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
In your video you say to add baking powder and yet your recipe shows baking soda with no baking powder? The video does not coincide with the recipe.
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.
Hey Natasha!
I have a quick Q in the chocolate chip video u mentioned that u add baking powder & in the recipe u wrote that u added baking soda so which have u added please?
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.
Made these cookies and her chicken lasagna… Every bite is gone! I’m making my own secret batch of cookies to eat by myself once every one is asleep. They are everything you could want in a chocolate chip cookie. Great flavor, awesome texture and irresistible! I added pecans and carmel chunks to make a turtle chocolate chip cookie and it is winner! From foodie to foodie this recipe was spot on!
Haha, that’s a good idea! I am so happy that you’re enjoying my recipes. Thank you so much for sharing!
Delicious cookies ! Just made them and my twenty year old LOVES them lol !
Awesome! Thanks for letting us know, Christine!
Loved the recipe ❤️
Thank you
Great to hear that, thank you too!
I always mess up when it comes to making and baking cookies. This recipe was easy to follow. I followed it exactly as printed. This is the first time in my entire adult life that the cookies I baked came out delicious and soft. I am so excited….finally got it right.
Yay, so great to hear! Good job and I hope that you will love every recipe that you will try.
Hi Natasha!
Thanks for great recipes! I love your recipes because I know I’m gonna have great results!
I have a question about these chocolate chip cookies, just wondering if I can freeze baked cookies? And if so, how I can use them after?
I have not tried freezing them after they are baked but I imagine that may work! The tips that I provided on how to freeze cookies is also in the recipe, that should help too!
Hey Natasha ,made the chocolate chip cookies and both times my son said the one you bake is better then mine.
So i played the video again and heard you say “when adding the baking powder” when in the recipe section you say baking soda” WHICH IS IT?
My son said stop making the cookies but i just want to prove him wrong .
All the other recipes i have made turned out GREAT
Hi Estelle, 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.
I love your recipe has shared and made it many times, I was wondering if there is a vegan or healthier version of this soft chocolaty goodness. Let me know I wanted to make it for a friend for Christmas. Happy Holidays!
Hello Urvashi, I haven’t really tried making a vegan or healthier version of this recipe yet. If you do an experiment, please share with us how it goes!
Can a do 2 1/4 cups of flour and 3/4 cup of cocoa powder to make these cookies double chocolate chip?
Hi Beverly, without testing that I cannot advise, but it sounds like it may work! If you experiment, please let me know how you like that.
I tried and it worked!!
Hello. Can i add cornstarch to make the cookies softer? If yes, how much cornstarch to use with this recipe? I’ve tried several chocolate chip cookie recipes and they all turn out hard ( i follow each recipe instructions and recommendations for measuring ingredients to a T ). Thanks.
Hi AP, 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.
Thank you Natasha for your recipes! I make the chocolate chip cookies, the meatloaf, dinner rolls and today I made the cinnamon rolls. They turned out beautifully!
So great to hear that Alice. I’m so glad that you’re enjoying my recipes!
Hi Natasha! Such a big fan of you and your receipes. Going to try this one out today, but I just wanted to know if there is a substitute for the brown sugar or do we have to use it?
Hello Susan, great to hear from you. The brown sugar helps the cookies get the right color so, without it, it will come out as too white.
Hi Natashia,
I tried your soft cookie recipe. It was a success! The cookie was very soft and yummy! Thank for sharing this recipe. Looking forward to try your other recipes.
That’s so nice! Thanks for sharing that with us, Janice!
Dear Natasha,
If I could, I would give this recipe 10 stars and still won’t be enough!! I do them over and over again and my husband doesn’t seem to get enough of them! 🙂 They are so delicious. Super yummy! Something which I have tried and worked perfectly is switching off the oven after approx 5 minutes of baking and leave them to slow cook. Obviously I left them in the oven for a longer period of time from that recommended by you and I have to say that the result was very satisfying! The cookies remain really soft!
I’m so glad you & your husband enjoyed it, Anne! Thank you for the wonderful review!
I absolutely loved this recipe!
But I got confused after checking your update recipe on 2020!
You have said that “instead of 1 teaspoon of salt use 1 teaspoon of baking soda”
So you mean we should completely omit the salt??
Hi Elnaz, 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.
This 🍪 recipe is amazing just like you. I’ve made this about 10 times and turned out very scrumptious everytime.
Thankyou for sharing this recipe
I am so happy you loved the chocolate chip cookie recipe. Thank you for sharing that wonderful review.
This 🍪 recipe is amazing just like you. I’ve made this about 10 times and turned out very scrumptious everytime.
That is so nice of you, thanks for your great feedback!
I made these cookies tonight but didn’t turn out good 🙁 Cookies end up too thick. I guess I need to sift flour before measuring. I also put 2 teaspoon of baking soda. I got confused. Hopefully next time it will be better
Hi Bige, I do recommend our post on measuring. Yes, definitely sift but makes sure you are not scooping the flour. We have more measuring tips HERE.
Hi,
I baked these cookies yesterday in gas oven and when i checked after 15 min of baking it was undone and then i baked then further for 15 min .. today when i was eating the cookies its crunchy and its not soft?
Can you advice what can i do when i bake next time.
Hi Nish, they were definitely overbaked if they are crunchy the next day. I suggest removing them from the oven when you see them turning golden at the edges of the base. they will seem very soft on top until they cool completely and then they firm up.