Soft and Chewy M&M Cookies (2024)

These M&M Cookies are soft and chewy with slightly crispy edges and tons of M&Ms. The recipe is super quick and there’s no need to chill the dough – so you can easily whip up a batch whenever the craving hits. Be sure to add these addictive cookies to your baking list!

**This post was updated April 11, 2024 with new photos and updated recipe tips**

Don’t be fooled into thinking that M&M cookies are just for children (although – kids definitely love these cookies too). These soft and chewy M&M cookies are on a regular rotation in my kitchen along with chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, and snickerdoodles.

Why You’ll Love these M&M Cookies

• Perfect Cookie Texture – These cookies are soft and chewy with slightly crispy edges. They’re thick enough that you can pack them with M&Ms and chocolate chips – but they aren’t so thick that they end up looking like little cushions.
• Tons of M&Ms and Chocolate Chips – I love the crunch that the M&M coating adds to these cookies and the bright dots of color. You can use mini or regular M&Ms along with your favorite variety of chocolate chips.
• Quick & Easy – Sometimes a few extra steps is necessary to get the perfect cookie. But this recipe was designed for ease so that you can make a batch of dough without much effort.
• No Chill – That’s right – there’s no need to chill the dough with these cookies, meaning that you can go from cookie craving to.
• Easy Make Ahead Options – Both the cookie dough and the baked cookies freeze beautifully. I personally prefer to freeze the dough balls so that I can have warm, fresh from the oven cookies whenever the craving hits.

Making the Cookies

1. Preheat the oven to 350F (180C) and line your cookie sheets with baking paper or silicone baking mats. Lined cookie sheets = cookie bottoms that are less likely to burn.
2. In a large bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar.
   • Your butter should be softened but not starting to melt. If the butter is starting to melt, you’ll need to pop the dough back in the fridge to chill before baking.
3. Then beat in the egg and vanilla extract.
4. Add the flour, corn starch, baking soda and salt to the bowl. With the mixer on a low speed, slowly start to mix the dry ingredients into the butter mixture.
   • Using corn starch makes the cookies chewier.
   • After mixing in the dry ingredients, squeeze the dough in your fingers. If it sticks to your fingers, mix in 1-2 extra tablespoons of flour.
5. Stir in the chocolate chips and M&Ms. I always do this by hand so that I don’t accidently pulverize the M&Ms with the electric mixer.
6. Then form the dough into balls with about 1.5 tablespoons of dough each (I use a cookie scoop for uniform cookies) and place the dough balls about 1.5-2 inches apart on the lined cookie sheets.
7. Bake 1 sheet at a time in the middle of your preheated oven. The cookies will bake for about 8-11 minutes, or until the tops look just set.
   • If you want your cookies to be slightly flatter, then flatten the dough balls slightly before baking.
   • Taking the cookies out of the oven when the tops look just set – as opposed to when they’re already golden on top – will give you softer and chewier cookies.
8. As the cookies are cooling, I always place a few extra chocolate chips and M&Ms on the tops of each cookie. Because more M&Ms is never a bad idea.

Want to freeze your cookies?

You can either freeze the dough or freeze the baked cookies.

• To freeze cookie dough, form it into balls. Then place the balls in a freezer bag, seal tightly, and freeze. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350F degrees, line the cookie sheets, and bake the cookies from frozen. They’ll take about 1 minute longer.
• To freeze the cookies, bake and cool fully. Then place in an airtight container before freezing. I recommend placing sheets of baking paper or wax paper between cookie layers to avoid the cookies sticking together. To be extra careful of freezer burn, you can place the bottom of 2 cookies together and wrap them in plastic wrap before putting them in an airtight container in the freezer. Thaw in the fridge first, then store at room temperature.

Milk chocolate, peanut, almond, dark chocolate, peanut butter – so many delicious M&M options for these cookies. Bake them, eat them, love them – these M&M cookies are always a hit.

For more classic cookie recipes, try these other recipes:

• Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
• Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Peanut Butter Cookies – you could even substitute the chocolate chips for M&Ms!