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
Perfect!!! Sally, everything you publish is magnificent! Thank you for a tasty treat!
This is one of the first recipes i tried from your Sally’s arsenal. It is the second most requested cookie i make ( the other einha low sugar gluten free oatmeal) Have subbed oils, vegan butter for the butter, and have used bown butter as well. I have used gluten free glour mixes successfully without changing amounts. Ihave used differet flavouring instead of vanilla, and have replaced the chocolate chips with a ton of ingredients, including freeze dried fruit. Never a miss. Always to rave reviews and always requested again.
Thank you for sharing your talents and hard work!!
Thank you, Sally! First time I’ve been able to successfully bake an American chocolate chip cookie. The hard part for me is pulling the cookies out when they still look wet, but I followed all directions, even weighed each cookie! So good!
The best chocolate chip cookie ever my grandkids visited for a week we had to make recipe twice in one week yummy good melt in your mouth
I follow the recipe exactly as it is for the dough. They tasted excellent.
For the chocolate, I used a bar of milk chocolate, and a bar of rich dark chocolate, chopped up.
Here are some things I noticed:
– My cookies don’t spread as much. I measured the ingredients by weight, so it is not the wrong measurement. I needed to help flatten them a bit. Mine are in disc shapes, not ball shapes when going into the oven. So bake 1 cookie first to see if you need to adjust. The first one I baked in a ball shape and it came out more cake than cookie.
– When they came out of the oven, they’re soft and moist and fresh. Then once cooled, they are actually a bit crumbly. Then I stored them in an airtight container and they set and became chewy the next day. So they WILL NOT be chewy on the day they are baked. They are lovely the next day, though.
Can i freeze these cookies once done as i plan to bake them and take it with me overseas.
Absolutely! Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months.
i chilled about 8hrs but It came out nicely and tastes yummy.
My kids love them so much. Thank you for the recipe.❤️❤️❤️
Best chocolate chop cookies I’ve ever made! I followed the recipe and tips exactly. Chilled the dough for about 6 hours. I measured out 1 ounce cookies. They were the perfect size.
I have a family member who is highly allergic to dairy. I substituted a vegan butter substitute, Earth Balance, which has 11g per Tablespoon of fat. I use it in all of my baking, works great.
Hi, this recipe looks amazing! Just wondering: for my fan oven should I turn down the temperature a little bit or should I take it out at 11 minutes or should I change nothing?
Thanks!
Hi Andrew, We are so happy you enjoy this recipe! All of the recipes on this site are written for conventional settings. Convection/fan ovens are fantastic for cooking and roasting. If you have the choice, we recommend conventional settings when baking cakes, breads, etc. The flow of air from convection heat can cause baked goods to rise and bake unevenly and it also pulls moisture out of the oven. If you do use convection settings for baking, lower your temperature by 25 degrees F and keep in mind that things may still take less time to bake.
This is my go to favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, it’s amazing. I wanted to ask is it possible to add peanut butter to make peanut butter chocolate chip cookies with this recipe? I have used other peanut butter recipes, they only stay soft for a day then turn dry most of the time after that.
Thank you
Hi Angela! Peanut butter dries dough out so it’s best to use a recipe formulated for its addition. Readers (and our team!) love these peanut butter chunk cookies. You can leave out the chopped peanuts if you wish.
I made these cookies this last weekend and for once my cookies turned out Awsome! Thank you for an Awsome recipe.
I do have one question. I need to make another batch tonight but am out of butter. Can I use margarine instead?
Hi Tammy, margarine does not have the same baking properties (or flavor!) as butter. We don’t recommend that swap.
My family and now our school loves these cookies! We call them game day cookies as my daughter shared them at school and we get requests for more at football games!
What baking time would you suggest for using a small cookie scoop instead of the medium one?
Hi Tamar, just a few minutes less, but each oven can be a bit different so keep an eye on your first few batches (and start checking early) to make sure they don’t overbake!
Hi, can I half this recipe (using a scale to get half a normal egg and half an egg yolk)?
Absolutely.
It’s been few months now since i discovered this recipe, and it’s always so good!! And I also stopped looking for choco chip recipes because this one’s the best! Just want to share that, if you want cookies with gooey chocolate, use Ghirardelli!! I used that and compared with Nestle’s Tall House, Ghirardelli has that gooey chocolate even though cookie already cooled off. 🙂
I started baking when the pandemic hit and I have been STRUGGLING to make good cookies. I always somehow messed up the texture and they were never soft and chewy. This recipe changed that and I’ve never made, or tasted, better cookies!!!!!!
I was doing some research pertaining to different brands of All purpose flour. The Gold Medal brand, I found that one cup is 130 grams. For the recipe, I would need to use 290 grams. Is this correct?.
Hi Steve, with a difference of only 10g, it shouldn’t make a huge difference for these cookies. We test our recipes with the stated weights. Either way should be fine but let us know how it goes either way!
Thank you for all your help.
Can I use Gold Medal All purpose flour?
Absolutely.
The best
Hi Sally, can any texture of brown sugar be used in this recipe? The brown sugar in my country is more of a grainy or granulated sugar texture. It isn’t as soft and held together as the one you used in this recipe
Hi Marisa, you may certainly try using the brown sugar available to you, although the final texture of the cookies may be different. From your description, it sounds like the cookies may not turn out as soft and chewy, since the higher ratio of brown sugar is one of the key reasons we get chewy cookies from this recipe. Let us know if you give it a try!
Love this recipe. Didn’t have enough butter but it still turned out good!
This has been a favorite recipe of mine! But last year we moved from sea level to 6000 feet above and I am having such a hard time with it! My cookies bake faster and spread much more, even after chilling. They still taste great but they just don’t bake up the same as they did at sea level. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Hi Melanie! We wish we could help, but we have no experience baking at high altitude. Some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
We loved this recipe.
Substituted arrowroot powder for the cornstarch and put the dough in the freezer for 20 minutes instead of 2 hours in the fridge. And the cookies were GREAT!!!
Hi Sally! These are our family’s favorite cookies! My daughter in law is nursing my new granddaughter who has a dairy allergy and I’m wondering if I can make her a batch using dairy free butter? Has anyone ever tried this? I know I can buy vegan chocolate chips for her and assume that won’t be an issue.
Thanks for any advice!
Hi Trish, We are so happy you enjoy this recipe! You can try coconut oil which seems to have been successful for some readers, or vegan butter such as the Earth Balance brand. We haven’t personally tested either so let us know what you try!
I used the vegan butter and vegan chocolate chips. They loved them!
Loved these! Made em on a whim and we all know how worrying and tricky it is finding a solid chocolate chip cookie recipe. This one is it! Chewy with a bit of a bite if you cook it a bit longer – super chocolatey and rich!
AWESOME!!!
Best chocolate cookies I’ve ever had
If I add rolled oats in the recipe, will it still turn out soft and chewy? Thanks
Hi Michelle, We recommend that you follow this recipe for Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies instead.
Amazing!!!
They taste delicious.
Wondering if I can make them with a bit less sugar.
Hi Marilena, thank you for trying these! 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’ve been making this cookie for years, most recently, tonight. Its, by far, my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. Delicious!
This recipe is a game changer! I tried it out and the cookies turned out pretty good.
Hi! I just made this recipe and my cookies didn’t spread – I let the dough refrigerate over night but they remained as a ball when cooking. Not sure what I did wrong but asides from the not spreading issue the recipe is absolutely delish!