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
Hi I don’t have unsalted butter but I really would love to make these cookies today! Is it ok if I can use salted butter and not put the extra salt in that is told to do in the recipe?
Hi Sanaya, If you only have salted butter you can use it and reduce the added salt to 1/8 teaspoon.
Hi Sally, I made these cookies for my grandson’s birthday and they turned out amazing. My question is: I have lots of salted butter already on hand. Can I use it in place of unsalted butter? If so, any adjustments I need to make? Thank you!
Hi Beverly, If you only have salted butter you can use it and reduce the added salt to 1/8 teaspoon.
Unfortunately I made the mistake of reading baking powder instead of baking soda. So they look a little ugly (might be unrelated) but they taste great.
These are really amazing – I’ve never been so impressed with a choc. chip recipe before, these hold their height extremely well and are dense and chewy with a crisp outside. They are not at all greasy.
For high altitude, the only change I made (5,000ft) was to bake at 350 for 12 mins – and I did the XL cookie. Chilled the dough only for three hours.
Why is it so sticky the dough I mean it’s very sticky have I done something wrong?
Overall very good would recommend but cool for longer than 5 hours.
Hi Lily, We find the dough to be a little sticky, but after chilling the dough it becomes much less sticky!
I made my dough and now just don’t feel like making cookies! Lol Can I put this in a pan and make cookie bars instead?
Hi Krystal, sure! This recipe is great for a 9×9-inch square baking pan.
These are the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made ! From softness to taste they are perfect . Thank you !
I probably spent two hours deciding on a chocolate chip cookie recipe, and I am SO GLAD it was this one l decided to go with. These are the most delicious, BEAUTIFUL cookies
I have ever made. I learned so many good tips because everything was in one place, and the quality of these cookies shows the difference it made. I’m so proud.
We’re so thrilled to read this, Marissa. Thank you for giving our recipe a try!
Hi Sally!
These cookies turned out amazing the first time I made them but I forgot to write down how much baking powder I put in cos I know yours said baking soda.
The second time I made them I think I added too much (Google says to do a 1:3 substitute) so I added 3 tsp.
I think this gave them an odd after taste and they weren’t as good as before.
How much baking powder would you recommend?
I also use ground flaxseed as an egg replacement which works well.
I do 2 tbsp of ground flaxseed with 3 tbsp of water because the recipe asks for an additional yolk as well as an egg
Thank you!
I have baked many, many chocolate chip cookies in my almost 70 years, but these are far and away THE BEST! They look beautiful and taste wonderful. Follow her tips, they make all the difference to producing the perfect cookie.
What is the reason for mixing wet & dry separately?
I mistakenly added all the ingredients to the mixer and after mixing placed it in the fridge for overnight.
So we’ll see how they turn out tomorrow.
Hi Brad, mixing separately and then combining helps to 1) make sure the ingredients are incorporated fully and uniformly, and 2) prevents overmixing.
Best cookie recipe ever. I’ve perfected it now and the family love when I make them!
Hands down still the best chocolate chip cookies recipe in 2025. Thank you for this!
Hi! Can you double this recipe or do you have to do it in separate batches?
Hi Paige, yes, this recipe doubles well. Happy baking!
I mistakenly put all the ingredients into the mixer at the same time. Why is it required to mix the wet separate from the dry and then combine? I put my mixture in the fridge for overnight. So we’ll see how they turn out tomorrow.
Hi Brad! This is how almost all baking recipes go, it just helps to evenly combine ingredients if you combine the wet and dry separately.
awesome cookies!!!!! Fabulous friends loved it so much they can’t stop feining about them
I love this recipe for the cookie dough itself. I do use different chocolate and ratios and I always have to double the dough, my family and coworkers have all raved about them! My go to recipe for chewy, soft, rich chocolate chip cookies every time! Practically fool proof!
I have made this receipt several times and my family and friends can’t get enough of them.
Made these for the Super Bowl and my friends could NOT stop talking about how amazing these were! Also on the easier side to make as long as you plan ahead for the chilling. Chilled mine about 3-4 hours and came out perfect!
Not sure what I did wrong but these were solid hard balls with no flavour. Wanted nice and chewy cookies
This recipe rocked at first attempt.
For my second attempt, I swapped in M&Ms. Next level upgrade.
Chewy M&M Cookies are awesome.
Help! I’m an avid baker and use this site for so many recipes. I tried this recipe twice now (following the exact recipe and chilling for hours)and BOTH times cookies didn’t spread well and are dry and flaky. Chocolate chips barely stuck to dough and I threw out about 1/3 of a cup after forming cookies.
Hi Danielle, we’re sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy these cookies. 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. Thanks for giving these a try!
Winningest cookies! Someone asked me for the recipe – so I pointed them your way! They really are delicious!
This recipe like all of sallys was amazing I have to substitute baking soda for baking powder which I found out is a 3:1 ratio and they stilll worked perfectly .Dlelectible.
Can I make this recipe in a jelly roll pan? Wanting to make this into a cookie cake for a party. Thanks!
Hi Kayla, we haven’t tested this recipe in a pan that size, but you may have better luck with this recipe for chewy chocolate chip cookie bars. We also have a recipe for chocolate chip cookie cake that’s made in a round cake pan.
Sally thank you so very much! I loved this recipe – so easy, made it twice this week already and will be making them for school PTA bake sale next week. They are amazing, tasty, chewy and buttery. I make the dough in the afternoon when I have more time, fridge it and bake in the evening for after dinner treat. I tried so many chocolate chip cookie recipes and this one hands down the best!
These are delish. Anyone know the calories? I made the XL cookies.
I’m impatient so I didn’t chill the dough at all and mounded them high on the baking sheet and they came out great! So delicious!!!!
These cookies are superb! I followed the recipe exactly and made 37 small/medium cookies. I chilled the mixture for 2 hours and it was hard so used a knife to slice off spoonfuls and rolled them into balls. I was a bit concerned at that point but they cooked beautifully in 12 minutes
Delicious! I found that my dough “columns” tended to fall in toward each other, rather than just spreading out around their centers. My solution was to put fewer dough balls (60g each) on each baking sheet.