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 want to make 1/2 recipe, should I just use 1 egg yolk?
That’s what I would do, yes.
I baked these cookies and I must say this is one of the best cookie
I’ve made these twice and the cookies are absolutely perfect! Thank you for the recipe!
Just made these and they came out perfect. Thank you for the recipe 🙂
I’ve made 3 batches of these and the family absolutely loves them.
Made these with my boys (5 and 3). They came out great. Very soft and chewy. They were a bit too sweet and a tad overstuffed with chips for our tastes, so we will adjust amounts accordingly next batch. But the recipe is excellent.
Hi sally
Can I roll the dough into balls First , then chill for few hours then bake?
Hi Brenda, You can chill the dough balls before baking. However you will likely still have to chill the dough for a bit before rolling as it’s just too soft right out of the mixing bowl to hold it’s shape.
I’ve made these cookies today, and they tasted great, but they were not chewy. They came out crumbly.
Any idea what I did wrong?
Hi Sylvana! Make sure you aren’t over-measuring your flour. Spoon and level it (or weigh it) and definitely don’t over-bake the cookies. Those are the first two culprits! Cookies should look extra extra soft coming out of the oven.
I’ve been searching for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe for a while and I have finally found it! Thank you!
The first time I made these they turned out perfectly! Looked beautiful and tasted great! But the last two times they seem to be slightly flat. Still tasted great but why might they be flat? Could it be that my butter isn’t cooler enough after melting? Or too cool? Or maybe something else I’m doing wrong?
Thanks, Sally!
Hi Brittani, That’s odd that the second two batches would be different! I suggest you take a look at my 10 Guaranteed Tips to Prevent Cookies from Spreading to help you troubleshoot.
These are the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had. They turned out perfect following your instructions! Great recipe! Thanks for all the great tips. My husband and I agree that these are our new ultimate favorite cookie. Thanks again and blessings!
Hi Sally, does the melted butter need to cool for a few minutes before adding the sugars? Or do you add the sugars directly to the butter after melted?
You can let it cool down for a few minutes, but I usually don’t. It cools down quickly when you whisk it with the sugars.
Hello! I am currently living in Europe and haven’t found corn starch (yet!). I see that it’s part of what will make the cookies stay thick and chewy in this recipe. Would you recommend extra flour or something else as a substitute for the cornstarch?
Simply leave it out if you don’t have any. 🙂
My cookies turned out beautifully. Thank you.
OMG !!! These are the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made and eaten. So good I didn’t want to share (but I did). Recipe is easy to follow and I love that Sally tells you why to melt the butter and why to add an extra egg yolk. My father in law (a real cookie connoisseur) thought they were the best cookies he had ever had.
Sally’s website is my go to site for all baking recipes. Her pumpkin pie recipe (with a pinch of pepper) is amazing. Always a hit at Thanksgiving. Thanks Sally for sharing all of these delicious recipes.
Hi, im really looking forward to making your recipe but wondered if its plain or self-raising flour?
Thanks
Hi Daisy, All purpose is plain – not self rising. Hope this helps!
This is the first type of cookie I ever baked. These are so yummy and not overly sweet. My husband and my co-workers loved these.
Agreeing with nearly everyone else here. These are the best chocolate chip cookies out there. And I’ve tried many over the years! No need to ever search for another recipe again. Thanks Sally.
I made a batch of these today and have now sworn off all other chocolate chip cookie recipes… THIS IS THE ONE. Thank you, thank you, thank you a million times over for this one.
Best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had/made. Thick but soft and so chocolatey!
I was capable of making some incredible cookies thanks to the recipe! I had your recipe as a base and changed a few ingredients here and there. Reduced the sugar to 1 cup of white sugar with 1 1/2 teaspoons worth of maple sugar since I didn’t have any brown sugar. And then browned my butter which I had heard would make them really good but I never realized it had such a difference in taste! All in all I’m very happy with the recipe and will make them again!
The worlds best cookies this is the greatest recipe I have had for chocolate chip
Sally, this is the third thing I’ve made of yours in under a week! I have to say when I am looking for a reliable recipe I go straight to yours! I have multiple printouts of your recipes as well. You are truly talented!! Thank you for sharing your gift!
I made them today, and these cookies are the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had! I can recommend this recipe to anyone that’s looking for an easy fool prove recipe. Enjoy….
This is one of my favorite cookies from Sally. Love eating them cold. Next time I will add nuts to this mixture.
Thank you Sally
Thank you so much for the great recipe! I really enjoyed it, and so did my kids! The cookies were really chewy and perfect. Thanks!
I just made these and they are by far the best cookies I’ve ever had, thank you! The only difference is that I used milk chocolate chips!
While this recipe is good, I found it exceedingly difficult to portion the cookies out after refrigeration. I had to wait almost an hour for the butter to soften enough. Second batch I did, I rolled them before refrigerating, that way I only had to pop them apart.
These are incredible. Next time I will use more bitter chocolate chips because my milk chocolate ones were a bit too sweet. I ended up cooking them quite a bit longer than recommended because I like them crisp AND chewy. They turned out perfect
Followed recipe and they turned out great! I did bake for an extra 3 minutes as I like my cookies a little more done. They turned out lofty, chewy, with a nice crisp on the edge! Thanks!