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
OMG ! I just turned 40 y.o and I finally discover the perfect cookie recipe ! Thank you Sally ! All the recipe i’ve tried over the years always had, at least, one wrong thing (too dry, not chewy, volume, etc …) but this recipe is literraly perfect.
I’ve “translated”the american mesurment into metric system and used a jewelry scale to be precise 0.1 grams close.
I am grateful to Sally and will check her blog.
Americans are a shame when it comes to food, but when it comes to “your” gastronomy, you’re the best, I have to admit it.
I really like cooking for my mom instead of her because she is pregnant so thanks for teaching me to make cookies for the family we all Loved the cookies
Please help! This has been our family’s favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe for eight years now! I’ve made them a hundred times with perfect success each time. The recipe has never failed. We just moved to North Idaho (2250’ elevation) from 5500’ elevation in dry Colorado. Every time I make them they spread very thin and double in size. I make them exactly as the recipe says. Is there any advice you might have? The oven is old, I plan to buy a thermometer and see what the temp discrepancy is, but I’m not sure why the cookies are spreading so terribly.
Hi Rachel, we’re so glad these cookies are a favorite for your family! How hot is your butter? Make sure to not use scalding hot butter – let it cool a bit after melting. Here’s more tips for preventing cookies from spreading that will help for your next batch. Let us know if we can help troubleshoot further!
When I moved from A dryer and higher area to a more lower, more humid one I had to lessen all the liquids in my recipes or increase the flour. You might try that.
If I choose to brown the butter instead of if I choose to brown the butter instead of just melting in the microwave, what do I have to do differently?
Hi Ashley, you can use brown butter here, and the flavor is outstanding! But they can be a little more crumbly using brown butter — we suggest using the recipe for Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies instead.
The cookies are really good but just a bit sweet for my taste. Can I reduce the amount of sugar?
Hi Huong Anh, You can try reducing the sugar, but keep in mind that 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. We’re glad you enjoyed your first batch!
To everyones disdain I have never been a fan of any chocolate chip cookies, that is until I made these. Mu batch was 72 cookies to take to the upper peninsula on our annual vacation. 7 cookies made it to the cabin!!! Needless to say they were on no time once we got there. I now love just these CCCookies! So glad i found this recipe!
This is my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe! So easy to make and I love the fact that you don’t need a mixer. Once you make this recipe you’ll be hooked! I get rave reviews from others whenever I make these. Best chocolate chip cookies!
After researching numerous gluten-free chocolate chip cookie recipes . . . and seeing similar common denominators, but also nuanced differences, I narrowed my search down to two— including Sally’s.
From the wisdom, trial and error, and successes that created the two recipes, it gave me the confidence to use the essential elements of Sally’s recipe.
I ended up buying the highest quality ingredients including an amazing, darker, decadent brown sugar, and I even added chopped walnuts.
My cookies came out absolutely fantastic and my fiancé, who has some of the most eclectic nuanced and experienced culinary tastebuds, absolutely loved them! The few people who had the privilege of trying them thought they were the best cookies they ever tasted!
Thank you Sally for all your work!
The taste is okay, but it is more cake-like than soft and chewy. Not our favorite chocolate chip cookie.
Literally the perfect cc cookie.
My family loves this recipe. Sometimes I would like a little more crispy cookie. Do you have a recipe? Thanks for all your yummy recipes!
Hi Debbie, here is our crispy chocolate chip cookie recipe. Hope you love it just as much!
I have made this recipe many times and they are so yummy. I forgot to put in the baking soda this last time, are they still edible?
Hi Daisy, although they should be edible, they won’t have much rise.
Amazing. I’ve made this recipe twice now and I can confirm these are the most amazing chewy chocolate chips. If you want yours flat and crunchy- this ain’t it! i will say the first time around I felt they lacked a bit of salt- I like my chocolate chip cookies kind of salty-sweet. So second time I did use salted butter and kept everything else exactly the same. PERFECTION! But that is just personal preference. Will make these for life
My family loves this recipe. I modified it slightly I use 3x of dark chocolate chips and then chop a TJs 72% chocolate bar(around two rows) for a total of 225g. Otherwise exactly the same.
Get rave reviews even from an executive chef! They are the best!! Is there a way to get nutritional information for those who are tracking what they eat. Thanks!!
We’re so glad these cookies were a hit, Regine! We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
I loved this thank you so much! Is there a way to know the nutritional values?
This recipe made 15 cookies for us.
Hi Amber, we’re so glad you enjoyed the cookies! We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Truly the best chocolate chip cookie! Don’t skip chilling – just follow the recipe and you’re guaranteed great results! I have tried MANY chocolate chip cookie recipes on the internet and this one is the best. I know I can always count on a Sally recipe – thank you!!
I made the dough one day and refrigerated it overnight. When I was ready to bake I removed it from the fridge and let it sit to warm up a bit, about 10-15 min. I rolled all the balls out, weighing them at 50g each. Baked the first pan at 13 min. and it looked very pale, and soft so put back in for a couple more min. When I finally removed it, they were still quite flat, soft and greasy looking. I continued with the second and third pans of balls, which turned out perfect at 14 min. I don’t have any idea what might have gone wrong with the first pan. I used parchment paper, but used it on one of the other pans as well. And I used a silpat on one.
Hi Mary! Maybe your oven wasn’t quite up to temp for the first batch? We always recommend using an in-oven thermometer so you know exactly how hot your oven is. Most ovens are a little (or a lot) off.
Followed the recipe with the exception of adding toasted pecans. The chocolate chops melted when I added them to the mix because the dough was still warm. I placed the cookie dough in the refrigerator over night and practically had to chisel the dough out of the bowl and roll the dough by hand. There was no way I could use a cookie scoop because the dough was so hard. There were scant few chocolate chips because most of them melted in the warm dough. The cookies taste good but they are certainly not the best chocolate chip cookies I ever baked.
Hi Marianne, it sounds like your butter must have been quite hot if the chocolate chips melted. Did you let it cool after melting? Make sure to let it cool a bit before proceeding with the recipe. Thank you for giving this one a try!
Sally is the best! I love that the recipes have gram measurements, takes all the guessing out! These cookies always come out great. I would love to sub the butter with oil though. I couldn’t find that info in the faqs. How much oil would I use?
Hi Niz! We’re so glad you love these cookies. You need melted butter here for the fat because it is a solid at room temperature. For best results, we recommend sticking with butter, although some readers have reported success with melted coconut oil. The taste will be different with that substitution.
This never fails me!!
My family loves this recipe!!!!! In fact, I make hem very often. They always turn out soft and chewy .. I also make most of them weekly Thank you
Not sure what happened, the flavour of the cookie is good. But the dough was crumbly and had to mold it together, the cookies came out hard and barely soft inside.
Delicious!! I don’t know what I did wrong, but after chilling dough for 3 hours it was so sticky I couldn’t handle it. I used the medium size scooper and it flattened into a perfect cookie. I have no complaints, looked, smelled and most importantly the cookies tasted delicious.
I hate having to wait for butter to set out at room temp. I am not the best baker but these turn out perfect every time! I have a horrid electric oven so I do have to adjust the heat & time in order to bake them how I prefer. Not super crunchy sides and chewy inside. I can make these big or small. Literally have the recipe saved as “best cookie recipe**” for over a year at this point.
Hi Jane, we’re so glad you love these! You can try this trick for softening butter quicker next time!
Sorry I do not know why this is such a highly rated recipe. It’s the worst one I’ve ever tried. I followed directions to a t and cookies came out completely flat. My husband called them cow pie cookies!!
Once again, my (your) chocolate chip cookies are the biggest hit with my grandchildren! They get devoured! This time I added about 1/3 cup of peanut butter chips and oh my goodness! It’s like a Reese’s peanut butter/chocolate chip cookie. SO GOOD!! These cookies are in very high demand! Thanks for the love. It only took me 45 years to find the perfect cookie. 10 stars!!!!!
I have made chocolate chip cookies 100s of times. I made this recipe since I never added corn starch before and I was curious to see if it would really help make my cookies stand tall, stay super soft and chewy and not thin out while baking. OMG! They were as delicious as they were pretty. Thanks for the slight tweak to a pretty common recipe. I did not melt my butter but just let it come to room temperature, with my eggs, like I always do.
Have you ever tried this recipe using brown butter?
Hi Kelly! Yes, and the flavor is outstanding! But they can be a little more crumbly using brown butter — we suggest using our recipe for Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.
I made these with my granddaughter after kindergarten, so of course we added sprinkles!
I was very excited to try these cookies because of lol the amazing reviews, but I knew when I snuck some cookie dough that it was not going to be everything I was hoping for. Cookie dough tasted bad and the cookies were even worse! Lacking the flavor of a good cookie. Texture and look was great though.
Hi Steph, if the dough and cookies tasted bad, perhaps one of your ingredients could have been expired? Strange that they would have such an off-putting taste. Thank you for giving these a try!