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
Truly THE BEST! After being wow’d by Natasha’s baklava, I decided to try out this recipe as well. I brought them to the office this week, and they were a big hit. They stay soft for days, and have the best flavor. Thanks again, Natasha!
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review!
These ARE the best chocolate chip cookies ever!!! They back evenly! I tried many recipes and usually the bottom is too brown and the middle of the cookie is raw. These are big cookies and are perfectly cooked throughout! Thank you for the recipe:-)!
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite!
These are the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made! Delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
You’re so welcome!! Thank you for your great feedback!
Mine turned out great. I noticed that the second batch always turns out better than the first one (I mean the second cookie sheet), I don’t know what the reason is but it happens with any cookie recipe I try. We added some m&ms, I wish you could see the face of my 3 year old son! Thank you for the recipe!
That’s so interesting Kseniya! I’m wondering if it has to do with a heated pan from the first round? I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for your feedback.
Tried the recipe today. My first time making cookies and it turned out perfect!
I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe, Elly! Thank you for the wonderful review!
Was out of baking soda and my “normal” go-to-cookie ingredient (Butter Crisco) so I stumbled upon this recipe….hence the no baking soda, please take in mind my 14 yr. old was wanting to make them and not only make them but double it haha….Oh boy was she in for a work out with all that flour!!! They turned out just like I thought they would having previous cookie failures—cakelike. Good enough to satisfy your sweet tooth but no my recipe—This mama always cooks with Crisco 🙂 Pleasant baking!!
Hi, I am Italian, Please can I have this recipe in Italian? With grammi not cups? Here don’t have cups😢 I desire make that for my sons 😍
We are currently working on adding metric measurements to all of our recipes but it is taking some time as we have to add them one at a time. Thank you so much for being patient! In the meantime, check out our post on measuring which should help.
These are the BEST cookies! We make these at my house every few weeks. My daughter loves putting the finishing chocolate chips on them. I also add walnuts. I’ve tried it with gluten free flour also and it comes out as delicious. Thank you!
I’m so happy to hear that, Dina! Thank you for sharing your great review, that sounds amazing!
I tried these last night, they were delicious! Thanks Natasha!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cookies, Lily!
Can you use shortening instead of butter?
Hi, I honestly haven’t tried that substitution so I’m not sure – I do have a strong preference for butter in cookies. If you experiment, let me know how it goes.
I would strongly suggest trying something such as – 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 1 teaspoon baking powder. Will make all the difference in this recipe – Making cookies with varying degrees of both soda and powder, I found that baking powder generally produces cake-like cookies that rise higher during baking, producing smoother, shinier tops, while soda yields cookies that are more rough and denser texture. This may explain some of the challenges with the comments – in particular in those ovens that are running hotter and producing “scone-like” cookies.
Excellent suggestion Rob, thanks for sharing with other readers!
Hey Natasha. I followed the recipe to a T but my cookies came out extremely runny in the oven. They all became one big mush and burned. I am in Europe, so I have to work with what I can find and also convert the recipes. Do you know what possibly could have caused this? I am assuming it is something with the baking powder – I am using the spanish equivalent “levadura en polvo”. They come in packs of 15g, but I used only 2 tsp’s as the recipe called for. Should I use more? Thanks! I can’t find chocolate chip cookies anywhere in Spain so I am looking to make my own!!
HI Brook, I am not familiar with “levadura en polvo” but from photos online it doesn’t look like a white powder which is what baking powder looks like. It might not be the same product. If anyone else has any insights into that, please let us know and thanks in advance 🙂
Hi Natasha! “Levadura en polvo” is yeast, the one we use to make bread. Baking powder is what the recipe calls for and in Spanish it is “polvo de hornear”. Hope this helps,
hank you so much for sharing that with me 🙂
I do not have unsalted butter. Just salted butter, do I sub and not add the extra salt or better off holding off baking these cookies until I can get unsalted butter?
Hi Elsa, salted butter should work but yes, hold off on adding the extra salt.
Did you perhaps use real butter instead of margarine? That may account for the cookies spreading.
My favorite cookie recipe. Thank you!
Yanyan
My pleasure! I’m glad you love the recipe, thanks for sharing!
Hi Natasha
I love all your recipes and made a lot of them.
I have a question: when I chill the cookie balls, do they need to cover with plastic wrap?
Thanks in advance.
Hi Quynh, I do cover them with plastic wrap to keep them fresher and so they do not absorb food smells. I will add that note 🙂
Hi! There’s 13 people in my family so that requires lots of cookie dough to be made (I usually double the recipes). It is possible if I can refrigerate and then scoop and form them into balls? Or they will still be runny? We just don’t have enough room to put cookie sheets inside the frig.. thanks!
Hi Elvira, it is much easier to scoop and form the cookie balls before refrigerating. You can refrigerate them close to each other, even touching if need be to save space. 🙂
I made these today and they are fabulous, just what I was looking for. Your recipe directions were perfect, no problems there…thanks, Natasha!
You’re welcome Daniel! I’m glad to hear how much you enjoy the recipe. Thanks for sharing your great review!
Hi. Can you use whole wheat flour?
Hi Georgia, I honestly haven’t tested that in this recipe so I could only guess. If you experiment before I do, let me know how it goes 🙂
Are you able to provide nutritional information for your recipes?
Hi William, I don’t typically include calorie counts because of the time constraint that I have. I really need to hire some help to do that for me! When I need a quick answer though; I have used Caloriecount.com (their recipe analyzer is free). ps. I’m planning to do a site refresh and looking into having nutritional info included in every post so stay tuned.
Hi I tried these out last night, I didnt have any brown sugar so I just used two teaspoons of black treacle as a molasses substitute and also converted the cups to grams. They came out perfect and I have had to stop my family from eating them all at once! Thankyou for sharing!
You’re welcome Amy! I’m glad to hear the recipe was such a success! Thanks for sharing your fantastic review!
Hello Natasha, so I made these cookies last night… they didint turn out like on your picture… pretty much they turned out like the last few people commented a little dry and scone like on top… When measuring flour I pack flour and push it down into the cup, so I believe that me and the other last few people who the cookies failed to turn out like yours have been using a bit too much flour…after reading your tip I believe it’s true, I think measuring the flour your way would make them turn out softer, because they still taste great just not very soft and stiff. Thank you for your recipes💜
Thank you so much for reporting back. I have a video tutorial coming soon that is super helpful on all things measuring, but in the mean time, I added a note on measuring towards the top which should help 🙂