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
Amazing choc chip cookies! Such an easy-to-follow recipe that produces great results. My new go-to choc chip cookie recipe!!
This recipe failed me. It sucked. The cookies were astronomically dry and did not spread out in the oven at all. I usually love this blog for all my baking recipes but I was truly disappointed by this one.
Hi Joanne, when cookies aren’t spreading, it usually means that there’s too much dry ingredient (flour) soaking up all the liquid. When measuring flour, use the spoon & level method. Do not scoop the flour out of the container/bag. Doing so leaves you with excess flour in the cookie dough. Hope this helps!
I agree not thrilled ! Little balls of hard cookie
Can I freeze for 30-45 mins instead of refrigerating for 3 hours?
Hi Misha, we highly recommend chilling in the refrigerator. Freezing for that short period of time can cause the dough to chill unevenly and you risk having the cookies overspread during bake time.
Can I replace Dates Syrup with brown sugar, and fine Dates sugar for granulated sugar?
Hi Anna, we do not recommend those sugar substitutions. It’s best to stick with the recipe as written for best results.
Hey Sally, thanks for posting this recipe! Just a quick question, how do you properly tell when these cookies are done? I put mine (50g each) in straight from the freezer at 165°C (my oven only goes up by 5°C) and couldn’t tell how browned you meant by “very lightly browned.” I took mine out after 14 minutes, but must’ve misjudged because once they cooled they were definitely still doughy. I often run into this issue with softer cookies, either accidentally underbaking them or overbaking them. Any tips I could use to help in the future? Thanks again.
Hi Joan! You’re looking for browned, set edges and slightly soft centers.
We love this recipe! I’ve made it several times now and they are the best tasting chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever made. Plus, with using melted butter instead of trying to blend in room temperature butter, it can’t get any easier than that!
Hi Sally. These cookies taste wonderful but I was very frustrated baking them. 325 for 13 min? I did weigh my cookie balls to 50 gm. They simply were not done. I had to stand by the oven and babysit them. Please make these again yourself and let me know what u think
Ed my
Hi Sherry, do you have an oven thermometer? It sounds like your oven may run a bit cooler than it reads. Every oven can be a bit different, so it’s okay if yours take a bit longer to finish baking. Thank you for giving these cookies a try!
These cookies that I made are very delicious and chewy I love them. And they taste like a big gooey explosion in my mouth when I first bite into it.
Baking this recipe for the 4h time in 2 weeks. I added hazelnuts and cranberries and it is awesome!!!
This is a fantastic recipe, I fint that the cookies turned out better when baked from frozen ( they spread much less)
I have been using this recipe for years! It’s my go to! I love all of her cookie recipes! I’m actually doing a cookie cake using this recipe.. can you help with bake time and temp for sheet pan size cookie lol?
Hi Bree, you can use our chocolate chip cookie cake recipe as a guide. Or you might enjoy these M&M cookie bars instead (you can use all chocolate chips). Enjoy!
Do you use light or dark brown sugar in this recipe?
You can use either; I typically use light.
I fell in love with this recipe and make them way too often now. They even work in different versions, with vegan substitutes (margarine for the butter, a few tablespoons aquafaba and apple sauce for the egg) and with extra cacao in the dough (chocolate overload)!
I made 6 dozen for our 2 Open Houses to deliciously smell up the house for potential buyers. I am a retired Restauranteur and followed every “Sally Tip”! These are awesome and my first time getting a truly big substantial cookie! I even re-shaped them after them immediately after they came out of the oven! Unbelievable!
So happy to read this, Judie!
They turned out tasting really good!
Thanks Sally!!!
Is this ok if I chilled the dough for almost 6 days??
Hi Sara, we usually only recommend chilling the dough for a couple days, and freezing for longer storage. But do what you’re comfortable with!
Nope. Spooned and leveled food and baked maybe 13 minutes. Hard and crunchy.
I make these all the time. Always delicious! I recently subbed date paste for all sugar but 1/2 cup brown sugar and omitted all eggs and they came out just like Sally’s pumpkin chocolate chip cookie. So good! If you sub out all sugar it made them not taste like a normal chocolate chip cookie and texture went to more cake like. Still experimenting but still yummy!
Hi Sally!
Do you have any chocolate chip cookie recipes that don’t involve chilling time?
Hi Lily, yes, I do. Try these crispy chocolate chip cookies or these giant chocolate chip cookies.
Can I use salted butter, and leave out the regular salt
Hi Barbara, If you only have salted butter you can use it and reduce the added salt to 1/8 teaspoon.
Please clarify the flour measurement. I noticed you have 280 grams of flour in this recipe and in your cookie book 2 1/4 cups flour is 270; here it is 280. I usually double this recipe but do not want dry cookies. Which amount is best to use? Thank you. Your recipes are my favorites!
Hi Marie! The 280 here reflects how we measure flour – you can read more about measuring baking ingredients here. Happy baking!
Yes, but the original poster is asking about the discrepancy between this recipe here, which states 280g, and the same recipe published in the “Sally’s cookie addiction” cookbook. In the cookbook the recipe calls for 270g. They are asking which one is correct, not how to measure flour. I have wondered the same thing. Thanks.
Hi Squeaky, the recipe on our site (280g of flour) has been updated from the cookbook version (270g of flour), so we recommend following the 280g measurement.
LOOOOOOVE This so much!
I don’t really understand all the hype this recipe has. I’m not going to trash them, they were decent cookies, but they were definitely not the best i’ve ever had. They were not chewy at all….soft yes, but not chewy so for me they did not deliver what they promised. I followed every single step….making them into columns, chilled the dough overnight, etc and they still spread more than I would have liked and in the end were just ok. I love so many of your recipes but these cookies were a disappointment.
This is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe !! Once I tried it, I never looked back. The only things I do different. I do use my mixer and I use half soft and half melted for the butter..
These cookies taste sooo good! However, mine did not spread so much. I followed everything you said. What do you think went wrong? Thank you!
Hi Larashine, usually when cookies don’t spread, it’s because there is too much flour in the dough. How do you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post. We’re glad you loved the cookies!
I use kitchen scale for measuring my flour. Do you think its the type of flour? I live in the Philippines so we have different brands of all purpose flour here.
Hi Larashine, that could very well be it! Different flours have different protein contents which can allow for varying amounts of spread. For next time, you can try flattening your cookie dough balls just a bit before placing them in the oven. If they still aren’t spreading, remove the tray from the oven and gently bang it on the counter or use the back of a spoon to gently flatten. This should help initiate more spread.
Amazing. Worth the effort!
I always loved this recipe! They were thin, gooey in the center and crispy on the outside… lately they turn out pretty thick and most of the time aren’t gooey in center at all but instead rather sand-like textured. Did you change the recipe or could be because I brown my butter?
Hi Anthea! The recipe has not changed. The process of browning butter leads to a loss of moisture in butter, which can change the outcome of baked goods. We suggest using our brown butter chocolate chip cookies recipe instead.
thank you sally! will be using this recipe to make cookies for my grandkids <3
Can these be made with a vegan butter?
Hi Dorit, We haven’t tested these with any vegan substitutes but let us know if you try anything!
My daughter raved about this recipe and shared it with me. I, however, have that one annoying question- can these be made with gluten free flour?
Hi Christine, we haven’t tested these cookies with gluten free flour, but let us know if you do.