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.”
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.
- 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 Must-Have 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.
Q: Have you baked a batch before?
Print
Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours, 22 minutes
- Yield: 16 XL cookies or 20 medium/large cookies 1x
- 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 (spoon & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch*
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (1.5 sticks or 170g) 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. Click here for my tips and tricks on freezing cookie dough.
- Cornstarch: If you don’t have cornstarch, you can leave it out. The cookies are still very soft.
- Butter: Avoid letting the melted butter cool for too long otherwise your dough will be crumbly instead of soft (and your cookies will end up too puffy). You want it still a little warm. Salted butter can be used instead. Reduce salt in the cookie dough to 1/4 teaspoon.
- 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. 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 tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Keywords: chocolate chip cookies
Make a Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake next time.
Reader Questions and Reviews
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I wanna make these for a birthday party for tomorrow. I don’t have time to store and put then in the oven tomorrow tomorrow morning though, if I bake them today will they still taste the same tomorrow?
Hi Sofia, Absolutely! Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Wow, what a great blog! I love the way you’ve organized your thoughts and presented your ideas. You have a real gift for writing, and I can’t wait to see more of your work. Keep up the great work!
Hi! I was wondering what you would suggest to make these into double chocolate cookies (aka chocolate chocolate chip). I know there are other recipes out there for double chocolate, but this is such a great one that I basically want the same thing, but with added chocolate 😛 Could I just to add cocoa powder to the dough?
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Hi Alyssa! Cocoa powder can be a finicky ingredient so unfortunately it wouldn’t be as easy as adding cocoa powder to the dough — you’d need to play around with other ingredients as well. If you haven’t tried them already, we’d encourage you to try our inside out chocolate chip cookies. Very similar chewy texture!
im australian so we use the metric system, although it would be convenient if everyone put both types of measurements on recipes, i just converted these measurements to metric. i love them so much omg they are literally the best cookies ever
Hye, i made this cookies but onthe bottom they are so greasy and not hard , like it wanna fold when i pick them up
Hi Ati, did you allow the cookies to fully cool? They will still bake up ever so slightly while cooling on the baking sheet before transferring them to a rack. An additional minute or two in the oven will help for next time, too. Or, if you’re interested in a crispier cookie, we recommend our crispy chocolate chip cookies instead.
My daughter says these are like crack! (No, she hasn’t ever done that!!) I LOVE the taste of these; just the right amount of brown sugar and salt. And I’ve never used cornstarch in chocolate chip cookies either. I baked my first batch at 325 degrees but found that they spread some but at 350 degrees they were perfect. I know ovens vary. Love the way you do the cylinder type drops. Brilliant! Thanks for my go to chocolate chip cookie recipe.
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I made these cookies last night and chilled overnight. I did triple the recipe. They came out perfect, but as the day went on they got SO HARD. What did I do wrong? THANKS! Kate
Hi Kate! Were the cookies hard as in crispy? They could have been over-baked – an easy fix for next time!
Loved it.. I did it exact but only cut the granulated sugar in half. And put in the freezer 30 mins ..was perfectt
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This is the best chocolate chip cookies ,do you have a less sweeter version of this recipe?
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Hi Donna! So glad you enjoy them. We don’t have a less sweet version – sugar provides structure and texture as well as sweetness in baked goods.
There isn’t a 10 star? My 12 year old grandson told his father they were the best chocolate chip cookies he has ever had, and my son-in-law agreed. Thank you for all your advice
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Would these work the same with melted plant based vegan butter?
Hi Cindy, we haven’t tested it so we’re unsure of the results, but let us know if you give it a try!
Would the is work with salted butter
Hi Macky, if using salted butter, reduce the added salt to 1/8 teaspoon. Happy baking!
This is absolutely THE best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever! I definitely have this whole recipe practically memorized because I make the cookies so much!!
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i’ve baked tollhouse for years because it’s there but so glad i gave these a try. so yummy with walnuts added, and i’m trying now with peanut butter m&ms…
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These cookies are PERFECT!! The absolute definition of perfection. I’m not joking when I say they are everything I want in a cookie. I’m torn between keeping this recipe a secret when people ask and shouting it from the rooftops 😉
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These. Are. AMAZING!!!! I followed the recipe word for word (and used some of the extra tips provided) and these are without any doubt the best cookies I have ever made!! I used a light coloured aluminium baking sheet which worked well to not over brown them and the cookies baked up perfectly! Will be making these again and again for many years to come I’m sure!
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I tried making the XL size cookies (3 tablespoons) but the cookies were still a little raw in the middle after 14 minutes in the oven at 325. Great flavor though!
They were refrigerated overnight and the first batch was allowed to rest at room temperature out of the fridge for 10 minutes before scooping and shaping. The second batch sat out for about 30 minutes. However, both batches were undercooked in the middle. So I’m thinking it wasn’t the temperature of the dough.
Should I increase my oven temperature or increase the time in the oven? Thanks for the detailed recipe!
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Hi Evan! Increase the bake time for larger cookies – enjoy!
Best cookies ever! Honestly every single recipe of Sally’s I try is phenomenal and these cookies were no exception. Perfect, classic, chocolate chip cookie.
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Can you make mini cookies like for a potluck?
Hi Nel, here’s our mini cookie recipe – sub mini chocolate chips for M&Ms. Enjoy!
Great recipe that produces delicious cookies even with purposeful alterations like a lot less sugar and oops alterations like putting the sugar in with the other dry ingredients and forced alterations like no refrigerator time because my six year old granddaughter just couldn’t wait that long.
I used half a cup of sugar and I can’t imagine how sweet they would have been with the recommended amount. I guess extra sweet is an American thing?
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Amazing and delicious!!! I have tried many chocolate chip cookie recipes, but this is definitely the best one. This is the only chocolate chip cookie recipe I will be using frow now on! I also put sprinkles in the cookies and they turned out perfect. Thanks for the recipe!
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If I need to one-up someone’s chocolate chip cookies, this is the recipe that I use. So much better than the original Nestle recipe.
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