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?
Print
Chewy 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 / 12 Tbsp) 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.
I want to make this a cookie cake?! Can I follow all directions and then spread into a cake pan, would a 9×13 work?
Hi Liddy! This isn’t enough cookie dough for a 9×13 pan. I recommend doubling the recipe or you can try my smaller batch chocolate chip cookie bars.
Super love this recipe! My husband loves the cookies too! One question though, Can I add nuts?
Thanks Sally!
Absolutely!
I love this recipe, and my husband constantly says these are the best cookies he’s ever had! Last night I made them with only brown sugar in a pinch because I was out of granulated— I think I might actually like them BETTER! They were a little denser/chewier and spread less, but that toffee flavor is so good.
Hi Sally! If I wanted to make these using a 1.5 tbsp. scoop, how should I adjust the baking time? Thanks! 🙂
Hi Erica! The bake time will be slightly shorter.
These cookies are incredible! I made them last night because, for whatever reason, I *NEEDED* cookies at 9:00 pm. It’s been a while since I’ve made good ole chocolate chip cookies, so I knew it was time to make these.
What I loved was how fast and easy they were! I couldn’t find a whisk, but that didn’t pose a problem. The prep time truly was ~10 minutes and all ingredients that I had readily available! I used mini chips because that’s all I had, with a few milk chocolate added in. I couldn’t wait, so I made 4 cookies right away and chilled the rest over night. You were so right, that chilling was mandatory! Without chilling the dough, they were still delicious, but the next morning I made the rest to bring to work and the difference was extraordinary! With the cold dough, the texture was better, and you could really taste the butter. My coworkers said these were the best chocolate chip cookies they have ever had!
I always trust you for the best recipes, and once again you provided an incredibly easy way to make bakery-quality cookies. Thank you!!!!
Hi Sally,
Can I use this recipe to make cookie cups?
Yes, absolutely!
These are my go-to chocolate chip cookies. Have made them so many times and they turn out fantastically every single time. Your instructions are so detailed. Thanks!
Hi,
Love the recipe, but I need to make it for a large group so I was thinking of making them smaller. Like maybe 1 or 1/2 tablespoons instead of 3. Would that still be baked at the same temperature and time? Thanks!
That’s just fine! And the bake time will be a minute or two less. Same oven temp.
these are the absolute best chic chip cookies I’ve ever made!! Sprinkle a little sea salt on them and they’re more heavenly! Thanks for the recipe and tips!
Hi! Can I use this and your other cookie recipes and turn them into cookie cups or deep dish cookies then, just bake them for 12-13 min? Hoping for your answer asap! Thank you. Have a nice day! 🙂
Yes. In a muffin pan, these cookies will take about 13 minutes. Other recipes will be around the same time, give or take.
Hey Sally! I have made this recipe at least 3 or 4 times, and every time I end up putting the cookies back in the oven after taking them out at the 12 minute mark! They seem to just fall apart when taking them off the baking sheet. The ones I take out at 12 and leave, get super thin on the edges. The ones I leave in a little longer aren’t as chewy. I can not figure out what on earth is going wrong! I melt the butter in the microwave, my eggs are room temp, and this most recent batch i let sit in the fridge for 16 hours! Please help!! 🙁
Hmm. I would check your oven temperature. Something’s happening in the oven. Do you have an oven thermometer? Might help to pick one up. My oven runs hot, so I’m able to control the temperature appropriately with the thermometer.
love, love, love these cookies! This is the BEST chocolate chip cookie recipe I have ever made! Thank you so much for sharing!
This recipe was amazing! Thick chewy soft just the perfect cookies. Thanks so much Sally!
WOW!!!! I almost cried when I took these out of the oven, THE best cookies I’ve ever made! They came out perfect! I absolutely loved the detailed instructions, you really have to follow it in order to get the perfect cookie. I’ve never had such success with cookies and I’ve learned a lot of techniques for next time. Thanks Sally! These are DELICIOUS!
I have tried several chocolate chip cookie recipes over the years…and I must say, THESE ARE THE ABSOLUTE BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES EVER!!!
For every explanation of every ingredient, it just makes perfect sense. I have made these cookies several times in recent weeks and the compliments just keep coming. I follow the recipe exactly and they come out perfect every time. Thank you for introducing me to this oh-so-delicious new favorite recipe 🙂
I made these over the weekend using a mix of semisweet, dark and milk chocolates. OMG…the texture and chewy factor on these are amazing. If I had not brought them into the office, I am pretty sure I would have shoveled one after another into my mouth until they were gone! ADORE this recipe! I can’t wait to bake them again for my nephew’s birthday!
just made these today. My kids loved them! My four year old asked me (as he was eating one), “mom, can you make these again some time?”
Sally, I used these cookies for my holiday baking, and they were AMAZING! Everyone raved about them, and they are now one of my staples. So easy to make, and the exact type of cookie I (and most people) seem to prefer. I can’t wait to try out some of your other recipes. It’s so nice to see how you approach your blog with such enthusiasm and professionalism…thank you for all of your hard work!
I used to be a professional pastry chef and about 3 years ago I lost my go to chocolate chip cookie recipe. Over the past three years I have tried literally HUNDREDS of recipes hoping to find one that came close to my old recipe. I’ve even tried tweaking recipes that I sort of liked to no avail. I just made this recipe, and I have to say that it is the best recipe I’ve tried! I may even like it better than my old recipe! 🙂
I FINALLY tried these cookies last night and they were fantastic! I substituted the egg for flax egg and they turned out really good. My husband took a bunch to work and said they were gone in minutes. Thanks, Sally!
Oh my goodness…these were THE BEST cookies I have ever made, and I have tried hundreds of recipes! Chewy, luscious, melting chocolate…it was too delicious and the batch was gone within a few minutes in my family. My first bake from your website and I’m hooked…thank you so much!!
Hi Sally, I just thought I’d let you know that this recipe is also great gluten free! All I did was substitute the 2 and 1/4 cups of flour for equal measurements of Bob’s Red Mill’s all-purpose gluten free flour and added the corresponding measurements of xanthan gum. I knew I had struck gold with this one when even the dough tasted good (normally gluten free cookie dough has a slightly bitter taste until it is baked). Thank you so much!
Hi Sally!! I had to leave a message to let you know I tried these cookies and they are the BEST cookies I’ve ever made!!!! I’ve tried tons of chocolate chip cookie recipes and me & my husband always say, “yeah, they’re alright”…this is the 1st recipe he’s asked me to make again & I was happy to do it!!! The only change I made was the chips/chunks…I didn’t have any of either so I used my boys’ m&m minis instead and they made the cookie fantabulous!!! Thank you for creating & sharing this recipe, it’s now my ONLY chocolate chip cookie recipe!!!!
I made these cookies this weekend for my husband and 2 boys who absolutely LOVE chocolate chip cookies. I have been trying new recipes when I make cookies for them for about a year now. These are by far…like a million miles far… the BEST cookies I have ever made. I followed the recipe exactly and they turned out exactly as you described and looked just like your pictures. A total winner in our house!! I had to make another batch that same day as they all disappeared in a few hours. The next batch I used M&Ms and they were fabulous as well. Thanks for the awesome recipe!
Thank you SO much for developing and sharing this recipe! I’ve made these twice this weekend with PERFECT results. Everyone has loved them and said it is their new favorite cookie. Delicious.
Ps. I live in a high elevation area (4,000+ feet) and had great results with the exact recipe measurements. I also used splenda white and brown sugar with great results. I used the exact same measurements and it all came out perfect. 🙂
I made these cookies for my husband and I tonight. We had made your other chocolate chip cookie recipe and I couldn’t quite imagine them getting any better but wow! These are amazing!! Best chocolate chip cookie recipe by far, hands down. Thank you for this!
I’m sure, as a lot of the people who have posted like me, have tried a million chocolate chip cookie recipes. I was in pursuit of the perfect one ( chewy, moist, thick ), until I saw yours and tried it today. I just thought Id post to let you know, all your research has really paid off. These are the BEST Cookies I have made ever! I think it was the cornstarch that really made a difference, these will be my go-to recipe from now on, thank you so much for sharing!!!!!
Yes, you can melt it in the microwave!
No texture change, just an enhanced flavor. Yum!