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
Made these for the first time last night. Accidentally didn’t read all the instructions and ended up not properly adding sugars with the butter and egg, but it still tasted so good. Baked about half the dough and I didn’t really measure. Hubby and I went to “try” one cookie while they were still warm and I ended up eating THREE AND HE ATE FOUR! We ate more than half of them in less than ten minutes. Then later that night I was feeling hungry before bed so I ate one cookie. It was even better after letting it cure in the glass container for a few hours. It took a lot of courage not to finish the cookies, but I knew if I did my husband would have been mad because they’re TOO good. I promise you there’s no question. This is the best chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever had. No need to even try another recipe. This one really is the winner. Thank you sally for doing all the guesswork. I’ll be making these part of my regular dessert rotation.
Hi Sally
Do you have any recommendations for making this cookie thicker, while at the same time keeping the great taste of this cookie?
Thank you!
Hi Anelda, a thicker cookie will be less chewy and have a little more flour in it. You can do some experimenting to achieve your desired result!
I just put this batter together and completely forgot to melt the butter! Can I still use the batter?
Hi Bonnie, did you forget to add butter to the cookie dough? The texture will be very different without butter.
I made these last night and I think they’re the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had. I followed the directions and they came out perfect. 10/10
This is the very best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever! Tasty, easy to make and enjoyed by all! Thank you, Sally, for creating this amazing recipe.
I’ve baked these cookies countless times, they’re a favorite in our house. The whole sheet is gone before they’re fully cooled. My 4 year old loves to help in the kitchen. She is usually standing on a chair stirring or reading the number of grams on the scale for each ingredient verifying it’s the same as in the recipe. However this last time we made them and they came out fluffy, similar to a pancake or a muffin top. I don’t know what caused it. If you happen to have any idea how that happened I would love to know. I have half the cookie dough inside the fridge, I’m also curious if there’s a way to rectify the already made dough. It is also a different consistency, it’s somewhere between a thick batter and a dough. Even after a long chill in the fridge.
Hi Mrs. Silva, we’re so glad these cookies are a favorite for your family! A puffy/cakey cookie is likely caused by 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. There’s not much you can do to modify the existing batch of dough, but hopefully this helps for your next batch!
We use a scale to measure, but I wouldn’t be surprised if my daughter added a bit extra or if I didn’t acurately check the weight. Thank you, I’ll be sure to make sure that the weights are correct instead of entrusting a 4 year old to do it right 100%
Best cookie recipe!
I want to make chocolate spread stuffed cookies – would this recipie work?
Thank you!
Planning on making these for the second time- they are amazing!
I love this recipe and wanted to follow it while incorporating other ingredients to get them double choc. Do you reckon I could change out some of the flour for cocoa powder and still have good results?
Hi Freja, we’d recommend using our double chocolate chip cookies recipe instead—same great chewy texture but with a chocolate dough!
The cookies tasted great, but turned out extremely flat. Any suggestions?
Hi Ella, so sorry you had trouble with these spreading. Here are our best tips to prevent cookies from spreading. Hopefully these tips help for your next batch!
Just a note for any normal person who does not have time (or fridge space) to make a batch of cookie dough to chill for three days, I made these without chilling at all and they were fantastic. Great recipe, the over-engineering is not necessary.
Hi Bob, we’re so glad you enjoyed the cookies! Just a note that you do not have to chill the dough for 3 days. The minimum amount of time we recommend is at least 2 hours, but you can chill for up to 3 days if needed. We find that chilling really helps improve the chewy texture and prevent over-spreading. Thank you again for giving these a try!
Just curious, what are the main differences between this recipe and your Soft Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe? They both seem very similar, why have both?
It’s nice to have a variety or options, Erin! We also have giant chocolate chip cookies, brown butter chocolate chip cookies, and crispy chocolate chip cookie recipes, but these chewy chocolates chip cookies are our most popular.
When I make cookies, they usually spread very flat. Instead of melting the butter, would I just be able to cream the butter with the sugars to ensure a “thicker” cookie? Or should I just find a different recipe that already creams the butter instead of modifying this one? Thanks!
I never really leave reviews but I wanted to say this much:
I didn’t have enough flour, any butter or chocolate chips whatsoever and these cookies still turned out delicious, I used milk and oil as a swap for the butter and gluten free flour in swap for the normal flour (only 1 and 1/2 cups) I didn’t believe these would survive the cooking let alone taste good! Will make these again with the right stuff and give another review!
A hit with my family. Its my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe lately. Thanks Sally!
Potwierdzam, ciastka są obłędne, zamieniłam mąkę kukurydziana na ziemniaczana, bo nie miałam i jak zawsze znacznie mniejszą ilość cukru, zrobiłam 120g ciemnego i 70g jasnego, a tak wyszły za słodkie.
Can I halve this recipe?
Hi Tarik, You could halve the recipe (you would have to use half of one egg and half of one egg yolk though). We would recommend making the whole recipe, freezing any extra dough balls, and then just baking as many as you want at a time.
These are the best! So chewy!!! My favourite recipe by far
made this for myself and friends and it tasted like heaven heard raving reviews from everyone who have it
I make these cookies once a week, my husband is obsessed!
What other toppings should I use for this?
Rumi, I suggest mini m&m’s, pretzels, graham crackers and marshmallows, etc. I also this potato chips, pretzels, and m&ms all together is great.
Hello, i only had medium sized eggs. Can i still follow recipe as written above? Thanks!
Hi Tiffany, Do you have a food scale? Egg weights can vary but usually large eggs in the shell are about 57g, and 50g out of the shell. If you ensure you’re using the correct amount of total ounces for this recipe, you’ll be all set.
I made these 3 days ago, placed in ziplock bags and they are still crisp on edges and soft and chewy. This is hands down a fantastic recipe. Thank you Sally, ur recipes never disappoint!!! I just baked on good cookie sheets, no parchment or silicone mats, was worried I over baked a smidge but, these cookies came out fantastic, used 3-4 ratio of chocolate chips and remaining 1/4 cup used Heath toffee bits totaling designated measurement of chocolate chips, sooo good.
Such great cookies! Didn’t change a thing. Just know that if you refrigerate them overnight that it takes at least an hour before your chilled dough is ready to work with! Even then it’s still pretty hard!
Hi I’m going to try this recipe as a “pizza” cookie. If I use browned butter (I love the flavour) instead of just melted butter will it change the texture?
Thanks!
Hi Debra! Here’s our cookie pizza recipe. You can brown the butter for either recipe, make sure to start with extra butter to account for moisture loss. Here’s our brown butter chocolate chip cookies recipe as well.
wonderful recipe perfect cookies came out would try again
They look delicious..I Keep looking for the recipe is that on here.?
Hi Catherine! Do you see the gray recipe card above? Otherwise, the “jump to recipe” button at the top of the page will take you right to the recipe.
What are your recommendations for adding potato chips?
Does it have to be choc chips , can I use a good quality choc bar and break it up
Hi Peter, yes, you can use a chopped baking chocolate bar instead. They will melt a bit more and give you melted pockets of chocolate (whereas chocolate chips contain stabilizers that prevent them from melting fully), but that’s not a bad thing!
Amazing! I have allergies and I used dairy free ingredients, and it turned out Amazing! my brothers went crazy, and the cookies were gone in 2 days, and I made the whole amount! I would definitely suggest these cookies, and, Sally, thank you! I am a teen, and I love baking, and I love your recipes! Thank you!
Great recipe, easy prep, LOVED the taste. I’ve tried many chocolate chip cookie recipe and this one by far is my favorite. Keep baking Sally! And thank you. (Also added Shake of cinnamon to the recipe.)
Best cookies I’ve ever made! Turned out perfect! Thank you!
This Recipe has no acidic ingredient. How will the Baking Soda work.Better with Baking Powder .
Hi Stefan, brown sugar is an acidic ingredient.