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
when chilling what can i cover the dough with.
Hi Jazmin, we usually use plastic wrap.
I usted to think that I had the best chocolate cookie recipe ever….but as their pintures looked great and lumpy, I decided to give Sally,s recipe a try. Oh my god! This AREEEE the best! Thank you for sharing all the details. Follow everything exactly as she tells, and you will see….best cookies ever!
Sally, thank you for this recipe. I use it as the base for many flavors. I used it as a base for 4 varieties in my cookie boxes. I filled them with Rolo candies like your other recipe, used chocolate chips in another, m&ms and covered them with white chocolate drizzle, and then used dried cranberries and walnuts in the other. Great recipe and very easy to play around with.
HIGHLY RECOMMEND. This is my tenth recipe I’ve tried from your website and I’m hooked. We have loved so many including the banana muffins, the gingerbread bars, mocha cookies with peppermint and white chocolate, your pie crust, and the chocolate cupcakes with cream inside. And more! Thank you Sally!
I can’t get the cookies to spread or be as soft (need to slightly shorten the dough balls and can’t let them be taller than wide). I’m using a scale and exact steps, no alterations. From your video it seems your melted butter, sugars, etc. mixture is quite more liquid when you pour it and I wonder if that’s contributing. Any suggestions or ideas what I could be doing wrong? Thanks!
Hi Len! Yes, you want the butter to be totally melted when it is added with the sugars. Is yours more solid? That would definitely change the consistency of your dough.
I have the same problem. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. My butter was completely melted.
Tried so many different recipes. Always come back to this one!
What effects of I used soften butter instead of melted?
Hi Marea! Melted butter produces the chewiest cookies. If you would like to use softened butter, you can use our giant chocolate chip cookies recipe (you can make them regular sized!).
Thank you for the perfect recipe. Simple to follow and it’s definitely the best I have ever tried. Happy to hear they are in your book!
I love these cookies, and I love your new book! Your recipe says to pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together with a large spoon or spatula. Can I use my KitchenAid if I don’t mix too much? Also, can I triple this recipe? Thanks!
Hi Karen, you can double or even triple this recipe if your mixer can hold the added volume. Be very careful not to overmix. So glad these are a favorite for you!
I made these cookies and for some reason they came out very flat
Hi Jane, we’re 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!
These are genuinely THE best cookies I’ve ever made. I’ve tried some different types of chocolate chips and things and I think my favorite with these cookies are dark chocolate chips. They turn out perfect EVERY time and I have to hide them to keep my parents from eating them all. We all love these and they’ve made it into the Christmas cookie menu!! AMAZING recipe.
We make cookies a lot! This is a perfect recipe!!! They looked instagram perfect- and tasted even better. we did refrigerate them for 2 days bc we ran out of time the first day.
Doubled your recipe; used 3 whole eggs, 1/2 cup of the flour was brown rice flour, added a tsp of psyllium powder (fam is fiber challenged)
Turned out really good. Mine needed 14 minutes to be done to our liking. Thanks for the recipe
Can I use salted butter as that is what I always have on hand? If so, how much salt should I use? If not, why? I love that you give explanations about what an ingredient does to the outcome. Thanks.
Hi Kat! You can use salted butter and reduce the added salt to 1/8 teaspoon. You can read more about unsalted vs. salted butter in baking. Enjoy!
Hello!
Great recipe!
Texture was great, chewy and all.. However, we found the cookies too sweet. Any tips to reduce sweetness without compromising texture? Will using dark chocolate help? Thank you
Hi Sennen, Using dark chocolate would be a good idea to make them slightly less sweet! You can try reducing the sugar, but as you mentioned, sugar plays an important role in the taste, texture, and structure of a recipe, so we’re unsure of the results when using less sugar. We’d recommend starting small, and then you can reduce further in future batches as needed.
Hi Sally. I decided to try this recipe, I absolutely love it the texture, however I thought was too sweet for me. If I cut down some sugar, will it change the texture?
Hi Angela! Sugar is used for moisture and texture in baked goods as well as taste. You can certainly try reducing the sugar, but the resulting texture will be different than intended.
I just made these and they are delicious! Do you have cookie weight and baking time if I would like to make them smaller for my grandchildren?
Hi Paula! You can definitely make them smaller. The bake time will be slightly shorter, so just keep an eye on them as they bake.
These were such good cookies I give it a five star rating me and my daughter might not be professional bakers, but this taste so good that makes us feel like we’re professional bakers this will be our chocolate chip cookie recipe for life.
I absolutely love this recipe is my go to for any event, except this time i have a question, if I freeze the cookie dough in balls for 3 days do they loose their freshness? As in do they come out with the same level/quality when you just let them refrigerate over night and bake them afterwards as the recipe states? I ask because I’ve never frozen them
Hi Colette, Yes! 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 our tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
My friends all love these, but I have a dairy allergy. Any ideas on how to substitute for the butter?
Hi Mary, we haven’t tested it ourselves, but many readers have reported success using plant-based butters in this recipe. Let us know if you try it!
Just started the Christmas baking with a batch of these using terrys chocolate orange chunks. Love this recipe so much.
The baking time and temperature are completely off, tried it with 3 different oven and the cookies came out raw each time. I would recommend 375 for 12 minutes.
I’d say maybe off for your particular oven. I would get an over thermometer if I were you. Also, they are meant to look a little underdone, as they continue baking and setting as they cool.
Just made these. They are amazing! I had to bake a tad longer than the recipe calls for. But, that could be my oven. These are definitely going in the Christmas cookies boxes!
These are my go to Cookies….Everyone loves them..
Thank you so much!!!
Yum!! Just made these and added in mini marshmallows and wow. Absolutely delicious. So easy & soft & perfect.
I’m so in love with this recipe, I never use another. I panicked a bit today when I couldn’t find my printed version. My son is coming home from his first college semester away, and I think if I didn’t have these here to greet him, he might turn back and leave!Best. Cookies. Ever. Happy Holidays to you and yours!
These were so good and so easy! I made a quadruple batch for Christmas and froze most of the dough balls to bake later and hand out as gifts. I replaced some of the chocolate chips with Christmas m&m minis, white chocolate chips, and butterscotch chips. They were the platonic ideal of a chocolate chip cookie.
I LOVE your site! Question about this recipe. Have you ever browned the butter?
Hi Calvin Lee! You can certainly use brown butter here, and the flavor is outstanding! But they can be a little more crumbly using brown butter – we usually suggest using the recipe for Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies instead.
It so good I followed the recipe to the tip no cutting corners and omg these are so good warm soft chewy gooey and chocolatey no words can describe my feeling rn ugh my cravings are fulfilled thank you Sally this isn’t baking its fricking science
Dang, Sally! I’ve had some good chocolate chip cookies in my 63 years but these??? Absolutely outstanding! Nice little crunch on the outside, yummy-gooey deliciousness on the inside. At the first bite my eyes rolled back in my head and I found myself in some kind of delightful alternate universe. I made the smaller sized cookies this time, which suited me just fine. I’m about to walk 6 of these lovelies over to my neighbor and he’s going to think I’m a gosh-darned genius! THANK YOU!