With 11 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!
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 loved… and, warning: they disappear FAST.
The recipe is also included in two of my published cookbooks (in Sally’s Baking Addiction, I swap chocolate chips for M&Ms/chocolate chips combo).
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.
Back in 2013, I 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.
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 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. 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 and even up to 3–4 days.
After chilling, the dough is quite solid, so let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes (to soften it up slightly) before shaping. (No time to chill? Make these soft & chewy chocolate chip cookie bars 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.
Another Success Tip: When you remove the cookie dough from the refrigerator, the dough may be slightly crumbly. Scooping and then shaping it with warm hands keeps it intact.
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.
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?
PrintChewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours, 22 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. Review recipe notes before beginning.
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/4 cups (280g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch*
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (170g) unsalted butter, melted & cooled 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
- Whisk the flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until no brown sugar lumps remain. Whisk in the egg and egg yolk. Finally, whisk in the vanilla extract. The mixture will be thin. Pour into dry ingredients and mix together with a large spoon or rubber spatula. The dough will be very soft, thick, and appear greasy. 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 chill in the refrigerator for at least 2–3 hours or up to 3 days. I highly recommend chilling the cookie dough overnight for less spreading.
- Take the dough out of the refrigerator and allow it to slightly soften at room temperature for 10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 325°F (163°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Using a cookie scoop or Tablespoon measuring spoon, measure 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, making sure the shape is taller rather than wide—almost like a cylinder. This helps the cookies bake up thicker. Repeat with remaining dough. Place 8–9 balls of dough onto each cookie sheet.
- Bake the cookies for 12–13 minutes or until the edges are very lightly browned. (XL cookies can take closer to 14 minutes.) The centers will look very soft, but the cookies will continue to set as they cool. Cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, press a few extra chocolate chips into the tops of the warm cookies. This is optional and only for looks. After 10 minutes of cooling on the baking sheets, transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Cookies stay fresh 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 2–3 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 into a glass 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 – 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.
Same here! Cookie cake. But seems like many ppl here had great results… I may have measured my flour incorrectly. I Need to try again. Was still good, The fam ate it all lol
I love this recipe and make it all the time and everyone loves them. How many calories are in each cookie?
Hi Ashley! 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
I have made this recipe with my 5 year old many times. I love sharing the secret tips with him to make the cookies extra chewy and just perfect. In addition to chocolate chip, we made “Trick or Treat Cookies” with leftover Halloween candy chopped and mixed in, “Skor a Goal Cookies” with chopped up Skor bars, and most recently with Christmas approaching: “White Chocolate Cranberry Bliss Cookies” with white chocolate and cranberries plus orange zest, orange extract, and a variation in Sally’s homemade pumpkin pie spice mix!
Love love love your easy to follow and fool proof recipes – esp love the oatmeal raisin cookies – winner every time:)
I am famous for these cookies! Everyone loves them. I will even use M&Ms or Andes candies as substitutes for the chocolate chips. This is the best recipe and I’ve been making them for years. Thank you!
Every recipe I’ve ever made (and it’s many) by Sally has been amazing, and these cookies were no exception. Absolutely perfect!
Thank you so much for your kind comment, Summer!
They turned out well. I used gluten free flour instead and they were amazing. One question, can I freeze the baked cookies? If so, do you recommend a freezer bag and then placing them in an airtight container?
Yes, you can freeze the baked cookies. Using a freezer bag and then an air tight container is great!
What kind of gluten free flour did you use? I just made this recipe with bobs red mill GF in the red bag. I haven’t baked them yet as the dough is chilling so they turn out ok. I hate to waste ingredient
Have made this recipe several times, all great! I am in a bind for time, if I wanted to make these into bars, what size pan should I use, at what temp and for how long? Thanks!
Hi Rebecca, There isn’t quite enough batter to yield a 9×13 inch pan of cookie bars, but is plenty for a 9×9 inch square baking pan or try this chocolate chip cookie bars recipe. For a 9×13 inch pan using this exact recipe, we recommend 1.5x the recipe. The bake time will be longer for cookie bars. Same temperature.
Do I have to refrigerate them?
Hi Zoe, Chilling the dough is mandatory here before baking. Once they are baked you can keep them covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
I absolutely love this chocolate chip cookie recipe! Everyone is always impressed and delighted by these chewy yet soft cookies. Sally has some of the best recipes on the internet.
I have made this recipe of Sally’s for years now and not once has it let me down….soft, chewy, “chocolaty”, buttery, pure deliciousness! Added bonus is the ease of mixing, no “creaming” butter and sugar. I always make the dough the day before baking. They keep just great in the freezer, which is so nice to have the cookies on hand. Our grandson always says, “Cookie time!” when he visits, and it’s always Sally’s chewy chocolate chip cookie that he wants!
Quick and easy to make. Followed the recipe and they turned out very nice except mine turned out greasy to handle after baking and cooling. What did I do wrong?
Hi Wanda, Were they that way after they were fully cool? They will still bake up ever so slightly while cooling on the baking sheet before transferring them to a rack. An additional minute or two in the oven will help for next time. Or, you can add an extra tablespoon or two of flour to your cookie dough to help soak up the extra butter.
Delicious classic cookie recipe – my go-to for everything!!
Would Andes Mint chunks taste good in here? I love the soft Andes Mint Cookies but would love a non-chocolate base option!
Hi Tracey, Yes, you can add chopped Andes! We use them in these mocha mint chocolate chunk cookies.
Yummm these were delicious. The texture and taste were spot on. Perhaps a bit too many choc chips but with a little less this is my new go to choc chip recipe.
The worse recipe I have ever used for baking a chocolate chip cookies. Used all of the tips how it says above, been baking them for 30 min, still looks like a ball but the texture is like a sponge cake, no taste at all….. DO NOT USE THIS RECIPE!!!
Wish I could add the picture of how they turned out!
I have baked these cookies at least a dozen times. My family begs me to make them and the neighbors all asked for the recipe. Best cookie recipe I’ve ever tried. If yours were that bad, you might want to see how fresh your ingredients were or if there is something wrong with your oven. Everyone has a different idea of the best chocolate chip cookie, but there’s certainly nothing wrong with the recipe. It’s amazing.
Can I use white chocolate chips instead of normal chocolate chips?
Absolutely!
One key component to these cookies being a success is the type of baking sheet you use.
The cookies I baked on my shiny Wilton thin baking sheet ( used silicone mat) came out perfect. The cookies I baked on my dull gray heavy baking sheet spread too much and didn’t seem to brown even leaving in a few extra minutes. I even tried reshaping with spoon but still spread too much. The only variable was using a different baking sheet. From now on I will bake all my cookies on my shiny Wilton baking sheet.
Hi Sally,
Ive veen baking these for years but im curious if.you.haf changed the recipe? I recall adding a tbsp of milk a while back.
Also, i have halved the recipe and measured everything with the scale and the dough came out thick and on the dry side. I also noticed that my melted butter (not too warm) and sugar mixture is crumbly and not liquidy like your video despite measuring Carefully with the scale abd table spoons. Any idea?
Hi J, are you by chance thinking of these brown butter chocolate chip cookies instead?
I found these to be pretty much run of the mill. They were not over the top wonderful. I did find that the actual mixing of the cookie dough was easy.
I don’t understand how you had such a bad time. I followed the directions to the T, and they are the best I’ve ever had. Little hard to scoop out to make the “pullers” but that’s what keeps them from spreading along with the shape they’re rolled into.
Delicious! My first foray into larger cookies. I did have to bake them about 5 minutes longer than indicated…when I only did 13-14 min, the first batch came out raw.
These cookies were awesome! They turned out soft and chewy and my family absolutely loves them!
My go-to chocolate chip cookies! Sally, I haven’t used that recipe on the back of that bag we all know since I tried your recipe! These are the absolute best chocolate chip cookies ever! The only thing I do differently is to press the dough into a rectangular pan (9×8, I think) and cut the cookies out with a chef’s knife. My cookie scoops are too wimpy for this dough, and the knife method gives me nice, tall pieces of dough to bake. They always turn out perfect! I have made these countless times with my grandkids and they love them! Thanks for the yummy recipe and the memories you helped me make!
This recipe just hit different, I am in love!!!!
Hi Sally, delicious cookies! can I bake more than 1 tray in 1 batch? Do I need to switch trays? How long would it take? Thank you
Hi Nee, unless both trays can fit on the same rack, we don’t recommend baking more than one at a time. Baking cookies on two different trays will promote uneven baking and your cookies will finish at different times. It’s best to do one tray at a time!
Hi, loved the cookies I was wondering if it is fine to use white sugar instead of brown since we ran out of it, but they were a great hit, I gave some to my teachers since they enjoy my baking thanks for the recipe too
Hi Ashley, the ratio of brown sugar and white sugar is key to the cookie’s chewy texture. You can swap for all white sugar, but the cookies will not be nearly as chewy. Glad you enjoyed them!
These were just my type of chocolate chip cookie! Everyone has different ideas of the perfect cc cookie, but this was exactly what I was looking for. As good as they were out of the oven, I personally thought they were even better the next day! I refrigerated the dough for 24 hours and had it rest for 30 minutes because it was too hard to work with. I can’t wait to make them again!
I have made these several times. This time I got flat wide spread but delicious cookies…..I wonder what happened? Please advise.
Hi Stephanie, spreading cookies can be caused my many things – here’s our post with tips for preventing cookies from spreading!
I loved these cookies! They turned out delicious and were super easy to make. I made them exactly as instructed except I did half semi-sweet and half milk chocolate chips.
Omg I’ve been looking for a recipe nut free this recipe is amazing my cookies came out exactly like the pics everyone love them my new fave
Hi Jane! So sorry to hear these cookies didn’t turn out for you. A cakey cookie is likely caused by too much flour in the 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.
I was craving chocolate chip cookies and I saw this recipe and figured I’d give it a try. This recipe is amazing and will now be my go to recipe. I did add walnuts and it turned out great❤️