Easiest Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe is a simple chocolate chip cookie recipe that makes super soft chocolate, super yummy chip cookies – 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.
What Makes This the Simplest Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe?
This recipe uses just a few basic ingredients – flour, sugar, baking soda, salt.
Also, it is so fast and so easy – no mixer needed, no chilling required – that the cookies can be mixed up and baked in less than twenty minutes.
How To Make Chocolate Chip Cookies
For this recipe, 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.
Once the butter has melted, whisk in the sugars until well-combined. Mix in the vanilla extract and egg.
Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in just until combined. You don’t want to overmix the dough.
Stir in the chocolate chips, and then scoop the dough. Place about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
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.
Can I Use an Electric Mixer?
Sure! You can use one if you would prefer. I do recommend mixing in the flour by hand, though, to avoid overmixing the dough.
Tips/FAQ
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!
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 the measurements on the 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.
Tips For Making 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.
Kitchen Tools I Use When Making Homemade Cookies
Here are some of my must-have kitchen essentials that help to make this recipe even easier.
Whisk: A good whisk doesn’t have to be expensive, but it’s a kitchen must-have for really combining ingredients like the melted butter and sugars.
Cookie Scoop: I use my cookie scoop so often that I bought a second one. It’s great for scooping cookies, mini muffins, and even meatballs.
Silicone Spatula: A great all-purpose spatula is a must-have. They’re great for incorporating dry ingredients that are harder to whisk in and scraping the bowl.
Kitchen Scale: Using a kitchen scale is easier than measuring with measuring cups. It’s also more accurate! I was a holdout for a long time, but now I love using my kitchen scale.
More Easy Cookie Recipes!
- Chewy Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Thick Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies
If you’ve tried this easiest chocolate chip cookie recipe, don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below. I love to hear from people who’ve made my 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 flour¹
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt2
- 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
- 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.
- Or 1/4 teaspoon table salt.
- 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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Published 8/16/16. Updated with new photos and tips 10/3/18.
Adapted from Pinch of Yum.
Reader Interactions
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Comments & Reviews
Cookie monster says
First off, the cookies are delicious! I will definitely be making this recipe again. Second, if you want very accurate measurements, you can use a kitchen scale to weigh out your dry ingredients. For example; 1 and 3/4 cups flour is 200 grams of flour.
Kate says
Hey! I completely agree about weighing the ingredients. If you click on “Metric” right underneath the ingredients, it will give you the weights for the ingredients. =)
Melissa M. says
BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES I’VE EVER HAD!!!!!
I Love all the step by step info, because it makes a difference how a cookie turns out!
To make the BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies even Chocolatier I put in Mini Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips. Another thing I love to do to make them Bigger and still stay Extra Moist is to make them Double Scoop Cookies. Put one scoop on top of the other making a little cookie tower, then Bake them about 2 Minutes Longer. (It’s the BEST Cookie Trick I’ve ever learned, all thanks to my sister.)
Kate says
Thank you so much! I’m so glad that the directions are helpful. =) I’m going to have to try that trick! Thank you for sharing it.
Adam says
They taste exactly like the cookies my grandpa used to make!!! He never wrote the recipe down so I haven’t had them in 14 years.
Kate says
Oh! This just makes me so happy to hear! Thank you so much for commenting!
Joanne LaHue says
My cookies turned out great! My dough was crumbly but I found your suggestion in the comments to add more egg or butter. So I added two tablespoons more butter and that fixed it! I’ll definitely make these again because it’s so incredibly easy to make and they taste great!
Kate says
I’m so glad that it worked out well for you! You can also try using a little less flour and that should help if you have any dry dough issues. =)
Kim says
Hi- Excited to try this recipe. Had a question though- can i have half the quantities if i want less number of cookies? Would that still work?
Kate says
Hi! I don’t see why not. If you haven’t halved an egg before, simply crack it into a bowl and then mix the white and yolk together. Then divide the mixture in half to use in the recipe.
Heather L. Durham says
It was soooooo amazing!!! I can’t wait to make another batch!
Kate says
Thank you! That’s so good to hear! =)
Nancee Zannone says
Everyone loved these cookies and they have been requested again and again. I sometimes make without chocolate chips and refrigerate for cutting shapes with my toddler and then add decoration or chocolate chips. The dough works great.
Kate says
I’m so glad that the cookies have been a hit! =) Thanks for commenting!
Soha says
how do we know how much of every ingredient to use? i love this recipe BTW <3
Kate says
Thanks! In the recipe, it lists the ingredient amounts. At the top, there’s a “jump to recipe” button. If you’re having trouble finding the recipe, just click that, and it will take you right to the recipe (and the amounts).
Lyn A says
Thank you so much!!
I wanted my son to try baking cookies, they turned out awesome & he is delighted! ?
Kate says
Yay!! I love that! Thank you for taking the time to come back and comment!
Maya says
This recipe was so easy which was perfect since I just wanted some late night chocolate chip cookies. The problem with mine was that they came out really salty for some reason. I’m not sure why since I put in the right amounts of everything and it doesn’t seem like anyone else had this same issue. I am wondering if it’s maybe because I used salted butter? I wasn’t sure if that was what I was supposed to since it wasn’t really specified but I just wanted to comment to see if anyone could help me with why this happened. My cookies also never flattened so i just got puffy cookies even after letting them sit out of the oven for a while. Any comments help!
Kate says
Hi! There’s a section in the post that’s called “Tips/FAQ” and underneath the “Butter” section, I talk about using salted or unsalted butter in the cookies. You can use either. I prefer salted butter, but it’s totally your own preference on which one you like.
How much salt did you use? I have a note under the recipe in the notes section that says that if you’re using table salt (regular salt), you only need to use 1/4 teaspoon of salt. I just want to make sure that you saw that it was 1/4 teaspoon and didn’t use 1/4 tablespoon.
There are three reasons why cookies don’t spread: 1) too much flour in the dough 2) expired baking soda and 3) the oven is baking too hot and the cookies are setting before they get a chance to spread. I find that it’s almost always #1 when people have issues with the cookies spreading because it’s easy to get extra flour in the dough unless you sift or stir the flour up and then lightly spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level.
Please let me know if you have any other questions! =)
Byenia says
Made a batch of these last night. Produced 15 cookies total since mine were probably a little large, so that cook time was about 5 minutes longer. They taste great and have a nice soft texture. :)
Kate says
That’s great! I’m so glad that you liked the cookies! Thanks for commenting. =)
Taylor says
Great recipe! Needed an easy recipe for chocolate chip cookies and used this recipe and put all the dough in a skillet to make a skillet cookie. I put it in the oven at 375 degrees for about 20-25 minutes and came out amazing. Will try to make actual cookies next time but if you need a skillet cookie recipe too, this works great.
Kate says
Thank you so much! And thanks for sharing that tip about turning it into a skillet cookie! =)
Eve says
Can I substitute almond flour instead of all purpose flour?
Kate says
Hi! I haven’t used almond flour in this recipe, but I’ve heard from a few people who have. They’ve said it worked well for them, but, again, I haven’t tried it myself.
Isabella? Pancaro says
It is sooooo good
Kate says
Thank you so much!!
Azza says
I Try it now for first time, It’s do much yummy and so simple. I will do it again and again thanks??
Kate says
Thank you! That’s great that they turned out well for you! =)
Samantha says
Pretty dang good and easy to make!
Kate says
Thank you so much! =)
Sam Whitaker says
I LOVE this recipe! It is great for kids and your friends and I will make it much more often!
Kate says
Thank you so much! I’m glad that you liked it and found it easy to make. =)
Noni says
Quarantined – what do you do bake. These choc. Chip cookies were great! My oven took a little limp grr as well, 14-15 min.
Kate says
Thanks so much!!
Jaime Puente says
What should I do if my cookie dough is runny ?
Kate says
You can add additional flour and sugar to the dough. The dough should be soft and slightly sticky, so you’ll just want to add enough flour and sugar to get it to that point.
Lartanya Ashley says
IF THE COOKIE DOUGH IS CRUMBLY , WHAT SHOULD I DO?
Kate says
You can try adding another egg or more melted butter.
Samuel says
They were great and gooie
Kate says
Thanks so much! =)