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
Hi!! the cookies tasted so good i couldn’t stop eating them with milk!! but for some reason they turn out a little flat even after it was in the freezer for 1 1/2 hours!! what can i do to make them a bit more chunkier(?) when baked??
★★★★★
Hi Tako, Here’s our best tips for preventing cookies form spreading for your next batch.
These are delicious! Some of the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made, in both texture and flavor, and I’ve made a lot of chocolate chip cookies in my life! My one misgiving is that they never seem to turn out as pretty as the cookies in the photos. Every time I’ve made them, the dough seems to oxidize when I chill it, and the cookies turn out too dark in color. This doesn’t happen with your Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies, just this recipe. But otherwise, they’re great!
★★★★
My favorite. Chewy not crumbly. They don’t last long I think I saved the cookie dough three days. The last of it. Now it doesn’t mold together. Anything to save it?
★★★★★
Hi Susan, the dough should be okay in the fridge for 2-3 days. Allow to come to room temperature then continue with step 5.
My new go to for lunch box snacks! Everyone loves these cookies.
these are the literal best chocolate chip cookies out there
I love this so much
this is my second attempt of baking cookies and oh god i am so satisfied with them! the first time i made them (from some other’s recipe) they were a disaster. after that your channel was recommended by a close friend of mine and i couldn’t thank her enough! i really really love how these turned out can’t wait to show these cookies to my parents and family!
★★★★★
This are the best cookies I have ever tasted.
There are so delicious and indulgent with flavor. The mixed taste of the the chocolate chips and cookie dough, there is no better cookie recipe then this. I love them so much, I know what to bake and bring to my next family gathering. Sally you are probably the baker in the world and your addiction to bake just can’t make it any better. My family is asking me to make more because of how perfect and excellent they, not only that they are extremely easy and fast to make that in a blink of an eye I know what my dessert will be.
these cookies are a dream in real life that I even enjoy making them.
Thank you Sally so much.
I made these yesterday and am making them again today! Delicious cookie and will now by my “go-to” recipe for chocolate chip cookies. Thanks!
I have only dabbled in baking, and this was one of the first recipes for chocolate chip cookies that I found that I had the exact ingredients for so I thought I’d give it a try. Never made cookies from scratch in my life. I was tired of spending an arm and a leg for premade dough that had ingredients that I’m sure will kill me in one way or another. That was quite a few months ago. I have made this recipe several times since then, and I have gotten nothing but raving reviews from friends and family! I don’t quite have the shaping portion down correctly. They tend to be quite small and puffy, but they eat just as good. One of my husbands friends thought I bought them premade, and when told him I made them from scratch, his jaw dropped! Thank you for posting this wonderful guide on how to make delicious cookies. I’m looking forward to trying out many more recipes that your site has to offer! God bless!
Any thoughts on how these would turn out if using maple syrup instead of sugar?
Hi Karen! Using a liquid sweetener like maple syrup in these cookies would change the dough consistency too much. We don’t recommend it.
These cookies came out great except a few of the cookies had a little bit of a grainy texture. Would a warmer butter and a longer wisking help eliminate the grainy texture?
Hi Howard, if you try them again, we recommend mixing your butter and sugar together for longer in the beginning. If the cookies turned out grainy it’s likely from that first step – mix until the sugar and butter are completely smooth. We’re glad you enjoyed these cookies!
These really disappointed me. They weren’t chewy at all. They were thick (I built up my column-like dough balls) and cakey. I remade this recipe, but I did not chill the dough, and I made my dough balls flatter with some texture (little pinches) on top. I baked for the same amount of time as my original attempt (14-16 minutes), and they looked more like the pictures and had a better texture. They are not very sweet, though. I have another cookie recipe that has similar ratios of ingredients except it has TWICE the sugar. This one is, therefore, not very flavorful and not my favorite.
Hi Erica, thank you for giving these cookies a try. Usually when cookies come out cakey, it is because there is too much flour in the dough. Too much flour will impact the flavor as well. 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.
No flavor? I have made these at least 10 times now, last three times have been double and triple recipes. I highly recommend using a scale, comes out so much more accurate. Also using high quality vanilla extract and fresh dark brown sugar. The flavor of these cookies is buttery good, with a good rich buttery flavor. I think of these as adult chocolate chip cookies! The other thing I do is press pecan pieces or toasted almond pieces, or dry roasted salted peanuts in them. I love to bake and this is my absolute favorite cookie anymore!
Hi. I want to make a double chocolate chips by using this ingredients, is that possible?What adjustment do I need to do?Thankyou.
Hi Ronalyn, here is our double chocolate chip cookies recipe instead. Same great texture!
I can’t want to try the cookies !
I love this. Not too sweet either but mine burnt from the bottom. Why?
Hi Afifa, were you using darker baking sheets by chance? Darker pans/sheets can sometimes cause the bottoms to bake faster. For next time, you can try reducing the temperature a bit to see if that helps.
Hey! I love this recipe a lot and it’s easy to follow. It’s the second time I’m using it to bake from scratch but I can’t seem to get my dough to be as runny as yours in the video 🙁 the dough is less smooth but it’s still has the greasy look to it. The cookies taste fine but I feel like I am doing something wrong. Everything looks the same except for the fact it’s just not as smooth. Even if I beat the sugar butter mix for long it won’t mend together as well. I used the light brown sugar.
Hi Cian, if the batter seems too thick, there may be too much flour in the dough. How do 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. Hope this helps for your next batch!
I was a bit apprehensive because of the quantity of flour in this recipe, the cookies did indeed turn out tasting like flour. Anything I can do to fix this?
★★★
I forgot to add cornstarch & I only had 1 egg yet these still turned out to be the best & tasties cookies I’ve ever made. This is now my “go to” recipe. Definitely a keeper.
★★★★★