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
My cookies came out very flat and a darker brown color(not burnt). Do you know what I may have done wrong? I just sampled my frozen dough and want to know if there’s any way to savage them. All my ingredients were new.
Thank you!
Hi Michelle, We use the methods detailed in this post on how to prevent cookies from spreading. We also always do the “tall cookie trick” detailed in the post and shown in the video. And if the cookies are still overspreading, we reshape them with a spoon–just go around the edges and gently nudge the cookie back into shape, then return to the oven to finish baking. Hope this helps for next time!
I made this recipe tonight for my son to take cookies back to college, I loved them and how round they stayed. Followed recipe exactly. Then he said, why aren’t they flat, I like them flat! But he proceeded to eat three, so I think he likes them.
I love this recipe i made few times already and every time i made them are better and better
Thank you Sally, top lad!
This is an amazing no fail cookie recipe! Ty!
Top lad J! This is certainly IS IT
I do love this recipe but no matter what I do, they spread. I’m okay with it
Fellow Bakers: I agree with everyone else . . . THIS IS IT. You can read Sally’s explanations of WHY it works, or you can just bake these cookies EXACTLY according to the recipe. You will not be disappointed. My search is over. THIS IS IT.
These are truly The Best!! I made the same chocolate chip cookie recipe for over 25 years. I think due to the consistency of butter changing for a lot of companies. It fails most every time now. But this recipe works! Truly, the most delicious chocolate chip cookies we have ever eaten! Thank you for sharing.
I love your recipe. I just tried this today, and it taste sooooo goooood!!! My children love it! Thank you for sharing your recipe. Baking from Philippines, and I’m still new in the baking field. Lol.
These are THE BEST! Thank you for sharing, Sally!
Maybe a good recipe if you don’t care for flavor and you only want a cookie that is chewie and soft. In my opinion it tasted like something my grandma would have had sitting in her cookie jar for too long. But it definitely was soft and chewie!
These are the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made!!! Everyone loves them and asks for the recipe!!!
Hi, I’ve made your cookie recipes in the past and so great!! I’m just wondering why this recipe needs a 325° oven since your recipes usually ask for 350° or 375°? Won’t they spread more?
Thank you
Hi Hanaelle, since these cookies can be quite large, we recommend the slightly lower temperature for more even baking. Feel free to increase it if you prefer.
These were delicious! I’m wondering if I could brown the butter next time? I’m anticipating I’ll probably need to add back a little extra butter to get back to 170 g and make up for the water lost in the process. Would that compromise the texture?
Hi JP, 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.
can you double this recipe?
Absolutely!
I wanted to give this recipe 5 stars but for some reason it wouldn’t let me. This recipes is perfection. I have made a lot of different chocolate chip recipes and this one is the best. Sally is my go to girl when it comes to sweets. Every recipe I have tried on her site has always been amazing. You can definitely tell she has spent a lot of time in the kitchen perfecting every one of her dishes.
why would my dough be crumbly?
Hi Melanie, how are you measuring your flour? Be sure to spoon and level (or use a kitchen scale) to ensure the flour isn’t over-measured, which can make the dough crumbly.
for months i have searched for the best chocolate chip cookies. when i tell you these are heaven, the second they hit my tastebuds exploded from the crispy but not crunchy top to the oowy goowey soft deliciousness on the inside is just to die for
Well … the reviews don’t lie. These are the absolute best cookies ever!! I will never go back. My two sons will never let me make another recipe again!! Thank you, Sally, for your testing and work to give us this gem of a recipe!
Sorry, just read the comments and the recipe can be doubled. How tripling it?
Thanks so much.
Hi Peggy, yes, you can triple this recipe.
I tried and loved this recipe so much. I want to make for my daughter’s birthday party. But there is a child allergy with egg, what subtitle can I use to replace egg? Thank you.
Hi Thi! So glad you love this recipe. We haven’t tested any egg substitutes here, but let us know if you do.
The first time I made these, they came out perfect. I’m making them now, and the cookies are too cakey. I followed the recioe ( and your helpful tips) very carefully. Why did they turn out cakey this time? And what can I change to make sure they come out perfect?
Hi Karen, Cakey cookies are usually caused by too much flour in the dough. How did you measure the flour? For your next batch, 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. Thanks for giving these a try!
I haven’t baked anything before, and twenty cookies sounds like a lot T-T Can I halve this recipe? Or just recipes in general?
Hi Amy, You could halve the recipe (you would have to use half of one egg and half of one egg yolk though). We would recommend making the whole recipe, freezing any extra dough balls, and then just baking as many as you want at a time.
Made these just as the recipes says, with limited time on the cooling.. could not get anyone to let them cool. But they were perfect!
I made 3 of your cookie recipes and they all came out pretty flat. I refrigerated the doughs overnight. It was the chocolate chip, white macadamia and maple snickerdoodle ones. If my baking soda was too old. would it cause them to be really flat?
Hi Kim! Yes, old baking soda can make cookies spread too much. Here’s more tips for preventing cookies from spreading!
I substituted the butter for yoghurt, the sugars for stevia and the flour for oat fiber and psyllium husk, and it turned out great!
These cookies look awesome! I plan to make them next week but I want to make double the batch. Can I double all of the ingredients or should something be adjusted? Thank you.
Hi Carima! This recipe doubles well.
Can I do this with gluten free flour for someone that need it gluten free
We haven’t tested this recipe with gluten free flours, but many readers have reported success using 1:1 flour substitutes (like Cup4Cup). If you try it, let us know how it goes!
I did everything the same in the recipe but used Bob’s Red Mill 1 for 1 baking flour. Recipe still came out great, I could barely notice a difference between my non-GF and GF batch.
I was really surprised by the result since prior GF cookies always seemed to have a compromise but I didn’t feel the compromise with this cookie.
I have made this recipe many times using oat flour 1:1 in place of all purpose flour (be sure to buy oat flour that is guaranteed gluten free). The cookies turn out amazing every time, and everyone (whether they eat gf or not), gobbles them up. No one can tell they are gf.
Hii, I’m trying to do this recipe for the first time and the mix of the melted butter, sugar and eggs isn’t thin, weighted the ingredients and it has a very thick consistency instead of liquidy like in the video, if you could have any ideas of why this happened please
Hi Kat! Did you bring your eggs to room temperature before adding? If they’re cold, they will re-solidify the melted butter and make the mixture too thick.
I did get them out a few minutes before, but I’m not sure if they reached room temperature, the cookies were still fine, just finished baking them, and they were delicious, still, next time I will take the eggs much earlier, thanks for the answer
Hands down the best chocolate chip recipe EVER! I’ve tried so many recipes that just never hit the spot, and now I finally found a keeper. Thank you so much for sharing!