Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies are made with a rich blend of butter, sugar, and sour cream, with instant vanilla pudding mix for extra softness and flavor. Fluffy cookies that taste like mint chip ice cream!
In our family, these Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies are always a favorite, especially because they’re made with simple ingredients like butter, sugar, sour cream, and instant vanilla pudding mix that give them such a soft, fluffy texture. The mix of mint extract and chocolate chips (sometimes with a few Andes mint pieces tossed in) makes them taste just like mint chip ice cream, which we all love.
We look forward to making these around St. Patrick’s Day and Christmas, but they honestly don’t last long any time of year. They’re one of those recipes everyone gets excited about, and they disappear almost as fast as we can bake them!
Recipe Highlights
- Soft, Bakery-Style Texture – Thanks to the instant vanilla pudding mix and sour cream, these cookies turn out incredibly soft, fluffy, and stay moist longer than your average cookie.
- Mint Chip Ice Cream Flavor – The combination of mint extract, chocolate chips, and optional Andes mint pieces gives these cookies that nostalgic, creamy mint chocolate chip taste in every bite.
- Fun & Festive Look – The light green color makes these cookies perfect for holidays like St. Patrick’s Day or Christmas, adding a playful and eye-catching touch to any dessert spread.
Ingredients for Chocolate Chip and Mint Cookies
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps create a soft, tender texture.
Butter: Provides rich flavor and contributes to the cookies’ soft, melt-in-your-mouth consistency.
Egg: Binds the ingredients together and helps give the cookies structure.
Sour cream: Adds moisture and a slight tang, keeping the cookies soft and fluffy.
Vanilla pudding mix: Enhances flavor while creating an extra soft, thick, and tender texture.
Salt: Balances the sweetness and brings out the flavors.
Baking soda: Helps the cookies rise and achieve a light, airy texture.
Flour: Forms the base of the dough and gives the cookies structure.
Mint extract: Infuses the cookies with that classic, refreshing mint flavor.
Food coloring: Gives the cookies their fun, signature green color.
Chocolate chips: Add bursts of rich chocolate flavor that perfectly complement the mint.
Tips for making Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie
- Don’t overdo the mint extract – Mint can quickly become overpowering, so stick to the measured amount; a little goes a long way and keeps the flavor balanced with the chocolate.
- Mix the pudding in dry, not prepared – Be sure to add the instant pudding mix as a dry ingredient, which is what gives these cookies their signature thick, soft texture.
- Watch the bake time closely – These cookies are best when slightly underbaked; pull them out when the edges are set but the centers still look soft so they stay fluffy and don’t dry out.
- Customize your chocolate mix-ins strategically – Andes mint pieces add amazing flavor but tend to melt into the dough, so pair them with regular chocolate chips or chunks to keep that classic chip texture.
How long are these Mint Chip Cookies good for?
These cookies stay soft and fresh for about 3–4 days at room temperature when stored in an airtight container, or up to a week in the fridge (just let them come to room temp before serving for the best texture).
Yes, you can absolutely freeze them! Store baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 month, or freeze the dough by scooping it into balls and placing them on a baking sheet until solid—then transfer to a zip-top bag and freeze for up to 1 month. This way, you can bake a few at a time whenever you’re craving warm, fresh cookies!
Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup butter softened (1 stick)
- 1 egg
- ½ cup sour cream
- 3.4 oz box instant vanilla pudding mix
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp mint extract
- drop blue coloring + 7-10 drops green coloring
- 1 ½ cups chocolate chips
Instructions
- Start by preheating the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or spray with non-stick cooking spray, set aside.
- Begin by creaming together the sugar and butter, in a large bowl, until nice and fluffy. Add in the egg, sour cream and dry pudding mix, stir well to combine.
- In a separate small bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking soda. Incorporate the flour mixture into the butter and pudding mixture and stir until well combined.
- Now add the mint extract and food coloring until desired color is achieved.
- Lastly, add in the chocolate chips. I used ¾ cup chocolate chunks, ¾ cup regular chocolate chips and ½ cup Andes baking bits. Any combination is wonderful, but note that while the Andes mint baking pieces add an incredible flavor, they kind of disappear in the cookies. So add them in addition to the 1 ½ cups chocolate chips, if you opt to put them in!
- Start dropping the cookie dough by the rounded tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. When done baking, transfer to a cooling rack. Serve fresh and warm, enjoy!
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Notes
Nutrition
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Can I use yogurt instead of sour cream?
Yes! Plain yogurt works just as well and will still give you that soft, moist texture.
Why add pudding mix to the dough?
The dry pudding mix is the secret to these cookies staying extra soft, thick, and flavorful.
Do I have to use food coloring?
No, it’s completely optional—it just gives the cookies that fun minty green look.
Can I make the dough ahead of time?
Yes! You can refrigerate the dough for a day or freeze dough balls for up to a month and bake when ready.
Check out some of our other favorite cookie recipes to try:
- Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies are tiny, bite-sized treats packed with big flavor! Perfect for snacking, sharing, or sneaking straight from the cookie sheet!
- These Chocolate Mint Cookies are buttery, melt-in-your-mouth treats dipped in rich chocolate with a cool minty twist—basically holiday magic in every bite.
- Double Chocolate Mint Cookies are rich, chewy, and loaded with deep chocolate flavor, then topped with melty Junior Mints for that perfect cool-mint finish. If you’re a mint chocolate lover, these fudgy cookies are about to be your new obsession.
- Our Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are made completely from scratch with simple ingredients. Adding chocolate chips to peanut butter cookies elevates them to a new level!
- Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies mix buttery dough with sweet maraschino cherries and rich chocolate chips—a colorful, fun twist on a classic favorite!
- Bursting with sweet, juicy raspberries and melty chocolate chips, these Raspberry Chocolate Chip Cookies are a fresh twist on a classic favorite! Perfectly irresistible—one bite and you’ll be hooked!
Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies are soft, fluffy, and packed with flavor, thanks to butter, sugar, sour cream, and a bit of instant vanilla pudding. Every bite tastes just like your favorite mint chip ice cream!
Hannah Sutherland says
I just made these cookies but changed them to be lemon, white chocolate chip… I kept the same measurements for the ingredients.
They came out great!! Thanks.
Nellie says
What a great idea! Glad you enjoyed them!
Dianne says
I agree with other reviews. The dough was very stiff. I think I would have added more yogurt. My didn’t flatten either. The food coloring did nothing to turn the dough green. Taste was good.
Jessica says
Try adding some milk to the cookie dough. Cookie recipes can be affected by weather- I almost always have to add more milk!
Janelle says
Is the butter salted or unsalted?
Alison says
I use salted butter but I recommend using what you have on hand!
Jason says
These are seriously the best cookies I’ve ever made. I made it per the recipe the first time and my wife absolutely loved them. The second time I subbed half the sugar for brown sugar, added a little vanilla and omitted the mint. The third time I used chocolate pudding mix and peanut butter chips, omitting the mint. We destroyed each batch. This one is a keeper!
Alison says
Jason, I love the personal touches you made to them! Glad you all enjoyed these!
Shannon says
Dough was too stiff…need more wet ingredients
Aussie eating cookies says
Yo, mate, I came in to say green is my favourite, it’s the color of that ice cream I had. And cookies made in this way add an unusual spin to cookie dough. Unlike biscuits you don’t keep them in the oven so long, cookies were meant to be soft and chewy. I remember my last time eating cookies, those white chocolate macadamia cookies that Subway makes, my personal favorite is those cookies with brightly colored chocolate buttons, when Americans now make cookies like scones, and thus it’s a bit different from the standard cookies.
Jessica says
So glad you enjoyed them mate! 😉
Industries says
I loved this recipe, I added a little oat milk to moisten up the dough and used peppermint extract (maybe about 1.5 tsp or less) and these were AMAZING!! Cant wait to try variations of these
Lisa says
I didn’t have any vanilla pudding so I substituted with pistachio pudding it was amazing and because it is green I didn’t need the food colouring!
Jessica says
So glad it worked out well! YUM.
Jolie T. Melendez says
I’ve been looking for a chocolate chip cookie recipe for a very long time. I’ve tried the Nestle Tollhouse recipe and have been adjusting it for a long time.
The Mint Chocolate ones are a hit & I use this same recipe for regular chocolate chip cookies too. I just leave out the food coloring and mint, then replace the vanilla pudding with French Vanilla pudding.
I made them for Christmas 2019 and cannot tell you how many batches I’ve made since then.
From someone who cannot cook or bake, I truly thank you for this recipe!
Nellie says
So glad you’ve enjoyed this recipe. It’s so great to have a go-to cookie recipe that works every time!
Farrah says
I made the recipe as written, despite having seen that many people remarked that the dough “didn’t flatten.” It is true. I believe the dry ingredients were too much for the liquids. In a traditional chocolate chip cookie recipe, there are two sticks of butter plus two eggs. However this recipe called for only 1 stick of butter and 1 egg, but had the standard 2 cups of flour PLUS the pudding mix. It resulted in a very thick batter, with the consistency of play dough. As a result, the cookies didn’t flatten, which also resulted in the bottom cooking quickly and browning, and they tasted very “dry.” If I were going to make this again, I don’t think I would just “add a tablespoon of milk,” I think I would add more butter to make them more creamy. I also think it only needs 1 tsp of mint extract. While they tasted pretty good, I don’t think I will make them again.
Sheri says
I would use a combination of dark chocolate chops, milk chocolate chops and Andries candies
Colleen says
They were very good! Not overly minty…my boys loved them.
marilyn Plitz says
I DID make your cookies and they LOOKED exactly like yours. Perhaps some are not creaming the batter long enough. I do it for at least 3 minutes. My mint was way too strong, so I insisted I would not need a breath mint ever again..but, it was peppermint. I will adjust that in the future. It was also in the cupboard a while and could have concentrated.(My mistake, not yours). These will still be consumed and I will be ‘very kissable’. Thank you!
Carrie says
The cookies wouldn’t spread, and the taste was just okay. Maybe need a lower cooking temperature because the cookie tops were brown before 10 minutes. I don’t know what would “fix” this, but other recipes I have followed with pudding mix turn out well so maybe I would just add mint extract to one of those.
Stephanie says
These came out beautifully for us. My 4 year old and I had a blast making and eating them. Delicious recipe, thanks!!
Colleen Pomeroy says
Where do you buy a small box of pudding that is 3.4 oz.? The pudding in my store is only .8 oz. The large box is 1.5 oz.
Jessica says
Are you looking at sugar free pudding? The size I used is a standard sized small box.
Jane says
CAN we use the sugar free type of pudding and get good results?
Jessica says
Yes, you can use sugar free pudding mix!
Lexie says
I know this sounds crazy, but could I make these without the mint?
Jessica says
Absolutely!
Zulaikha says
Please guide me what should I use instead of instant vanilla pudding mix
Nellie says
You can just leave it out if you don’t have any – pudding just makes the cookies a bit thicker and softer!
Cynthia says
Just a suggestion with regards to the pudding mix: you could edit the recipe to add a DIY version, and I found one here if interested:
https://www.browneyedbaker.com/diy-homemade-instant-vanilla-pudding-mix/
Hope this helps!
Nicole says
DIY pudding mix sounds great but has been untested with this recipe to see if it actually works well or not. If a reader would like to try it out and report back letting us know if it worked or not, I’m sure it could be of great use to somebody out there 🙂 Thanks for sharing the suggestion
Kelsey says
These are amazing! My daughter is really on a mint kick and wanted to make mint cookies. We followed the recipe but made bigger cookies instead of small ones and baked at a lower temp (tried the one on recipe but my cookies browned quickly). Turned out SO soft and chewy and yummy. Awesome recipe, thank you!!
Jessica says
So glad to hear Kelsey!
Crystal says
So so good! Great minty flavour and super soft and chewy because of the pudding mix.
EmilyF says
Good recipe but we made some changes. Reduced the amount of flour, to a 1 1/3 cup. Reduced the oven temp to 345, baked for 12-13 minutes. Diced Andes mints were a must! Added much flavor. Also used dark chocolate chips, too