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
Love, love, this recipe. I just ordered your cookbook. But mine got hard the next day. They stayed high and didn’t flatten like mine usually do. Possibly baked too long? Maybe a better grade of butter? Measured carefully….I’m going to try another batch and watch the timing closer. Should they start browning? Thanks for any help….
Hi Pam, so glad these are a favorite for you! If you find the cookies are not spreading enough, you can take them out of the oven and lightly tap the baking sheet on the counter to help initiate spread. Or, you can use the back of a spoon to gently press them down. How are you measuring your flour? Be sure to spoon and level (or use a kitchen scale) to ensure the flour isn’t over-measured, which can prevent spread. Over baking can also contribute to a hard texture. Hope this helps for your next batch!
Could you use this recipe to make one big skillet cookie?
Hi JB, You can bake this cookie dough in a skillet – YUM! Use the baking directions for this M&M’S® Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie as a guide and see the recipe notes about what size skillet to use. Let us know how it turns out!
Can this recipe be used to make a few 6 inch cookie pizzas? (How thick?) I noticed you have a cookie pizza recipe but that makes a 12 inch cookie pizza. Any tips using this recipe or the other recipe? Ive only ever made this one for regular cookies and its amazing. I noticed the other uses only 1 egg.
Hi Rosie, we would recommend using our cookie pizza recipe and portioning the dough into smaller rounds for smaller cookie pizzas. Bake time will vary and you can multiply the recipe as needed.
Hello Sally, Wow! These chocolate chips cookies were absolutely divine! Thank you.
If you are someone who likes a little cookie dough with your chocolate chips, this is the recipe for you. Too many chocolate chips. Do not chill the dough more then 2 hours or you will not be able to scoop the dough, even though the recipe says the dough can be chilled 3 days(which I did)
Completely agreed. The amount of chocolate chips in this recipe is wiiild. I used 100g and it still felt like a lot.
Hello, back again. I made the dough and it’s resting, but after I mixed the butter, egg, and sugar; the recipe said the mixture should be thin, and my mixture was like the consistency of Nutella if that makes sense. Any clue as to what I did wrong? Thank you.
Hello my cookie dough came out dry & crumbly. Not sure where I went wrong?
Hi Ramona, how did you measure your flour? Be sure to spoon and level to avoid the dough being crumbly. Hope this helps for next time!
Hello! I wanted to know if the melted butter was cooled, warm, or mixed in straight after being melted? Thank you !
Hi Mary, you will want to use melted butter cooled for about 5 minutes.
Worst recipe! Despite chilling, they spread way too much on the edges. The edges and bottoms overcooked while the middle was liquid. The dough felt off when I made it I knew it was going to bake weird. What is wrong with these cookies??
I measured everything the way the recipe called for and used all of the same ingredients, oven temp, and time. I purposely didn’t refrigerat them, because I like the dreaded cookie spread, which for some reason I never get. The cookies came out pretty dry. and I was very disappointed. Do you think the weather has anything to do with the outcome of baking these cookies?
Hi Victoria, great question, and I’m sorry these were disappointing. Weather can definitely play a small role in baking, especially in very dry climates or during winter when indoor air is dry, but it usually isn’t the main reason cookies turn out dry and don’t spread. That combo typically points to a little too much flour, or an oven that runs hot, which can set the edges before the cookies have time to spread. Be sure to spoon and level the flour or, even better, weigh it. Do not scoop it into the measuring cup. I’d also double-check that the baking soda was fresh and that the cookies weren’t baked even a minute or two past the ideal time. Pulling them out when the centers still look slightly underdone helps keep them chewy. If you don’t chill the dough, they should spread quite a bit, so next time you could also try flattening the dough balls slightly before baking. I hope all of this helps.
I don’t like chocolate, so could I just take out the chocolate chips or would that mess with the consistency of the cookie?
Hi Elle, The cookies will be more flat without the chocolate chips, but you can leave them out if you would like for a plain cookie. You may also enjoy our drop sugar cookies recipe!
My family loves these cookies. However, I find them a little too sweet. If I use less sugar, will they come out the same?
Hi Stephanie! 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.
Hiii
I need your help.
I’ll be making these cookies for Valentine’s Day can I shape the dough?
I want to bake heart shaped cookies
Please help me
Hi Mrinalini, this dough is best used as a drop-style cookie. It will not hold it’s shape like a cutout cookie. Here are our Valentine’s Day Sugar Cookies, if you’re interested.
This is my go-to cookie recipe and everyone loves them! I find that they spread a lot when I bake them though and don’t stay thick like yours in the photos. Any tips for limiting spread and getting them to stay thicker?
Hi Dana! Here are our best tips to prevent cookies from spreading. Hope this helps for your next batch. Thanks for giving these a try!
I made this recipe but opted for browned butter instead of just melted butter because I like the deeper flavor of browned butter in my cookies. I ended up with a dough that was much too dry and cakey cookies that didn’t spread. My guess is the butter burned off too much. Next time I will try 14 TBSP browned butter and 2 cup flour and hope it works out.
Hi Minday! We usually suggest using the recipe for Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies instead.
The cookies came out really delicious and my whole family loves this recipe. I managed to swap to all whole wheat but I added 1-2 tsp of liquid (I used whole milk) for every cup or 120gm to prevent dryness, turned out perfect.
Hi. I love this recipe and wanted to make again this week, but I only have unbleached APF on hand. Will this work?
Hi Meredith, Yes, you can use unbleached or bleached all-purpose flour—your preference.
Could I put potato chips in these without changing the chewiness too much? How would I go about that?
Hi Andrew, You can replace some of the chocolate chips with crushed potato chips for a sweet and salty cookie. Just keep the total amount of add-ins to 1 and 1/4 cups and you can fold them in to the cookie dough at the same time. Enjoy!
Hi, can I double this recipe to make two batches? Or should I make the dough twice?
You can double this recipe.
Excellent cookie! I halved the amounts of all sugars, used extra virgin olive oil in place of half the butter, replaced 1/4 cup of the flour with almond flour. Also only used 1 cup chips. Refrigerated for 3 hours. Still so so good. Can’t taste the olive oil at all, and it’s plenty sugary for me!
I left prepared dough in the refrigerator overnight. I took the bowl out the next morning and let sit for 30 minutes. It was still too firm to scoop the dough. 15 minutes was the waiting time in the instructions. How long should I wait?
Hi Patricia, just let it sit until it warms up just enough to scoop. It can be pretty hard after chilling for overnight. Hope you enjoy these cookies!
Most amazing chocolate chip cookie, ever, and I make a lot of them for my granddaughter. That’s the only cookie she eats. It was so easy to make and quick clean up, especially when you weigh ingredients. I did chill them 48 hours then baked. Perfect. I can always count on Sally for the best recipes.
MG, Canada
Great recipe! Exactly what I was looking for, soft and chewy! I used a little less chocolate chips than what the recipe called for as I always like to taste a little more of the cookie. This will be my go to recipe from now on.
First time I made these, I scooped and leveled the flour. They ended up thick and too dry. Then I made them the second time, I spooned and leveled the flour, and put it on the scale- it was almost 300 grams of flour, and recipe calls for 281. So I actually used the 20gram per cup conversion instead of 25gram. Cookies were flat and greasy. My sister makes these and has no problem- she said maybe my baking soda was old.
Tried for a third time, all new ingredients (and high quality- I used kerrygold butter and King Arthur flour) I followed the exact measurements (with a scale) and they still turned out flat and greasy. I’m truly at a loss!
Hi CJ, Are you allowing the butter to cool just slightly after it’s melted? This helps prevent any overly greasy texture and any excess spread. If you’re using a scale to measure your flour, it’s likely the butter is the culprit. Let us know if we can help troubleshoot further!
Yes, let it cool longer than 5 mins. Also, 2 1/4 cups of spooned and leveled flour consistently comes out to 300 grams- so I went with it, however they still came out flat and greasy. I ordered a brand new Williams and Sonoma baking sheet, with a silpat liner- and still flat and greasy. The dough looks like my sisters (who makes them perfectly) I even pop them in the freezer for a bit to make them firmer. I don’t know what to do next!
This recipe is amazing. I have made them several times without any problems. This past week, I elected to refrigerate the dough overnight. I let the dough sit out for 15 minutes and it was rock hard. The cookies did not spread when I baked them. I followed the recipe by rolling the dough in my hands and creating more of a column shape.
These cookies are exactly as they are described! If your looking for that store bought extra chewy chocolate cookies but homemade look no further! I added 1 teaspoon of salt it’s. Personal preference but I thought they needed more. You do need to mix in the chocolate immediately to get it to blend. I roll it into a log and just slice as I want to make a warm cookie! These have become a favorite for sure!
I literally will never go back to making cookies with room temp butter ever again! Follow the recipe and you won’t be disappointed! OMG!!
I baked the first batch of cookies and they spread way too much. I then put the rest of the batter in a 9in. square pan and made great cookie bars.
Success! Hi. Sally, these are the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made-feedback fom my two boys. I sprinkled a bit of sea salt on top as soon as I took them out of the ovn. VERY good cookie.
Hello Bakers
Can I use arrowroot in place of the cornstarch?
Thanks!
Hi Lee, arrowroot powder can be a good substitute for cornstarch. Otherwise, you can just leave it out without any other changes.
Would it be OK if I doubled the recipe or should I just make the dough twice?
Hi Evan, you can double this recipe.