These chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies are the perfect cookie with a soft and moist center, melty morsels of chocolate, and crisp edges. It’s the only chocolate chip cookie recipe you’ll ever need because it’s classic—not fussy, complicated, or time-consuming.
There’s no need for refrigeration, special tricks, or complex cooking techniques to get the best chocolate cookie. Our foolproof, classic recipe tastes exactly how it should—insanely delicious. After all, it’s the incredible flavor and easy-to-make recipe that keeps traditional desserts like Gingerbread Cookies, Banana Bread, and Baklava so popular for ages!
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Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
My high school used to sell the best chocolate chip cookies at lunchtime. They were soft, thick and irresistible. With this cookie recipe, I sought to recreate that memorable texture and this recipe takes me back to the days when I saved up my quarters for the rare treat of the cafeteria cookie.
There is no match for homemade chocolate chip cookies with chewy and soft texture, gooey chocolate chips, and the sweetest aroma coming from your oven. As America’s most loved cookie, they are perfect for every occasion, whether you’re making Christmas cookies, comforting a neighbor, or surprising your kiddos with a sweet after-school treat.
Just like with Chocolate Crinkle Cookies or Christmas Sugar Cookies, everyone needs a go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe, so here’s why this one is a keeper:
- The cookies stay soft for days
- Easy, straightforward recipe with tips to make it foolproof!
- No resting/refrigerating time—so you can satisfy your craving immediately
- Pantry staple ingredients
- True to the classic flavor everyone loves
- Stores and freezes well
- Make ahead option to always have dough on hand
Chocolate Chip Cookies Video
In this video, Natasha shows you how easy it is to whip up a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies. *Note that we updated the recipe and now use 1 tsp of baking soda because we loved the results even more.
Ingredients:
The best chocolate chip cookie recipe is made with pantry and refrigerator staples—nothing fancy or hard to find here.
- Unsalted butter – room temperature butter creates the best consistency to trap air for a chewy, airy dough with the best texture and rise.
- Granulated sugar – white sugar adds sweetness without adding moisture for the perfect spread
- Brown sugar – molasses keeps the cookie moist, soft, and chewy. Be sure to press the sugar tightly into the cup when measuring
- Eggs – room temperature eggs mix more evenly to bind the dough
- Vanilla extract – store-bought or homemade vanilla extract gives that classic chocolate chip cookie flavor
- All-purpose flour – be sure to measure correctly to get the right amount: fluff with a spoon and then scoop the flour into the measuring cup. Finally, scrape off the top. Be sure not to pat the flour down
- Baking soda – sift to eliminate clumps
- Salt – balances the sweetness of the sugars
- Chocolate chips – we prefer semi-sweet chocolate chips, but you can use milk chocolate or bittersweet chips for a slightly different taste. See our buying guide below – be sure to use the full amount because they add moisture and give good form to the cookies
Pro Tip:
If you don’t have time to let the butter come to room temperature, try this trick to soften the butter quickly, because it makes a big difference.
How to Buy Chocolate Chips
Chocolate chips come in different varieties. Here’s what to look for:
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips (46%-60% cocoa): the traditional chip for chocolate chip cookies. You can use full-size or mini chips, chunks, or even chopped chocolate. Nestle, Tollhouse, Ghirardelli, Guittard, Kirkland, Hershey’s….they all work!
- Milk chocolate chips (10% cocoa): these make very sweet cookies, so have your glass of milk ready. Try mixing with semi-sweet.
- Bittersweet chocolate chips (70% cocoa): less sweet and intensely chocolatey. These produce a more “adult” cookie.
Substitutions
It’s easy to make these cookies your own. You’ll need 2 cups of mix-ins, so if you’re feeling adventurous, try some of these fun alternatives to chocolate chips:
- Peanut butter chips
- Sprinkles
- Butterscotch chips
- M&M candies
- Macadamia nuts
- Chopped unsalted peanuts
- White vanilla baking chips
- Shredded coconut
- Pretzel pieces – the options are endless!
How to Make Chocolate Chip Cookies
It’s so simple to mix up this easy chocolate chip cookie recipe with pantry staples and no refrigeration is needed.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and cover 3 cookie sheets with parchment paper or Silpat mats. Cream the butter and sugars together for 5 minutes until light and fluffy—this is the most important step to get a chewy cookie. Be sure to beat for the full amount of time!
- Beat eggs into the butter mixture one at a time followed by the vanilla extract.
- Combine the dry ingredients (flour, salt, and sifted baking soda) in a separate bowl, and then add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in thirds. Finally, fold the chocolate chips into the dough. Be sure not to over-mix (this can cause the dough to become tough).
- Roll balls of dough or use a trigger release scoop to scoop 3 Tbsp balls onto the prepared cookie sheets.
- Bake one cookie sheet at a time for 12-15 minutes. The tops should still look a bit wet and not browned. We usually bake 1/3 of the cookies at a time and refrigerate or freeze the rest for later, so see our tips below.
- Rest the cookies on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Store cookies in an airtight container on the counter for 5 days. To warm the cookies, try toasting in a toaster oven or baking at 350 for 2-3 minutes.
Pro Tip:
For a prettier cookie, press a few extra chocolate chips into the top of each cookie dough ball just before baking.
Common Questions
Room temperature butter and eggs, beating the butter and sugars thoroughly, and not over-mixing create the best cookies! No need for fancy techniques, because the best chocolate chip cookies are easy to make!
These homemade chocolate chip cookies spread perfectly without flattening.
Over-baking is the #1 cause of hard cookies, so remove them before they brown, when the edges are just turning golden. The top should still look a bit raw.
Once baked, store the cookies in an airtight container to keep them soft. You can even place a piece of bread in the container to maintain moisture.
Usually, cookies go flat when a recipe doesn’t include enough flour. Be sure to measure the ingredients correctly. Also, check to be sure your baking soda is still fresh by placing 1 tsp baking soda into a cup with a splash of vinegar. It should fizz, but if it doesn’t, replace your baking soda.
This usually means you use too much flour. Be sure to fluff and spoon your flour into a dry ingredient measuring cup, and don’t pat it down. Also, be sure not to make the cookie dough balls too large, or they may take longer than the cooking time to spread in the oven.
Make-Ahead
Our homemade chocolate chip cookie dough is refrigerator and freezer-friendly, so you can always have dough on hand. To make a few days ahead, mix the dough as directed and store:
- To Refrigerate: put dough into an airtight container, or cover rolled dough balls on a cookie sheet in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, and then bake as usual. It may take 1-2 minutes longer if starting with chilled dough.
- To Freeze: Scoop the dough onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet and freeze for 1 hour. Then, once the dough balls are frozen, store them in a freezer zip-top bag until ready to bake.
- To Bake: thaw in the refrigerator and bake as directed. You can bake from frozen, but the cookies will take a few more minutes to bake.
You will love these homemade chocolate chips with melty chocolate, a chewy cookie center, and an irresistible aroma. Our easy recipe uses pantry staples without unnecessary techniques! Grab a glass of milk because this will soon become your go-to recipe!
More Cookie Recipes
If you love this chocolate chip cookie recipe, then you won’t want to miss these other delicious cookie recipes.
- Peanut Butter Cookies
- Snowball Cookies
- Russian Tea Cakes
- Shell Cookies
- Cranberry Cookies
- Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Thumbprint Cookies
Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, (16 Tbsp), softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup light brown sugar, tightly packed
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, measured correctly*
- 1 tsp baking soda, sifted
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, (12 oz), divided reserving 1/4 cup for the top
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350˚ F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or Silpat liner. In the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment, combine 2 sticks of butter, 1 cup of packed brown sugar and 1/2 cup of white sugar. Beat 5 minutes on medium/high speed until creamy and light, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Add 2 eggs, one at a time, beating well with each addition, scraping down the bowl as needed, then beat in 2 tsp of vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, combine 3 cups of flour, 1 tsp salt, and 1 tsp of baking soda (sifted to eliminate lumps). Add the flour mixture to the creamed butter in thirds, mixing to incorporate with each addition. Fold in 2 cups of chocolate chips.
- Use an ice cream scoop to get even balls of dough (3 Tbsp each). Place scoops of dough onto lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Mine fit onto 3 cookie sheets and made 26 cookies. Roll balls lightly with your hands then stud tops of cookie balls with reserved chocolate chips. Bake right away or cover and refrigerate until ready to bake.
- Bake one cookie sheet at a time for 12-15 min at 350˚F (we bake 12 minutes), until edges are just turning golden. The tops should still look under-baked. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet 5 min then transfer to a rack to cool.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
Jackpot!!! This chocolate chip cookie recipe is the bomb! I am 70 years old and have made a lot of chocolate chip cookies…but they ALL fell short of what I was wanting. Since trying your recipe…I have ditched all the other recipes I had for chocolate chip cookies. Love your recipes. Have tried several already and they are all excellent.
That’s amazing and just awesome Sandra! Thank you so much for sharing that with me!
Hi! Love your recipes! I have a question on this cookies. I first tried the original recipe which was really good. Then I tried the new version and they are awesome! But I noticed that the mix with the new recipe came out a little more “watery” and sticky than the original, and it was a little harder to make round balls. Have you noticed this or maybe I did something wrong? Still came out very good in flavor but a little softer so they bended and broke easily. Maybe I can bake 1-2 min more.
Hi Monica, I haven’t had that experience and we believe the newer version is better. I’m wondering if there was a mistake made or a step missed? I suggest following the written recipe. We added an annotation in the video and updated the recipe card. The extra salt and switching to baking soda makes these cookies even better. Both versions work but we loved the soda so much more. Also, be sure to check out our post on measuring!
Hi again, just want to add a question, can we use all the sugars from the brown kind without using the white for these cookies, thanks.
Hi Grace, I haven’t tested this with just brown sugar but that may work! If you experiment please let me know how you like that.
Replacing white/coarse sugar with all brown/light brown sugar is totally alright. Been baking chocolate chip cookies with all brown sugars only, its result comes out nice too.
Hi Natasha, perfect recipes, great couple, when baking the cookies do we put the heat only from down? may we refrigerate the cookies or put them in the freezer after being baked. thanks.
Hi Grace, The great thing about making a big batch of cookies is that you can freeze half of the cookie balls and bake them another day so you only have to bake one cookie sheet. I’ve done this before and it’s awesome to have cookies when my son requests them without having to go through any kind of process. We store ours in an airtight container for a few days. I have not tried freezing them after they are baked but I imagine that may work!
Hi Natasha. I’ve now made 11 of your recipes and they’ve ALL turned out, amazing since my oven is my least favorite. These chocolate chip cookies were fab. Still good and soft and tasty after 12 days. Stovetop and Insta pots have been so very tasty and my picky now 4 year old has started trying more recipes thanks to adding yours 💜. Thank you, Liz F
Wow that is amazing! I am so happy to read your comments and good feedback. Thank you so much, Liz!
hi Natasha, can we substitute the white sugar for brown sugar, i.e. use all the quantity from brown sugar?
Hi Grace, I haven’t tested that but if you try, let me know how it goes.
Hi Natasha, good recipes, great couple. When baking the cookies, do we put the heat only from down? May we freeze the baked cookies, or may we put them in the refrigerator?
Hi Grace, my oven has heating elements from the top and bottom that work at the same time. I would recommend baking on regular bake mode and avoid using broil or convection settings. You can freeze the baked cookies or freeze unbaked cookie dough. You can also refrigerate them. See the tips towards the bottom of the post on how to freeze cookie dough.
Cookie is outstanding but Natasia made a mistake in the printed version of recipe. It should be only 1/2 tsp.salt not 1 tsp. When I watched the video she said 1/2 tsp. Please make correction I wasted a whole batch of cookies because they were too salty.
Hu Judy, I suggest following the written recipe. We added an annotation in the video and updated the recipe card. The extra salt and switching to baking soda makes these cookies even better. Both versions work but we loved the soda so much more.
So I have been making the recipe on the back of the Nestle bag forever; since I was in high school. But I adore EVERYTHING I make by Natasha so I thought I’d give this a go. Let me tell you; i served the first patch to 5 teenage boys who literally said and I quote “how did you do this? Soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside?” These cookies are incredible. For it to work, you must sift/mix the dry ingredients. The butter and eggs also at room temp is important. AND you do really need the 2 cups of chips. Finally, I love how pretty hers are w/ the extra chips she does on top but I am way too lazy for that. Plus my teenage boy taste testers don’t care. Make these; you’ll love them!
Thank you for sharing this lovely comment with us Allison!
Hi! Thinking of making this soon. Is it baking soda or baking powder?
Thank you!,
Nancy
We first published this chocolate chip cookie recipe in 2012. We are always working on perfecting our recipes so we modified the recipe with a tad more salt and switched to 1 tsp baking soda. This resulted in a softer, chewier cookie that spread perfectly with or without chilling the dough.
Hi Nancy! i Watched the video and she says powder in the video but soda in the recipe so I used 1 teaspoon of baking soda and they were amazing!!
Hi Natasha,
Does it matter if I use salted butter instead of unsalted? It’s all I have right now. Would I have to lower the salt measurement?
Hi Lydia, that should work fine. You might add a little less salt if using salted butter.
Hello Natasha i Watched the video and you say baking powder on the video but baking soda is on the recipe so I used 1 teaspoon of baking soda and they came out puffed up like a ball instead of spreading out flat on the baking sheet do I would like to know which one is the best results that come out like yours in the video because they look very much amazing please help me what I did wrong also have you come out with a lemon pound cake?
Sincerely,
Dana Barreneche
God bless & stay safe
We first published this chocolate chip cookie recipe in 2012. We are always working on perfecting our recipes so we modified the recipe with a tad more salt and switched to 1 tsp baking soda. This resulted in a softer, chewier cookie that spread perfectly with or without chilling the dough. Also, please check and make sure that the ingredients were measured exactly as written. You may use this guide for that.
Hi Nancy! i Watched the video and she says powder in the video but soda in the recipe so I used 1 teaspoon of baking soda and they were amazing!!
Hi Allison, I suggest following the written recipe. We added an annotation in the video and updated the recipe card. The extra salt and switching to baking soda makes these cookies even better. Both versions work but we loved the soda so much more.
Hi Natasha, quick question…can these cookies be made smaller (1 1/2Tbsp) and if so how would you adjust the baking time? Thank you so much!
Hi Tammy, I have not made this with a smaller scoop to advise, you will need to watch the baking time closer. Here’s what one of our readers wrote: “I made the chocolate chip cookies and they were delicious. I had a smaller scoop so I made 47 cookies from this recipe. Thanks Natasha I have tried dozens of your recipes and they were all delicious. Keep up the great job.” I hope this is helpful!
My son and husband have voted these THE BEST, I have a number of choc chip cookie recipes and I am deleting them all from a Pinterest as this is now our go to. Great recipe, simple and delicious! We use different types of semi sweet chips but the Ghirardelli dark are fantastic.
Wow, I am so happy to read your comments and feedback! Love it so much, thanks for sharing that with us.
Hey Natashas! quick question, I hear cornstarch adds chewiness to cookies, can I add some to the recipe or would it mess it up in anyway?If so how much would I add. Any comments, thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Frank, to be honest, I haven’t tested this recipe with Cornstarch. If you happen to experiment with that I would love to know how you like this recipe.
I add a tablespoon of corn starch to the recipe and it does make them chewy but I think monitoring the baking time closely is still the way to chewy cookies. The corn starch tends to keep then chewier in storage(that NEVER happens in my house!)
Thank you so much for sharing that with us!
I make these all the time as my son loves them, however we like them baked a little longer . Might be a British thing. My son loves the large size and he balances his cup of coffee on them using them as a coaster. I also cook the cinnamon rolls and cheesecake on a regular basis.
Hi Liz! Thank you so much for sharing that with me! I’m so glad you’re enjoying our recipes!
Hi Natasha,
My kids love the chocolate cookies. I just added some walnuts and it such a hit. Thanks for the recipe.
Thanks for sharing your great feedback with us, Jessica. I’m so glad the kids enjoyed it!
can i use less sugar just 1cup?
hi Tim, that may work but the texture does change with less sugar and they can seem a little more cake-like.
Natasha, your chocolate chip cookies are the best! And that’s coming from an avid cookie baker. I’d love if you did a take on oatmeal raisin! please?!
I’m so happy you enjoyed them! Sounds like you found a new favorite! Thank you for that suggestion! I will add it to my list!
Do they freeze well. I would like to make them ahead of time for my grandchildren in college. Thanks.
Hi Donna, The great thing about making a big batch of cookies is that you can freeze half of the cookie balls and bake them another day so you only have to bake one cookie sheet. I’ve done this before and it’s awesome to have cookies when my son requests them without having to go through any kind of process. We store ours in an airtight container for a few days.
Hey Natasha, quick question: would this recipe work if to switch the all purpose flour, baking soda and salt with self raising flour.? If possible, what’s the amount to use for self raising flour? Really want to try this recipe but I only have self raising flour at the moment. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Irene, using self-rising flour may be possible but I haven’t tested it myself to advise. Since baking is so much a science, I can’t really recommend something I haven’t tried. Sorry, I can’t be more help.
These cookies are a total win!! All the other recipes I have tried, didn’t turn out to our liking. But these ones are great! I already wrote down the recipe and will be sharing it with friends. Thank you Natasha! I can always count on you for having foolproof recipes
I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe, Lisa! Thank you for that wonderful review!