Kitchen Sink Cookies
Published Jul 14, 2022•Updated Nov 30, 2022
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Kitchen Sink Cookies are soft and chewy cookies packed with chocolate chips, pretzels, potato chips, and toffee (“everything but the…”). Make them as written, or swap in your favorite mix-ins.
My kids still don’t totally understand why these are called “Kitchen Sink” Cookies, but they know they love them. When I started testing this recipe, with each batch, the kids said more chocolate chips, more pretzels, more potato chips, more toffee!
We packed these cookies (a fun twist on my original Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe) full of sweet and salty fillings until they couldn’t possibly hold more. And then we added a few extra chocolate chips. You’re welcome.
Ingredients for Kitchen Sink Cookies
- Unsalted Butter – These cookies were tested with unsalted butter. If using salted butter, skip adding the additional salt.
- Flour, Baking Soda, Kosher Salt, Light Brown Sugar, White Sugar, Egg, Pure Vanilla Extract – Just regular cookie-baking ingredients.
- Mix-Ins – These have a great sweet and salty balance with chocolate chips, toffee bits, potato chips, and chopped pretzels. See below for more ideas!
- Flaked Sea Salt – At our house, we love a light sprinkle of flaked sea salt (I use Maldon) on top of the warm cookies. It’s totally optional but gives the cookies a hint of extra salt and a tiny bit of crunch.
How to Make Kitchen Sink Cookes
The process for making these cookies is similar to making chocolate chip cookies. A stand mixer really comes in handy for beating the butter, but you can absolutely use a hand mixer too.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Prepare a baking sheet by linking it with parchment paper or a baking mat. (This is highly recommended because the caramel in the cookie dough can melt and cause sticking.)
- Whisk together dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt).
- Beat butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).
- Mix egg and vanilla extract into butter-sugar mixture.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix on low just until combined. (Be careful not to overmix or your cookies will be cakey instead of soft.)
- Stir in mix-ins like chocolate chips, toffee bits, potato chips, and pretzels.
- Roll cookie dough into golf ball-sized balls. (These should be pretty large.)
- Bake cookies until edges are crisp and centers are still soft, 10 to 12 minutes.
- Cool on the pan for 5 minutes and then transfer to cooling rack.
- Enjoy!
Roll Cookie Dough in Mix-Ins (Optional, but fun!)
It’s purely aesthetic, but if I’m delivering these cookies to someone or serving them to friends and family, I like to roll the dough in some extra toppings. It means that before you take a bite, you get a sneak peek of all the delicious things inside.
How to Freeze Cookie Dough
Frozen cookie dough is like money in the bank. (Though I have to keep it in my downstairs freezer…and out of reach.) You can bake one at a time or the whole batch any time you need them. The best way to freeze cookie dough is:
- Form cookie dough into balls. Line dough balls up in a single layer on a sheet pan
- Transfer sheet pan to freezer until dough is frozen solid, 2 to 3 hours.
- Transfer dough to a freezer-safe bag and seal, removing as much air from the bag as possible.
- Freeze for up to 6 months.
To bake cookies from frozen: Bake the cookie dough directly from the freezer at 325°F / 163°C for 16 to 18 minutes. (This lower temperature and longer cook time is important for the dough to defrost and cook all the way through.)
Mix-Ins for Kitchen Sink Cookies
True to their name, you really can put almost anything in these cookies. It’s a lot of fun to experiment with different combinations and flavors. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
- Milk Chocolate Chips or Semi-Sweet
- Potato Chips
- Pretzels
- Toffee Bits
- Crushed Cereal
- Pecans / Walnuts
- M&Ms
- Shredded Coconut
- Butterscotch Chips
- Sprinkles
- White Baking Chips
- Dried Cranberries
- Chopped Dark Chocolate
Looking for More Cookie Recipes? We’ve got ‘em….
- Crispy and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies with Toffee
- Salted Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Cookies
- Chippy Peanut Butter Cookies
- Vanilla Cookies with Nutella Filling
- Mini Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
- Sunny Thumbprint Cookies
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Kitchen Sink Cookies
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- Half Sheet Pan
- Parchment Paper or Baking Mat
- Cooling Rack
Ingredients
- 2 cups All-Purpose Flour (250 grams)
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 2 sticks Unsalted Butter, softened to room temperature (1 cup)
- 3/4 cup Light Brown Sugar, packed (150 grams)
- 1/2 cup White Sugar (100 grams)
- 1 large Egg
- 2 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
- 1 1/2 cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
- 1 cup Toffee Bits (like Heath Bits o’ Brickle English Toffee Bits)
- 1 cup Crushed Potato Chips (like Ruffles)
- 1/2 cup Chopped Pretzels
- 1/2 teaspoon Flaky Sea Salt, for topping (optional; like Maldon flaked sea salt)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F / 177°C.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a baking mat like Silpat. (These will make it easiest to remove the cookies from the pan after baking.)
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle or using a hand mixer, beat together butter and both sugars until light and fluffy.
- Add egg and vanilla extract and mix on low, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Add dry ingredients to mixer and mix on low just until everything is combined.
- Stir in chocolate chips, toffee bits, potato chips, and pretzels.
- Roll cookie dough into golf ball-sized balls. (Roll them extra toppings if you would like.) Spread cookie dough out on prepared pans, leaving about 6 inches between them.
- Bake cookies until edges are crisp and centers are still soft, 10-12 minutes.
- When you remove the cookies from the oven firmly tap the baking sheets on the kitchen counter to deflate them (this will make the centers soft). Sprinkle the cookies lightly with flaky sea salt (if using).
- Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
These are bomb! I used heath bar pieces, ruffles (more finely crushed for the inside of the cookie, coarsely crushed for rolling), semi sweet choc chips, and pretzel sticks (left these pretty coarse, 1/4-1/2inch pieces). Skipped the salt since I used salted butter!
These cookies did spread a lot, I found that 6 on a cookie sheet was just right.
The versatility of these cookies is honestly so great! Add what you like, leave out what u don’t (like raisins…raisins are nasty)! I also made a batch with no eggs (since a friend has an egg allergy), substituted 1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce instead of the egg, and it came out just as delicious! Side by side, the eggless had less of a brown sugar/caramelized flavor, but the sweet/salty flavor was more pronounced.
Really good recipe 🙂 Kinda fool proof actually as long as u use the measurements given! I got lazy the second time and added dry ingredients to the wet so I didn’t have to wash another bowl lol
Not a fan of FLAT cookies and they taste more like a chocolate chip cookie.
I was looking for a recipe to make for a gathering, because one of the guests isn’t big on desserts, and would rather eat a bag of chips. I found this recipe a little too late and didn’t end up making these for the event, so the jury is still out on the anti dessert eater (told her about the recipe and she’s actually excited to try them next time we get together), but I was so intrigued that I decided to make them for myself. And let me just say… I don’t know where these cookies have been all my life, but I’m addicted! I used caramel pieces (found them in the baking isle and they are similar to a chocolate chip), in place of the toffee and it gave that perfect sticky salted caramel flavor and texture. I’d give this recipe 100 stars if I could.
Oh this is so wonderful to hear! I’m so glad you liked them, and love the caramel addition – I’m going to try that!
I used butterfinger pieces instead of the toffee pieces as the store didn’t have any and they were a hit in my family.
Yum! That sounds delicious!
This is my favorite kitchen sink recipe! It’s requested at every gathering I go to. The only thing I changed is I made my own toffee bits instead of buying the candy and it brings it to another level. 10/10 would recommend
Yum! Making your own toffee bits?! That’s next level and sounds fantastic! So glad you liked these!
This is an amazing recipe! I made them gluten free by using a 1 to 1 gluten free flour and gluten free pretzels. They were such a big hit with my family! These will definitely be my go-to dessert recipe moving forward 🙂
So glad you enjoyed them! And glad the 1:1 flour worked!
This recipe is outstanding, thank you!
I made a batch, using another recipe, and they were dry, and didn’t flatten out. You’ve nailed this recipe.
I made them with chopped candied ginger, white chocolate chips, some leftover Kirkland Himalayan salt chips, and some left over Chex Cereal.
Thank you for taking the time to test, re-test, master, and post this recipe.
Oh I’m so glad Liz! Thank you for the note!
These cookies are insanely good! My family loves them! The salty element with the sweet- chef’s kiss!
I’m so glad you liked them!!
The pretzels came out stale after baking. What did I do wrong? Newly opened bag of pretzels and I baked for 10 mins. I also added in marshmallows. Was it due to that?
I’ve never had that happen Crystal, so it does make me wonder if the marshmallows had an effect on the moisture in the cookies / pretzels? Or it could have something to do with the type of pretzels used. I’m not entirely certain, but I’ve never had any issue with the pretzels tasting stale in the baked cookies.
These. Are. Amazing. AMAZING.
Yay! So glad you liked them! xo