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
Such an easy and fool-proof recipe! Would 100% recommend to new bakers out there. Thanks for sharing!
Tiffanie, thank you for such a nice review and you are welcome 😁.
I made this cookies last weekend and it was a big hit. Now, i have a problem, a happy one though. My friend who tasted this delicious cookies wants me to bake 12 bags with 12 pieces in it for her son’s christmas giveaway in school. Can i prepare the cookie dough a day before i will bake it? Help!
I’m so happy you loved the cookies! Yes, you can prepare the cookie dough balls and refrigerate them overnight on a cookie sheet covered with plastic wrap. Just spread them out and bake when you’re ready. 🙂
Thank you very much, Natasha :). Happy Holidays to you and your family, with much love from the Phillipines.
Hi Natasha. I will be baking this cookies this weekend. I want to know what size of ice cream scoop did you use, small or the big one? Thanks and best regards.
It’s just a standard ice cream scoop (the larger one). 🙂 Enjoy!
My cookies turned out like lena’s, very tall and almost cake like. I didn’t feel like my flour measurements were off, any suggestions Natasha?
Hi Lisa, I’m always happy to troubleshoot. Did you do anything differently from what is listed in the recipe? Did you measure the flour the same way by spooning it into a measuring cup and scraping off the top? It kind of sounds like maybe you used too much flour? What kind of flour did you use? And, how large did you make the cookies (how many did you end up with)? Different sized cookies require different baking times? Also, did you bake them in the center of the oven?
Hey
I have made these cookies ones, and
I today i did them again but double portion and by mistake used baking soda (i wanted to throw all the dough away but i gave it a try) and they turned even better then first ones.
Thank you for the recipe
That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing that! If that ever happens to me, I will proceed calmly 😉
I made these cookies and mine came out completely flat. They tasted really yummy even though they were flat but why did mine come out like that? Any ideas?
Two different possibilities come to mind: was your baking powder fresh? Also, did you refrigerate the cookie balls before baking them? Refrigerating for the recommended time makes a HUGE difference! I hope that helps.
It was both I realized, thank you so much for helping! They came out delicious as all your food does!!
I’m so happy to hear that 🙂 Thanks Kristina!
Made these today, love them!!
Beth, I’m very happy that you are enjoying those cookies :).
So I have made this recipe quite a few times and my cookies come out tasting more like muffins than cookies. They are very flowery. Any suggestions not sure what I’m doing wrong. Thanks 🙂
Can you actually sense the flour in there or do you mean it’s soft?
They taste like flower and they get super tall. I have tried refrigerating them and not and they came out same!
When you measure flour, do you scoop it in and scrape off the top? If you lower your measuring cup into your flour container, you will often get considerably more flour in your scoop since it is compressed.
I just scoop the flower from the container.. OK I’ll try spooning it in the measuring cup. That may be the problem! Thanks for the help!
I found exact recipe online few years ago and use it since then. I also like to add1/2 cup of cranberries and walnuts. I usually make few batches and keep it refrigerated in plastic bin with lid. That way I can make fresh cookies for few days straight!
Cranberries sound really good! These are our favorite quick to make cookies. My son requests them often. Yesterday I made them with half the white sugar and still just as good! 😉
Totally Recommend!!!
Thank you Liliya 🙂
Can I use baking soda instead of powder?
Galya, I haven’t tested this recipe with baking soda and it most likely won’t work because there is nothing to activate baking soda. Hope this helps :).
I use the same recipe except I put one cup of grind oats and 1 1/4 cup flour and I put coconut flakes hazelnuts and chocolate chip. It’s so good. Keep up the good work your little boy and girl look cute I got 3 boys.
3 boys?! Wow!! Aren’t boys so much fun. I always told my husband I wouldn’t mind if I had had only boys :).Thank you for your sweet compliment and for sharing your variations. Those sound like some mighty good cookies!
Hi Natasha this cookies looks amazing and I am baking them right now. Can store some in the refrigerator and bake it next morning?
Yes, you can definitely store in the fridge and bake the next morning. The longer you refrigerate, the taller your cookies will be. Just place a sheet of plastic wrap over the top so they don’t get dry.
i love ginger and chocolate cookies…do you think I could add one cup of chopped crystallised ginger to this recipe in lieu of 1 cup of chocolate? Could I also use this recipe to make dark chocolate and cherry cookies and how much cocoa do you think I should add. Any advice would be appreciated. I live in Australia and these two types of cookies cost approx $1 each to purchase.
To be honest, I haven’t tried crystalized ginger in cookies so I’m not sure how it would affect the texture. Is the ginger chewy when baked? Without testing those substitutions, I hesitate to guess since baking is so much a science and altering the ingredients could affect the result.
I remember I made these last year and they were so thin and flavorless I didn’t like them. Few days ago, I was craving chocolate chip cookies so badly so I decided to give these another try. and they came out amazing! They were thick and soft and just how they taste from a bakery! I have no idea what I did wrong the first time. I ended up making 2 batches that day lol Thank you for the great recipe!
Hello :). We actually recently updated the recipe after some testing to improve it. We found that refrigerating the dough before baking made all the difference to keep them from flattening.
Hi natasha, i made these, but the mixture is kinda soft, oni, rastayali, v dyxovke, what did I do wrong? Can the mixture still be fixed? Help
What kind of flour did you use? Regular all-purpose? It helps if you form the cookie balls and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before baking, then they don’t end up quite as flat.
I am making these right now, as I type this… And I was wondering why they weren’t spreading as much as they should… I only put in 1/2 tsp of BP D: Oops! I hope they still taste ok!
They might not rise as much but they should still taste fine. Your screen name. lol. “drunk baker” 🙂
It is sooo yummy
Thank you Abby, its hard to control your self around them :).
Just made these, they are so delicious! I did however tweek it up a bit this time around. I added oats, chia, peanut butter, nuts and whatever else I had In the pantry. Lol. Still came out awesome!! Thank you!
Your add-ins sound so so good! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Just wanted to say that I just made these and my whole family loved these chocolate chip cookies. Fast, simple and delicious. Thank you.
That’s fantastic! Thanks for the great review 🙂