If you’re looking for the best chewy peanut butter cookies, with super soft, chewy centers and crisp edges, this easy recipe is for you! Packed with tons of peanut butter flavor and ready in just 30 minutes, get ready to meet your new favorite cookie.
Everyone loves a classic, and this recipe for old-fashioned chewy peanut butter cookies truly fits the bill. Every time I make these cookies (like for my annual Christmas cookie exchange) they fly off the plate! While I love trying new recipes, sometimes you just can’t beat something as tried and true as a homemade peanut butter cookie. Here’s why I’ll never grow tired of this recipe:
- Easy: Made with simple baking ingredients you probably already have on hand, these chewy peanut butter cookies will be out of the oven in less than half an hour!
- Crisp and Chewy: Crunchy edges, chewy centers, and sweet peanut butter flavor with just a hint of salt make these cookies simply the best.
- Nostalgia: These classic flavors scream childhood favorite and the simplicity of this recipe insures it’s the only old fashioned peanut butter cookie recipe you’ll need.
- Versatile: This simple, wholesome recipe can be used as the base of many peanut butter cookie dough recipes.
For my fellow peanut butter lovers, try these giant peanut butter cup cookies with a full size Reese’s peanut butter cup in the center! These soft Reese’s Pieces peanut butter cookies and peanut butter oatmeal cookies are other reader favorites.
Key Ingredients
Below you will find helpful notes for key ingredients used to make this recipe for chewy peanut butter cookies. Scroll down to the recipe card below for the full ingredient list and exact amounts!
- Flour: Easy, inexpensive, all-purpose flour is all you need. It’s best to spoon it into the measuring cup rather than dunking the cup into the bag, that way you don’t pack it.
- Baking Soda: Baking soda creates the perfect crispy edges. Just double check the label and make sure it’s not expired!
- Peanut Butter: Regular, classic, creamy peanut butter or crunchy peanut butter creates the perfect soft texture.
- Butter: Don’t forget to let it adjust to room temperature before you start.
- Sugars: A combination of granulated white sugar and light or dark brown sugar.
These old fashioned chewy peanut butter cookies are easy and quick to prepare with no fancy preparation needed! Below is a quick recipe overview, but please scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for full instructions and to watch the step-by-step video.
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- Dry Ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- Wet Ingredients: Beat the peanut butter, butter and both sugars, until light and fluffy. Add in the egg and vanilla. Mix until smooth.
- Combine: Add dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until smooth.
- Scoop & Bake: Scoop about a tablespoon of dough and place onto baking sheets with parchment paper about 2 inches apart. Bake at 350°F for about 10 minutes.
- Finish Cooling: Cool on the pan for around 5 minutes. Slide parchment onto a wire baking rack to cool completely.
Chef’s Tips & Variations
- Peanut Butter: Regular, inexpensive, creamy or chunky peanut butter will provide the best texture. Natural peanut butter is usually a looser texture with more oil and it will cause the cookies to spread too much.
- Time: Do not overbake this classic peanut butter cookie recipe! When the edges turn slightly brown, remove from the oven. They will firm up on the baking sheet as the cool.
- Feeling Fancy? Press a chocolate kiss in the middle of the dough ball for the perfect peanut butter blossom cookie.
- PB & J Cookies: Use your thumb and press a hollow in the center of the dough. Fill with your favorite flavor of jam. This is a beautiful addition to any cookie platter!
- Cookie Sandwiches: Place a scoop of your favorite ice cream between two cookies. Roll the outside in sprinkles, chopped peanuts, or mini chocolate chips. Then wrap and freeze until ready to serve. Or sandwich the cookies together with peanut butter frosting in the center like in my peanut butter sandwich cookies.
- Fresh Cookies Daily: Scooped dough freezes beautifully. Thaw and bake fresh cookies whenever the mood strikes you.
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup packed brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- sugar for sprinkling, optional
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Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the peanut butter, butter and both sugars, until light and fluffy. Add in the egg and vanilla.
- Gradually add in the flour mixture on low speed. Stir until dough forms.
- Using a medium cookie scoop (about 1 heaping tablespoon of dough), drop rounded balls of dough onto prepared cookie sheet. Leaving space for spreading. (For a sparkle look, I like to sprinkle the tops of the dough with extra granulated sugar — but it’s totally optional.)
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until edges are slightly browned, and remove from oven. Let cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheets before transferring cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Video
Nutrition
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Our family loves these cookies SO much.
I love to bake, and so a fun past-time in our home is to try multiple recipes, and have a big comparison night, where we all decide the best one — and this won HANDS DOWN amongst a total of 5 peanut butter cookie recipes, all voted on by toddlers, big kids, parents, and grandparents!
It’s a winner!
I now make a double or triple batch at at time, and freeze the cookie portions (I use a 1-Tbsp cookie scooper to make cookies that end up to be about 2.5 inches in diameter) on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.
Once frozen, I toss the portions in a ziplock bag of cane sugar to coat, then place a dozen of them into a vacuum sealer bag and store them by the dozen in my storage freezer for a super easy grab-and-bake whenever the craving strikes, or company visits, or I want to make my house smell good, or we forgot it’s our night to bring snacks to Girl Scouts/Soccer….)
(I find the cane sugar keeps them from sticking together during the vacuum-sealing process, and leaves the end result with a very nice sugary topping at the end)
When ready to bake, I don’t even defrost.
I plop the portions onto my lined cookie sheet, and toss them into the 350-degree preheated oven for 12 minutes.
They come out PERFECTLY and I think a bit chewier than if not frozen.
Thank you so much for sharing your recipe – it’s this family’s FAVORITE!!!!
THE BEST Peanut butter cookies?? That’s an understatement! These are PHENOMENAL!!! Everybody at my workplace and my fiancé’s workplace LOVE them!! I keep making these once a week, at least!
The best peanut butter cookies! Perfect chewy center and wonderful flavor. I like that I don’t need to flatten with fork to bake. I followed the recipe exactly and I made 24 cookies, my baking time was 11 minutes, they turned out perfect. I have been baking for years, this will be my go to peanut butter cookie. Thank you, for this awesome recipe!
That’s exactly how long I bake them, and I too get exactly 24 beautifully sized cookies!
Cookie perfection!!
I am stricken! Just submitted a comment/rating on this PB cookie recipe and didn’t realize the number of stars had somehow changed to :::gasp::: TWO! This is definitely a 5-star recipe! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Please change or update on your end, if possible! Thank u!!!
I’ve tried to submit a message but I guess I don’t see it. You’re right!!! This cookie rates10 stars.
soooooo good! i wanted chewy PB cookie with a fudgy, under baked center and these were exactly it!! the recipe comes together very quick and the result was amazing. will definitely be making again 🙂
These were SO GOOD. Sometimes PB cookies can taste a bit plain but this has such a good creaminess to it without being too soft. I left the cookies in for 13-14 min so they had a slight crips on the bottom, and it was amazing with salt sprinkled on top. Definitely making again!
These cookies were amazing
Best peanut butter cookie ever!!!
Great recipe!
2 recommended alterations
1) add one extra egg yolk (chewier)
2) add one extra 1/4 cup of brown sugar (sweeter)
I also smash down the dough balls 2 times in each direction to flatten cookie. It gives a chewier texture!
OMGosh. When I saw the ratings on this recipe, I knew I had to try it and I am *SO GLAD* I did. I needed a peanut butter cookie recipe to make some Peanut Blossoms for my dad – they’re his favorite. In years past I’d used store bought peanut butter cookie dough. But this year there was no chewiness to the cookies. I took them out at the first sign of browning on the edges, but they were still rock hard the next day. So I decided to try them from scratch, for once. Talk about DELISH!! They’re drool inducing, no lie. I added a little sprinkle of crushed sea salt to the top of the cookie once taken out of the oven, just for a slight salty-sweet taste, and they are to die for! Cannot recommend this recipe highly enough!
Wow, with a glowing review like this and you only give this recipe 2 stars? Interesting. I am still going to give this recipe a try as it looks fabulous!
So grateful to have found this simple recipe. It is quick and makes great cookies.
I did need to chill the dough prior to making the balls as I found it too soft to make the balls but they came out perfectly chewy and delicious!
Hi! I know chilling the dough usually helps cookies be a little more chewy, have you ever tried this with this particular recipe before? Thanks!
Hi MK! I honestly have not because I am impatient and like my cookies right away! If you try it, please share how it goes with all of us. 😉
I have searched far and wide for a good peanut butter cookie that is chewy, soft, and actually tastes like peanut butter. THESE CHECK ALL THE BOXES!! I have people who say that they don’t care for peanut butter, but keep asking for these over and over. Absolutely a keeper!!
These are my go to peanut butter cookies. So easy to make and they are delicious!
*The Best*
I’ve tried lots of recipes for peanut butter cookies, and this one is the best!!! Lots of flavor and perfect balance of chewy/crisp edges. Thank you- I will be keeping this one!
I am making these today06/21, and it is so hot here I put my dough in the fridge for 30 minutes, I hope it will be ok, let ya know
THESE ARE THE BEST!
Peanut butter cookies are my absolute favorite but I’ve never been able to get the texture right, mine usually turned out dry and crumbly. Not these! They are so chewy and amazing. I’ve made them three times and they have been perfect every time.
I made these and baked for 15 minutes! The flavor and texture was just perfect. This will be one of my favorite recipes!
Love this! This is my 2nd time making it, and it is still perfectly thin and chewy. Roll it around in some choco chips and it is like a Reese’s snicker doodle.
Turned out perfect. I used a small scoop so cut time to 9 min but otherwise followed the recipe. Chewy with crispy edges and delicious.
These are the BEST cookies I have made in a while! Super chewy and very yummy! I used all the measurements as the recipe said, except a little less sugar (-1.4), and added some chocolate chips ( can’t forget those)! I baked them for 12 min, and they are still soft inside.
Definitely will be making these again!
The most amazing peanut butter cookies I have ever eaten ( and I’ve eaten my fair share of peanut butter cookies). They are soft, moist and with a chewy edge. I love peanut butter and chocolate so I did add some milk chocolate chips, which turned out incredible but I know that if someone made these without the chocolate they would still be amazing! Thank you!
I needed a quick, easy peanut butter cookie recipe that wasn’t as heavy as the flourless one I usually make. This was perfect! I used Jif Natural and was concerned that the dough was a little loose, but they baked up beautifully. I sprinkled in some toffee bits, because toffee bits are always a pleasant surprise in a cookie.
These are THE BEST soft peanut butter cookies I’ve ever made!!! It has good peanut buttery taste that a lot of them don’t have… Picky family LOVES them!!! Definitely keeping the recipe close!!! Making my second double batch now!!! Highly recommend this recipe, didn’t change a thing!!
I just made these and these were hands down the best peanut butter cookies I have ever had. It was the perfect mix between salty and sweet. I made these for my whole family and they all agreed. 10/10 would make again.
Perfect! Peanut butter cookies!!! Making them today for the third time. I love them and so does my family!