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
This recipe is incredible!! I made it along with one of Sally’s sprinkle cookies! My family couldn’t stop eating them!! Thanks Sally!!
★★★★★
Thank you Sally! I don’t have ANY baking experience and this recipe was super easy I made a perfect delicious batch just by following these instructions 🙂
★★★★★
I’ve made 3 of your cookie recipes this quarantine, and let me just say, EVERYONE will love these cookies! My dad hates sweet things, but can eat 4 of these cookies in a heartbeat. Don’t hesitate making these cookies! They’re delicious!!
★★★★★
Simply put, these cookies are FANTASTIC. I made them and they are truly delicious, my son and husband LOVED them. I will say with the chocolate chips being refrigerated in the dough, it makes it a little more difficult to manage the dough after the chilling time if you have issues with hand strength. This is now my go to cookie recipe. THANK YOU!
★★★★★
Can I use whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour? Or mix them up – half of each? Thank you.
Hi Pallavi, I recommend sticking with all purpose flour for these cookies.
This recipe is great and your post + video are very informative!!!! I’m so happy that I found it. I made two batches. I baked both batches for a longer period of time than the recipe instructed because I wanted them to be brown and less chewy. I pressed some chocolate chips into the top of the second batch of cookies, made a few of them from 2 tbs of cookie dough and made the balls a little flatter than the first set. I also baked the second batch at 350. I was happy with both batches but the next time I make them, I’ll do as I did for the second batch and use 2 tbs of cookie dough throughout. Best Mother’s Day Cookies Ever!
★★★★
This is the best chocolate chip cookies I have baked. Can you please post a recipe for oatmeal cookies. Thanks for all your recipes and baking tips!
★★★★★
These are awesome. Can the same recipe be used (+pb) for a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie?
★★★★★
Hi Becky, peanut butter dries dough out so it’s best to use a recipe formulated for its addition. I recommend my peanut butter chunk cookies.
Hi Sally,
I love all your recipes, everything I’ve made so far has been great! However with this recipe I encountered a problem; after I chilled the dough and left it out at room temperature ( you recommended ten minutes) for an hour but the dough was still too hard and unmanageable. Do you have any suggestions?
★★★★
Hi Paulina, I’m glad to help. It’s normal for doughs to be pretty hard after chilling. First, make sure you are spooning and leveling your flour– too much flour will soak up all the moisture in the dough. Second, try chilling the cookie dough for 1 hour, roll into balls, then chill for 1 more hour. To salvage the dough you have, let it sit at room temperature until you can shape it. You can use some arm muscle and a spoon to scoop it out or even place it in a heatproof bowl and microwave for 10 seconds.
Made the cookies with gluten free 1-1 flour. Deeee-lish.
★★★★★
Pretty sure I have made just about every chocolate chip cookie recipe out there and these are by far absolutely the BEST chocolate chip cookies ever! I chilled the dough in the fridge for about 2 hours, used mini chocolate chips and followed the recipe exactly. Perfection!! I will never use another recipe again.
★★★★★
Hi Sally! Can I add extra ingredients (oats and raisins) to this recipe? All while using chocolate chips instead of chunks because that is all I have in my pantry. Can’t wait to try this recipe out!
BTW so totally jealous of your pantry that is fully stocked with all the baking essentials! That should be #bakinggoals for everyone!
Hi Sami, I suggest using my Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and if you want you can use half raisins and half chocolate chips.
Seriously THE BEST soft & chewy chocolate chip cookies I have ever had! I love how you can keep the dough in the fridge and make a fresh batch the very next day. Thank you for making easy-to-follow directions with exactly how much butter to use (in sticks). Sometimes I mess up how much butter I need if its not written out for me, and mess up the entire batch. The first time I made these they didn’t turn out good because I didn’t use the spoon & level method for the flour. MAKE SURE YOU DO THE SPOON & LEVEL! Or they will not turn out soft & chewy. I am SO GLAD I re-made the cookies because they are AAMMAAZZIINNGG!!!!! These are now my go-to choc chip cookies to make! Thanks Sally!
★★★★★
Love these! Will make again and again!
★★★★★
These are amazing! The only change I made was to follow the author’s technique for another cookie recipe on her website – baking these for 10 minutes, using the back of a spoon to flatten them out a little (because they were baking into small little mounds), and then baking them for 2 more minutes. I should have made a double batch!
★★★★★
Best chocolate chip recipe ever!!
★★★★★
Wow, what a recipe. Fabulous. Greatest choc chip cookies ever. Wish I would’ve found this recipe a long time ago.
★★★★★
Hi i just wanted to ask if the baking temp being exactly at 325 is significant to making a cookie chewy and not flat? (just wondering since the standard baking temp is usually 350) thank you!!
Hi Dani, since the cookies are so large, a slightly lower temperature is key to help bake them evenly throughout.
Finally after 8 years of baking and giving up on trying to find the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe, I found it. I’m so happy I could cry. Thank you.
★★★★★
This by far is the best cookie recipe I’ve ever tried. The cookies turned out excellent in every way. Cant wait to share them
★★★★★
I’ve tried a variety of cookie recipes, and this has been the best! I made my cookies smaller and cooked it for a shorter period – they tasted soft in the middle and crunchy on the outside!! BEST BEST BEST cookie recipe :)))
★★★★★
I’m in love with these cookies! We’ve been on a baking spree and have made these twice in a few days and both times they were a huge hit! Thank you so much for this recipe and all of your recipes!
★★★★★
Hello sally
First of all I’m so glad to see your website a few days ago
your recipes amazing ,endless love for you and your recipes.
Today first time I baked cookies,it’s incredible
Really I’m so admire your baking
I truly appreciate all your time spent on this website
★★★★★
They were delicious!! I had to bake for 16 minutes to be completely done in the middle and still remained chewing but I believe I went overboard on the chocolate.
★★★★★
Hey Sally, I tried this recipe and it turned out to be great! However, for next time, I was hoping to make an eggless version of the same. Do you have any suggestions on what would be a good replacement for eggs?
★★★★★
I almost never comment on recipes but I just had to with this one. I made the dough yesterday, left it in the fridge, and baked some today.
They were amazing. I immediately threw away my old chocolate chip cookie recipes. These are soft and chewy with just a tiny bit of crunch around the edges. My family loved it too. Baked two-tablespoon balls in 12 minutes, waited 10 minutes, and they came out beautiful. I followed the recipe to a T!!!! I used dark brown sugar and next time I’ll have to use light brown to make the chocolate chunks stand out for better photos. I’ll be treasuring this recipe till I grow old. Thanks so much Sally! I can’t wait to try your other recipes.
★★★★★
So I thought I followed the recipe but my cookies did not spread much at all. Still, they are chewy and delicious. Wondering what could I have done wrong or what can I use to help them flatten a bit more?
★★★★★
This is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I have ever made period! I know it sounds cliche but it’s true. It’s the only one I will be making from now on. I can’t believe what a difference a few ingredients can make. Delicious!
★★★★★
This is the easiest and best chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe that I have ever baked. I love to bake and I have made many different chocolate chip recipes but my daughter said this is the best she has ever tasted and she has tasted quite a few different ones. I have thrown out all my other recipes and will only be making yours from now on. Thank you also for all the great tips, I followed them all.
Your site will be on top of my list for all other recipes too.
Mil
★★★★★
The best think I’ve ever baked! Such a great recipe!
I’m running out of ingredients and I was wondering if it’s possible to halve the recipe?
★★★★★