The Best Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies — One of my absolute favorite recipes for chocolate chip cookies thanks to a special ingredient! Just one bite and I think you’ll agree!!
Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies…With Pudding!
These really are my new favorite soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies. Now, that’s a big statement because I haven’t cheated on this recipe in years!
I’ve used the base of that cookie recipe for Twix Bar Cookies, Snickers Cookies, M&M’s Cookies, S’mores Cookies, and many others when I want a hearty, but buttery dough base. Any cookie I’m going to stuff with add-ins or candy, that’s not a peanut butter cookie, I use that base.
But all good things eventually get knocked off their pedestal and something better, shinier, and newer comes along. Enter: these big, chewy chocolate chip cookies . Spoiler: these sot and chewy chocolate chip cookies are made with vanilla pudding mix!
The dough is buttery and moist with hints of vanilla, and it’s the perfect canvas for the melted chocolate chips.
So it’s ‘the best’ according to me and my family, and of course, this can change. Food bloggers, we change our minds, if you haven’t noticed. But for now, these gooey chocolate chip cookies are the top dog.
I can’t wait for you to try them and let me know if you agree.
What’s in These Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies?
These gooey chocolate chip pudding cookies are thick enough to sink your teeth into, with slight chewiness at the base and edges.
It’s just enough to balance the very pillowy soft centers and give me the mouthfeel I want in a perfectly baked, soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie.
Here’s what you’ll need to make the absolute best chewy chocolate chip cookies:
- Unsalted butter
- Light brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Instant vanilla pudding mix
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips
How to Make Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
To make truly soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies, you first need to cream together the butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla. Beat the mixture for a good 4 minutes — don’t skip this step!
Add in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined, then fold in the chocolate chips.
Note that you add the pudding mix like a dry ingredient. You do NOT actually make the pudding. Scoop the cookie dough into balls using a large cookie scoop, then place on a large tray and cover with plastic wrap.
I baked my chewy chocolate chip cookies for 11 minutes, but if you choose to make smaller cookies, you’ll need to bake for less time. How much less? I don’t know.
Tip: The secret to making the best chewy chocolate chip cookies is keeping them a touch underbaked. I think that’s the secret to most good cookies!
Can I Omit the Pudding Mix?
The pudding cookie craze certainly isn’t new. I’ve used instant pudding mix in my Soft M&M’s Chocolate Chip Cookies, Dark Chocolate Chunk and Peanut Butter Chip Chocolate Cookies, and Quadruple Chocolate Soft Fudgy Pudding Cookies and I wanted to create a classic chewy chocolate chip cookies recipe with it.
This chocolate chip pudding cookie recipe is nearly a carbon copy of my old standby. The significant change is that I omitted 2 teaspoons of cornstarch and replaced them with one packet instant vanilla pudding mix.
If you don’t like pudding mix or can’t find it in your area, I recommend you use this soft chocolate chip cookie recipe because there are really no substitutions you can use in this chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe.
Do I Have to Freeze the Cookie Dough?
As with all my cookies, you must chill the dough before baking these chewy chocolate chip cookies with vanilla pudding mix. It’s absolutely crucial for thick, puffy, full cookies.
If you bake with warm, limp dough, your chocolate chip cookies will spread and bake thinner and flatter. Why bother? Plan ahead and chill your dough.
Can I Freeze Chocolate Chip Cookies?
Yes, although I actually recommend making the cookie dough and freezing it in balls rather than freezing baked cookies. You can bake the cookie dough straight from frozen, just note that you’ll likely need to add a few extra minutes to the bake time.
But if you’ve already made these gooey chocolate chip cookies and want to freeze some for later, just pop them in a freezer bag. When you’re ready to eat them, leave them on your counter to thaw or reheat them in the oven.
Can I Make These Gluten-Free?
Without having tried it myself, I can’t say for sure. If you find a way to make these chocolate chip cookies with vanilla pudding gluten-free that works for you, please let me know in a comment below!
Can I Add Extra Mix-Ins?
I’m sure you can! These thick and chewy chocolate chip cookies can be loaded up with chopped nuts, M&M’s, chopped candy bars, and more. Just be sure to add no more than 2 cups of mix-ins total.
How to Store Chocolate Chip Cookies
These chocolate chip cookies with pudding can be stored at room temperature for up to 1 week. You can also freeze the baked cookies for up to 6 months. I like to reheat frozen cookies in the microwave or oven so the chocolate chips become gooey.
Tips for the Best Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Tip 1: The big, chewy chocolate chip cookies are slightly larger than you may be used to baking. There are about 4 tablespoons of dough (1/4 cup) per cookie, and the batch makes just 14 large-ish cookies.
The cookies are still so much smaller than cookies I see for sale at bakeries and coffee shops, and eight comfortably fit on a baking tray.
I’d rather bake fewer bigger cookies because frankly, it’s less work. But also because the size and the related surface area does matter in terms of the final taste and texture.
Tip 2: Smaller cookies tend to dry out faster and relatively speaking, there’s more chewy edge than soft center.
Conversely, bigger cookies have softer, tender, juicy bites loaded with chocolate due to a greater interior surface area. Christina Tosi speaks very eloquently about this in her book.
Tip 3: You also need to make sure the butter is truly soft. If it’s not, cheat and zap it in the micro for 5 to 10 seconds.
It’s best to plan ahead and set your butter out 2 to 4 hours ahead of time, but it’s better to cheat with the micro than try to cream cold butter.
Your dough will seem overly dry and crumbly after adding the dry ingredients if your butter wasn’t sufficiently softened. I used Trader Joe’s unsalted butter.
A few more tips and tricks for making the best chewy chocolate chip cookies:
- You’ll want to use a high-quality flour like King Arthur. It has just a bit more protein (gluten) than other brands so your baked goods have more structure and will rise higher.
- As I’ve already mentioned, you MUST chill the dough so the cookies bake up thick and don’t spread as much.
- Underbake so the cookies are (almost) as good on the third day as they are right out of the oven.
- And bake on a Silpat because it provides traction so the cookies don’t slip-and-slide around a slippery greased baking sheet.
- Use a cookie scoop. I first portion out the dough with the scoop so all the mounds are the same size, and then I smooth them out with my hands so they’re perfectly smooth.
- Finally, you want to strategically re-positioning the chocolate chips while smoothing the mounds.
Obsessive? Yes, but I am asked all the time what my tricks and secrets are, and now you know.
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The Best Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened (1 1/2 sticks)
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- one 3.5-ounce packet instant vanilla pudding mix, not sugar-free and not ‘cook & serve’
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- one-12 ounce bag, 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I use Trader Joe’s)
Instructions
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large mixing bowl and electric mixer) combine the butter, sugars, egg, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until creamed and well combined, about 4 minutes.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flour, pudding mix, baking soda, optional salt, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 1 minute.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the chocolate chips, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds.
- Using a large cookie scoop, 1/4-cup measure, or your hands, form approximately 14 equal-sized mounds of dough, roll into balls, and flatten slightly.*
- Place mounds on a large plate or tray, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to 5 days. Do not bake with unchilled dough because cookies will bake thinner, flatter, and be more prone to spreading.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray. Place dough mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet) and bake for about 11 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just set, even if slightly undercooked, pale, and glossy in the center; don’t overbake. Cookies firm up as they cool.
- Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes before serving. I let them cool on the baking sheet and don’t use a rack.
Notes
- *Tip – Strategically place a few chocolate chips right on top of each mound of dough by taking chips from the underside and adding them on top.
- Cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
- Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 4 months, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Pudding Cookie Recipes:
ALL OF MY PUDDING COOKIE RECIPES!
Cream Cheese White Chocolate Chip Cookies — These soft and chewy white chocolate chip cookies use two special ingredients to achieve their pillowy texture: instant pudding mix and cream cheese!
Soft and Chewy M&M’s Cookies — These big, bakery-style cookies are very soft, slightly chewy, buttery, and loaded with M&M’S and chocolate chips.
Quadruple Chocolate Soft Fudgy Pudding Cookies – For true chocolate lovers, these super soft cookies are loaded with chocolate!
Mounds Bar Chocolate Chunk Cookies — These big, thick, bakery-style cookies are pillowy soft in the interior, slightly chewy at the edges, and are loaded with chocolate chunks and hunks of Mounds Bars.
Oreos and Sprinkles Chocolate Chip Cookies — The cookies are loaded with Oreos, sprinkles, chocolate chips, and are adapted from my favorite recipe for chocolate chip cookies.
Caramel-Stuffed Quadruple Chocolate Cookies — The cookies are thicker, bakery-style cookies that are bold and rich, and are oozing with melted chocolate and stuffed with Rolos.
Coconut Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies— You won’t miss the butter at all in these coconut oil chocolate chip cookies! They’re so soft and ever so slightly chewy. Dangerously good!
This is a repost of this 2014 recipe, and while I’ve made many other chocolate chip cookies since then, these particular cookies are some of my absolute favorites.
Made them tonight! My absolutely favorite cookie so far! Thanks so much for posting and being so specific!!!
Glad they’re your fave cookie so far and that my specific details help!! :)
Hi Averie! I made and shared these cookies with my readers on facebook and instagram. They were wonderful. Oh and pinned, ofcourse ;)
Oh I am so glad you liked them and thanks for all the social media love! Have a wonderful week! :)
Truly the best cookie recipe ever invented. I swear up and down by two recipes: my coleslaw recipe and THIS ONE. As you said, I can’t find any reason to cheat on this recipe when it’s this good! The guys at work practically fight over them.
I don’t get to TJs often, so I like to make these cookies with 1/2c each of milk, semisweet, and dark chocolate chips, and the last 1/2c being mini chips of the flavor of your choice (I used semisweet, to total 2 cups). I made 3 batches today, and they are all lying pathetically on a tray, bleeding chocolate and just waiting to disappear…into my face!
lying pathetically on a tray, bleeding chocolate and just waiting to disappear…into my face! <--- I love that! Oh that is so awesome you made three batches! And that you like to mix up the choc chip types. I do that too if I'm not baking for my blog because I use whatever's open and random odds & ends but it's too hard to explain that on the blog :) So glad you love this recipe and swear by it up and down! And I am a cole slaw LOVER! If you feel like sharing, I'm all ears!!
I did end up taking those 3 batches into work, where they turned into that kind of bait one would throw into a pit of starving wolves (also known as hungry Air Force pilots). Just so you know, you’ve made me famous at work! Don’t worry, I always let them know where to find the recipe :)
Oh, I should have also mentioned, these cookies turn out absolutely PERFECT when made with gluten-free Bisquick, too! :D
Here’s the coleslaw recipe I use: https://www.food.com/recipe/corkys-memphis-style-coleslaw-5418
I usually double (or triple!) the cabbage mixture, because it does make a LOT of sauce, but if you like “wetter” coleslaw, then go for it!
Thanks again for being such a cookie genius!
Thanks for the coleslaw link. I need to remember that for summertime bbq’s!
Too funny about the starving wolves comment :) I know exactly what you mean though. People in workplace settings, I swear they do act like they’ve never seen food before! haha!
That’s crazy about the GF Bisquick working. I just made TWO recipes using Bisquick
https://www.averiecooks.com/2014/11/easy-blender-batter-self-crusting-cheesecake.html
https://www.averiecooks.com/2014/11/easy-4-ingredient-perfect-peanut-butter-cookies.html
Not sure how the cheesecake would pan out with GF but I think the cookies would be safe!
Keep me posted what other recipes you make and how they go over!
Thanks so much for such an awesome recipe! They came out perfectly, and I invested in a Silpat like you suggested. My boyfriend LOVES these cookies! :)
Glad your BF loves them and good call on the Silpat. You will have it for years and years & it truly does make a HUGE difference!
Hi Averie! I keep looking at all your chocolate chip/butterscotch chip/white chocolate chip recipes and wondering why your chips don’t melt and seep into the batter(not exactly a bad thing but I want them to stay intact). I always check after about seven minutes to see if the chips in the batter have spread but they always do. How can I get mine to stay intact? Do you think putting foil over the tin would help? Thanks for any help you can give.
Definitely no tin! I used Trader Joe’s choc chips, Nestle Butterscotch, and generic store brand white choc OR TJ’s white (but those are seasonal). Brands vary widely in their melting factor. I also ‘stage’ the chips on top of the cookies and always put a few by hand on the tops for visual effect. Not sure what else to say but that’s what I use and do!
I love all cookies but often they only taste best in the centre where it is soft and moist, but your recipe is moist throughout the whole cookie. I had eaten half the batch on my own! highly recommended, looking forward to trying the other varieties!
Thanks and glad you enjoy them!
I completely skipped over the “and flatten slightly” bit, so my cookies were super puffy, I baked an extra minute or so and they were still very gooey on the inside and quite round. Hopefully they harden just a bit overnight. still taste great, just very, VERY messy.
Hi Averie,
Based on your recipe I was able to make about 16 cookies with 1/4 cup scoops. I ended up baking them for about 16-17 minutes (5-6 minutes longer than you had suggested) because they looked undercooked. After I let them cool, they were still under baked in the centre despite baking them larger. I had also flattened them before chilling the dough. Otherwise they tasted and looked great. Any tips?
Thank you!
Lauren
Baking cookies for 17 minutes, even large cookies, seems very long. I would double-check with an oven thermometer ($5 bucks hardware store) to make sure you oven is working up to par!
I followed this recipe exactly, except I used I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter as substitute, and dark brown sugar because I didn’t have light. They taste amazing, but when I took my first tray out of the oven, they hadn’t flattened, even a little bit. They didn’t really look like cookies, so I hand-flattened the ones on my other two sheets, and those came out great. I think the chilling for 2 hours or more is unneeded, or maybe only for 30 minutes or so. Great recipe otherwise!
I’m glad they came out great for you, even using ICBINB substitute – that’s amazing! Thanks for the field report!
Well, I’ve just prepared the cookie dough balls, and it hardly made it into the fridge because my little porky hands were popping them in my mouth as fast as I could… I am supposed to be making these for my husband’s last week at work, and I can already tell that these are going to be winners before they’re even baked! Thanks so much for the great recipe!
So glad you’re excited :) Thanks for trying the recipe!
Hi Averie,
I have followed this recipe to the exact, and I went ahead and refrigerated them overnight. I baked them exactly like the recipe and they got really flat, nothing like your pictures. Yes they are gooey, chewy, yummy, but they are really flat. I want that “bakery” look like yours. What do you think is the problem? This is my second time and they are still flat.
Also, I baked the chocolate fudge cookies, and they were perfect! But these were BAD. I even did it with the trader joes chocolate. Thank you for all your advice and help
Are you using King Arthur flour? My favorite, gold-standard & highly recommended.
Are you baking on a Silpat?
Chilling the dough?
If you answered no to any, I would make changes because I swear by all. And of course, make sure your oven is working properly, your baking soda is fresh, and that you measured everything totally correctly. Baking can be tricky but I know that somewhere in there, some little detail may likely went awry and that can contribute to flattening. I would surmise it’s the flour, baking soda, or Silpat…
I use gold medals flour and I bake on parchment paper…baking soda is fresh, did chill the dough, do you think that using dark brown sugar did it…I just like the more caramellly flavor of it…I will definitely change the flour. But when I made the chocolate fudge cookies and they were amazing, I used the same ingredients as this…thanks for all your time and help…you are amazing just like your cookies
Ok three things, Gold Medal flour has the LOWEST gluten content of all grocery store flours and King Arthur has the HIGHEST. Thus, the higher the gluten, the more rise, structure, and least prone to spreading things are. Swap out the GM for KA.
Next, parchment, eek. It’s like a hockey rink. The cookies have no traction, nothing to grip, nothing to hold onto, so they can spread. Silpats are rubbery and tacky, the cookies can ‘grip’ it, and they spread less. So worth the $20 bucks, trust me. You’ll have it for years.
And dark brown sugar has more water in it than light brown b/c it contains 3x the amt of molasses, thus, more water; thus moister dough. Again, prone to spreading.
None of this may matter for some people; in their kitchen. In yours, all the little things do matter it sounds like. And chocolate cookies are more forgiving b/c cocoa acts as a binder and dries things out so that explains that :)
Thanks again you’re awesome!
Ok well please keep me posted how things go in the future!
OMG Averie……I did just as you said, I bought KA flour, silpat, and light brown sugar…….they were just like yours! Delicious, chewy, soft, and just like you said, the BEST chocolate chip cookies I’ve had, and I’ve had quite a few!
Thank you soooooo very much for sharing. They are a success! God bless
I am so so so glad that these came together perfectly for you! Sometimes a small thing or two is just a small thing, but in baking the small things can add up and turn into a big thing. Glad that everything is perfect now and I urge you to always bake with KA and on Silpats! Night and day difference in results, right!
Can I substitute the pudding mix with corn starch (equal amount or less) ? What does the pudding mix do ? Does it create the chewyness or else ? Thanks. Greeting from Indonesia.
Hi I discussed your questions in the blog post so go ahead and re-read that. If you don’t have pudding mix, make the cookies I linked to in the blog post that I said I didn’t cheat on for years. These cookies and those differ only in pudding mix vs. cornstarch. But no, you don’t want to use 3.5 oz of cornstarch; follow that link and follow that recipe.
These were absolutely fantastic. I am a chocolate chip cookie fiend and have never been able to find a recipe that I absolutely love (I usually just buy store bought or Otis Spunkmeyer frozen). This recipe has sealed the deal and I am pretty sure I will never go back! They were quite possibly the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever had. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, as it will be one that I keep for years. I’m not much of a baker, but you’ve inspired me to maybe try a few of your other recipes on this site as these were so good!
Why can’t we use sugar free pudding mix?
You can try it if you want but if you google pudding cookies + sugarfree pudding, the results are very varied and inconsistent from everything I’ve read; whereas I know for a fact that my recipe works, 100%.
I’m really bad at re-using recipes. I keep them, but I am always wanting to try others…just in case. (I should probably quit doing that) This, however, is now THE official chocolate chip recipe of this house. I make goodies pretty much every day and last night when I asked the hubs what he wanted his response was “those chocolate chip cookies you made a few days ago” SHOCKING, because I literally ask him EVERY SINGLE DAY what he wants for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert, and he NEVER has a response aside from a shoulder shrug or caveman grunt, which I have yet to interpret into any discernible dish. Truly cookies of perfection!
he NEVER has a response aside from a shoulder shrug or caveman grunt <--- I'd be rich if I had a nickel for every time this situation played out! Gah, I can relate all too well! The fact that this is now your go-to recipe AND they were requested as a re-make from your hubs, so happy to hear that! And me too with trying new recipe after new recipe especially with cookies; finally I have learned to just stop (well, mostly).
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Delicious, eye appealing, did I say delishhhhhhhhouuuuuussss? Thank you for sharing your gift!
Glad you’re a fan and thanks, Marisol!