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 love this recipe. Quick question…can you freeze the baked cookies made from the frozen chocolate chip cookie dough? I’m trying to save time during the holiday season. Thanks
Absolutely! It doesn’t matter if the dough was frozen or not, you can still freeze the baked cookies.
If it was possible I would give this recipe zero stars.
Sallys recipes have always been spot on! Maybe you forgot a step . Its very important to read her blog first. Then after you read it all the way try them again …they are perfect!
These cookies came out AMAZING! Took them over to our families homes for Thanksgiving for the non-pie eaters and everyone commented about how great they were! I chilled them overnight and baked them in the morning. Minor pro tip: Don’t chill them in a stainless steel bowl like I did because it took the dough a while to warm up enough to be able to scoop the dough out without a struggle.
Hi! Love your recipes. Can I scoop the cookies and then put them in the refrigerator on their cylinder shapes?
Hi Morgan, are you asking whether you can scoop the cookie dough before chilling at all? We don’t recommend it, because the dough will be very soft and greasy and hard to shape right after it’s made, because of the melted butter. It really needs to chill for a couple hours before shaping. Hope this answers your question!
A little too sweet for our taste but the texture is wonderful. Will use 50g less sugar next time.
I’m sorry but I did not like this recipe my cookies were hard
These have never ever turned out hard for me – maybe your oven thermometer is off? (My old one was and I had some trouble baking at that time).
Best recipe ever! My kids and I thank you so much yummm
I’ve been a professional baker for 40 years. This is hands down the BEST recipe I have ever made at home. I changed nothing. I’ll admit I’ve never made cookies with corn starch but that’s what actually made me try it. Anyone reading these comments to get an idea about this recipe and whether you should try it…just do it. Thank you Sally!
Phenomenal cookies!
Every time I make it, it turns out cakey even though I spoon and level the flour. Any ideas as to what I’m doing wrong?
Hi Alex, a cakey cookie is likely caused by too much flour in the dough, but you are already following the spoon and level method, so this shouldn’t be the problem. It may come down to climate/humidity where you are. I recommend trying the recipe again, but decreasing the flour by 2 Tablespoons. Hope it turns out better next time!
I baked this with my 10 year old. She loves baking. This recipe was so much fun! Turned out amazing. It is now our go to cookie recipe!!
Have you ever made these by rolling into a log to slice and bake?
Hi Elaine, you could certainly give it a try. The cookies will be a bit thinner that way (since you won’t be able to do the tall cookie dough trick), but should still work. Let us know if you give it a try!
Love these cookies! Is there any reason why you couldn’t use a mixer?
You can use a mixer! The recipe just doesn’t require it since there is no creaming.
I make these in logs to freeze and bake later. Works great! I write oven temp and baking time on the wrapper. With her soft molasses cookies I bake the whole log and slice diagonal while still warm. Might try that with these!
Best cookie recipe ever! I have been making these for over a year and they’re now requested by my friends. I don’t actually use the cornstarch step and they are still cookie perfection. Thanks so much for this recipe! Better than any store or bakery.
I have tried and tried to find a recipe that made those soft ooey gooey chocolate chip cookies and yours was the winner. Everyone told me it’s the way you combine the wet ingredients (apparently I was doing this wrong). But this was perfect thank you.
I was very disappointed in your recipe. My cookies didn’t turn out very well. My cookie dough didn’t even look like yours, it was very dark and the cookies were very dark and, had I cooked them the whole time, they would have been black. Will have to go back to Toll House Cookie recipe I guess
You have done something incorrectly… I am an amateur baker, and these were amazing cookies
The cookies turned out AMAZING but my only problem is that I need a recipe that yields 12 (2 oz) cookies. How would I need to adjust the recipe to get 12 cookies, but still have the same taste?
Hi Aly, you could halve this recipe with no adjustments needed, but the cookies would be smaller. You could also bake 12 from the full batch and freeze the remaining dough. This post on How to Freeze Cookie Dough might be helpful!
Can i use brown butter using the same recipe and process mentioned above?
Many thanks, Sally!
Hi Fred, 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.
Best recipe EVER!! Made these twice now and wouldn’t change a thing! We use dark chocolate the first batch and today is a combo of dark chocolate and butterscotch.
My kids love this recipe. I really like my chocolate chip cookies to have oatmeal in them. Could I add that to this recipe or should I just use a different recipe option instead?
Hi Melinda! We would use our chocolate chip oatmeal cookies recipe instead. Happy baking!
Can’t find the video. Did it get taken down?
NMH
Hi NMH, it’s still there! You can find it at the bottom of the recipe card, right above the notes.
These cookies just got better the longer the dough chilled. Baking them after 72 hours of chilling yielded the perfect thick, chewy, melt in your mouth, caramelized cookie perfection. You really notice how all the flavors come together and the texture is sublime. Not a hint of grainy sugar. They’re also not cloyingly sweet, which I appreciate. I sprinkled them with flakey salt at the end. This recipe is cookie perfection.
So glad you loved them, Caterina!
The best, replacing my go to recipe! Love how this turned out. I browned 1/4th of the butter and it gave it such a great taste. Thank you so much.
Followed the recipe as is and confirmed all ingredients were as fresh as possible, and did not have beautiful looking cookies. However, the taste was as authentic and delicious as any chocolate chip cookie ought to be. Perhaps today’s cold and rainy weather may have played a factor?
I will try this again as I usually try anything Sally makes and am never disappointed.
Good recipe
Wow! These were the best tasting cookies I have ever made. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe. A staple in my household. They turned out perfectly. “I’m in heaven…” ❤️
I’ve made these many times since finding this recipe and they are great every time. My adult kids beg me to make extra for them to take home ready to bake!!
Hi. I followed this recipe exactly as you instructed. After refrigerating overnight i took out and let sit ten minutes. I could not scoop the dough it was so hard. So, I waited and its forty minutes later and still cannot scoop the dough. What went wrong here.
Hi Julia, how did you measure your flour? Be sure to spoon and level (or use a kitchen scale) to ensure the flour isn’t over measured. Too much flour can soak up too much of the butter and make the dough harder as you mention. This post with 5 cookie baking tips to improve your next batch will also be helpful to review. Thank you for giving this recipe a try!
I recently went gluten free due to much suffering. I’m learning to bake my own breads and treats because if you can find them, they’re expensive for a 3rd if what you get when it’s not gluten free. I’ve tried many gluten free recipes and they’re not easy to perfect. Then I learned I can make anything from any recipe using cup for cup gluten free flour. I was having a sweet craving with nothing at home safe for me. That’s when I found your recipe! They are so delicious! I used crisco cubes in place of butter and organic tapioca starch in place of corn starch and I used wholesome organic light brown sugar. I made 4 towers after chilling the dough for 24 hrs and set the timer for 12 mins. I must have made super jumbo cookies cause I added 3 minutes 3 times lol. They were the size of those jumbo thick soft Grandma’s cookies but sooo much better.
Thank you for sharing and all your hard work of perfection is truly worth it to me!
I’m so bummed out. That flavor was frigging amazing,however,my cookies did not spread and came out rock hard…ugh … from,hot mess
Hi Norahs, it sounds like your ratio of dry and wet ingredients was off somehow. 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.