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.
Keywords: chocolate chip cookies
I’ve got whats possibly a stupid question, when I take the mixture ouf of the fridge for 20 mins, do I leave the top of the container on or take it off and expose the cookie dough to air (questions also applies to double choc cookies receipe)
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Hi Rach, we usually will take the top off, but either way will work just fine.
I think the recipe is a bit off because there is too much dry ingredients to wet ingredients. I leveled and measured everything properly but I had the same issue.
Can you tell me please why you use melted butter in some cookie recipes and room temp butter in others?
Hi Christina, melted butter produces an even chewier cookie. Using room temperature butter produces a softer cookie. It really depends on the recipe and the intended outcome we’re looking for!
Easy & DELICIOUS!!!! Thank you
Love this recipe. Second time I have made it. However both times the cookies never spread at all and not sure what I am doing wrong. Also I chilled for 2 hours and let them sit for 10mins but found the dough was still very hard to scoop. I am using a metal bowl so not sure if that’s why!? But will absolutely make again
Hi Hope! When cookies aren’t spreading, it usually means that there’s too much dry ingredient (flour) soaking up all the liquid. When measuring flour, use the spoon & level method. Do not scoop the flour out of the container/bag. Doing so leaves you with excess flour in the cookie dough. Hope this helps!
Just some advice to readers – I used a scale for all weights you included gram weights for. Yes, my dough was still hard but not ‘ice’ hard. Breaking it off in clumps and working it in your hands til it softens a bit works fine. I tried the cylinder shapes – worked. I used a slightly squashed cylinder shape and, 1.25” dough balls – all worked great. This has now become my go to chocolate chip cookie recipe! Thank you.
This is my favourite cookie recipe ever!
It is super overly sweet – BUT – when I want a cookie I want it super sugary!! 😀
I always use chocolate and hazelnut crocant.
We love iiiit!
Using it to make crookies tomorrow. :p
Hi, i made these cookies and they were delicious but mine didn’t spread out enough.. I leveled the flower and did everything exactly as described. What can i do to make the cookies spread out more? thank you =)
Hi Kimberly, When cookies aren’t spreading, it usually means that there’s too much dry ingredient (flour) soaking up all the liquid. Make sure you are properly measuring your flour. Did you spoon and level or use a food scale? Those two methods are preferred to make sure the flour isn’t over measured, which can prevent cookies from spreading. To help dough that has already been made, you can also take the pan out towards the end of baking time and gently tap it on the counter to help flatten the cookies and initiate spread. Should you decide to try these again, these 5 tips to improve your next batch of cookies will also be a helpful resource.
Hi – should the dough have visible sugar granules? I always try recipes thar don’t outright say you need an electric mixer, but mixing by hand the sugar never incorporates enough for the dough to not be granulated. It always ends up crunchy with the sugar. Am I doing something wrong or is it supposed to be like that?
Hi Auguste, are you using sugar with larger granules by chance? There shouldn’t be sugar granules visible in the dough. While a hand mixer isn’t needed for this recipe, you can certainly use one if you prefer.
Thanks for replying – I use regular granulated sugar, I tried mixing with a hand mixer, but the dough still has visible sugar granules:/ Do you have any idea what could be wrong and what I could try? The texture doesn’t bother me that much, I wish I could make them correctly you know
Hey Sally!!! The first time I maked these cookies I absolutely fell IN LOVE! But the past 2 times I’ve made them they are not flattening as much as I want them to and they have more of a cakey texture. Would a change in my ingredients affect this or would it be something else?
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Hi Olivia! Could you be measuring the flour differently? Cookies will be thick and cakey if there’s too much flour in the dough. Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) or use a kitchen scale to measure.
Best cookies I’ve ever baked! Love this recipe it now my go to for cookies.
Can you tell me if there is a way to keep them chewy even after a few days of baking?
Keeping them covered in an air-tight container is best. If you can stick a slice of white bread in there too, it will help!
I LOVEEDDDDD this recipe you had to contain me from eating all the cookies, they were SO amazing. Yum yum yum
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Hi, I tried out this recipe but my cookies came out super brown do you have any idea why this happened? I used dark brown sugar
Hi Zahra! Dark brown sugar will make them a little darker.
I let the cookie dough chill in our fridge for two days. Pulled it out about 2 hours ago and it’s still pretty firm. Can’t get my cookie scoop through it. Can shove a regular spoon in with a bit of force. Any advice? Thanks.
Hi Siri! Just let it sit until it warms up just enough to scoop. It can be pretty hard after chilling for a couple days.
Best chocolate chip cookie ever. Chewy and not flat!!
These cookies are stupid good! I’ve made them three times now and the people I share them with love them. I had great success freezing the dough in balls and popping them in the oven when I needed them.
Tasty cookies! Mine came out really greasy though, to the point they leave fingers shiny. I baked on parchment, followed the recipe exactly (used a scale for everything)baked from both frozen and just rolled and both times they were greasy. What can I do to prevent this?
Hi Ana, if the baked cookies seem too greasy, make sure to let the melted butter cool a bit before continuing with the recipe. That should help!
I don’t know what happened I followed the recipe exactly but they still came out hard. Can you tell me what I did wrong. Thank you,
Hi Stacey! Hard cookies can be caused by over-baking or they can become hard and dry from 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 did measure the flour using a spoon to fill the measuring cup and I cooked them for the allotted time
Hi Sally,
I have a question about which recipes can be successfully doubled without compromise and which ones cannot (and would be best making separate batches). Can you help clarify this for me?
I’m thinking of cakes, cupcakes, cookies, pancakes, waffles, scones, cobblers, brownies, icing, etc.
Thanks so much!!
Hi Alisa! Generally it is best to make separate batches of most baked goods to avoid over or under-mixing. Cookie recipes can often be doubled, though, as long as your mixer can handle the extra volume.
Omggggg outstanding. I added one extra tbsp of flour to make them extra fluffy but I have the recipe bookmarked in my phone as “best cookies ever” never using another cookie recipe again. Btw I never leave reviews either they just go good not to tell the world abt
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Hello Sally, my kids and I love these cookies very much. However, I don’t know why the outlook of my cookies is different from yours. My one is a bit thicker and it looks bulge. When I had a bitr, the outside is a bit crispy but inside is still soft. I would like to ask are my cookies over baked? Too high temperature or baked too long time? Thank you.
Hi Flora! Are the cookies quite thick? There could be 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.
Hello Trina, thank you very much for your reply. I did use electric scale to measure all the ingredients. Therefore? I don’t think I have put too much flour in the dough.
I was so excited to try these cookies!! I followed the recipe to a T (minus cornstarch as I couldn’t find any), chilled the dough for 24 hours and followed the instructions to prevent them going flat, but but they still dropped flat in the oven and became almost one giant cookie. I have a gas oven and set it to gas mark 3. Could I be doing something wrong? Maybe I cooked them too long? I really want to ace these as the actual taste of them was divine. Many thanks!
Hi Olivia! Here’s our best tips for preventing cookies form spreading for your next batch.
Our go-to cookie recipe. We like to add mini M&M and rainbow sprinkles instead of chocolate chips for a “rainbow” cookie
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can I reduce the sugar a bit???
Hi Donna! Sugar plays an important role in the taste, structure, and texture of the cookies, so changing the amount can have impacts beyond just the sweetness of the cookies. You can certainly tinker with reducing it, but keep in mind that the cookies will not turn out the same.
I make these probably at least once every 1.5 months or so. 9 times out of 10 when I ask my husband what kind of cookies he wants he says these. I cut the chocolate chips down to 1 cup and add 3/4 cup of pecans.
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Very simple and very informative – made some great cookies! Thank you for the recipe.
This was a favorite around my house and I have tried dozens of recipes.
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Is the 163deg C based on Fan/regg oven for this and all your receipes?
Hi Rach, all of our recipes are written and tested using a conventional oven. If you do use convection/fan settings for baking, lower your temperature by 25 degrees F and keep in mind that things may still take less time to bake.
25deg F is 3-4 deg C, so just reduce its to 159/160 C?
This is my all time favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe! I have several copies of it so I don’t lose it. Always a hit, with and without nuts. Thank you.
This is the best chocolate chip cookie ever. It’s my Grandkids favorite; and everyone else as well . My goal is to make every cookie in “Sally’s Baking Addiction”. I am an avid home baker and your books sit proudly next to Maida Heatter, Rose Levy Beranbaum, Nancy Baggett ,Julia Child, King Arthur and the rest of the that crew!