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
Barbara Richard says
These are great, and super quick and easy!!!
Kate says
Thank you!
Rachel Adams says
These cookies are also amazing with 1 1/2 tablespoons of cocoa powder. Overall, five stars.
Kate says
Thank you!!
Ariel says
These are now my go-to chocolate chip cookie. They are simply the best, better than all the rest.
P.S. I did try with gluten free flour once and they did not turn out great.
Kate says
Thank you! And thank you for your note about the gf flour!
Vera says
Baked for the very first time using this recipe because I thought the explanation and the corresponding video was easy to follow. It turned out really great!! I will surely make more in the future.
Kate says
Thank you! I’m glad they were helpful!
Tiffenstein says
My first time making chocolate chip cookies from scratch and of course I accidentally make it with baking powder instead of soda. They still came out nice though! Quick and easy recipe. Will definitely make these again ( and with baking soda) lol Thank you!
Kate says
I’m glad they still worked out for you!
Karla says
I just made these cookies on a whim because I thought it sounded good. Even though I kind of bombed the recipe and they came out a little weird consistency-wise (I honestly think my flour and baking soda are too old), they still taste good. This is a really easy recipe that’s hard to really screw up and I think I’m going to go purchase fresh ingredients to try again sometime soon!
Kate says
I hope that helps for next time! If not, let me know, and I’m happy to help you troubleshoot.
Alexandra Negron says
I want to make them but there are no measurements.
Kate says
Hi! If you scroll up to the top, the “jump to recipe” button will take you right to the recipe.
Nat says
Super easy and delicious. Win win
Kate says
Thank you!!
Kate says
At 7:30pm I decided I HAD to have chocolate chip cookies. We were eating them by 8:10pm (10 minutes cooking time got them how I wanted them). These are so good and so easy! I’m definitely adding them to my recipe box.
Thanks so much!
Kate says
Thank you so much!!
Elizabeth says
Decided to make cookies at 8.30pm, found your recipe and I’m so glad I did!! They turned out great! The second batch I made smaller cookies and they turned out so good! We also left out the chocolate chips because we don’t like chocolate chips in our cookies. We will definitely be making these again!
Kate says
Thank you so much! Glad you liked them!
Marlo says
I’m currently pregnant with my first and was craving a good chipper. This is easily the best recipe I’ve ever made and I’m so grateful to have access to it! It will 100% be a go to going forward! Thank you!!!
Kate says
Thank you so much! I just had a baby, and so I totally get the pregnancy cravings! =)
Steve says
So easy to make and have come out successfully all three times I’ve tried it so far. Highly recommend!
Kate says
Thank you!
Athena Edtrada says
Free these cookies were done I felt like I was in Heaven and God and Jesus eating them with me.
Kate says
I’m glad you liked the cookies!
Tasha says
I made theese cookies for my family and they came out great! Although after baking them for about ten minnutes they were still pretty raw so I doubled the time. But over all this recipie is great!
Kate says
Thank you! Glad you liked them!
Katie C. says
This recipe is incredibly delicious! I am quite the chocolate chip cookie snob and this turned out so well. We will certainly add this to the top of our homemade cookie list. Absolutely divine! Thank you so much for sharing this!
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that you liked the cookies!
JOSEPH Mark Eaton says
Ty so much came out great
Kate says
I’m so glad!
Cheryl Goodman Sadler says
I baked these cookies and they were great but I need larger batch can I just double the recipe to make a larger batch of just do two batches
Kate says
Thank you! You can do either. I’ve made a double batch of this recipe, and it works well when doubled.
nina says
happy holidays these chocolate chip cookies were a big hit.easy to follow recipe.the bottoms seemed to brown but the cookie was moist and gooey.about 8 minutes and i took them out.thankyou
Samantha says
I had to chill the cookie dough. How long should i bake them?
Kate says
That’s going to depend on how cold the dough is. I would recommend baking them for the time called for in the recipe and adding on additional time as needed.
Radhika Thaya says
Love these cookies! I’ve been making these almost every other day cause these don’t last too long in my house with two teen boys! It’s just so yummy you can’t resist but eat it all day long! Thanks so much for this recipe!!!!
Christina Deltondo says
love this recipe, I make it all the time because of how quickly you can make it. I’ve been adding 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and 1/2 cup of chopped pecans. Delicious!
Kate says
Yum! I’ll have to try adding a bit of cinnamon next time I make them!
Cathy says
This was an excellent cookie recipe. Very easy to follow and they came out perfect.
Kate says
Thank you so much!