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
THE BEST RECIPE !
These cookies are requested OFTEN by my crew of guys!
They them!!!
Great!
My grandchildren all agree this is the best chocolate chip recipe they have tried! And I have 17 grandchildren!!!
I have tried SO MANY chocolate chip cookie recipes over the past 15 years and this one is definitely a winner! It produces bakery-style cookie that’s crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside.
Made this recipe for a friend in the hospital, didn’t have time to freeze it, still worked out perfectly! Substituted the salt for salted butter (Didn’t have unsalted) and added some milk as a binding for the dry and wet ingredients, turned out great!
I’ve made this recipe a few times. I love the chewy texture and love being able to mix it easily.
I ate half the dough before baking the cookies best recipe ever! It tasted exactly as I wanted it to!!!!!
Hi Sally, I have yet to try this recipe but have been looking for a good chocolate chip cookie recipe and based on all the reviews this seems to be the best! Was just wondering why you need an egg and an egg yolk? Would these cookies still work if I only did the egg and not the extra egg yolk?
Cheers
P.S. I love your recipes, I have made many of them and they are always a hit 🙂
Hi Stephanie, the extra egg yolk gives the cookies extra chew—we don’t recommend leaving it out (the cookies will be a dry that way). Hope you enjoy them!
Such delicious cookies! I made these about 3 times so far and let me tell you that these cookies did not fail to amaze me! So chewy, soft, and scrumptious! A amazing bake to feed your sweet tooth! Must try! Thank you Sally!!! Love you!
Delicious recipe! Followed it to a T! 🙂
Tried this new recipe for a birthday party that I have tomorrow. I don’t know if you have a gas stove or an electric stove. I have a gas stove. I followed the recipe verbatim and my cookies look like hell. I would not publish this comment. I just wanted to let you know they did not turn out to look like the pictures you have.
Hi Sarge! We’re happy to help troubleshoot – did your cookies not spread? 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. Here’s more tips for baking cookies!
The cookies turned out great! My cookies usually spread out too much. I will make these again.
This has replaced my go to recipe I love it so much!
The only change I made was to use browned butter because the caramelized flavour it adds is amazing!!!
This has replaced my go-to recipe I love it! The only thing I do differently is use browned butter instead of regular melted butter. The caramelized flavour it adds is AMAZING
Too much butter?! I have tried these cookies with several different temperatures, bake times and levels of chill (after 24 hours in the fridge). They are too soft. They spread too much. Not a fan.
Love SBA for dozens of other recipes. Not this one!
Used this recipe as the base for our cookie ice cream sandwiches. Perfection!
I made these beauties gluten free. I did not add the caster sugar and cook XL for 12 minutes with a sprinkle of sea salt flakes… amazing!!!
Hi! I have an egg allergy any tips for replacing the egg with apple sauce?
We haven’t tested any egg substitutions in this recipe but let us know if you do!
Hello! It’s a wonderful recipe, the taste is amazing. However, I would like my cookies to spread a bit more. Maybe I should reduce the flour or cornstarch amount? Thank you.
Hi DOugh! When cookies don’t spread, there’s usually too much flour in the dough, how do 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.
This is amazing! My first try and my friends love it! Just curious if it is possible to reduce sugar? Thanks!
I’ve been afraid to do cookies because all mine turn out terrible! So I just gave up. I can do cakes fine, but not cookies.☹️ Then I saw your chewy chocolate chip cookies and I’m willing to try again, because they look gorgeous and yummy! Wish me luck.
Best of luck, Sheila!
Made exactly as the recipe reads. Came out perfect. Chewy. My #1 chocolate chip cookie recipe now.
Hi! This is such a great recipe. I’m just wondering…if I’m freezing the cookie dough balls to bake later, do I still need to chill the dough before I make the balls? Or can I go straight from mixing up the dough to forming and freezing the dough balls. Thanks!
Hi Heidi! This dough is quite loose before it’s chilled, so we prefer to chill it before rolling.
Best chocolate chip cookie recipe.
I love this recipe but I still found that they were too flat! Followed the recipe exactly! Should I whisk the flour before I measure it? Do we think that will help?
Hi Jen, thank you for giving this recipe a try! How long did you chill the dough for before baking? We have some helpful tips for how to prevent cookies from over-spreading.
Hi Sally, I’ve made these cookies countless of times, it’s always a success, but I have some questions about how to best store them so that they don’t lose their texture. What I do is I always let them cool completely on the rack and leave them there during the first day, and they’re amazing : crispy on the outside, super chewy inside, yum. But then I put them in an airtight container to store them, prevent them from drying out (and prevent my cat from eating them on the counter during the night haha), but I find that the texture drastically changes. The edges completely lose their crispiness, and the cookies become overall very soft. They’re still chewy inside, and still amazing overall, but I would love for them to keep their crispiness from the first day. What can I do ? Thanks for your help!
I’m so glad you enjoy these chocolate chip cookies! Crispy edges typically soften up if the rest of the cookie is soft and chewy. To maintain that crisp edge, store them only lightly covered. You’ll still lose *a *little* crispiness, but not as much compared to an airtight container.
Hey Sally, I’m am eleven and I’m going to be hosting a bake sale soon. What baked goodies would you recommend selling and for what price? Thanks!
This cookie recipe is the best. Worked great at high altitude
Look no further. This recipe is a keeper! The best chocolate chip cookies I have made in years!
I would love to try this recipe but I would like to make a smaller cookie. What would the bake time be for a rounded tablespoon of dough? Thank you
Hi Jean, we’re unsure of the exact bake time, but the cookies are done when slightly browned on the edges.