If you like soft, chewy cookies, these thick and chewy chocolate chip cookies are for you. Brown sugar and higher oven temperature is the secret to thick, soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies every time.
This is my personal favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. With all the baking I do, I know that there are a lot of chocolate chip cookie recipes out there. This one, in particular, makes super soft, chewy, thick cookies that are exactly what I look for in a cookie.
Update: This became a very popular cookie recipe when I first posted it several years ago. I’ve updated the post to reflect helpful questions and comments from you, and to add a new how-to video that shows you exactly how to make chewy chocolate chip cookies.
I originally posted this recipe after The Salt Lake Tribune printed an article about baking chocolate chip cookies. Cuisine Quest: Cookie question: Soft and chewy? Or hard and crispy?. The Tribune article was inspired by a similar question posed in Sunset Magazine. Their staff baked more than 25 unique chocolate chip cookie recipes to find the formula for the perfect cookie.
I definitely belong to the soft and chewy crowd and if you do too, you’re going to love this recipe.
The Secret To Thick and Chewy Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies
According to research by Sunset, more moisture results in softer and chewier cookies. You can help your cookies retain moisture by adjusting the baking time and temperature.
While I usually use a 350°F oven for cookies, research suggests that a hotter oven for a shorter cooking time will keep cookies softer. I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical about baking cookies at such a high temp, but in the name of chewier chocolate chip cookies, I had to give it a try.
Even though the cookies looked far from finished after the prescribed 8 minute bake time, I followed directions and removed the cookies from the oven. While those cooled, I performed a bit of an experiment on my own and baked off another batch at 350°F.
The second, lower temperature batch came out just like my usual chocolate chip cookies. Once both batches had a chance to cool, it was time to taste test.
And guess what? All that research paid off. The first batch of cookies was thick, chewy and just what I’ve been looking for.
I’ve been making all of my chocolate chip cookies with this thick and chewy recipe ever since.
Ingredients for Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Most of the ingredients for this chocolate chip cookie recipe are the standard pantry staples you’d expect. The one key difference is that this recipe uses only brown sugar, no white.
Brown sugar has a higher moisture content than granulated sugar. This helps keep your homemade cookies thick and chewy, rather than thin and crispy.
Plus, the brown sugar helps these cookies brown up faster. That means that even with our shorter cooking time, the cookies gain their signature toasted brown color on top.
How to Make Perfect Thick and Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
If you’ve made chocolate chip cookies before, the steps in this recipe will look familiar. Before you get started, take out the butter and let it come up to room temperature.
Tip: To bring your butter to room temperature faster, slice it into tablespoons and put it in your bowl to warm up while you’re measuring your other ingredients.
As in most recipes, you’ll start by combining the dry ingredients. Then, I like to use my stand mixer with a paddle attachment to cream the butter and sugar together. This should take about 2 minutes. You’ll know the creaming is done when the butter is light and fluffy.
If you don’t have a paddle attachment or a stand mixer, you can get the job done with a hand mixer or by hand, it will just take a little longer and a little more elbow grease.
Combine everything together and fold in the chocolate chips. You can also add nuts here if you like. I like pecans, but walnuts would also be great.
At this point, you can chill the dough for 20 to 30 minutes. This helps keep the cookies from spreading out as much when you bake them, but it’s not required for perfectly chewy cookies.
When you’re ready to bake, scoop the dough onto a baking sheet. I love using this #40 disher to scoop perfectly sized cookies. Each cookie is about 1.5 tablespoons of dough.
Many food bloggers like to push a few extra chocolate chips on the top of the cookie dough to they look prettier for pictures. In the pictures above, the first tray of cookies on the right is right after taking the cookies out of the oven. The third picture on the bottom right shows what the cookies look like after resting on the tray for 5 minutes.
Storing Chocolate Chip Cookies
Store your chocolate chip cookies in a Ziploc bag at room temperature.
Like most cookies, thick and chewy chocolate chip cookies stay fresh longer if frozen. If you’re not planning to inhale all the cookies within a day or two, let the cookies cool fully before storing them in a sealed container in the freezer. They’ll keep for several months. I like to let them defrost on the counter for a few hours, or overnight, before serving.
This is a great make-ahead recipe if you’re entertaining. It’s always nice to have some cookies tucked away in the freezer for guests.
Thick, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 ½ cups firmly packed brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 12-ounce bag semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup chopped pecans optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400º F.
- In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar, on medium speed, until well blended. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until well blended, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add flour mixture; mix just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans, if using. (Optional: cover dough and chill 20 – 30 minutes.)
- Drop dough in 2-tablespoon portions, 2 inches apart, onto baking pans. Bake until the cookies are lightly browned and no longer wet in the center, 6 to 8 minutes; if baking more than one pan at a time, switch pan positions halfway through baking. (Take the cookies out of the oven 1 or 2 minutes before the cookies are cooked, as they will continue to cook on the baking pans.)
- Let cookies cool for 5 minutes on baking sheet before transferring cookies to racks to cool completely before serving.
Video
Notes
My Other Favorite Chewy Cookie Recipes to Try
Chocolate chip aren’t the only recipe for thick and chewy cookies! Try these other popular cookie recipes:
- Fudgy Chocolate Sixlet Cookies are always a winner on Valentine’s Day, but I love them all year long.
- Keto Coconut Macaroons from Two Sleevers are a different take on the chewy cookie, made with crispy coconut and egg whites for a lighter dessert.
- Chocolate Marshmallow Surprise Cookies are fudgy and brownie-like with a gooey and soft marshmallow on top. And don’t forget the chocolate icing!
- Extra Soft Snickerdoodle Cookies from Bless this Mess Please check all the boxes: soft, spiced and glazed with cinnamon sugar
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Alea Safea
Hi! Excited to try and make these bad boys but one question,you dont specify the temprature, is it 400 degrees celsius or fahrenheit??
Barbara Schieving
Hi Alea – fahrenheit. Enjoy!
2pots2cook
Wise guy your son 🙂 Thank you for the refreshed, great photos ! Have a nice day !
Linda W
Thank you for the perfect recipe! This is exactly how I like my chocolate chip cookies…slightly thick, soft and chewy center with a nice lightly brown bottom and edges. The flour to butter ratio is perfect and the oven temperature is spot on. My cookies were not flat at all. I was in search of a recipe to my liking and tried 3 different recipes for the past week and your recipe will now be my go to recipe. My search is over…thanks again!
Barbara Schieving
Thanks so much Linda! Love that you kept trying until you found the perfect cookie for you. This is the one I always make now too.
Cheryl
I would like to get a head start on baking for Christmas Day. Would the weekend before Christmas be to soon to bake and stored in a tin container?
Barbara Schieving
Hi Cheryl – I think if you want them to be at their best for Christmas Day, you should freeze them and then take them out of the freezer on Christmas Eve and box them up. And if you’re freezing them you could start baking as any time between now and Christmas Eve. Just make sure they’re completely cool before freezing and freeze them flat in Ziploc bags. Merry Christmas!
Karina
Just made these cookies, they are so yummy just out of the oven! Thanks for sharing this delicious recipe 🙂
Barbara Schieving
Thanks Karina! So glad you loved them.
Taste USA
These cookies look absolutely perfect! I like my cookies to me crisp on the edges but slightly soft in the middle – and I love the addition of salt! No chocolate chip cookie is complete without salt.
Rachelle
Hi Barbara, can’t wait to try this! What would happen if I used 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 all-purpose flour?
Barbara Schieving
Hi Rachelle – I think you’d be fine to use half whole wheat in this recipe. Enjoy!
Barbara
I do not have mixer with paddle, will that change the outcome of the cookies?
They look like the perfect cookie for me & my sis.
Barbara Schieving
Hi Barbara – that’s a great name 🙂 You don’t need the paddle, you can use a hand mixer if you have one, or even mix it by hand, just really work the butter and sugar. Enjoy!
Barbara
Thank you I’am so glad because I think this is going to be the best ever chocolate chip cookie!
And you are right about our name. My big sister is also named Barbara!
I was adopted as a baby & just found my birth family two years ago. I think our name being the same
is a special gift from God. My sis is coming for a visit I will have the cookies waiting. Thank you.
Krystle (Baking Beauty)
I am in the chewy camp too! Always down to try a new recipe, these look delicious!
candice
Hi. What do you think would happen if you used 3/4 c. granulated sugar and 3/4 c. brown sugar.
Do you think it would effect the texture and thickness? Thanks.
Barbara Schieving
Hi Candice – Yes, it would change the texture and thickness. http://www.finecooking.com/item/55415/the-science-of-baking-cookies However, if you don’t have enough brown sugar on hand, I’m sure the cookies would still taste great.
candice
Thank you. Keep up the good work! You do a great job. God Bless.
Kitchen Belleicious
these look amazing! very intrigued that they don’t use regular sugar just brown sugar. Its been a while since I only saw B.Sugar in a choc chip cookie recipe. I have got to try them
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella
Hehe can I answer that I like them all? Really, I do and each one has a different texture and purpose really.These look like a real winner mum! xxx
Annamaria @ Bakewell Junction
Barbara,
I’m a fan of thick and chewy. The hubby is a fan of the crispy but not necessarily thin. I will be making these. Pinned.
Annamaria
Amanda
These cookies look perfect!!!
Betty
I just took the last batch of these out of the oven- they look great! Got a big “thumbs up” from my son, the chocolate chip lover. 🙂 Thanks!
Nicole
Oh, I adore thick and chewy chocolate chip cookies! These look so delicious, Barbara.
Claire @ Claire K Creations
I seem to remember making these from your original recipe years ago. I remember thinking exactly that – that 8 minutes wasn’t enough time and regretting cooking the rest differently! This is the second choc-chip cookie recipe in my inbox today. I think the universe might be telling me something?
Carol at Wild Goose Tea
I like mine thick and chewy. So this fits me to a T. I should probably take a survey of the people who eat my cookies on what they like. It would be better if they liked thin and crispy. Then the thick and chewy cookies
wouldn’t be around to tempt me.
Linda
Thanks for tip. I couldn’t imagine why my cookies were thin and crisp when they used to be soft and chewy.
Like you, I thought they weren’t done and baked them longer. Duh!!! Of course don’t over bake them.
Wishes for tasty dishes,
inda
Ciao Florentina
Sounds like the perfect breakfast to me, what? chocolate is so good for you 😉