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Brown Butter Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies

With chunks of melty chocolate and the rich, nutty flavor of brown butter, these Brown Butter Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies hit the perfect mix of salty and sweet. Sink your teeth into one of these moist, chewy cookies and brace yourself for a flavor explosion!

One brown butter chocolate chip cookie leaning against a pile of five more.

Ultra-Decadent Chocolate Chip Cookies

These brown butter chocolate chip cookies practically melt in your mouth. Packed with melty chocolate chips and nutty brown butter flavor, the taste is just as incredible as the texture. When the heavenly smell hits you, it’ll be pretty much impossible not to sneak one right off the cooling rack.

The classic flavor profile of the chocolate chip cookie is made even better by the caramelized edge from the brown butter. What you get is layer upon layer of flavor in a rich and complex dessert. If you take these with you to a bake sale or potluck, don’t be surprised when yours is the first empty platter.

A big pile of salted chocolate chip cookies, some of which are cut in half.

What Does Brown Butter Do to Cookies?

Browning the butter in your chocolate chip cookies gives them a rich and nutty caramelized flavor. It also reduces the amount of water in the cookies, making them chewier. You’ll notice a big difference in the depth and complexity of the flavor.

All the ingredients for Brown Butter Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies laid out on the counter.

Recipe Ingredients

A handful of simple kitchen staples come together to make these brown butter chocolate chip cookies. Scroll down to the recipe card for exact amounts.

  • Unsalted butter
  • All-purpose flour
  • Baking powder
  • Salt – This goes into the batter and can also be used to top the cookies. You can use regular or Kosher salt for the batter. A coarse salt like sea salt is a good choice for topping the cookies.
  • Light brown sugar: Be sure yours is tightly packed or measure by weight.
  • Granulated sugar
  • Eggs
  • Vanilla extract
  • Chocolate: I recommend semisweet chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate with at least 50% cacao.
Slightly flattened balls of chocolate chip cookie dough on a baking sheet.

How to Make Brown Butter Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies

Just one extra step adds so much flavor to these chocolate chip cookies. You won’t regret taking a little bit of time to brown the butter after you taste the results.

Brown the butter. Place the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently. Once the butter melts and begins to foam, continue to cook it until brown specks start to form on the bottom of the pan. The butter will slowly stop foaming and will start to give off a nutty aroma. Once the scent strengthens, go ahead and set the pan aside to cool slightly.

Mix the dry ingredients. Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl, then set it aside.

Mix the wet ingredients. Beat the cooled butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together using an electric mixer on medium speed. When the mixture turns fluffy, add the eggs one at a time, beating in each egg until it’s incorporated. Mix in the vanilla.

Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Turn your mixer down to low speed. Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, beating them until they’re almost combined. Stir in the chocolate chips using a large spoon. Cover the dough and place it in the refrigerator to chill for an hour.

Prep your cookies for the oven. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line a baking pan with parchment paper or silicone liners. Drop one tablespoon of dough at a time onto the prepared pans, leaving an inch or two of space between each cookie. If you want, lightly sprinkle the top of each cookie with a pinch of coarse salt.

Chocolate chip cookies piled on a cooling rack.

Bake and serve: Place your cookies into the oven one pan at a time for 12-15 minutes, or until the tops of the cookies turn golden. Move the pan onto a wire rack and allow each batch of cookies to cool for 5 minutes. Then, transfer the chocolate chip cookies from the pan to the wire rack so they can cool completely, or serve them warm.

A cooling rack piled high with salted cookies.

Can I Make the Dough Ahead of Time?

This cookie dough lasts in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, so feel free to mix it up in advance! You can also freeze the dough in balls so they’re ready whenever you want them. Whether you choose to freeze or refrigerate, make sure you wrap the dough tightly.

Five chocolate chip cookies stacked on a plate.

Tips for Success

These chocolate chip cookies come together so beautifully every time I whip them up. Follow these tips, and yours will turn out just as good.

  • Check your baking powder. One of the main reasons baked goods turn out wrong is expired baking powder. Make sure you check the date on the container to keep your cookies from coming out flat. Learn more: How to Check Baking Powder for Freshness
  • Spoon and level. Using too much flour in your cookies can make them crumbly and dry. Measuring by weight is the best way to avoid this. If you don’t have a scale, try using the spoon and sweep method to measure your flour. Instead of shoving the measuring cup into the flour bag and packing it in, use a spoon to transfer the flour into the cup and level it off. Learn more: How to Measure Flour
  • Use a cookie scoop. That will make portioning easier and help ensure that your cookies bake evenly by making them all the same size.
  • Adjust the salt. If you have any big sweet-and-salty fans in your family, you might want to sprinkle a little coarse salt on top of each cookie before baking them. But you can reduce the amount, or even leave it off entirely, and still end up with a pretty incredible cookie.
Two salted chocolate chip cookies on a plate with a plate of three cookies in the background.

Add-In Ideas

While these chocolate chip cookies are classic, there are so many ways to mix things up and make them your own. They’re particularly good with toffee bits or butterscotch chips folded in, both of which dial the nutty flavor up even higher. For more sweetness, go with mini marshmallows or switch the semi-sweet chocolate out for milk chocolate morsels. You can also add a pop of color with rainbow sprinkles or M&Ms.

A platter of cookies on the table next to three plates of cookies.

Storage Instructions

Place these cookies into an airtight container and keep them at room temperature for up to 3 days. That is, if you have any leftover at all! If you want, you can warm them in the microwave for around 5 seconds just to get the chocolate slightly melty before you dig in.

Three cookies on a plate next to a platter piled with more cookies.

Do These Freeze Well?

These chocolate chip cookies freeze really well, in both dough and cookie form. Freeze the dough in balls on a baking sheet, then move them into a freezer bag. Bake them as directed, adding an extra minute or two to the baking time. If you’re freezing the cookies after baking them, make sure you wrap them tightly or keep them in an airtight, freezer-safe container.

More Crave-Worthy Cookies to Try

Brown Butter Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield 48
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes

With chunks of melty chocolate and the rich, nutty flavor of brown butter, these Brown Butter Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies hit the perfect mix of salty and sweet. Sink your teeth into one of these moist, chewy cookies and brace yourself for a flavor explosion!

One brown butter chocolate chip cookie leaning against a pile of five more.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter
  • 2 & 1/2 cups (300g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon coarse salt, plus more for tops of cookies if desired
  • 1 cup (200g) firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups (340g) semisweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

Instructions

  1. Place the butter in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring frequently. Once the butter melts and begins to foam, continue to cook until brown specks start to form on the bottom of the pan. The butter will slowly stop foaming and will have a nutty aroma. Set aside to cool slightly.
  2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
  3. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the cooled butter, brown sugar, and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla.
  4. Reduce mixer speed to low. Gradually add the flour mixture, mixing until almost combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
  5. Cover and refrigerate the dough for an hour.
  6. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking pans with parchment paper or silicone liners.
  7. Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls onto the prepared pans. If desired, lightly sprinkle the top of each cookie with a pinch of coarse salt.
  8. Bake, one pan at a time, for 12-15 minutes, or until lightly browned. Place the pans on a wire rack and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Then, transfer the cookies from the pan to wire racks to cool completely.

Notes

To Store: Keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

To Freeze: Freeze the dough in balls on a baking sheet, then transfer to a freezer bag. Let thaw fully, then bake as normal. To freeze after baking, wrap tightly or keep in an airtight freezer-safe container.

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    23 Comments on “Brown Butter Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies”

  1. These look amazing! I love Browned Butter.

    I learned how to make it by sight and mostly by smell from my bff’s mom. Originally she used it for Greek Spaghetti, but now I also pour it over Uncle Ben’s (90 second) Wild Rice, and add in chunks of feta cheese for a quick side dish!

  2. I’ve only ever had savoury brown butter but I’d love to try it in a sweet treat like these! they look incredible!

  3. I love browned butter but I definitely don’t use it enough

  4. Chocolate and browned butter are an unbeatable combination! These look delicious!

  5. These sound freaking unreal! Browned butter anything is uh-mazing!

  6. Thanks for this awesome recipe. Looks great with the combination of chocolate with butter along with some chocolate chips. Been looking for this.

  7. Yum, haven’t baked with browned butter yet. Definitely going to give it a try.

  8. adding browned butter is such a nice way to tweak an old fashioned recipe!!! great idea thanks for sharing!

  9. You can also try chopped up pretzels for a salty and crunchy kick in your chocolate chip cookies. Yum!

  10. This is genius. I wonder why you didn’t chill the dough?

  11. OH.. MY… GOSH!!! these are DELICIOUS!!! I just baked these and they are amazing.. its like a chocolate chip cookie on steroids . The saltiness, the sweetness, the crunch, the nuttiness of the browned butter.. this is definitely my new go-to cookie recipe. I only had salted butter in my fridge…so I omitted the salt on the tops, they were really delicious!

  12. Hi-
    I’ve made these and LOVE them. I just noticed though that it says 1 tablespoon vanilla. Is this right? I’ve been using a teaspoon…

  13. Ali, it is 1 tablespoon, but 1 teaspoon is fine if it suits your taste.

  14. Bet I’ll love them even more with the additional vanilla. Thanks! Love your blog!
    ALi

  15. Amazing! Made these yesterday. So easy. Love that I didn’t have to wait for the browned butter to harden into butter again and then resoften it as with some recipes. Great chocolate chip cookies with a little something extra.

    Thanks 🙂

  16. alright…seriously…. can i just say…i made this and it was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!! thanks for sharing 😀

  17. Hi Jennifer, are these cookies chewy or crispy? 🙂

  18. I have been on a hunt for the perfect chocolate chip cookies recipe forever. I probably have close to 100 in my collection! no doubt some of them are good…(I forget to mark the ones that I like). I tried this one today and love it!! She shape, the texture, is everything that I like. That brown butter taste is so intense, in a wonderful way, I think maybe I finally hit gold!

  19. Hi! How many cookies does this recipe ma make? Thank you!

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