I have a few tricks that make these the best soft chocolate chip cookies that you’ll ever try. With hundreds of positive reviews from bakers around the world, I’m confident you’ll fall in love with this chocolate chip cookie recipe too. Chilling the cookie dough is imperative and cornstarch makes them extra soft and thick!
Chocolate chip cookies are a household favorite, a timeless classic, an unparalleled snack… warm, cold, dunked in milk, in dough form, or in baked form. No one can resist the comfort of a chocolate chip cookie and everyone has their favorite recipe, whether it’s on the back of the yellow chocolate chips bag or scribbled in your grandmother’s recipe book.
Heck, I even have separate recipes for crispy chocolate chip cookies and chewy chocolate chip cookies!
Like many of you, I’ve searched far and wide for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe: the best chocolate chip cookies, a recipe I can bake again and again for years. I’ve lost sleep, I’ve burnt dough, I’ve tested and retested and retested… and retested, countless times. And I’m so happy to report that I finally found a chocolate chip cookie recipe that I’ll treasure for years. And I know you’ll enjoy these cookies too!
How to Make Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Start With Butter: Use room temperature butter. You can soften butter quickly with this trick or set the butter out 1–2 hours before you begin.
- Use a Mix of Sugars: Cream the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar together. This process aerates the butter, which promises soft chocolate chip cookies. Brown sugar yields soft chocolate chip cookies, and white sugar helps the cookies spread. For chewier and more flavorful cookies, use more brown sugar than white sugar.
- Dark Brown Sugar: Light brown sugar and dark brown sugar are interchangeable in most recipes. Though either works in this chocolate chip cookie recipe, I love using dark brown sugar for extra flavor because it contains more molasses.
- Add Egg & Vanilla Extract: Eggs provide structure and richness, while vanilla adds flavor.
- Use Cornstarch in Dry Ingredients: Cornstarch, a thickening ingredient, is the secret weapon in this cookie recipe, just like in shortbread cookies. 2 teaspoons give the cookies extra lift and leave them extra soft. You can’t taste it! You also need all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Add Dry Ingredients to Wet Ingredients: Combine all the ingredients, then add the chocolate chips.
- Chill the Cookie Dough: For extra thick chocolate chip cookies, chill the cookie dough for at least 1 hour. Chilling cookie dough will make or break the recipe! The colder the cookie dough, the less the cookies will over-spread. If you’re interested, here are 10 tips on how to prevent cookies from spreading.
- Extra Chocolate Chips: This is optional, but as soon as the cookies come out of the oven, press a few chocolate chips on top. They’ll melt right down into the cookie, making them extra pretty. And melted chocolate is never a bad thing! I recommend doing the same with double chocolate chip cookies.
Room temperature butter is cool to touch and about 65°F (18°C), which may be cooler than your kitchen. To test it, poke it with your finger. Your finger should make an indent without sinking into the butter. The butter should not be shiny or greasy. You can’t cream cold butter and you can’t cream partially melted butter, either. Room temperature butter is imperative to the outcome of these cookies! You need 3/4 cup, which is 1.5 sticks, 12 Tablespoons, or 170g.
Don’t Have Time to Chill Cookie Dough?
If you don’t have time to chill the chocolate chip cookie dough, try my crispy chocolate chip cookies, giant chocolate chip cookies, or Nutella chocolate chip cookies. Or even these soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie bars or cookie dough frosted cookie cups, which don’t require individual cookie rolling, either!
I also have an entire section of no-chill cookie recipes. 🙂 Snickerdoodles and shortbread are two more favorites!
How to Freeze Cookie Dough
Freezing chocolate chip cookie dough is really easy. I have a whole post dedicated to how to freeze cookie dough, but here’s a recap:
- After the cookie dough has chilled in the refrigerator, roll the cookie dough into balls. Chill the cookie dough balls in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
- Place the solid and cold cookie dough balls into a plastic zipped-top freezer bag.
- Label the bag with the month and the baking temperature, and place the bag in the freezer.
- Freeze cookie dough for up to 3 months. The date will help you determine when the cookie dough is fresh, and the temperature is written for obvious reasons. Really, you can write whatever is helpful to you. The date, temperature, time, recipe name, etc.
- When it’s time to bake the cookies, remove them from the freezer. Preheat the oven according to the recipe’s instructions.
- Bake the cookies for a minute or 2 longer, since the dough is frozen.
Bake the frozen cookie dough balls whenever that chocolate chip cookie craving hits, or when you need a big batch of fresh-baked cookies. I do it all the time!
Sometimes the simplest recipes are what stick. I really don’t need to convince you—it’s a chocolate chip cookie. THE chocolate chip cookie!
Print
The Best Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
- Yield: 2 dozen
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
I have a few tricks that make these the best soft chocolate chip cookies that you’ll ever try. With hundreds of positive reviews from bakers around the world, I’m confident you’ll fall in love with this chocolate chip cookie recipe too. Chilling the cookie dough is imperative and cornstarch makes them extra soft and thick!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 and 1/4 cup (225g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a large bowl using a handheld mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar, and sugar together on medium speed until combined and creamy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- In a separate bowl, whisk flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt together. Add into the wet ingredients, then beat on low speed until combined. The cookie dough will be slightly thick. On low speed, beat in the chocolate chips.
- Cover dough tightly and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to 3–4 days. Chilling is imperative for this cookie dough.
- Remove cookie dough from the refrigerator and allow to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Once chilled, the dough will be slightly crumbly, but will come together when you work the dough with your hands. Roll cookie dough, about a heaping 1.5 Tablespoons of dough per cookie (I use this medium-size cookie scoop), and place 3 inches apart on baking sheets.
- Bake for 11–12 minutes, until barely golden brown around the edges. The cookies will look extremely soft when you remove them from the oven. Cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet. If the cookies are too puffy, try gently pressing down on them with the back of a spoon. They will slightly deflate as you let them cool. If desired, while the cookies are still warm, press a few extra chocolate chips into the tops. This is optional, just for looks.
- Transfer cookies to a cooling 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 3–4 days. Allow to come to room temperature, then continue with preheating the oven in step 4. 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): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
- Adapted from Anna Olson
I have been using this chocolate chip cookie recipe for years!! It’s the only one I use, it’s always a hit and comes out amazing every time. Soft, sweet, pillowy goodness. Thank you for sharing it!
Hello! I just made these, followed the recipe exactly. Doubled the ingredients as I wanted to make a bunch of cookies. I expected them to be fat but they totally flattened out! Could it be that my flour or baking soda is old? I am pretty sure I have made this recipe before as I love soft chocolate chip cookies. What could I have done wrong? Thank you!
Hi Clare! It could be that your baking soda is old (we find it starts to lose its power after 3 months or so, even if not technically expired). It’s also possible that your butter may have been a bit too warm. Here’s more on what room temperature butter really means (it may be cooler than you think!) as well as 10 tips to prevent cookies from spreading. Hope this helps for next time!
These are the absolute best chocolate chip cookies! So much so that my mom has requested a cookie cake using this recipe for her birthday. Any suggestions? I tried Sally’s other recipe for a giant cookie in a pie dish and didn’t have much luck.
Hi Sara, we’re glad these are a favorite! You could use this dough for a cookie cake. We’re unsure of the exact bake time, but it should be pretty close to our cookie cake. Hope it’s a hit!
This is our go to recipe! The cookies come out So good every time!! Do you have recommendations for baking this recipe in an air fryer? We have a air fryer with a bake feature , but the same baking instructions listed aren’t working for our machine.
Hi Hannah, we’re so glad this is a favorite! We haven’t tested this recipe in an air fryer, but please do let us know if you try it.
My go-to chocolate chip cookie recipes! We love to make around the holidays and even gift to friends. Everyone compliments me on how perfect these cookies are! By far the best I’ve tried!
Hi, was wondering why you use both baking soda and cornstarch in you Soft Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. Can I omit the cornstarch and add more baking soda?
Hi Diane, cornstarch is a thickening agent and the baking soda is for rise. You can leave the cornstarch out if desired, but do not replace it with more baking soda.
I love all of your recipes, but I did not love these chocolate chip cookies. I don’t like the corn starch in them.
I have tested so many chocolate chip cookie recipes and these are my absolute favorite. They are pretty simple to make and the recipe turned out great every time. I’d like to make them for a friend who is dairy free. What substitution or adjustments would make these dairy free with the best taste/outcome?
Hi Amy, we have not tested a dairy-free version of these cookies, but you could try making them with a plant-based butter. Let us know how they turn out for you!
I tried it with smart balance original in the container. Because it has salt I decreased the added salt to a 1/2 tsp. They were not as good as the original version with butter. The texture is definitely different. The dough was a lot softer and they spread more when baking. I only had time to refrigerate the dough for 1.5 hours. I think a longer time in the fridge would have helped firm the dough more. Upon eating they were a lot softer. Didn’t quite have that nice crisp on the outside. Flavor was definitely not as good as the ones in the original recipe, but were still pretty good. Being very chocolatey helped, but they had a bit of a weird after taste.
Unfortunately this recipe did not produce the results I was looking for. I’ve been baking over 50 years and these were the flattest chocolate chip cookies I ever made. I wanted a thick soft cookie.
Despite denials that I’ve read the past few years I do think the type of butter makes the difference. I used the store brand, trying to save money.
I followed the recipe precisely, so I don’t think the recipe was the issue.
These are incredible. I like to let the dough rest at least 24 hours for maximum flavor. I just baked a batch and it’s perfect with a glass of milk. Just heaven.
My chocoholic family loves this recipe! They say it’s the best!
I have been making this recipe with years and people think I’m some kind of cookie whiz! It is so so good. I always refrigerate as long as I can (at least overnight). I also double the batch and and roll dough balls and freeze on a cookie sheet for a cookie emergency, sometimes you just want a couple. I also like to leave these in a non-airtight container and think they’re better the next day.
I have made these cookies several times. These are so easy and these are the best chocolate chip cookie I have ever made. They freeze very well.
The best soft chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made or tasted. My son and I both are down to the last few cookies and already anticipating the next batch. What an easy and awesome recipe and chilling the dough really did make a difference. I wasn’t sure the dough would hold together but with a little work it was all good. I made them a bit larger and round when placing on the cookie sheet. They didn’t collapse much when cooking so when they were almost finished I pressed them down a little in the center using a fork to add bit of a flat cookie shape. When finished cookies were equally thick on the edges and centers. Didn’t have the typical ‘crispy’ edges and I think that is what made them so delicious as they were consistently thick and soft with a light crunch throughout and great cookie taste. New favorite! *Thanks for the perfect soft chocolate chip recipe, new family favorite.
35 years ago a new neighbor brought us chocolate chip cookies. My husband said that “this is what a chocolate chip cookie should taste like”. Challenge accepted! I have tried so many different recipes came close but not the same. This recipe is the best! Nice and soft, not crumbly. Amazing flavor. Stay nice and soft for as many days as they have lasted. I (we) win!!
I don’t get roll out the dough. Why & how thick? When you use a scoop anyway
Sally’s recipes are consistently brilliant! They never let me down, especially this cookie recipe! I have made this recipe countless times. It is my favorite cookie
Have you tried baking cookies using an air fryer?
Hi Courtney, we haven’t, but let us know if you do any experimenting!
Truly the PERFECT chocolate chip cookie recipe! I live at altitude and have a temperamental oven so I was worried about them spreading, so I weighed the ingredients meticulously and made sure not to overmix, and they didn’t spread or sink at all! So chewy and chocolatey… I think I’ll double the recipe next time because these are going to go fast. Does anyone have recommendations for how to adapt this into a double chocolate cookie? I think chocolate cookie bases are wildly underrated 😉
Maybe swap out a tbsp of flour for cocoa
My go to recipe! Made them several times, including for a potluck at work and everyone loved them. Thank you! Question though: if I want to make white chocolate chip cookies do I need to make any adjustments or can I just swap them out? I see a lot of recipes that differ when it comes to white chocolate chip cookies vs regular ones.
Hi Kara, so glad these are a favorite for you! You can simply swap the chocolate chips with white chocolate chips. Enjoy!
This was the best recipe. Tasty, pretty and easy. I will make these again and again. Thank you!
It’s simply the best chocolate chip cookie recipe! Made them today!
Best chocolate cookie recipe ever!! I only use Ghirardelli dark and milk chips and I also add in walnuts. Butter makes everything better!! Thank you and my husband thanks you!
By far the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made. Look no further you’ve found the only chocolate chip cookie recipe you will need.
Thank you so much for this excellent recipe!!
The best chocolate chip cooks I have ever had!!
I followed the recipe exactly and loved it! A perfect cookie. I love the dough flavor so much that I’d add less chocolate chips next time. The extra vanilla is a win!
The soft chocolate chip recipe was jusr what the doctor ordered. I dislocated my shoulder but I was determined to make this recipe. The recipe was easy and no doubt the best chocolate chip cookie ever! I was so impressed that they didnt spread. Thank you Sally. Cant wait to try your other redipes.
This is the best I have found. I have been asked to bring these cookies many times to family gatherings. I especially enjoyed reading the tips. I always make sure my butter is soft, but not too warm, as suggested in the tip section. These are soft and they never spread. Thank you Sally! You have made my life easier! On a side note….this is a simple and quick recipe. I always chill my dough overnight.
This recipe is great.
I have an unusual question. Is it possible to add cornstarch to any cookie recipe?.
Hi Eric, Most of our chocolate chip cookie recipes use cornstarch, which makes them extra soft.