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?
Print
Chewy 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.
Keywords: chocolate chip cookies
Love this recipe so much. I always bake a few and then freeze the rest of the unbaked dough so I can bake just a few at a time
★★★★★
this is my absolute favorite recipe! I use it all the time! Never had a problem with it.
★★★★★
I love this recipe. It’s so easy and so delicious!
It’s good but 12-13 minutes isn’t enough time for them
★★★
My 20 yr old granddaughter and I made these … soooooo delish !! Easy toooo
love
★★★★★
These have long been a favorite, but I made them gluten-free today for the first time. Rave reviews, and not just from the gluten-intolerant crowd! I used Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 blend, measured the weight in the recipe and ended up adding a tablespoon more because the dough was pretty sticky. Baked 14ish minutes. SO thrilled to know this works, and will keep it in my back pocket for gluten-free needs!!
These were the best chocolate. chip cookies I have ever eaten! My husband and I both loved them! Soft in the middle a little crisp on the edge just the right thickness! They looked like bakery cookies. Thank you for all the work you put into testing your recipes!
Delicious! I made them with einkorn flour, tapioca flour (instead of cornstarch), and coconut sugar (instead of granulated sugar) and they came out perfectly!
★★★★★
Can I reduce the amount of sugar? American recipes tend to be super sweet (I’m French ) thanks !
Hi Seham, you can try reducing the sugar to your taste, but we are unsure of the results. Start by reducing by about 1/4 cup (50g), and see how they turn out before reducing further. Hope it works!
I have been using this very same recipie for 7 years already. We baje no other chocolate chip cookies at home. When we ever have guests there is no time they don’t ask for the cookies recipie.
★★★★★
Im so excited to try this recipe!
Can I substitute salted butter (that’s what I have on hand)?
★★★★★
If using salted butter, reduce the added salt to 1/8 teaspoon. Happy baking!
Is there a way to double this batch?
★★★★★
Hi Lydia, yes, you can double it.
We have found our permanent chocolate chip cookie recipe. My husband has been making batches of 5 dozen at a time…and they barely last a week. And everyone is sad when they’re gone.
★★★★★
I just made the dough for the very first time. Can’t wait to bake it tomorrow. My husband has been asking for homemade soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies for ages.
Hope you both love them!
I was excited to try this recipe. I followed all of the instructions and tips but the cookies came out flat. They taste good but dont look good. They look underbaked but the recipe said they would. I’m very disappointed in how they turned out. I have used a lot of your other recipes.
Hi Janice, I’m sorry your cookies didn’t turn out well. How long did you chill the dough for before baking? We have some tips for how to prevent cookies from over-spreading here.
This has to be the best recipe ever! Making it twice a month already.
Possible to add raisins to this recipe?
★★★★★
Hi Leora, so glad you love this recipe! You can certainly add raisins in the place of some or all of the chocolate chips. Or you may love our oatmeal raisin cookies.
These are perfect every time. I’m not a confident baker, but I can make these! I’m so proud of them and love making them for other people. I’m going to venture out and make some more of your delicious cookie recipes. 5 stars doesn’t seem like enough!
This is my GO to recipe! It never fails. My family loves it!However, have you ever tried making them with gluten/dairy free? Wondering if dairy free/gluten free swaps would alter the taste too much?
★★★★★
Hi Kenia, so glad your family loves these cookies! We haven’t tried a gluten and dairy free version, so we’re unsure of the results. Let us know if you try anything, but do know that the overall outcome will likely be quite different. Thanks again!
I would love to know this as well. I’m comfortable swapping with GF flour, but would margarine be a good swap for butter? We’ve made the original recipe many times, and now would love to share with family who are GF/dairy free.
I’ve made these GF several times (not DF though) and they turn out amazing! I have done this with several of Sally’s cookie recipes 🙂
The BEST chocolate chip cookies!
The BEST chocolate chip cookie recipe there is. EVER. I’ve made these so many times I can’t keep track. I didn’t compare the recipe but this is what I used for S’mores cookies.
I also now weigh every cookie I bake. They all come out the same when they are all within a few grams. As usual perfection.
★★★★★
Amazing recipe, but I need to make 5 dozen cookies can you share the same recipe but for 3 dozen cookies?
Hi Silk, this recipe doubles well. If you need more than a double recipe, we recommend making separate batches because it can get hard to mix triple or quadruple batches.
I’m hesitant to rate a recipe so poorly as it makes me feel incredibly guilty as I’m no pro baker so the outcome could 100% be attributed to user error. I live in the Mile High City and even when adjusting for high altitude, these cookies were terrible. Instead of chewy, they were the crunchiest cookies I’ve ever made, even when they were fresh out of the oven! I would appreciate perhaps an experienced baker providing a high altitude version of this as, given the reviews and the gorgeous pictures, these cookies look like they could have been stunning. Best of luck to all you bakers, especially you high altitude ones!
★
I made the chewy chocolate chip cookies and turned out some beautiful yummy cookies.everyone Loved them were gone in a day my lil great grandsons loved them also
Nana had to a triple batch thanks Sally my go to recipe always very simple and easy recipe
★★★★★
Question, I am making these for our daughter’s wedding and wanted to know if I can substitute pure cane sugar for granulated. If so, how much do you suggest I use. Thank you!
Hi Karen, pure cane sugar *should* work just fine in this recipe. The granules are a little larger so it’s possible there could be some grittiness, but it shouldn’t be an issue.
High altitude changes?
Hi Kim, we wish we could help, but we have no experience baking at high altitude. Some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
I really love this recipe! I really can’t afford real vanilla extract, is it ok to use imitation? Would it ruin the taste? Thank you
★★★★★
Hi Stephanie, you can use imitation vanilla here. Same amount.
I made this but I added freeze dried strawberrys. It was so good!
Any ideas on a “sugar free” option? I tried to make an even swap with Golden Monk fruit and granulated Monk fruit for the sugar and brown sugar, but it definitely did not hold together. Added a little peanut butter for a binder so I’m hoping that works. It’s chilling now!
★★★★★
Hi Catie! We’d love to help but we are not trained in baking with sugar substitutes. For best taste and texture (and so you don’t waste your time trying to adapt this recipe since it may not work properly), it may be more useful to find a recipe that is specifically formulated for sugar substitutes. Thank you!
These cookies are amazing. I get rave reviews when I make for friends and family. I also am a FCS teacher and my 6th graders make these cookies with excellent results. Have made with a variety of mix-ins such as broken pretzels, Oreo cookie chunks and various types of chips. All versions have come out great.
★★★★★
I cut the sugar a bit so it wasn’t very sweet and they were very good. One of my sons ate his cookie in silence and the other one was ecstatic. I really dislike chilling cookie dough, it makes it so hard!!
★★★★
Can I substitute peanut butterchips? My daughters family are crazy about these. Delicious
Absolutely!