Meet your new go-to: brown butter chocolate chip cookies. This classic recipe gets a gourmet upgrade thanks to the rich, nutty flavor infusion of browned butter. They’re thick, gooey, loaded with melty chocolate and topped with a sprinkle of sea salt. A longtime reader favorite (with hundreds of rave reviews)!
Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (Chewy & Gourmet)
Not to be dramatic, but this isn’t your standard chocolate chip cookie recipe. Brown butter chocolate chip cookies have one game-changing, not-so-secret ingredient that takes them from good, to gourmet. If you’ve been paying attention, I’m sure you’ve guessed it by now: it’s brown butter.
To brown the butter, we cook it on the stovetop until the water evaporates and the milk solids are toasted. Might sound complicated, but it’s an easy process once you get the hang of it and I’ll walk you through it step by step. These extra few minutes of your time are well worth it to infuse a deep, nutty, toffee-like flavor onto every bite of your cookies.
Why You Need to Try These:
- Browned butter adds incredible flavor. By taking the extra time to brown the butter, we unlock deep nutty flavor with toasty notes of caramel and toffee that you can’t get from just plain melted butter.
- Pools of melty chocolate in every bite. We opt for chopped chocolate for rich chocolate puddles throughout the cookies. While some browned butter chocolate chip cookies will overwhelm the dough with chocolate, I was intentional about not doing that here and carefully striking just the right balance so the chocolate is present but highlights the dough without overwhelming it.
- Flaky sea salt puts things over the top. It’s a simple addition, but it elevates the cookies to gourmet status. Don’t go overboard, though, a light sprinkling is perfect.
Ingredients
Despite their gourmet flavor, brown butter chocolate chip cookies use humble, everyday ingredients (it’s all about how we use them that sets this recipe apart). Here’s what you need:
- Butter. We start with regular butter, then brown it on the stovetop (we’ll talk in more deatil about this below). The process only takes a few minutes, but it’s very important that you let the butter cool after browning, which usually takes about 30 minutes to an hour. It’s not necessary for the butter to re-solidify, but it should not feel warm to the touch.
- Sugar. We’ll use a blend of brown and granulated sugar. For the brown sugar, you can stick with all light brown or level things up (my recommendation) by using an even split of light brown and dark brown. The extra bit of molasses from the dark brown sugar adds an extra something to the cookies (all about that depth of flavor here!).
- Eggs. We need all of our ingredients to be the same temperature so they combine properly. This means our eggs and butter both need to be room temperature. I usually set my eggs out the night before I’m going to be baking. If you forget to set yours out, read my tip below!
- Chocolate. I know I call these brown butter chocolate chip cookies, but I honestly prefer to use chopped semisweet (or even dark) chocolate bars. I include instructions in the recipe for using regular chocolate chips, if that’s your preference.
SAM’S TIP: If you tend to forget to set out your eggs ahead of time, read my post on how to quickly bring eggs to room temperature! It can help save you a lot of time.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Step 1: Brown the butter
Brown butter (more formally known by its French name: Buerre Noisette…fancy!), is simply butter that’s been cooked until all of the water evaporates and the milk solids begin to turn brown. The end result is a rich, flavorful butter with a nutty, toffee-like aroma.
Cook the butter over medium heat, stirring constantly. It will foam, sizzle, and pop after melting, keep it moving so nothing burns (just stirring with a spatula works fine). Once the sizzling stops, pay extra close attention. You’ll notice browning beginning to occur on the bottom of the pan. Once you see plenty of brown (not black!) bits, remove from heat and immediately pour it into a heatproof mixing bowl (if you keep it in the pan, it could continue to cook from the residual heat and burn).
The browned butter needs to cool completely before you move on to the next step. It doesn’t need to re-solidify, but it should not feel warm to the touch.
Once you master this technique, you’ll be using it all the time… I recommend you use your new skill in my butter pecan cake or brown butter snickerdoodles next 😉
Step 2: Make the dough
The brown butter chocolate chip cookie dough comes together pretty quickly and easily. I’ll reiterate (because it’s important) that your butter must be cooled, or it’ll melt the sugar and you’ll have a greasy, thin dough that spreads all over your cookie sheet.
Eggs and vanilla go in with the butter and sugar, the dry ingredients are whisked separately then added, then add your chopped chocolate. While chocolate chips work, trust me and make your cookies that much more gourmet by swapping them out for chopped chocolate (the chocolate is way more melty and delicious this way).
Step 3: Chill, scoop, and bake
No one loves waiting for their dough to chill, but it’s a worthwhile step. It helps develop the flavor, helps the cookies stay thicker and spread less, and isn’t just in the recipe to annoy you. So, chill your dough.
Then, scoop your cookies into 2-Tablespoon scoops, roll them in to smooth balls between your palms (not mandatory, but makes them bake up prettier), and bake. Give your cookies breathing room on the baking sheet or they’ll all run into each other and make a mess (2″ is good).
While the cookies are still warm, sprinkle with a bit of flaky sea salt (I like Maldon, I’ll link to it in the recipe card), then let them cool.
SAM’S TIP: Slightly underbake your cookies! When they are ready to come out of the oven, the edges will be just starting to turn a light golden brown, and the centers may still look a bit underdone. The cookies will finish cooking outside the oven on their cookie sheets and will stay soft and chewy for days.
Frequently Asked Questions
Browned butter chocolate chip cookie dough can be made up to a week in advance. If you’d like to do this, just store it in your refrigerator (in an airtight container or tightly covered with plastic wrap) until ready to use. The flavors will actually develop even more as the dough sits.
Keep in mind that if your dough has chilled for longer than 30 minutes, it will likely be pretty firm when you go to scoop it, so you’ll likely need to let it sit at room temperature for a bit before it’s scoopable. Because of this, I prefer to roll the dough into balls right after making it and chill the balls in an airtight container. Note they don’t always spread as much after chilling this way… but I like a good cookie.
The most likely cause is your butter being too warm when you added your sugars. The warm butter can melt the sugars and leave you with a greasy, messy cookie dough that will spread like crazy. Unfortunately there is no way to fix this (even chilling the dough won’t help 😞). This is why it’s very important to let your butter cool before moving forward with the recipe!
If you don’t think your sugar is melted , I would recommend adding a bit more flour, a spoonful at a time, until the dough matches the consistency shown in the video.
On the other hand, if your cookies aren’t flattening out at all, you may have over-measured your flour. I can’t stress enough how helpful it is to use a kitchen scale!
I’ve received a lot of questions about this (on most of my browned butter cookies, actually), but no, you do not need additional liquid or to add water to this recipe. The loss of water is accounted for and important for this recipe to work as it is.
I’d love to hear what you think of these browned butter chocolate chip cookies, please let me know what you think!
Enjoy!
More Ways to Use Brown Butter:
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (225 g) unsalted butter cut into Tablespoon-sized pieces
- 1 cup (200 g) light or dark brown sugar¹ see note
- ⅔ cup (135 g) white sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ¾ cups (340 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 10 oz (285 g) semisweet chocolate² see note
- flaky sea salt for sprinkling <- (click the link for the Maldon salt I use)
Recommended Equipment
- Kitchen Scale (not required, but recommended for best results)
Instructions
Brown the butter
- Place butter in a medium-sized saucepan (preferably a light colored one–this will make it easier to tell once your butter has browned) and melt the butter over low/medium-low heat.1 cup (225 g) unsalted butter
- Once melted, increase stovetop heat to just above medium heat.
- Swirl and scrape the sides of the pan constantly with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula – butter will foam and pop. Once the this noise slows, you should notice brown bits beginning to form on the bottom.
- Once you notice browning (and you smell that beautiful nutty aroma of browned butter), remove from heat quickly and pour into a large, heatproof bowl.
- Allow butter to cool at room temperature until no longer warm to the touch before proceeding with the recipe.
Cookie Dough
- Once your butter has cooled, add sugars and stir well.1 cup (200 g) light or dark brown sugar¹, ⅔ cup (135 g) white sugar
- Add eggs and vanilla extract and stir until dough is uniform.2 large eggs, 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt.2 ¾ cups (340 g) all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ¾ teaspoon salt
- Gradually add the flour mixture to butter mixture, stirring until ingredients are completely combined.
- Add chocolate and stir well so that chocolate is well distributed through the batter.10 oz (285 g) semisweet chocolate²
- Cover cookie dough bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
- About 15 minutes before dough has finished chilling/before you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Once dough has finished chilling scoop by about 2 Tablespoon-sized portions. Gently roll the dough between your palms so that you have a round ball, then place cookie dough at least 2″ apart on prepared cookie sheet.
- Bake on 350F (175C) for 10-12 minutes or until edges are just beginning to turn golden brown (cookies should still be quite soft when you remove them from the oven, and may even appear slightly underbaked in center).
- Let cookies cool for about a minute then sprinkle lightly with flaky sea salt. Allow cookies to cool completely on baking sheet before removing, then enjoy!flaky sea salt for sprinkling
Notes
¹Brown sugar
I like to use half light and half dark brown sugar, just because I usually have both on hand and like the blend. Either variety will work fine in this recipe, though. Cookies made with light brown sugar will be lighter in color, cookies made with dark brown sugar will be darker in color and slightly richer in flavor.²Chocolate
You can substitute chocolate chips instead, you’d need about 1 ¾ cups chocolate chips.³Brown Butter Note
If you’ve never browned butter before and are nervous about the process, make sure to watch my video at the top of the recipe card so you can see exactly how I do it. Very important: make sure it cools until no longer warm to the touch before using.Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
I originally published this recipe May 2017. Post updated to be more helpful and a new video added January 2026, recipe remains the same.
CW
These were amazing! My family and I loved them. I ran out of AP flour and had to substitute 2/4c of bread flour and it turned out great.
Sara
Hi! I’m wondering how long we can store the dough in the fridge before cooking? If I make them tonight, could I leave in the fridge overnight and bake tomorrow? Thank you!
Sam
Hi Sara! The dough will be fine in the refrigerator overnight. Make sure to wrap it tightly so it doesn’t dry out. 🙂
Leonna
Took me three times to get the cookies right cause of the temperature of the browned butter but the third time I let the browned butter cool for a half hour and they came out perfect. Thank you much
Kelly
My dough came out crumbly. Very dry and crumbly. So disappointed, not sure what I did wrong.
Sam
Hi Kelly! I’m so sorry to hear this happened! Did you weigh your flour, or make any substitutions?
Milly
Mine did as well, and I followed recipe to a T! Sad because by the time the dough was done, so much time was already invested in the making and cooling of the brown butter…
Sam
I’m so sorry to hear this Milly! Did you weigh your flour? Did you make any substitutions?
Gina
As a chocolate chip cookie enthusiast (self-proclaimed connoisseur), I have to say these truly are the BEST brown butter chocolate chip cookies I have had the pleasure to enjoy! My search is over. I can die happy 😊
Rashelle
Would it be possible to use regular butter to brown and just eliminate the salt in the recipe – just so I don’t have to go to the store and can make them now.
Sam
Hi Rashelle! You can use salted butter and reduce the salt in the recipe to 1/4 teaspoon. Enjoy!
Cathy O
This is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve ever used. I accidentally made them with 1/2 cup white sugar and 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar and they were perfect. Crispy edges, chewy middle. I used a mix of milk chocolate chips and bittersweet chips and it’s was awesome. I also use coffee flavored salt on top. Delicious!
Tam
These are amazing!!!
Channing
I’ve made these cookies so many times and they never EVER disappoint. Thanks for an amazing recipe!
jeannie sheehy
I have made these cookies at least 10 times…I know the recipe by heart. Hands down the best chocolate chip cookies…..ever. Thanks for sharing.
Stephanie Stewart
These were absolutely hands down the best cookies ever. I will never go back to making chocolate chip cookies the old way.
Anna
These are so amazing that they are dangerous. I think I found my new favorite cookie. Browned butter is such a flavor blast!! Thanks for the recipe!
Pam
Hi Sam! I’m an experienced baker and a bit of a cookie snob. These were absolutely wonderful!!!! Great recipe that I will be making again for sure! Thank you;0)
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Pam! 🙂
mle
These are my absolute favorite cookies to bake. They come out perfect every time and the flavour is amazing. Thank you for sharing!!🍪🍪🍪
Noelle
Hi! When you say 227g of brown butter, you mean melt 227g of butter and whatever amount is left, that’s what I use? Or does it have to be 227g of already browned butter? 🙂
Sam
Hi Noelle! The recipe calls for 227g of butter, then you brown it and use the weight that is left. You do not use 227g of already browned butter, that would be too much. I hope that helps!
Stella
This is my first browned butter recipe and I will not have to look for another. It was fantastic! I used both semi-sweet and milk chocolate for my cookies. My family loved this recipe! Thank you.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
So glad you enjoyed the cookies, Stella! Try our brown butter toffee cookies next 🙂
Amellia
hello, should you have 225g of butter after Browning it? or before Browning it? as you lose some after it’s browned. I had about 200 g after Browning. I added more to try and reach the 225 but still around 210. If anything, I’ll add some beef tallow to get 225 and see what that does for cookies I’m sure it will be much richer in flavor. thanks!
Sam
Hi Amelia! You need 225g before browning. You will lose some of that during browning, this is normal and accounted for in the recipe, no need to add any more to it. Enjoy!
Ta.
This recipe is amazing! I can’t wait to make them again.
I do like them better than your Worst Chocolate Chip cookie recipe! These ones are more work. I had to wait a whole hour for the brown butter to come to room temperature, for example. These were worth it though, so good!
Jill Ellis
What kind of chocolate bar did you use?
Yvette Tirado
Made with 1:1 GF flour and they were amazing I actually stuffed them with a chocolate ganache for even more chocolate. Thanks for the recipe.
Yvette
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Wonderful! Thanks for following up and letting us know how it went, Yvette! 🙂