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
Can you make this in a 12 inch round pan like a pizza shape? What time adjustment for baking?
Hi Darcie, here is our very similar chocolate chip cookie pizza recipe. Enjoy!
Me and my kids absolutely loved this recipe! But i would like to know if there are any good quality butter alternatives because my husband is vegan and i would love for him to try a cookie himself.
Hi Chloe, we haven’t tested vegan butter here, so can’t promise what the result would be, but some readers have reported success with using nondairy butter. Let us know if you give it a try!
I’ve only ever made these with non dairy butter (unsalted margarine) and they’ve come out perfectly every time 🙂
Love these cookies! Totally recommend.
Very great! But how can I make it in an microwave? Any tips!
Hi Shambhavi, unfortunately, we wouldn’t recommend trying to bake these in a microwave.
If i want to make more than the recipe says, can I double the quantity or should I make two batches?
Hi Maria, this recipe doubles well!
Could I double this recipe easily?
You bet!
Has anyone made these using room temperature butter instead of melted? Would the cookies still turn out chewy?
Hi Lynn! We recommend sticking with the recipe as written, but you could try our other recipe for chocolate chip cookies that uses room temperature butter – you can make them giant or regular size (see recipe Notes).
I used room temperature butter and creamed as usual (and also subbed 25% of the ap flour [by weight] for bread flour, for extra chew) and they turned out fantastic
Refrigerated for 6 days after forgetting to take them out! Are they still okay to bake?
Hi Aliya, they should still be ok to bake. Let the dough rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes to soften up enough to scoop and roll.
Would these come out ok with a non-dairy butter substitute, like Earth Balance buttery sticks?
Hi Arielle, we haven’t tested vegan butter here, so can’t promise what the result would be, but some readers have reported success with using nondairy butter. Please let us know if you do!
Amazing! I am dedicating these cookies as my go to. That’s the way it has to be. Why? They’re soft. They’re chewy. They’re easy to prepare. They freeze well. They’re the only chocolate chip cookies you will ever need!
I used this recipe to make red velvet cookies! They turned out awesome! All I added was 20g of Cocoa powder, a few drops of red food dye and a few white chocchips. They were soft, chewy, sweet and perfect for sharing. They truly are amazing!
Can I used browned butter on these?
Hi Andrea, 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.
Do you know how many calories roughly per cookie? Or per 16/20??
Hi Hailey, 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
These are delicious! This might sound crazy, but I want to make one giant rectangle cookie and cut it in two, then layer it with icing like a cake. Would that work with these? I’m worried that soft cookies won’t hold up but crispier cookies will crumble when I try to cut them. I would only do 2 layers, so the cake would be short and wide, which I hope would help with the structure. Is this dream possible?
Hi Sofia! Our cookie bars recipe uses this same dough – you could make a double batch of those (baked in two 9×9 pans) and layer with frosting. Or, for an even taller chocolate chip cookie cake, you may love this layered cookie cake!
Why did my cookie dough turn so dark brown? My end result looks like I made double chocolate chip cookies.
We can’t imagine why they would turn out very dark, ddi you make any ingredient changes? Was your brown sugar quite dark?
No I would say is normal color but it wasn’t the kind that can be packed could that be the issue? I wish I could upload a picture
Mine too. Maybe i made it as brown butter or because of choc couverture?
Can this recipe be made with gluten free flour with the same measurements?
Hi J, 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!
may i ask for the melted butter, is it okay if i make it to brown butter or just need to melt slightly?
Hi Ani, you just need melted butter here, but you can use brown butter 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.
Hi! May i know if i want to reheat, how long should it takes for microwave, oven and airfryer?
Hi Hana, to reheat baked cookies, we’d microwave to your liking.
I love this recipe, it was straightforward, great tips and easy. Loved the outcome my cookie was crispy on the edge and soft and chewy in the middle. And finally no eggy smell in the cookies! However I find it too sweet, how much sugar can I reduce? Or maybe I should use different chocolate chips
Hi Dhini, we’re so glad you enjoyed the cookies! Feel free to slightly reduce one or both of the sugars, but keep in mind that if you decrease the sugar the cookies will not have the same texture (it’s used for texture and moisture in addition to taste) and it can impact the spread of the cookies, too.
I love these cookies! I’ve made them once or twice before using my hands to roll out the dough, this time I used a cookie scooper and it only yielded 12 XL cookies. I assume it may be because the scooper is larger, but would I just adjust the cooking time longer since the amount of cookies is less than in the recipe?
Hi Deanna, if the cookies are larger, you may need to add a minute or so to bake time. Keep a close eye on them!
I love chocolate chip cookies. These are not good. Very disappointing.
I love this recipe, it’s the only one where my cookies turn out well!
Can I put the dough in the freezer for an hour instead of the fridge for 2 hours, just to speed up the process? I have some impatient loved ones waiting for their cookies!
Hi Summer, we’re so glad you love these cookies. The freezer will not evenly chill the dough. We recommend sticking with chilling the dough in the fridge.
Can I use cream of tartar instead of cornstarch?
Hi Stephanie, we haven’t tried that, but you can leave out the cornstarch if you don’t have any.
I followed the recipe to the T and sadly, I was not impressed. I chilled the dough over night, and let it sit out for 2 hours with plastic wrap covering the bowl. The dough was very hard still and difficult to roll into balls but softened somewhat with my warm hands. Even though they were soft, they looked dry and never turned brown. The cookies certainly don’t look like the pictures. I cooked them 5 minutes longer to make sure they were cooked all the way through. My husband likes soft, chewy cookies and these are not that at all. Because he liked the flavor, I gave a four star rating.
Hello again. As I’ve stated before, my family and I love these cookies but I have a question. I’m just trying to same my painful hands. Could I roll these into balls/cones first and then place them in the refrigerator?
Thanks,
Camilla
Hi Camilla, the dough is rather soft once mixed, so we find it easier to work with and roll into balls once chilled. But feel free to use your method if you prefer! As long as the cookie dough balls have the mandatory chilling time, you can do either way. Hope you enjoy the cookies!
Hi Michelle@sally’s.
I went ahead and rolled the cookies before chilling and they still turned out fantastic. No difference in quality. But, so much easier and less frustrating than trying to roll chilled dough. It saved so much time and saved my bad hands. The dough was soft but still had enough structure to hold its cylindrical shape when rolled. 2 hours is enough time. Love it.
Camilla
Great cookies
Not only do these cookies look divine but they also taste so good. The recipe was simple to follow and it’s definitely the best I have ever tried. Besides I knew they were gonna be amazing when I pulled them out of the oven and this delicious smell filled the kitchen.
I made these cookies for the first time, my neighbors said “these are the Best cc cookies we have ever had “ enough said.
If I could give these more stars, I would.
I want to double the recipe.
Can I simply double all ingredients?
Thank you,
Camilla Coy
Hi Camilla! This recipes doubles well, yes. Glad you love them!
Can I use whole wheat instead of all purpose flour?
Hi Anna! Whole wheat flour would yield a very dry, crumbly cookie. We recommend sticking with all purpose for best results.
I have made these twice and they were perfect. I just remade them today, left them to cool in the fridge overnight and the batch came out very flat? I don’t really understand what I did differently… I do cream the soft butter with the sugar without melting it beforehand but all the previsou batches had come out perfectly. Any insight is welcome!
Hi Gaya, here are our best tips to prevent cookies from spreading. Hope it helps for your next batch! Thanks for trusting this cookie recipe.
Thank you so so much!