I’ve worked in plenty of bakeries to know all the secrets to the best chocolate chip cookie, but this combination of rich brown butter, melty dark chocolate, and umami miso is the one. Like my favorite brown butter toffee chip cookies, the nutty richness of brown butter brings out another depth of flavor, and the subtle umami from miso paste creates a unique, slightly savory flavor that makes them so irresistible.
These cookies have the best of so many worlds—slightly crispy and chewy with soft, gooey middles and a salted caramel flavor. You only need one bowl to make them!
If you’re on a brown butter kick, you have to try my brown butter nutella bars. They’re just as quick and easy as this recipe but stuffed with gooey nutella! Or, for a caffeine fix, my brown butter espresso chocolate chip cookies are a reader favorite!
Table of Contents
Let’s Make Them!
1
Make the brown butter. This step cooks the butter past its melting point to create a caramel or toffee-like flavor!
You’ll want to scrape all the brown milk solids from the bottom of the pan because that’s where the flavor is!
2
Whisk in the miso and wet ingredients. When the butter is cool, whisk in the miso paste, sugar, eggs, and vanilla paste for a more concentrated flavor!
You’ll have plenty of leftover miso after making this recipe, so try my chewy peanut butter miso cookies or my family’s favorite, my black cocoa miso brownies!
3
Fold in the dry ingredients. Stop mixing when it’s about 75% combined, and you can still see some flour. That’s the perfect time to add the chocolate chips! I used a mix of chopped chocolate and chocolate wafers.
4
Scoop and bake the cookies. For large cookies with gooey centers, use a large cookie scoop.
Ingredient Substitutions
Miso paste: You might notice you find red miso or yellow miso, both of which will bring a different flavor. Feel free to try them out. I always use white miso paste! You can find it in the refrigerated section near the tofu.
Chocolate chips: For pools of melty chocolate, I use two different kinds: chocolate wafers and a chopped chocolate bar. Feel free to use regular chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, or a combination!
If you tried this or any other recipe on my website, please let me know how it went in the comments; I love hearing from you! Also, please leave a star rating while you’re there! You can also tag me on Instagram or Facebook so I can check it out!

Miso Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 14 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons white miso paste
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, *See notes below for measuring*
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla paste or extract
- 1 cup bittersweet chocolate wafers, plus more for topping
- 1/2 cup chopped semi-sweet chocolate bar
Instructions
- Cook the butter in a stainless steel pan over medium heat until it smells nutty and has browned bits of milk solids. The butter will foam, crackle, and pop as it cooks- this is normal! Scrape into a large bowl, roughly whisk in the miso paste (it will not dissolve, so don’t worry if it’s clumpy!), then let it cool at room temperature. You should have about ¾ cup (160 grams) of browned butter. The time it takes for the butter to cool will depend on how warm your kitchen is. Do not continue to the next step until it feels room temp, otherwise the cookies will be greasy and spread in the oven.14 tablespoons (196 g) unsalted butter, 3 tablespoons (55 g) white miso paste
- Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.2 cups (260 g) all-purpose flour, 3/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- Once cool, whisk the white sugar and brown sugar into the butter. Then, whisk in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla until thick.1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (128 g) light brown sugar, 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar, 1 (50 g) large egg, 1 (18 g) large egg yolk, 2 teaspoons vanilla paste or extract
- Fold in the dry ingredients, then when almost combined, fold in the chocolate chips. Set aside for 15 minutes. This will firm up the dough and make it easier to scoop!1 cup (130 g) bittersweet chocolate wafers, 1/2 cup (70 g) chopped semi-sweet chocolate bar
- Scoop the dough into 3-tablespoon-sized balls, rolling each one in your hand and arranging them on the baking sheet (only 6 a tray). Bake for 9-10 minutes. Let the pan cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then use a spatula to transfer the cookies from the pan to the wire rack to finish cooling.
I’m so sad the recipe was changed:( I liked the old one and I can’t find it
Hi Em! I had a lot of feedback of inconsistencies with the recipe, so it was tweaked slightly for a better outcome. It is essentially the exact same recipe just with more flour and no rest time! If you’d like, I’d be happy to send you the original recipe via email. Just let me know!
I have to be honest, I wanted to love this recipe but cookies came out pretty bad. Weighed all my ingredients, and cookies came out very oily and burned on the bottom before baking all the way through 😪
Hi Kay, I’m sorry to hear the recipe didn’t turn out for you. Even with weighed ingredients, it sounds like either your butter was way too warm when mixed with the sugars, your oven temperature was too hot, or the cookies weren’t chilled properly before baking.
These are delicious! Salty, sweet and buttery. What a wonderful combination of flavours! I will definitely be making these again.