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
I’be been tried some recipes and this one is totally the best! Mine was soft and chewy. One thing I did differently was I used a little less sugar. They were delicious!
So glad you enjoyed this recipe, Fia! Thank you for the review!
I followed the recipe in the video using the baking powder and they came out aweful. Then I noticed the change to baking soda in the written section. If the video is wrong, it should be updated or deleted. I wasted all these ingredients as I had to throw them all out.
Hi Lorraine. I’m sorry they didn’t turn out well for you. The older recipe (like in the video) still made great cookies, so I am not sure what went wrong if you followed it fully. We are always looking to improve our recipes and the change to baking soda resulted in a softer, chewier cookie that spread perfectly with or without chilling the dough. Hopefully, in the future, we can update the video as well.
Can you add walnutsI to the cookie mix my family likes it that way
Hi Belinda, I bet that could work! If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
Our cookies came out very good except we put half or even a third of the sugar in this recipe. I still don’t understand why all these recipies use so much sugar!
Made these a few times but they just remain in the shape of the scoop. The do not spread out. I use a 2TBS scoop. Made these twice and the came out the same.
Hi Falena. Did you make any substitutions to the recipe or refrigerate the dough before baking? Also, check out my tutorial on how to measure your ingredient’s HERE. Using too much flour could be the culprit as well. I hope that helps.
Hi Natasha !
I love your recipes, especially these cookies ! I just switched from a convection oven to a conventional one. Will there be changes when it comes to temperature and baking time for these cookies ? Thank you !
Hi Rose! I’m glad to hear that you love this recipe. I bake these in a conventional oven so there shouldn’t need to be any changes made.
I followed your recipe and it came out awesome. The only thing I notice is the recipe say baking soda and in your video you say baking powder.
Glad you enjoyed it, Marina. 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.
Ours came out looking like creme puffs. They did not flatten at all. Plus they just taste floury. We did not add too much flour – we doubled the recipe and followed it exactly. No hate, just disappointing.
I’m sorry. That has not been my experience and many of my other readers love this recipe and do not have that result. If cookies are cakey, it’s often due to the fat, sugar, and flour ratio being off. Did you make any substitutions or use baking powder instead of baking soda, or too much of it? Having too much flour will generally cause drier and cakier cookies. This is how I measure my ingredients to avoid this. Creaming the butter and sugar for too long can also affect the rise of the cookie. If you try this recipe again, I hope those tips help.
Hi Natasha!
3rd or 4th time making these. I’ve tried dozens of recipes and everyone that has eaten these says ‘best chocolate chips cookies.. keep using this one’!
It’s a keeper! Quick question.. why light brown sugar? Can I use dark? All I have at the moment.
Thx for sharing all your recipes.. my go to!
So glad to hear that. Thank you for the review, Kim! Dark brown sugar would work too, it would give the cookies richer color.
I am dizzy reading chocolate chip recipes. Is there a reason why some chocolate chip cookie recipes use a portion of A/P flour and a portion of Cake flour. What is the difference using that combination or using all A/P flour. Why do some use melted butter over room temp butter, and 1 egg & 1 yolk vs 2 eggs.. I am just confused as to what is the difference
Hi! This is likely due to the overall texture and flavor of the cookie. Everyone’s idea of the “perfect” cookie is different. Some like them flat, chewy, or crisp, others like them thicker like a “cake” consistency. It’s really all about preference.
I made these chocolate chip cookies exactly as you showed and they came out perfect!!! My husband loves them. Best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever!!!
Love it! Thanks for the awesome feedback and review, Leslie.
Video says 2 tsp of baking powder. Recipe instructions says 1 tsp baking soda. Which is it?
Hi Irma, yes, that is correct. I included in my recipe notes that, “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 live at a high altitude. Would you please redo the recipe with amounts given as weights so I can use a kitchen scale and adjust accordingly. Thank you
Hi Colleen, if you click on “metric” in the recipe card, it will convert the ingredient list to grams for you. I would also recommend using this high altitude baking guide for reference.
Wow!! So delicious and thick. Easy to make as well . My 3 year old grandson helped me make them. They are definitely my new “go to” chocolate chip cookie recipe. Thank you!
Aww, I love that you made this with your grandson, Teresa! Thank you or your lovely review!
I just made these, and this recipe is PERFECT!! They came out delicious! Thank you for this recipe!♥️
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Jinelle! Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
They’re not my favorite, but my family and friends adore them! My friend asked me to make them for her birthday and I’m making them for my brother’s graduation gift as well!
I love all your recipes but on the CC cookies do they come out soft or a little crunchy.
I’m not a fan of soft cookies so won’t use the recipe if that’s how they turn out.
Thank you
Hi Madeline, this recipe makes soft cookies. If you want crunchy cookies, you may need to bake them for a while longer. I hope you love this recipe!
mine always get hard in a day unless I put a piece of bread in with them. how can they stay soft without the bread?
Hi Roger, the cookies should stay soft for days, We store ours in an air-tight container for a few days. You can also refrigerate or freeze the dough until ready to bake and they bake up perfectly every time.
Hi! Would browning the butter immense the flavor of the cookies?
Hi Madison, I haven’t tested it that way as I’ve always used the exact process in the recipe.
Love these. I want to add walnuts. How many cups should I use?
Hi Robin, others shared that they added walnuts and enjoyed it in the comments section. I’m no certain how much they used, I would say do it per your personal preference 🙂 I hope you love this recipe!