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
this recipe is really the best one!!! i would like to make a giant one with that dough, do u think it’s possible ?! cause i really want to use this recipe
if so, do u think i should bake it in a pan like a circular pan or just form a big cookie directly on the parchement paper ??
Hi Clara! Here are our recipes for a cookie cake and a cookie pizza – very similar to this one!
Hello Sally, I hope you are well.
If it is not inconvenient, I would like to place an order.
I live in Brazil, and here we use the International System of Measurements, Kilo, grams, etc.
Well, I would like to ask if it is possible, instead of using domestic measurements in your recipes, such as cups and spoons, you could use the weight of the ingredients, it would be much easier for people from other countries, like me, to make your wonderful recipes using a scale, where the ingredient measurements would be more precise.
Sorry if I was inconvenient, it wasn’t my intention.
Thank you very much for your attention.
Hi Rose! We include the weight of most ingredients in our recipes – see above, listed behind the cup measurement. Hope this helps!
I use your recipes all the time. Am stuck on making your Chocolate Chip recipe. I use others also. Your directions are easy to follow. I get compliments on anything I bake from your site! Thanks for teaching me how to be a better baker!
So glad to hear this, Celia! Thank you so much for making our recipes.
No idea if they will taste good…I image so, but they are a right MESS. I refrigerated the dough overnight and even made them a little less than 2 tablespoons. 9 cylinders on a large cookie sheet and they spread out and connected and I ended up with essentially a large chocolate chip pancake. I wasted a lot of ingredients and couldn’t present them at the dessert potluck. I am going to have to stop by the grocery store and buy something. Boo hoo.
I sure would have cut them into bars & taken them to the potluck. They sure beat store bought cookies!
These were the absolutely the best chocolate cookies I’ve ever made! The obit changes I made were to add an extra teaspoon of vanilla (homemade vanilla paste), I added pecans and then used hand chopped callebaut chocolate. The recipe is just really fantastic but the changes just really put it over the top for me! They are chewy but soft at the same time with just slightly crispy edges, perfection!
My question is if anyone has had spreading issues with this cookie when baked on a silicone mat?
Hi Cindy! We often bake these cookies on a silicone baking mat.
I loved this recipe so much, I’ve memorized the recipe! But they always come out of the oven hard! Why do think so?.
Hi Arwa, 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 and baked cookies harder as you mention. Over baking (even by just a minute or two!) can cause cooking to become hard, too. This post with 5 cookie baking tips to improve your next batch will also be helpful to review.
Thank you! I’m 9. Also I’m not over baking and I’m measuring the flour fine but I add more flower because my dough turns to goo. Is that why?
I have never been very good at baking and admire those who are. Let me tell you that i just made and baked the most delicious chocolate chip cookie that has ever been created!! I love my cookies!! I love this recipe!!. Thank you Sally and team for this recipes! I didnt step outside the recipe other than using mini semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of regular. Enjoy everyone! My messaging hands are ready to get back at eating another cookie!!
They didn’t turn out right despite following all the guidance. Although they were not as tall when they came out as they were going in, they didn’t really spread. They’re still cooling so will reserve judgement until they cooled but they don’t look like the pictures, even after measuring the dough cylinders to be the right measurement.
I followed the recipe exactly and my cookies were so hard when they cooled off they were impossible to bite into. I made them again cutting out the cornstarch a but and still hard as a rock when cooled. Any suggestions welcomed
This is the best recipe I’ve tried and I’ve tried dozens! Your recipe is clear, tips and tricks and the how and why’s are super helpful. When I make this recipe again I will follow your instructions more closely, ie- my eggs weren’t room temp, I didn’t let butter cool enough, I added eggs before the butter, but they still came out fantastic! I live at 6400ft so I had to bake them a bit longer 14-15 min my cookie size spread to about 2” across and made about 16-20. I will definitely double the recipe next time. They were so satisfying I only needed to eat 1-2Thank you for the great recipe and clear instructions!
Wow!! Winner winner!! I’m a huge fan of Sally’s recipes and have made many, including different chocolate chip cookies BUT this one I directed my 13 yo daughter to make and it was so easy and I do believe the directions of mounding the cookies into domes rather than balls absolutely helped make these cookies thicker. Crisp on the outside, thick, soft and chewy!! She made these as a V-Day gift for a boy who is on the picky side and he loved them! We saved some for our own family and this recipe made 18 large cookies! She is making another batch today-so 2 days in a row!!
This recipe is the best ever!
Best recipe for chocolate chip cookies that I’ve ever used! While Id hate to mess with perfection I’m wondering if you could brown the butter, and what that might add?
Hi Brian, 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.
These sound amazing! But I am wanting to make them in a 9 x 13 pan so I can layer them over your fudgy brownie recipe with peanut butter frosting between the cookie top and the brownie bottom. How long would I need to bake them in a 9 x 13 pan? Thanks so much!
Hi Gina, we do have a brookie pie recipe, and a recipe for chocolate chip cookie bars, which you may prefer here!
Hey! I LOVE your recipes and most of what I make are your recipes! I recently made these cookies, chilled overnight, and then allowed them to warm up for about 10 minutes. However when i cooked mine they look undercooked in the center. They taste good and outside has that crispy edge with soft center that I love but I’m not sure why the centers look undercooked. If you have any clue I’d love some insight! Thanks!
Hi Alyssa, They maybe could use another minute or two to bake, as all ovens are slightly different.
TL;DR Cookies were good, don’t let the dough chill for too long though (only 2-3 hours). Would recommend.
I was trying out this recipe and the cookies were okay. They had a bit of a floury hint to them but overall they were chewy and still tasted good. It might have been because I used less sugar (total of a little less than 1 cup).
The only problem I had with this recipe was working with the chilled dough. I left it in the fridge overnight and then let it warm up to room temp. This recipe calls for only around 10 minutes but even after 30, the dough was still way to hard to scoop and ended up accidentally scraping some skin off once the scoop slipped
Definitely should only chill for 2-3 hours next time…
I have the same problem as you I let them sit in the fridge over night and now the dough is rocksolid so now I’m afraid there not going to turn out the greatest
I myself have let the cookie dough rest overnight and the dough also became impossible to work with but they still turned out great and really good. I have since though and recommend to roll out the cookie dough into good sized balls (or however big or small you like them) and then sticking them in the fridge to chill. I find that method a lot easier to work with.
The best chocolate chip recipe ever!
I made these today, I even baked 2 right away without refrigerating because I was dying for a good cookie. Chewy and perfect. They’ll probably be even better after the 3 hour rest in the fridge. Saving this recipe.
I had trouble for this recipe maybe its because I’ve never done them before
OMG! I forgot how easy it is to make chocolate chip cookies! This recipe right here Ypu can’t go wrong with it! It is AMAZING! Follow everything and you’ll have one of the best chocolate chip cookies out there! You won’t be disappointed!
I made these for Valentine’s Day and added the valentine M&Ms. Ugh! Amazing! I brought it in for work and EVERYONE raved on how delicious they were!
Keeping this in my recipe book!!!
This is the best recipe I have ever seen❤️
Very delicious!
We enjoyed our first time cookies!
Hi I made these for Valentines day came out great! But I have one question. On my oven at 325 degrees they took 20 minutes to be done. Could I turn up the temp to 400 degrees to shorten the cooking time?
Thanks great recipe!
Hi Robert, we fear that temperature would be a bit too high and cause the cookies to crisp up too much. Feel free to try it, though, with just a cookie or two before trying it with the entire batch. So glad you enjoyed these cookies!
I’m not a sweet eater but my husband lives for chocolate chip cookies and says they’re the best he’s ever had (even better than his Mom’s — toll house recipe of course). I always let the dough sit over night in the fridge per your recommendation and add a few more chips to the cookie straight from the oven. I’ll never need another chocolate chip cookie recipe again! Thanks Sally!
It was a big hit, good job
Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe. But unfortunately i still didn’t get the chewy texture. It turns out crispy and underspread. I think ive messed up with the oven setting. Can you share the oven setting (fan setting, bottom/top heat etc) ?
Hi Sam, We always recommend conventional settings for baking (not convection/fan). The flow of air from convection heat can cause baked goods to rise and bake unevenly and it also pulls moisture out of the oven. If you do use convection/fan settings for baking, lower your temperature by 25 degrees F and keep in mind that things may still take less time to bake. Are the cookies chilled sufficiently? Under chilling is usually the culprit for cookies that spread and become crispy.
Thank you for your reply. By conventional setting, do you mean i should turn off the fan and use bottom heat setting? Sorry, im not too familiar with oven setting. Can our convection oven change to conventional setting?
Hi Sam, some ovens can turn off the convection setting, some can’t. Usually there would be an option for “bake” vs. “convection bake”. Another thing that can cause cookies to under-spread is too much flour in the 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.
Did the recipe recently change for these cookies? I have made these cookies several times before and i dont recall using cornstarch or an egg yolk.
No, this recipe hasn’t changed since 2013. I wonder if you’re thinking about a different recipe?
I only use this recipe for my chocolate chip cookies!!! Everyone loves them! Thank you so much!!