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.
Well, I tried to make this recipe. Halfway thru, realized I had no brown sugar. Quick google search for replacement: White sugar & molasses! Mix it up. VERY dark dough. What th? I only had black strap molasses! Continue anyway. Only had 1 tsp vanilla. Used that, plus 1 tsp almond extract. Continue. Only had mini chocolate chips, not chunks. Continue. Thought I ruined it, but baked them anyway. Why not, I already made the dough. Omg, these cookies are soooo good! Crisp outer, soft chewy inner. So rich! Now I need to try to make them correctly next time!
Hi Sally,
Can we replace all purpose flour with wheat flour here? If yes, can you please help me with the ratio/quantity?
Thanks in advance.
Looking forward to baking them real soon.
Shivani
I don’t recommend it for these cookies. Here are all of my recipes that use Whole Wheat Flour.
These are absolutely the best cookies I’ve ever made! My son was ecstatic! He wants another batch immediately. Thank you for all of your excellent helpful tips.
Dear Sally i meant to write much earlier.Hope all safe and well with family .
I love baking and especially for my 8 year old son.
All your tips and presentation are mind-blowing .
I loved the way the cookies tasted
I also love the orange cake and the teiple layer cake .
.
Lots of love and if we can have some easy recipes without cornstarch or sour cream keeping in mind paucity of ingredients
I’ve been using this recipe for a good two years now and I will NEVER use another recipe for chocolate chip cookies! Made some tonight and figured I’d finally leave a review considering I’ve made them at lease a couple dozen times now!
OMG!!!! Sally!!! My family thinks I’m a rockstar(lol)! These are literally the best cookies I have made in my life. These cookies were SO GOOD…nice and chewy. This is my new “go to” chocolate chip cookie recipe!
Hey Sally, I tried this recipe a few times by volume and it came out great, although a little different each time. I decided to try it out by weight yesterday so I could get more consistent results and I also did a double batch. The cookies came out very buttery (too buttery). I noticed that the wet mixture was a lot wetter this time compared to previous tries. I still have half a batch of the cookie dough left, any advice on how I could try fixing it? Thank you.
Hi Anna! If the baked cookies taste a little too buttery, feel free to reduce the butter by 2 Tablespoons next time. By doing so, however, the cookies won’t spread as much. For your leftover dough, adding another Tablespoon or so of flour can help bulk it up.
I love these cookies!! They came out so beautiful. I have early onset dementia and I forget the simplest of things. I’m living with my sister and her family. I made these also with a very pushy 3yo. I somehow made a batch of cookies with 1.5 lbs. of butter instead of 1.5 sticks. lol I then realized I had to ask my 14yo niece for help. Let’s just say that we have enough dough to eat Miss Sally’s Quarantine Cookies for another two months. lol
Best chocolate chip cookie recipe! Thanks Sally!
Best cookies ever!
This is an amazing recipe, thank you so much for sharing it.
I’m excited I can use this now, after trying dozens of other recipes that all spread out flat as a pancake even with refrigeration and extra flour. I think the best secret really is the cornflour and the yolk.
They came out exactly as promised, thick and beautiful. Thank you!
I made them and they were delicious! They tasted even better 2 days after baking. I think they got a little softer and chewier. My family loved them and we all agree these were the best cookies we’d ever eaten. Thank you so much for the recipe
Baked this today and they turned out great! Can I keep them in the refrigerator so they last longer and stay fresh?
I’ve been asking everyone I know for a recipe for chocolate chip cookies that won’t fall flat. I’ve been baking cookies for many many years but have never been able to master the chewy softness of the chocolate chip cookie… until now!! Thank you so much for this! I made them today and already shared the recipe with many! These are the best and will ALWAYS be my go to recipe!
Tried this recipe and it was amazing. Mine came out a lot darker than the images but maybe because I used dark brown sugar? (Please let me know if you can :))Going to try light brown next to see if that makes a difference? Thank you so much for a lovely bake!
A perfect cookie recipe here. Make them just as written because these cookies are the bomb! My unending quest for the ultimate, to-die-for, must have chocolate chip cookie ENDS RIGHT HERE! Thank you Sally!
Thank you for your wonderful recipe and tips! I baked some with my kids yesterday for the first time and they tasted delicious! Very thick and soft! Personally, I want them to be a little thinner. Do I just reduce the chilling time instead of chilling overnight?
Most amazing cookies ever!! My kids and hubby absolutely love them
Thank you for sharing your recipe 🙂
Okay, I’ve tried many many recipes but this one—takes the cookie. Easy and tasty, these cookies were a hit with my family. I do wonder if browned butter would work in this recipe, because I’d love a nuttier, toffee-er flavour to my cookies.
I’m so happy these cookies were a hit with your family! I think you’d love my brown butter chocolate chip cookies– they have a delicious flavor 🙂 If you try them I’d love to know what you think!
I tried this for the first time and actually forgot to use melted butter. So I whisked it with electric butter.
Nonetheless it still turned out really nice! I could eat it non stop.
Will try again with melted butter.
Do you measure 3/4 cup of unmelted butter then melt or measure 3/4 melted butter? Thanks!!
Hi Danica! Measure 3/4 cup of butter (12 Tablespoons), then melt it 🙂
Favorite chocolate chip cookies! I have been making them for awhile now. Everyone loves them.
These are my go to chocolate chip cookies recipe! Thank you so much for it! My kiddos and I made a double batch and left some on neighbourhood doorsteps for a nice treat during this isolation period. I highly recommend this recipe
Hey Sally!
AWESOME recipe! I have been loving CHEWY chocolate chip cookies and trying different recipe. However, I was never happy with them till I found yours. I made a batch following exactly to the ingredients’ weight measures. My young siblings love them and told me that they tasted like the ones we buy from the store!!!:D However, I do have one question. Is it possible to make them less sweet? My parents prefer less sweet version of the cookies. Is it possible to reduce the sugar amount but maintain the chewiness? Thank you!
I’m so happy they were a hit with your family, Cinnie! You can try reducing the sugar but you will notice a texture change. A light sprinkle of corse salt on the top will give them a beautiful texture and help to balance the sweetness if you wish to try that.
Can I add some chopped walnuts into the recipe as well? If so, do I just add it in with the chocolate chips?
You can! Simply replace some of the chocolate chips with chopped nuts.
These are delicious! Thank you for the recipe!
Hi, my name is Alexa I am 9 years old. Today I baked your cookie recipe with my dad and my brother I really enjoyed it! Plus it was also REALLY yummy.
Thanks!
just made these tonight. made the dough yesterday and refrigerated overnight. the cookies came out super thin. 🙁 I followed the instructions step by step even shaped them like the picture. not sure what happened. I was so looking forward to chewy amazing cookies. feel like I wasted all these precious ingredients during this quarantine. any tips why they came out so flat???
Hi Requel, Without knowing exactly what went wrong, I suggest taking a look at my post with 10 Guaranteed Tips to Prevent Cookies from Spreading to help you troubleshoot.
LOVE this recipe. Have been trying loads of different ones during lockdown and this is by far my favourite.
Just wondering if you know roughly how many cals per cookie?
Thank you 🙂
I’m so happy you like them, Portia! I’m unsure of the nutritional info of this recipe, but there are many great online calculators like this one: https://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp
This is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve ever made! I’m done and I’ve found it and I don’t need to look for another ccc recipe ever again. Thank you!
This is my favourite chocolate chip cookie! I will never make a different one! Thank you! So perfectly chewy!