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
Perfect. Every cookie, every time. I won’t bother with any other chocolate chip cookie recipe. I have a digital kitchen scale and weigh my ingredients. I also weigh each lumpy tower, exactly 50 g each and it yields exactly 20 delicious and perfect cookies each time. Everyone loves them. Thank you Sally!
I have used this recipe for almost 5 years now. Everyone loves this recipe! I most recently have made them with King Arthur GF flour and vegan (dairy-free) butter and they turn out amazing! Thank you for your recipes!
Howdy! Can I add bourbon to this recipe? If so, how much? Thanks!
So far I’ve made three recipes in your cookie section, and all of them have turned out amazing! I’ve made the brown butter sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, and peanut butter cookies. All of them came out soft on the inside and nice and crispy on the outside. Fluffy and thick and delicious. I followed the recipes the T And I’m about to make these ones next.
Amazing . It was my first time baking cookies . But i was shocked with the amount of sugar and butter . How many calories for 50 g of these ?
Hi FK, 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
The only recipe I use! I tweaked it a bit to make it my own, but people devour these!! Thank you!
Hi!! I was wondering if it is possible to reduce the sugar in this recipe?
Hi Sally! Longtime lover of your recipes, new to this one. I’d like to try this but sadly only have almond extract on hand – would that be a good substitute for this recipe? Should I do 1:1?
Hi Hannah, if you don’t have vanilla extract, you can leave it out.
I tried this recipe, I unfortunately had a very bad result, cakey texture, ultra sweet. The dough was more of a greasy batter but I thought chilling for the 3 hours would help. Unfortunately that did not make a difference.
I followed this recipe word for word and they didn’t turn out. Very disappointing. Dough was hard as a rock when I took it out of the fridge. Brittle and hard to work with. Cookies didn’t flatten and came out as puffy hard rocks. Waste of chocolate chips and ingredients. IMO not worth trying again, as they were the worst chocolate chip cookies I ever tried.
I say forget the corn starch and putting in fridge, you may get better results as the dough looked promising then.
Hi Ery, I’m wondering if you over-measured the flour. The cookie dough will be hard coming out of the refrigerator, but the cookies should be spreading. Did you spoon and level or weigh the flour, or did you scoop it?
Same they didn’t even flatten. They’re still in balls .and I followed word for word also . Very disappointed. Waste of ingredients. Would not recommend .find a different recipe.
Hi T, when cookies don’t spread, it’s usually 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. This can also happen if the dough has been in the refrigerator for a long time and is extra cold. There’s a trick we use when cookies aren’t spreading: take the baking sheet out and bang it on the counter (or the oven rack) a couple of times, then return to the oven to finish baking. This helps initiate spreading. Hope this helps for future. Thanks for giving these a try!
I loved this recipe, I made it for the first time yesterday! Though I have a question if I can x2 or x3 the recipe for next time since I hope to make more batches easily in the future? Would this affect the recipe in any way? Additionally how does baking powder affect this recipe?
Hi Lynlyn, yes, you can double or triple this recipe. We do not recommend baking powder in place of the baking soda – it’s not always a 1:1 swap and they react differently. Here’s more on baking powder vs. baking soda, if you’re interested.
Why is there an asterisk next to the cornstarch?
Hi Trisha, there is an asterisk because there is a recipe Note about the cornstarch: Cornstarch: If you don’t have cornstarch, you can leave it out. The cookies are still very soft.
I’m wondering if this can be made successfully with vegan butter? I’m making it for a group with mixed food tolerances…
Hi Sabrina, we haven’t tested vegan butter here. Please let us know if you do!
Hey, Sabrina! I thought I was out of butter when I mixed this dough up the other night so I used some Country Crock Dairy Free Vegan Plant Butter with Olive Oil that I happened to have (I later found a whole pound of butter in my fridge ).
I just finished baking and eating some of the cookies and I can say it was a success. They baked beautifully. It was my first time making this recipe AND using that vegan butter for anything, and I thought the cookies were on the verge of not being flavorful enough. I immediately assumed that was because of my butter substitution and I vowed not to leave a recipe review until I’d made it as written, but if I had to rate them with the vegan butter, I’d give a 4.25/5 including some bonus points for amazing texture.
This recipe is great. I’ve lost count of how many time I’ve made it. My question, can you make a 5-6 inch skillet cookie with this dough or do I need a different recipe to do that?
Hi Joe! We’re sure you could, but this will make too much dough for just a small skillet cookie. You could make your skillet cookie and then use the rest of the dough for regular cookies.
You write that this is your most popular cookie recipe – and I can see why! It makes me wonder, what is your most popular recipe of all time?
best cookies i’ve ever made. The taste, flavour and texture is amazing, I highly recommend this recipe its super easy to make and absolutely delicious!
The pictures never look like the end result, but in this case. They’re better!
These are literally the best cookies I’ve ever made! Thank you for the recipe and tips!
Exceptional! Followed the recipe exactly and they were delicious!
I’ve made almost all of your cakes and have moved onto the cookies. This was my first cookie recipe from you and they’re by far the best ones I’ve ever made and eaten.
Do you think I could turn this recipe into bars?
Hi Amber, this recipe is great for a 9×9-inch square baking pan or try this chocolate chip cookie bars recipe.
These are the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made and I’ve been trying different cc cookie recipes for years.
Sally have you tried making these cookies using toasted flour?
Hi Deb, we haven’t, but let us know if you do!
These are the perfect chocolate chip cookie. Taste amazing, texture is perfect, and you don’t even have to wait for the butter to soften! Thanks for such a great recipe.
Hello, the biscuits tasted really good, is there a way to make them crispier?
Hi Naz, if you’re interested in a crispier cookie, we recommend our crispy chocolate chip cookies instead.
These are the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve found! I made a batch a couple of months ago and had to come back to make some more. My husband describes them as ‘nostalgic cookies’ – he often eats them with one of his favorite dinners. I would highly recommend making them; they are so chewy yet not crispy, and so delicious. It’s just a perfect recipe!
Going to make this recipe, but I only have bittersweet chocolate chips. Can I use them?
Absolutely.
Questa è la migliore ricetta per cookies che io abbia mai provato.
I cookies sono croccanti fuori e molto morbiti all’interno. Inoltre, grazie ai fantastici consigli che troverete nella ricetta cucinerete i migliori biscotti della vostra vita!
Amazing cookie recipe! A huge hit in the house and have had to make them 4 times. Husband bought an extra large cookie jar so that we (or should I say he!) can have a regular supply. Thank you!
I just found this recipe and I’m hoping to try it this weekend but I realized that I only have salted butter, not unsalted. Can I substitute with the salted butter and maybe just omit the 1/2 teaspoon of salt?
Hi Ayanna, if you only have salted butter you can use it and reduce the added salt to 1/8 teaspoon. Enjoy the cookies!
Hii i tried this recipe and measured everything out but they came out hard as rocks!! I made a second batch with some extra butter and they came out even harder than the previous batch!! What went wrong??
Hi Nicki, are the cookies thick and failed to spread? 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. Also be careful not to over-bake the cookies and keep an eye on them in the oven while they bake.
I love this recipe! I have made these cookies dozens of times with lots of experimentation with add-ins. Quantity of vanilla extract, nuts, Chocolate Espresso chips, heath crumbles, raspberry chocolate chips, semi-sweet, milk, and dark chocolate chips. Definitely do not skimp on quality butter. They still taste wonderful but end up spreading more than I like.
I found that a butter with at least 80% butterfat provides the best results. Thank you for your great recipes!
Can I freeze after baking? I always do with your Snickerdoodles but today is my first go-round with this recipe. Sitting in the fridge waiting for me to bake atm!
Yes, baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months.
Thank-you! I left the dough in the fridge overnight and then out for 15m but it was really, really hard to scoop and I ended up just pulling chunks off and shaping. Loved how crunchy they were on the outside but a little ‘wet’ inside. Should I cook at a lower temp for longer to set them a little firmer?