With 30 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!
I originally published this recipe in 2013 and have since added new photos, a video tutorial, and more helpful success tips. This recipe is such a fan (and personal) favorite that I included it in my New York Times best-selling cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
One 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 beloved… and, a warning: they disappear FAST.
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.
I’ve 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.
One 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, pumpkin crumb cake 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, just like in these brown butter marshmallow crispy cookies. 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 or up to 3 days. I usually chill it overnight.
(No time to chill? Make these soft & chewy chocolate chip cookie bars, giant chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chip cookie cake, or crispy chocolate chip cookie bark 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.
Because of the melted butter in this dough, the dough is very soft and a little greasy before chilling, so it’s harder to shape the cookie dough balls. We recommend chilling first, then shaping. If after chilling the dough is very hard and difficult to scoop, let it sit at room temperature for 15 minutes and then try again.
We typically do not recommend jumping right to the freezer without chilling the dough first. A quick freeze like that can cause the dough to chill unevenly and then spread unevenly during the baking process. For best results, we recommend following the recipe as written. If you don’t have time to wait for the dough to chill, try this recipe for 6 giant chocolate chip cookies instead, which doesn’t require dough chilling (see recipe Notes in that post for details on using the dough to make 24 regular-size cookies).
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 (with video tutorial).
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?
Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 13 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours, 45 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. This recipe is also in my New York Times best-selling cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch*
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (170g/12 Tbsp) unsalted butter, melted & cooled for 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
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt together. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until no lumps remain. Whisk in the egg and egg yolk until combined, then whisk in the vanilla extract. The mixture will be thin. Pour into dry ingredients and mix together with a large spoon or spatula. The dough will be very soft, thick, and shiny. 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 refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days. I highly recommend chilling the cookie dough overnight to prevent overspreading.
- Preheat oven to 325°F (163°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. If the dough has chilled for longer than 2 hours, let it sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes.
- Using a cookie scoop or Tablespoon measuring spoon, scoop the chilled cookie dough, about 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, then use your fingers to shape the cookie dough so that it’s taller rather than wide—almost like a cylinder. This helps the cookies bake up thicker. Repeat with remaining dough. Arrange the cookies 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake the cookies for 13–14 minutes or until the edges are very lightly browned. The centers will look very soft, but the cookies will continue to set as they cool. Cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. While the cookies are still warm, I like to press a few more chocolate chips into the tops—this is optional and only for looks!
- Store tightly 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 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 in a bowl 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 to 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.
Reader Comments and Reviews
If I make the cookies 1.5 tablespoons per piece, do I still bake it 12-13mins? Thanks
Hi Trina, we’re unsure of the exact bake time, but it will be slightly shorter. Keep a close eye on them and remove from the oven once the edges begin to set.
I just made these tonight, and made them 1.5 Tb, and it turned out that 10 minutes was the perfect amount of time.
Hi!
Can you make this into a cookie mix jar to gift?
Thanks in advance
Yes, that shouldn’t be a problem! You can use our cookies in a jar post for guidance.
Best cookie recipe EVER! We moved from sea level to high elevation (4200ft) I have been trying to make chewy cookies since we moved here. This is the only recipe that worked! Thanks!
These are my new go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe! I want to experiment with adding cocoa powder to the dough, but I’m unsure how much I’ll need, whether I should replace some of the flour, or whether I should add more sugar to compensate for the extra dry ingredient. This recipe is, in my opinion, perfect as-is, and I can’t wait to see how it can be tinkered with!
I love this cookie recipe! But my cookie always gets crumbly and they easily break. Any tips on how to have solid cookie so that it won’t get broken in the jar.
Hi! How would I substitute Almond Flour in this recipe? do you think it would be delicious as well?
Baked these for a casual bbq and the only cookie tin I could find in my pantry was from Mrs. Fields. Took them to the bbq and overheard someone talking about how incredible the cookies were, and how they had no idea Mrs. Fields cookies were that good! I had to interject and let them know they were NOT mass produced, but homemade. This cookie was the hit of the night and now my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe. My boyfriend kept asking, “But HOW are these so much better?!”
Once again, my Sally’s recipe killed it!!!
Is cornstarch the same as cornflour?
Just saying thanks! We’ve been baking with our 3 year old and she loves these cookies. We add sprinkles at the end 🙂
So fun with sprinkles! Thank you so much for making this recipe, Sogol!
They were a little dry for my own personal preference, I’d add 2 whole sticks of butter next time. But the recipe was able to easily become a delicious double chocolate by adding some coco powder and salt
Can I make these without cornstarch ?
The cornstarch keeps these cookies extra soft. You can skip it if you don’t have any.
These are the best cookies I have ever made! I am so happy to have stumbled across this recipe. Thank you so much!
My family didn’t like these cookies. I followed the directions re: ingdts, chilling time and baking. We didn’t like the softness without the browned edge crunch. They didn’t spread enough and remained small colorless mounds. This cookie was not to our liking, but now I know this for sure.
Great cookie recipe. I made these using powdered vanilla, browned butter and caramelised granulated sugar. The slight variation meshed well with the original recipe and added a huge depth of flavour that I did not expect.
I followed this recipe to the letter with one exception – since they were for Halloween, I added some orange sprinkles with the chocolate chips. These are the BEST chocolate chip cookies I have ever made! Thank you for sharing your recipe
Hi! I made these cookies following you or recipe and instructions tonight and my cookies came out and the texture inside was like a cake not cookie. Do you have any idea what I could of possibly done wrong. Thank you !
Hi Chloe, If you didn’t make any any ingredient substitutions then it sounds like you may have had too much flour in your cookie dough. How are you measuring? We always suggest using the spoon and level method for best results. Thank you for giving these cookies a try.
Hi there,
I followed the instructions to a T and my cookies were not beautifully thick like the photos :/ Any suggestions for trouble-shooting this issue?
Hi Britt, For cookies that spread and don’t stay thick, you can take a look at these 10 Guaranteed Tips to Prevent Cookies from Spreading to help troubleshoot.
Dear Sally,
May I use 2 to 2.5 tbsp of the dough to make these cookies?
I feel like some smaller cookies!! 🙂
Yes you can, Lily! Use the same oven temperature but the bake time will be slightly less so keep your eye on them as they bake.
I looked up how do I bake chocolate chip cookies from scratch and out of the 4 recipes, I chose your recipe to follow! Only thing is I must’ve done something wrong because it was so sticky. What must I’ve done wrong? This is my first try. I’ve waited for them to finish baking on the parchment paper. They’re beautifully light brown like yours. I hope they taste as amazing!
Hi Danee, how did you measure your flour? Be sure to spoon and level (or use a scale) to measure to ensure that you’re getting just the right amount of flour to help soak up the wet ingredients. Also be sure to chill the dough before rolling into balls, which can help with the stickiness. Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try!
I used a measuring glass! I don’t have a scale. Will inquire! Thanks
I saw you reply… just so you know glass measuring cups are for liquids/solids. Measuring cups (usually plastic) are meant for dry ingredients .
Just made these for the first time in over a year and I feel like me again! I used to make these several times a year for my family and friends but I haven’t been baking as much recently. Thank you for always being there…
Hi Allison, We are so glad you are baking again. Enjoy!
Hi,
Can I reduce the sugar ? How much
Hi Nancy, you can try reducing the sugar, but keep in mind that sugar plays an important role in the taste, texture, and structure of a recipe, so we’re unsure of the results when using less sugar. We’d recommend starting small, and then you can reduce further in future batches as needed.
I forgot to melt the butter (it was room temp though) but I did cream the butter and sugar together well. How much will this mess up the recipe?
Just a quick question, would it still be 163°c if I’m using a fan oven?
Hi Teigan, for a fan oven, we recommend lowering your temperature by 25 degrees F and keep in mind that your cookies may still take less time to bake. Keep a close eye on them!
Stuff like this is why you’re my go-to for baking recipes <3 I was worried at first because they looked REALLY thick when they came out, I thought they hadn’t spread out enough and would be undercooked in the middle… but these are legitimately the best cookies I’ve ever made. Only change I made was about a teaspoon of cinnamon in the dough, I think it compliments the chocolate very well.
I absolutely loved this recipe as well. Super delicious!! Made it last night and the whole family loved it (which is super rare in my family)
Do you think using milk chocolate chips (vs semi sweet) would make these cookies to sweet?
Hi Bridget, You can use milk chocolate, but they will be sweeter!
Hi Sally do you know how many calories per Cookie. My batch made 30. Thank you
Hi Deanna, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Hi! I used the tall rolled dough technique and my cookies never flattened out. Any idea what I may have done incorrectly? Thank you!
Hi Reese, how did you measure your flour? Be sure to spoon and level for best accuracy. Otherwise, your cookies may end up with too much flour, preventing them from spreading. For next time, you can also take the back of a spoon and gently press the cookie dough down during bake time. This post on how to improve your next batch of cookies (see #2 — what to do if your cookies AREN’T spreading) might be helpful, too. Thanks so much for giving these a try!
I’m new to baking. I read through and watched the video. My cookie dough has been in the fridge for 4 hours and I’m about to bake them but don’t see what temp to put the oven at
Hi Holly, see step 4 — preheat oven to 325°F (163°C). Hope you enjoy the cookies!
Hi Sally! Is it okay if, instead of doubling the ingredients for a larger batch, I make 1.5x instead? For example, 280g + 140g of flour plus an extra half of everything else? Thank you so much.
Absolutely!
These are my favorite go to cookies, so soft and chewy. I love that I can make a big batch of dough and pop a few cookies in to bake whenever I feel like something delicious. Thank you for your fool proof recipe.