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 was just wondering if it was possible like could you specify when you say brown sugar whether it’s light or dark or does it matter? I am new and highly addicted to every last recipe that you have if only we could come up with some butter bear cupcakes or something to that effect would be great I love butterscotch Cheers
Hi Heather! You can use light and dark brown sugar interchangeably. We usually use light, unless we find the flavor to be significantly enhanced by the flavor of dark brown sugar, in which we will indicate that preference in the recipe. Here are our favorite butterscotch cupcakes!
I weighed every ingredient and still my batter turned out very dense and crumbly. What did I do wrong? I’m afraid to bake it 🙁
Hi Joana, crumbly dough is usually the result of too much flour in the dough, but if you weighed your ingredients then that shouldn’t be the issue. Did it just seem hard and crumbly right from the refrigerator? If so, you can let the dough sit at room temperature for a bit before scooping and rolling. The warmth from your hands will help bring the dough together further.
Hi, this recipe turned out really good with both me and my family loving it. However I was wondering if it would be possible to make a gluten free version of this using gluten free all purpose flour. I am new to baking and do not know if you would have to change any ingredients around, thank you.
Hi Suzanne, We haven’t tested these cookies with gluten-free flour, so we’re unsure of the results. Let us know if you do give it a try!
I have this cookie dough made with GF flour chilling in my fridge right now. The dough is really good!! It seems like it should cook well. Sorry I can’t give a full report
I’ve been following this recipe since the beginning of my baking journey :3 every time make one, it always turn out so good. I even brought it to my class’s year end party and everyone loved it! Though I think I kinda messed up the second batch that I made… It’s like this texture of brown sugar… Idk what went wrong but if I have to guess I think I miscounted the cup of flour!
Thank you so much! Your detailed instructions and video helped this novice baker make these cookies turn out great. I can’t wait to make them again.
Terrible recipe. I followed thr instructions exactly and even put the dough in the fridge overnight. They turned into an usable powder.
Unfortunately, that reasoning does not mean it is a terrible recipe. There is a chance you used too much flour. I’ve been using this recipe for months now and it comes out perfectly each time. I recommend giving it another go and weighing the ingredients instead of using cups if that’s what you did previously! 🙂
Hi, this is the 50 g XL cookie. If I want a 25 g size, can I just scoop 25 g instead?
Sure can!
Can this be used as a cookie dough base recipe? I’ll just change thr mix in (mms instead of chocolate chips)?
Hi Princess, Yes, you can swap M&Ms for chocolate chips without making any other changes – or even use half of each.
delicious and yummy. easy to follow recipe. best when it’s freshly made. great for small get togethers!
Love this recipe! I added orange zest to it and there are so so good!!
I love this recipe bc its so quick with the melted butter. Thank you!
100% the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever eaten or made! Never using another recipe again. Also it’s really easy to make. Love how clear the instructions are, and that the recipe has grams!
Can I use the same base recipe as this and half of the dough I add sprinkles? I tested this recipe and loved it but at my sons school not all children loves chocolate.
Sure! Or you may also love our sugar cookies with sprinkles.
Amazing cookie recipe. 10/10 recommend especially with extra chocolate chips on top. This will be replacing my previous favorite!
Very tasting cookies and easy to do.
Thank you
We’re happy to read these were a hit for you, Fadia!
Made them a few days ago and they are amazing!
Just one question, if a put less sugar in them next time (since they are a tad bit too sweet for me), should I increase the amount of some other ingredient to keep the recipe as similar as possible? Or do you perhaps have some other suggestion?
Thanks!
Hi Arya, 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. Let us know if you do any experimenting!
this recipe is very similar to the one i have to brown the butter which I like as it gives the cookies a very good flavor regular recipes just don’t have. It’s a toffee like flavor, can I use this recipe except to brown the butter then to follow the rest,or will browning the butter change something ? Making them in cylinder like shape sounds good as you said it would be chewier.
Thank you
Hi Jennie, we usually suggest using the recipe for Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies instead. Let us know if you give them a try!
I’ve had a hard time finding a chocolate chip cookie recipe that is chewy not cakey at all, but these are perfect!! Will definitely be making them again!
I made my cookie balls taller instead of rounder as suggested. They did not spread into a nice round cookie. They stayed higher. Any idea why?
Hi Cathy! It sounds like there may have been too much flour in your 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.
These cookies exceeded my expectations! I debated between this recipe or using browned butter (my usual) but I wanted to add some M&Ms for the Super Bowl and thought browned butter would be too much. These cookies were amazing! Soo delicious!! Thick and chewy with incredible flavor and texture! They were a big hit at my party the plate was completely empty. I’ll definitely be adding this recipe to my rotation of “go to’s”. Thank you Sally, you’re recipes are always delicious!
I chilled it for about four and a half hours, and I left it sitting at room temperature for 45 minutes, and it wasn’t flattening in the oven.
Hi Willow, 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, too. Hope this helps for your next batch!
Hi I would like to ask if i could make it crispier, do i just leave it in the oven more or do iflat it?
Hello im just looking for clarification for the eg but should there be 2 yolks in the dough then?? Hoping to make some stuffed biscoff cookies soon so just want to make sure before I go ahead, thanks!
Hi Jordyn, Yes! You’ll need one full egg (white + yolk) plus one more just yolk.
Do I need to
Make any adjustment for high elevation
Hi Sam, I wish we could help, but have no experience baking at high altitude. Some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
I’m about to try this recipe, but will this work for cookie cakes ?
Hi Florestella, here is our chocolate chip cookie cake recipe instead!
Hi Sally, I just made your Chocolate Cookie recipe using the melted butter method. The cookie result was fabulous. The method was fabulous. I incorporated the chocolate chips into batter before the dry ingredients were totally mixed. This was my problem. I put the batter in the fridge overnight and found it extremely difficult to work with even leaving it out for 15 mins, that actually turned into more than 15 mins. The dough was too hard. And I only got two dozen cookies. Is it necessary to chill the dough?
Hi Sharon, we’re so glad you enjoyed the cookies! Yes, chilling is necessary for this dough. Without it, the cookies would spread into puddles. You can leave the dough out a bit longer to help bring it to a workable consistency. The exact timing can vary depending on the exact temperature of your refrigerator, kitchen, etc. Hope this helps for next time!
These came out great, loved the softness and the great flavor from the dark sugar. I really liked the vanilla taste, might try to bump this up a bit more. Very easy to make and the no mixer made it a fast to do.
Hi there, do my ingredients have to be room temperature since the cookie dough goes into the fridge after?
Hi Ash, the eggs combine with the other ingredients better at room temperature. Plus, we’re using melted butter here, and cold eggs will solidify the butter and make the dough too stiff to mix properly. You can read more about room temperature ingredients here!
The cookie flavor is amazing. I will absolutely make these cookies again. The only change would be fewer chocolate chips. I’ll reduce to 3/4 or 1 cup. Other than that, definitely worth the extra time it takes to chill the dough.
I wrote a review of these cookies that wasn’t very flattering, and I need to amend my comments. I had tried them when they were hot/warm, and they didn’t taste that good to me (could be I ate too much of the dough, as usual. lol). After they had cooled off, I ate another one, and another one, and so on. They are DELICIOUS!!! I will definitely make them again, and again…LOL
I need to amend my previous review regarding these CCCC. When I first tried these cookies, they were hot/warm, and I didn’t love them. However, after they’d cooled off, I tried them again, and they were DELICIOUS!! I will definitely make them again and again. Thank you so much for this recipe.
I am new to your recipes and this was one of my first. Not my last! Hands down my new fave chocolate chip cookie recipe. I am trying the snickerdoodles next.
Hello, when you say add one large egg and one egg yolk, do you mean the shell of that egg and then the yolk? Sorry, this is my first time baking so I wanted to make sure, thank you for the recipe and your time
Hi Lotte, You will need 2 eggs for this recipe. For one egg, you will need the egg white and egg yolk (not the shell). For the second egg, you’ll separate the egg white and yolk and use only the yolk. Hope that helps!
So, for the last few years I have baked something for the students and staff in my wife, Susan’s, university office 2 or 3 times a month. This week I made these cookies, but I took 10 of them to the clinic I work at since they were pretty big. My wife brought back more feedback than I usually get. One staffer told her they were the best chocolate chip cookie EVER. Then a delegation of students came and asked her to tell me ‘thank you, we loved them, but you didn’t send enough! You need to send more!’ Thank you Sally, from me and Susan’s office!