Easiest Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe is a one bowl chocolate chip cookie recipe that makes soft chocolate chip cookies in less than 20 minutes- no mixer necessary, no chilling needed.
I’ve made a lot of chocolate chip cookies. A lot a lot. Probably more cookies than I should say. Sometimes, I break out my mixer and make a recipe like my brownie cookie recipe that needs time to chill.
Other times, I want cookies five minutes ago. When those cookie cravings hit, I need a simple, easy, go-to cookie that I can whip up in just a few minutes.
This Easiest Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe is just such a recipe. The cookies can be made from scratch in less than 20 minutes, and there’s no need to get the mixer out or to chill the dough. All of which make this the simplest chocolate chip cookie recipe.
This popular recipe has been shared over 100,000 times and has thousands of glowing reviews. Give it a try, and it may just be your new go-to easy chocolate chip cookie recipe!
“This was seriously the easiest and most delicious cookie recipe I’ve ever tried! and I’ve tried a lot!!!” – Treasure via Pinterest
What makes this the easiest chocolate chip cookie recipe?
This recipe
- uses just a few basic ingredients like flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
- is so fast and so easy that you can make it in less than 20 minutes – no mixer needed, no chilling required.
- is a one-bowl recipe so both mixing and cleanup are easier.
Ingredient notes and substitutions
- Butter: This recipe begins with melted butter. I prefer to use salted butter, but you can use unsalted butter if you prefer.
- The butter should just barely be melted. That means that it shouldn’t be sizzling hot or browned.
- If you’re worried about getting it too hot, melt the butter about 90% of the way and then whisk it until it is completely melted.
- Sugars: This recipe uses both brown sugar and granulated (white sugar). If you would like to use only brown sugar, check out my brown sugar chocolate chip cookie recipe.
- Using only granulated sugar will give you crispier cookies.
- For this recipe, you can use either dark or light brown sugar. Dark brown sugar will give you a slightly richer flavor.
- I’ve also swapped the amounts of brown sugar and granulated sugar and used 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1/4 cup of granulated sugar. The cookies are slightly chewier this way.
- Measuring Flour: If you aren’t weighing your ingredients, I can’t recommend that enough. If you are using measuring cups, be sure to sift or stir the flour before measuring. Flour packs easily and using too much flour in cookies will give you dry, crumbly dough and cookies that don’t spread.
- Salt: Kosher salt is a larger-grain salt that isn’t as “salty” as table salt. If you’re using table salt, be sure to use 1/4 teaspoon.
- Please note that the recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt. I’ve seen people who have commented that the cookies were salty, and it turned out that they had used several times the amount of salt that the recipe calls for.
- Chocolate Chips: I use semisweet chocolate chips. You can use dark, bittersweet, milk, or white chocolate chips. People have used all sorts of mix-ins, like M&Ms or other candy and chip combinations, in this recipe.
How to make easy chocolate chip cookies
This is a seriously simple recipe with just a few steps. Here are step-by-step photos showing how to make this recipe.
Step 1: You’re going to start by melting the butter. The butter shouldn’t be sizzling hot. If you’re not sure how hot is too hot, you’ll want it about 90% melted, and then you’ll whisk it until it finishes melting.
Step 2: Once the butter has melted, whisk in the sugars until well-combined.
Step 3: Mix in the vanilla extract and the egg.
Step 4: Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in just until combined. You don’t want to overmix the dough.
Step 5: Stir in the chocolate chips, and then scoop the dough. Place about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
Step 6: Bake until the cookies are set on the edges but slightly underdone in the middle, about 7-10 minutes. Slightly under-baking the cookies helps to keep them soft.
Since oven temperatures can vary, you may find that you need to adjust the baking times.
Recipe Tips!
There are over 1,000 comments and questions on this recipe. I’ve added this section to answer some of the common questions in the hope that it saves people from having to try to sift through all of those comments. If you have a question that isn’t answered below, please feel free to ask!
- Mixing: I recommend mixing the cookie dough by hand to avoid overmixing the dough. However, you can mix the dough using an electric mixer if you prefer.
- Gluten Free: I haven’t tried it, but I’ve heard from several people who have used a measure-for-measure gluten-free flour in this recipe, and they’ve said that it worked well. However, I haven’t heard from anyone regarding other flours, such as almond flour.
- Freezing: You can freeze the baked cookie dough or freeze the cookie dough.
- Cookies: To freeze the cookies, bake them as-directed, and let them cool to room temperature on a wire cooling rack. Once the cookies have cooled, place them in a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 1 month.
- Cookie dough: To freeze the cookie dough, scoop up the cooking dough and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Flash freeze until the dough is frozen through. Once the scoops are frozen through, place the frozen scoops in a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 1 month.
How to make soft chocolate chip cookies
The best way to make soft chocolate chip cookies is to slightly under-bake the cookies. In order to slightly under-bake the cookies, the edges should look set (but not brown).
The center of the cookies should look soft and even a little puffy still. This trick will help to keep your cookies nice and soft.
Storage
Store any leftover cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. The cookies are best eaten within 3 days.
More chocolate chip cookie recipes!
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Easiest Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar packed
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour properly measured
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Microwave the butter for about 40 seconds. Butter should be completely melted but shouldn’t be hot.
- In a large bowl, mix butter with the sugars until well-combined.
- Stir in vanilla and egg until incorporated.
- Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Please read the recipe note about properly measuring flour.
- Mix dough until just combined. Dough should be soft and a little sticky but not overly sticky.
- Stir in chocolate chips.
- Scoop out 1.5 tablespoons of dough (medium cookie scoop) and place 2 inches apart on baking sheet.
- Bake for 7-10 minutes, or until cookies are set. They will be puffy and still look a little underbaked in the middle.3
Video
Notes
- Flour: Be sure to fluff and then scoop and sweep to measure the flour. Too much flour will result in a dry or crumbly cookie. For the ingredient measurements by weight, please click “metric” directly underneath the ingredients.
- Salt: Or 1/4 teaspoon table salt.
- Baking: Don’t over-bake the cookies, or you won’t end up with soft cookies. Several people have said that they’ve needed to bake the cookies for longer. Since oven temps can vary, I suggest starting with the listed baking time and increasing the time as needed.
- If you’re interested in the chocolate version of these cookies, you can find that recipe here.
- Nutrition facts are estimates.
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?
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Originally published 8/16/16. Adapted from Pinch of Yum.
Reader Interactions
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Comments & Reviews
Brielle Engle says
These are absolutely perfect and delicious ?
Kate says
Thank you! So happy to hear that you liked the cookies. =)
skip says
had a sweet tooth this afternoon added heath pieces and walnuts was done in 30 minutes. Wow gr8 cookie
Kate says
Thanks! I’m so happy to hear that you liked them! And heath pieces are a great choice. =) I like to make toffee cookies with heath pieces.
Robin says
Just curious…if one doesn’t have a cookie scoop, is there a “size” for each dollop of dough to put on the cookie sheet?
Kate says
Yes, it’s 1.5 tablespoons of dough per scoop.
Mona says
Best easy cookie recepie out there
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so happy to hear that you liked the cookies. Thanks for commenting! =)
Valeria says
Everyone loved it, thank you very much! It made 30 cookies for me.
(I added a pinch of cinnamon powder to the flour.)
Kate says
Yum! Cinnamon sounds like a great addition. Thanks for commenting!
heywon says
Hi, I really wanna try making these cookies but was wondering whether I’m supposed to use unsalted or salted buter. Thanks!
Kate says
Hi! You can use either. I use salted butter with the listed amount of salt. If you like a sweeter cookie, you can use unsalted butter instead. Hope that helps!
Chris says
I’m fixing to bake these cookies does it matter if it’s light or dark brown sugar?
Kate says
No, either will work. Dark brown sugar will give you a bit more toffee flavor, but, again, either type of brown sugar will work.
irelynn collins says
I make these every week! My fave recipe ever
Kate says
Thank you! That’s fantastic! And thank you for coming back to comment. =)
Gabby says
I am a HUGE home cook/home baker — Seriously, I typically bake twice a week, it’s one of my favorite hobbies. Last night, my fiancé said he wanted chocolate chip cookies so I decided to whip some up. I tend to use King Arthur Flour’s website as my recipe bible but all of their choc chip cookie recipes were too complicated and I didn’t have a lot of the ingredients so I needed something simple…which brought me here.
These are HANDS DOWN, the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made. No lie. And I’ve made a lot of choc chip cookies! They’re perfect soft and chewy with a wonderful balance of flavors — It’s hard to describe how good this simple cookie was. I just had one tonight after they’ve been in a container and they were still soft and perfect.
Best recipe ever.
Kate says
Yay!!! Thank you so much! I’m so happy to hear that you’re enjoying the recipe. Thanks for commenting! =)
Dache says
So easy and delicious! Made it with my two year old.
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that you liked the cookies. Thanks for commenting!
Janet says
I just made these and it came out really good, I just replaced the semisweet chips to milk chocolate chip, and added a bit more flour, overall one of the easiest recipes to follow and very delicious.
Kate says
Thank you! I’m happy to hear that you liked the cookies. Thanks for commenting!
Marline says
I love how simple this recipe is! I’m new to baking and have always been intimidated by most recipes. But these truly were the easiest chocolate chip cookies and they came out so delicious. Thank you for this!
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for taking the time to comment. =)
Christina Philip says
Hi, Kate…I am afraid to bake..coz of bad experiences in the kitchen. Your ingredients for the cookies sounds pretty simple…before i start baking, wanna ask if i could substitude brown sugar with white instead…
Kate says
Hi! I’m happy to help if you have questions. =) If you sub white sugar for the brown sugar, it will change the texture of the cookies (you’ll get a crunchier cookie). If you have any other questions, please let me know!
Lindsey says
I make a lot of chocolate chip cookies & this recipe is my new fave! So delicious & they come out so pretty & fluffy. Love that about them!
Kate says
Thank you so much! I’m so happy to hear that you liked the cookies. Thanks for commenting!
alice says
i recommend you flatten out the cookies before putting them in the oven because they don’t spread out easily
Kate says
Hi! I’m glad that that worked for you. =) It sounds like there’s some extra flour in your dough if the cookies aren’t spreading easily. Using a little less flour should help with that.
Stef says
These cookies are yummy! They are easy – especially for a beginner like myself.
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so happy to hear that you liked the cookies. Thanks for commenting! =)
Mary says
My boys 3 and 5 helped me make these. They were delicious and easy. I substituted raw sugar for white and worked out well. The boys rated them the best cookies they have had. Thanks
Kate says
Yay!! I love that you had boys in the kitchen helping you and that they liked the cookies. Thanks for taking the time to come back and comment! =D
Victoria says
I have literally no idea what i’ve done wrong. I followed this recipe exactly, even fluffing the flour, and ended up with what looked more like biscuit mix than batter. I ended up having to add an extra whole stick of melted butter to get it to the right (or even near right) consistency. And when I added the chips (1 cup), there were so many the batter couldn’t hold them.
We’re at high altitude, so I expect things to be a bit different, but this was nuts. I’ve been baking for many years and I’ve never had a recipe fail this hard.
Also, I missed the kosher/table salt bit until after baking.
They tasted really good, even though they are too salty, but I dislike how much butter is in them.
Any ideas?
(ps i gave 4 stars because obviously there is some user error here)
Kate says
Hi! It definitely sounds like some things went wrong! First, I want to make sure that you used 1/2 cup of butter (1 stick) and 1-3/4 cups of flour. Also, when you melt the butter, are you melting it most of the way or is it sizzling hot? The dough should be soft and a little sticky, but from what it sounds like, there was too much flour in your dough. Having to add an extra stick of butter is a lot of extra butter! The dough shouldn’t have any issue holding just 1 cup of chocolate chips. I think that the cookie dough was greasy from all of the extra butter and that’s why it didn’t hold your chocolate chips. When the dough is greasy, it won’t grab the chocolate chips and they slip out of the dough. One more thing – always feel free to ask if you have questions, and you don’t need to leave a star rating to ask questions. =)
Emilia P says
Can I use golden sugar instead of brown sugar?
Kate says
Golden sugar subs for granulated sugar in recipes, so it won’t be a sub for the brown sugar.
Maria says
Is it unsalted butter?
Kate says
I prefer to use salted butter, but either will work.