust other portions in the recipe?
Hi Jamie, so glad you love these cookies! We haven’t tested these cookies with honey instead of sugar, but generally don’t recommend swapping a liquid sweetener for a dry one.
I made these cookies 3 times now. They are the best chocolate chip cookies ever. My daughter has food allergy to eggs and peanuts so I replaced the with egg with the substitute and they came out awesome perfect soft moist.
I made these cookies and they are delicious. The recipe is easy to follow and don’t skip any steps. I chilled my dough for 2 hours and this is a must. I am making another batch this weekend. Thanks so much for sharing!