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
I’ve baked this recipe so many times and it’s always a hit! I follow the instructions exactly, but have also had to bake them in an oven that’s not my own – so the only thing that changes is watching the baking time. Best chocolate chip cookie recipe out there.
Hi Sally,
Can these cookies be made in cookie bars in a 9 x 13 pan? Would I need to make any adjustments on ingredients? I assume I would need to adjust the cooking time also. I have limited time and need a short cut. Thank you so much. I’m anxious to convert these.
Hi Connie! There isn’t quite enough batter to yield a 9×13 inch pan of cookie bars, but is plenty for a 9×9 inch square baking pan or try my chocolate chip cookie bars recipe. For a 9×13 inch pan, I recommend 1.5x the recipe. The bake time will be longer for cookie bars.
Hi Sally!
If I leave out the cornstarch, do the rest of the ingredients change at all? Thanks!
Nope! Continue with the recipe, no substitutions or other changes.
Delicious cookie. They were chewy, perfect brown and not doughy. Didn’t run either.
My daughter loves your show! We made these cookies together today for our family dessert tonight. They are so good!! Thank you for inspiring a little baker and for the amazing recipe!
Do you think the addition of coconut would make the batter too stiff?
Adding around 3/4 cup of coconut is just fine. Make sure it’s finely shredded.
Best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever! They never last long at our house. I always have to make a double batch!
You know I’m making these for cookie day this week Sally! They’re my favorite chocolate chip cookies and my employees always request a double batch of them. It’s hard to find the chunks these days, so I usually just use the chips.
I love these cookies so much!! It’s seriously the best cookie recipe… ever. I now use this dough for other cookies as well (white chocolate and macadamia! Yum!) Everyone loves any and all variations I make as long as it’s with this cookie dough. I like to chill them overnight to guarantee super thick cookies.
I used this recipe exactly as written, but substituted Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour and they came out great. I used a convection oven, put the shaped cookies in the freezer while the oven warmed up, and baked for about 17 minutes. It is key to watch the cookies and not the timer as Sally advises. I have pictures if there is a way to post them.
Wow! Phenomenal cookies! Your method resulted in thick, chewy cookies, better than my local bakery by far. Thank you!
The best chocolate chip cookie ever!!
Okay so your chewy chocolate chunk cookies are my favorite cookies of all time! I tried every chocolate chip cookie recipe and these are the bees knees! So I make them all the time and they always turn our perfect-soft!
Hands down THE BEST chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had/made. I’ve made these at least 3 times in the last few weeks. It is SO handy to just make a few and freeze the rest. I mean, who doesn’t want a warm chocolate chip cookie always at the ready?! Thank you so much for sharing!
This is one of 2 chocolate chip cookie recipes that I use, the other one is another one of Sally’s recipe. I make this recipe quite often because it’s so quick and easy to make. It makes just the right amount for my family.
These chocolate chip cookies are the best! Easy to make and they dissapear quickly!
The BEST chocolate chip cookies. I love to form the dough and freeze for later. Always a hit at school gatherings.
These are literally the best cookies ever and they are so easy to make! I’ve made them countless times with different add ins and they are always delicious. Thanks so much Sally!
My “go to” chocolate chip cookie recipe. Perfect every time and so versatile! The kids love when I add M&Ms to them!
After baking a small batch of these beauties I’m still speechless…. They came out PERFECT!. I won’t use another cookie recipe EVER AGAIN, thanks a lot Sally!
These are the best cookies I have ever had. I nearly squealed when I took the first bite , they are so chewy with the right amount of sweetness. This is the first recipe I tried from your site, I can’t wait to try the other ones. It will probably be soon because I am inhaling these cookies. Ha!
Best ccc recipe ever!
I FINALLY found the best, perfect chocolate chip recipe.Thank you again for this recipe!
these are my new favorite chocolate chip cookies! i have never tried melted butter or cornstarch before in chocolate chip cookies and I was pleasantly surprised! definitely recommend and five stars !!
I made this recipe today and they taste great! I did make the first batch using 2T of dough, baked them a little longer, but they turned out very flat and didn’t seem to fully cook.
However, I used a small cookie scoop the second time, turned the oven up to 350 degrees and they are perfectly formed and equally as delicious! This is a very flavorful chocolate chip cookie recipe! Do you have any suggestions why the larger cookies went flat? Any feedback is appreciated. I will be making these again! Thanks, Sally.
For larger cookies you can try making a taller dough ball and making sure the dough is cold going in the oven. You can also try turning the temperature down for larger amounts of dough so that they can bake a bit slower and longer!
Hi Sally!,
Can I use cake flour instead of all purpose and cornstarch?
Hi Melissa! No, I recommend sticking with the all-purpose and cornstarch combination.
I tried this recipe yesterday. It is simple, easy to follow, and tasty, but still too sweet for me. Is it possible to reduce the use of sugar (both brown sugar and granulated sugar)?
Absolutely! Feel free to slightly reduce both.
Just made these cookies with dark brown muscovado sugar and they are amazing! I have never managed to get my cookies this thick before. They are dense and chewy on the inside but with a nice crispy outer. Dark brown sugar is such a game changer, the cookies have an almost nutty hazelnut flavor. These are by far the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever baked. Thank you Sally for yet another fantastic recipe!
Made this recipe twice already and they’re just so good. I found the chewy cookie I’ve been looking for. However I have 1 question, how come my cookie doesn’t spread like the one on the video? i actually used a cookie scoop and it didn’t spread. But my kids still loved it. Thank you.
I’m so glad you enjoy them! If they are not spreading as much you can flatten the dough balls a little before you bake them!
Just wanted to say that I make these on the regular for friends/family, and they have gotten comments such as “these are literally the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had” sooo many times! Your recipes are wonderful!