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 sally just wondering how long would it take in total to make these (including cooling)
Hi Corah, see the top of the recipe card – we calculated about 3 hours and 22 minutes from start to finish, with chilling the dough for at least 2 hours.
If I were to bake the cookies let it cool and either freeze for a week or refrigerate for a week and take it out in room temperature the day of serving will cookies still be chewy and soft?
Hi Naf, we recommend freezing them for that amount of time. They will be soft and chewy once thawed.
Hi, I wanted to ask how many cookies will this make?
I’m hoping to make them for a family gathering so wanted an idea so I can determine the amount of ingredients I would need to increase it by, thank you!
Hi Nia, this recipe yields 16 XL cookies or 20 medium/large cookies. Hope they’re a hit!
Hello!
I have made this recipe at least 15 times since last summer, and they have always turned out perfectly. I always use the exact same ingredients (brands etc.). I made them at the end of December, and they were so dry. The dough was hard and crumbled when it came out of the fridge. I thought it was a fluke because the dough is always so soft it hardly holds the chocolate chips. Now I have made them about 5 more times since then and each time they are just not coming out the same. I keep using less and less flour and that seems to help some, but they still aren’t the same and they puff up in the oven. I don’t understand why they are so dry and if I cook them less, underdone and dry. Also, the sugar isn’t dissolving properly, even after refrigerating. Is it the cold weather? Does it change the flour somehow? Did I buy a bad bag of flour? Haha! It’s driving me crazy! (Yes, I use the spoon flour method). Please help! 🙂
Hi Ursula, how strange! It sounds like the weather could be the culprit here. Has the temperature in your kitchen and/or your refrigerator drastically changed? If you can, maybe try a fresh set of ingredients and see if that helps. Let us know if we can help troubleshoot further!
They were delicous!
The first time in my life that I made amazing chocolate chip cookies
Thank you for a perfect recipe!!
The taste was great but the baking time was not accurate. I recommend baking it for about 17-20 minutes as the centre is too soft and not edible.
This recipe is a definite 10/10! I have loved baking these cookies and sharing them with my family. I have baked over 50 cookies in 2 days. Thank you so much.
Hi Sally, I love your recipes and have tried quite a few over the years. Always great! In this particular recipe, is it okay to substitute melted butter with oil?
Hi Shaffaq, we do not recommend substituting liquid oil for melted butter, because you need something that is a solid at room temperature. You could substitute coconut oil, but the flavor will be very different.
Such a delicious cookie recipe! My family couldn’t stop raving about them after my sister made 10 dozen for a birthday party.
This recipe was so good even an unexperienced baker like me can feel like baking is their bread and butter.
Will the cookies still be soft two hours after baking them?
Hi Izzy, yes, soft and chewy!
It’s true…and I have made a zillion recipes in my many years of life….THESE ARE THE VERY BEST!!!!
Bro my cookie came out like round empty dumplings in a dome shape, it was literally like eating concrete bricks and was caked on the inside. DO NOT PICK THIS RECIPE. you will regret it!!!! 0/10 DO NOT RECOMMEND
They are probably the best cookies I’ve ever had ❤️❤️
Can this recipes be easily doubled? I’d like to make half now and freeze the other half for another time.
Hi Angela, yes, this recipe doubles well. Happy baking!
I baked this recipe a couple years ago and the cookies came out great! Today, two years later I just now baked the recipe and no matter how large or small I made the ball, they spread like crazy! It was so disappointing because I did two batches and they were a mess. I followed and reread the recipe over and over again to make sure I had followed exactly. One thing I did was only refrigerated for 2 hours because the recipe even said 1 hour of refrigeration.
Could that be the problem? I actually don’t remember if I refrigerated over night when I baked them a couple years ago. Thank you.
Hi Rosemary, our post on how to prevent cookies from spreading will be helpful for troubleshooting. Thank you for giving these a try!
Suggestions on how to make smaller cookies?
Hi Christina, 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.
This was my first recipe from this site and the cookies turned out AMAZING!
I tried a few before freezing and it was good but freezing really made the difference.
I’ve been trying to find a chocolate chip cookie recipe that fit the bill for my family and I, I’m happy to say that these cookies hit the mark.
Thanks so much Sally ❤️
Absolutely amazing cookie recipe, be cautious on how long you leave the cookies in the oven and don’t over do it pass 15. Definitely keep them cooling on the counter for 10 mins and it’s nice and soft but cooked throughly. Definitely recommend this recipe!
Hi! I was wondering if not chilling the dough will have disastrous results or not?
Hi Ale-Marie, if you skip the dough chilling, the cookies would overspread into flat puddles and you won’t have soft and chewy cookies.
do you have to refrigerate the dough before baking?
Hi Alma, if you skip the dough chilling, the cookies would overspread into flat puddles and you won’t have soft and chewy cookies.
Hi. This recipe looks interesting. Could you tell me if putting the batter into the freezer for 15 mins would suffice rather than refrigerating for 2 hours?
Hi Tami, no, the freezer will not evenly chill the dough. We recommend sticking with chilling the dough in the fridge.
When i put mine in fridge they were hard as rock when they came out and were baked. Ples helpf
Hi Slaywanna, a hard/dry dough is usually caused by too much flour in the cookie 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.
very tasty 😀
Absolutely delicious!! I used brown butter for my cookies and they taste just like a Starbucks cookie.
Got misled. I prefer by far the other, crispy chocolate chip cookies recipe. This one is meh
Made these today for the first time. They are delicious!
I followed the recipe but really couldn’t get all of the chocolate chips into the dough. In the end there were probably 1/4 cup in the bottom of the mixing bowl. I know the recipe says to mix by hand but would it help to use my stand mixer?
Hi Vera, the dough can certainly be slick and make it tricky for the chocolate chips to incorporate. Just keep folding/pressing them into the dough, or you can certainly try using your mixer if you wish. So glad you enjoyed the cookies!
Hello Sally from Riyadh
This recipe is our family’s favorite. We make it regularly. Putting the dough in the fridge overnight was a novelty for me when I tried this recipe the first time, but it was the trick that made the cookies great.
A question please: Would replacing flour with gluten-free equivalent affect the taste and texture?
Thank you
Hi Ibrahim, so glad you love them! 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 just made this dough this morning and it’s super dry and crumbly. I triple checked that I did everything according to the recipe so I’m not sure what happened. I’m wondering if this has happened to anybody else?
Hi Heather, a dry dough is usually caused by too much flour in the cookie 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. An easy fix for next time!