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
These did not turn out for me. They were fluffy and stale but were fine if I flattened they before baking and under baking them.
Hi Joey, I wonder if maybe you had them formed too large?
Hi. Can I make these in smaller size or bite size? Will it affect quality? Thank you!
Hi Anna, I think that will work but I haven’t really tried that to advise.
Yes Anna! I make mini ones all the time! They are awesome! Just watch your bake time 🙂
These are great just made them.Going to change to this recipe for sure. One comment I your video you say baking powder I am pretty sure but the recipe says soda. Did use baking soda love them!!!!! Thank you
Hi Katz, 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. The recipe also used 1 tsp of salt. I would recommend following the recipe always as we can update that compared that the video that we cannot edit anymore.
I made these cookies today. They turned out fabtabulous. The dough is so easy to work with, not sticky at all. I chilled the dough 30 minutes by habit and they still came out great. The other thing I did differently was take a spatula and lightly flattened each cookie ball. It makes big, thick cookies. Thank you Natasha. I love your recipes!
Sounds great! I’m happy reading your review, thank you so much for sharing that with us. Glad you loved it.
I learned a trick a number of years ago. After you cook your batch of cookies…straight out of the oven, I slam my cookie sheet (with cookies on the sheet) onto my counter, this causes the cookies to flatten just a tad, when they cool they have crevices in them and get a nice crumble. Give it a try, they look like the ones from a fancy bakery.
Hi Natasha, I’ve tried this recipe but the cookie didn’t set so it’s thick and very greasy. I’ve followed all your measurements but there’s so much butter/oil in the dough. Tried to refrigerate the dough but still really greasy.
Hi Gen, I haven’t had that happen. Make sure to add the ingredients to the mixing bowl in the order they are listed and use the correct temperature of ingredients which will help.
I think I’ve followed everything according to your instructions. And I think all the measurements are right.
In the video it says baking powder but in the recipe it says baking soda, which one do I use?
Hi Anshul, we updated the recipe after publishing the video for more consistent results. I think what was happening in the past is that people would flip flop the baking soda and powder since both types of leavening were in the recipe. The written recipe is the version we make now.
Hi Natasha! I’m making this cookie recipe next week at school . Could I substitute the all purpose flour to self- raising and ignore the baking soda and salt . Also what would be good to serve with these (e.g. custard )?? plz reply ASAP
Hi Hamza, 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 are just so good – I had to come back and leave another comment! Favorite recipe found, and won’t be looking for another. Thank you Natasha for being so generous with these delicious recipes!
I’m so glad you stopped by Amber! Thank you for your lovely review!
Natasha, Thank you for this delicious recipe. Made these tonight, and am writing it on one of my recipe cards as we speak. Def a keeper! Your blog is so consistently great. I’m so glad I found you on Facebook. Question, I like mine to flatten a bit and look wrinkled and folded. To get that effect on all the cookies should I flatten the tops a bit? This is just an personal aesthetics question – they still look pretty and taste amazing! Just trying to learn how to make them look perfectly folded.
Hi Amber, see the section titled “Why did my Cookies not Flatten?”
I learned a trick a number of years ago. After you cook your batch of cookies…straight out of the oven, I slam my cookie sheet (with cookies on the sheet) onto my counter, this causes the cookies to flatten just a tad, when they cool they have crevices in them and get a nice crumble. Give it a try, they look like the ones from a fancy bakery.
Hi Natasha, i am big fan of your recipes. Finally, i am trying this cookie recipe. Can i use baking powder instead of Soda and how much should i use of baking powder?
Hi Shiya, great question. If you scroll to the bottom of the recipe post, you can change the serving size to your desired amount. We tried this with baking powder in our testing but had better results with baking soda. Keep in mind baking soda is 4 times stronger than baking powder so you will need more baking powder.
May I know if I add 1 stick for butter (227g) does that means I have to reduce the rest of the ingredients to half as well ?
Hi Ethel, baking is such a science, but yes, if halving ingredients I would halve them all.
Fabulous cookies, I have made them several times. My husband said they’re the best he’s ever had and is requesting them for his Fathers Day dessert! I see where the dough can be refrigerated, should I make the balls first and do they need to sit at room temp before baking? Thank you
Hi Beth, we made this recipe so that it doesn’t require the make-ahead refrigerated step, so the cookies will need more time to bake if refrigerated. BUT, yes, they can be refrigerated with the same outcome. YOu can choose to refrigerate the mix as a whole or pre-measured and shaped. Both will work great. It may require a bit more effort to shape and divide the dough after refrigeration, though. I hope that helps.
Yes, very helpful, thanks for responding!
My sunshine twelve year old girl done them, it was sodelicous so proud oh her , and thanks for good recipe
I’m so happy you both enjoyed them Ai! Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
Very THICK COOKIES. I do not recommend these cookies. all the ingredients were measured correctly and still came out raw and fat. Definitely cook longer then recommended.
Hi Dory, make sure to use the same type of flour and also when measuring, if you don’t have a kitchen scale, make sure to fluff your flour then spoon it into a measuring cup and scrape off the top. lastly, make sure none of your baking ingredients have expired.
Hi can I make this cookies without egg
If yes then what can I replace eggs with
Hi Anu, I haven’t tested that substitution.
mine came out thick too and did not flatten. disappointed.
Hi Angie, sorry to hear that; what a bummer… I recommend trying the same advice I gave Dory: make sure to use the same type of flour, and also, when measuring, if you don’t have a kitchen scale, make sure to fluff your flour, then spoon it into a measuring cup and scrape off the top. Lastly, make sure none of your baking ingredients have expired.
Did you follow the video? I did and in it, it says to use baking powder. Yet on the typed recipe, it says baking soda.
Hi Steffany. 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. We also added new photos and here is the original:
AMAZING COOKIES!!! Most delicious, easy, fool proof cookies EVER! I’m new to baking and thanks to Natasha I’m learning more and more! Love your recipe! Thank you for sharing! ❤️❤️❤️
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Paola!
can I use salted butter & get same results
Hi Doris, that will work too. Just omit the salt used in this recipe since your butter will already be salted.
yes but maybe take away salt from recipie then
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In love this recipe but worry that at a high elevation i may need a little more flour and not sure how much to add. Any ideas?
Hi Lory, I don’t have experience with high-altitude baking but you can find more tips on High Altitude Baking HERE.
Truly a good cookie. I did refrigerate the dough before baking and it made incredible thick chewy tender cookie. I used kosher sea salt that gave that sweet salty bite.
Thanks for sharing that with us, DJ. Glad you enjoyed it!
Hi Natasha, thanks for sharing this recipe, can i freeze individual portion sizes and cook as needed? If so, would i have to thaw out the cookie dough before cooking?
Hi Carole! Yes, you sure can! You can refrigerate or freeze until ready to bake, and they bake up perfectly every time.
Hands down 🙌 THE BEST chocolate chip cookie recipe out there!! It is perfection!
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite!
Natasha I made these and they were so soft and divine but they spread. Can you give advice to me please
Hi Asantha, I’m sorry to hear that. Typically if the cookies are too thick or don’t spread as you see in the video and photos, it is due to using too much flour. Check out our post on how to measure ingredients for baking which may help.
Thanks
They were wonderful and so soft. Even my sisters ate the batter from a spoon. But it spread so much. Natasha can you tell the reason
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us!