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
Very good recipe. Just what I was looking for. Classic chocolate chip cookie.
I am trying a bunch of highly rated chocolate chip cookie recipes. So far this one is the best out of the first three I’ve tried. Nothing too complicated or different, just needs the chill time. Very good texture, soft inside and slightly crispy on the outside.
I used half choc chips and half chopped mini eggs this time for Easter.
I got 27 cookies using a small cookie scoop and they were still decent size. Took about 12-13 min.
Will make again.
I just asked in the comments if you could swap out half of the chocolate chips for chopped mini eggs! Definitely going to try this now that I see others have already tried this with success. Can’t wait!
Absolutely perfect every time! Follow the recipe to a T and I’ve never ever had a problem. I even swapped out chocolate chips for crushed mini eggs for Easter baking and my gosh.. I always have to make double batch they go so fast in my house.
This recipe is next level and actually easier than traditional chocolate chip cookies made with creamed butter. I used a dough whisk to mix the dough and it came together super fast. A little sea salt on top made them extra special.
Absolutely LOVE the texture!! And they look adorable!! But I feel as if I’m lacking flavour.. everything else is PERFECT! But I just feel like they’re a bit flavourless, I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong D:
Hi Danielle, we’re so glad you love these cookies! Are you using light or dark brown sugar? Using dark brown sugar will give them slightly more depth of flavor. Using quality chocolate chips is important for best flavor, too. Thanks again for giving these a try!
When I make chocolate chip cookies, I like to use a 2 times more dark sugar to white sugar ratio. Ex. 1 cup dark brown sugar and 1/2 cup white sugar. Also a teaspoon of high quality espresso powder (not instant espresso!) helps to add a little something extra!
i loved this recipe so much! but is it possible to brown the butter to add more depth of flavor without changing the measurements of the other ingredients? Thank you so much
Hi Gayle, 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 were hands down the best cookies of my life! My family killed the first batch before they could cool LOL So incredibly delicious! I used duck eggs and wow I can’t wait to make more. Thank you for this awesome recipe!
These are my absolute favorite chocolate chip cookies! They are hit every time I make. I’ve only made them batch at a time so far, but I would like to make multiple batches. Is this a recipe where I can double the ingredients, or do I need to bake two separate batches? Thanks so much!
Hi Rebecca, you can easily double the ingredients here. So glad they’re a favorite for you!
Thank you so much! I can’t wait to make a double batch. 🙂
Can these be made smaller, like one TBS P?
Hi Mary, You can make them any smaller size you would like – bake until the edges are very lightly browned, we’re unsure of the exact time.
Can’t wait to try these! Do you prefer light or dark brown sugar in them? Thanks!
Hi Allyson, we use both interchangeably here!
This recipe was THE BEST
Like so many others have said, I have tried so many chocolate chip cookie recipes. They either come out too hard or too flat. There are perfect and if for some reason it spreads too much I use a glass to give them a little nudge for more of a round shape and it kind of compacts the spread. Love that the batch isn’t too large either.
I was wondering about using two eggs instead of 1 egg yolk & 1 egg. I need to triple the recipe & I was just curious if it made a big difference?
Hi Cindi, the extra egg yolk helps provide that signature chewy texture. We do not recommend using a whole egg in its place.
These are the BEST chocolate chip cookies I have ever made. I have tried dozens of recipes. These are amazing.
How do I add walnuts?
You can add nuts, either replacing or in addition to the chocolate chips. Just make sure to keep the total amount of add-ins to 1 – 1 and 1/4 cups.
I think my melted sugar which I browned for an additional flavor, was not warm enough to melt the sugars, as I had to really scrape it out of the bowl instead of pouring it. I refrigerated the very crumbly dough overnight and left it at room temperature for 30 minutes. I then scooped out the dough, as the chocolate chips readily fell out of it, and microwaved it for 10 seconds. Then hand-rolled and restuck the chips. Lots of work!
Is it supposed to be so difficult to scoop? Followed the directions to a T, weighed everything, and refrigerated overnight. After 10 minutes sitting, it still required some serious muscle for me to pull my cookie scoop through it. I ended up just kind of breaking chunks off to roll and shape them even after I let it sit at room temp for half an hour. Turned out absolutely delicious, just a serious workout to roll the dough.
Hi Emma, It’s normal for doughs to be pretty hard after chilling. If you try this recipe again, try chilling the cookie dough for 1 hour, roll into balls, then chill for 1 more hour. You can also let it sit at room temperature until you can shape it. You can use some arm muscle and a spoon to scoop it out or even place it in a heatproof bowl and microwave for 10 seconds.
The best chocolate chip cookies ever, first time cooking them and was delightful.
Amazing chewiness, difficult to describe how good it was.
So good!
Throw away all other chocolate chip cookie recipes, this is it. They’re perfect.
Hi. Do you cooked it in the oven with top heater, down heater or topdown heater bake? Thank you
Hi Wasifa, we recommend that your oven rack is adjusted to the lower third of your oven. If you have the choice, we always recommend using conventional (not convection) oven settings. 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.
What happened to the mocha mint chocolate chunk cookies that used to be here?? I’ve made that recipe many times and went to make it again and the pin is now just chocolate chip cookies?? And I can’t find it anywhere on the website. Can you please tell me where I can find it? Thank you.
Hi Laurelle, we recently removed that older recipe from the website, but if you send us an email at sally@sallysbakingaddiction.com, we’d be happy to share a copy with you.
Hi Sally,
The Best Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe on your website is my favorite. I am wanting to make Cadbury Egg Cookies for Easter using crushed Cadbury eggs. Can I use your recipe and use 1 cup crushed Cadbury eggs, 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips? What would you recommend? Thank you for your time.
Hi Nora, that should work, but we’d keep the total amount of add-ins to about 1 and 1/4 cup (225g).
Believe me when I say I have tried every recipe for chocolate chip cookies on the internet. They always turn out flat and greasy. This was the first time where I was able to create the perfect chocolate chip cookies in the first try. I am literally over the moon that I finally found the perfect recipe. Thank you so much Sally for solving my long issue of cookies.
This is our favorite cookie recipe! Haven’t meant anyone who doesn’t love it! I usually double the recipe and freeze the cookie balls so we always have some ready to bake for when the kids friends come over
There are soo many Chocolate Chip recipes that I’ve tried but I must say that this one is THEE ONE! The only thing I did differently was divide the dough into 3 sections and rolled them into logs in parchment paper and froze them overnight. Sliced and baked it the next day! Perfect when dipped in milk! I look forward to trying more of tour recipes!☺️
I don’t know what I did wrong but my isn’t greasy what so ever
Hi Annabelle! The dough? There could be 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.
Everything but the bake temp is perfect. I can’t help but wonder if it’s a typo. When I bake at 325 my cookies look like puddles. When I baked at 350 they’re way better (shorten the bake time obviously). And this is after chilling for 2+ hours.
What are the nutritional facts? I am making these for a school project.
Hi Mckenzie, 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 Good luck with your project!
I did my best to fall over the recipe exactly but the dough came out much thicker and the cookies did not sink and spread I had to mush them down about halfway through they’re almost done now we’ll see how it goes but I did everything exactly like you did I don’t know what happened
Hi Yani, When cookies aren’t spreading, it usually means that there’s too much dry ingredient (flour) soaking up all the liquid. Make sure you are properly measuring your flour. Did you spoon and level or use a food scale? Those two methods are preferred to make sure the flour isn’t over measured, which can prevent cookies from spreading. To help dough that has already been made, you can also take the pan out towards the end of baking time and gently tap it on the counter to help flatten the cookies and initiate spread. Should you decide to try these again, these 5 tips to improve your next batch of cookies will also be a helpful resource.
Hi Mina, We have never tested it but let us know if you do!
Can I substitute brown sugar for granulated…?
Hi Ra! The white sugar helps the cookies spread. The cookies will be a little different if using all brown sugar.
Thank you for creating the best chocolate chip cookie recipe in the history of chocolate chip cookies! The first time I made it it was during the pandemic and when I bit into one I said to myself “I think this is the best chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever had” and let let me tell you I’ve made many. I’m a 57 year old grandmother who loves to bake and although not a professional quite good at baking if I do say so myself! Lol. I always follow the recipe exactly but to day I had two small problems. Out of vanilla extract and had to use turbinado sugar instead of granulated. I still used the brown sugar but you know what? They were still incredible! So thank you!