These miso chocolate chip cookies are a fantastic treat. They're salty-sweet cookies with slightly crispy edges and a super soft center. White miso adds a savory element that is absolutely delicious.

If you love unique cookie recipes as much as we do, make sure to also try our bourbon bacon peanut butter cookies and our sea salt and brown butter chocolate chip cookies!

A close up of a plate of miso chocolate chip cookies.

Miso chocolate chip cookies

These miso chocolate chip cookies are a wonderfully soft, slightly salty cookie that is impossible to resist.

If you have fine-tuned taste buds you might be able to pinpoint the miso flavor without being told about the special ingredient. For the rest of us, we can taste a slight umami flavor that is delicious yet hard to figure out exactly what it is. Once you're told that these cookies are made with miso, chances are you'll be able to taste it.

We use more miso in these cookies than most other miso cookie recipes. That's because the one complaint that we often read about was the lack of real miso flavor. So we use a generous ½ cup of white miso (also known as shiro miso or kome miso) so that the flavor is more pronounced.

Warning: the raw cookie dough tastes very strongly of miso. But once the cookies are baked, the miso flavor mellows considerably.

What is miso

Miso is a fermented paste made from different types of grains and is commonly used in Japanese cooking.

White miso is made from rice, soybeans, and a little barley and is the mildest flavored of the many different types of miso paste. You'll notice that it has a slightly sweet and nutty flavor.

A baking sheet full of miso cookies.

Ingredients in miso chocolate chip cookies

Unsalted butter. It is very rare that we buy unsalted butter, but it's important in this recipe. As the miso is quite salty, you want to use unsalted butter so that the cookies aren't too salty. You'll also notice that there is no added salt in this recipe.

White miso. You can substitute yellow miso, which is also quite mild-flavored. Look for this in the refrigerated section of your grocery store.

Sugars. We use a mix of white and brown sugar to help create crispy edges and keep the center soft.

An egg. Just one will do in this recipe. Make sure that it's at room temperature for the best results.

Vanilla. Adds even more flavor.

All-purpose flour. This recipe has not been tested with gluten-free flour. However, 1:1 gluten-free flour blends work in most cookie recipes.

Baking soda. Helps the cookies rise.

Semi-sweet chocolate chunks. We love using chunks for big bites of flavor. You can also use chocolate chips. Or use white chocolate chips to make these miso white chocolate chip cookies.

A hand holding a miso chocolate chip cookie that's broken in half.

How to make miso chocolate chip cookies

These miso cookies, like most cookies, are very easy to make. The actual time that it takes to make and bake the cookies is about 20 minutes. But we find that they are best if you have the patience to let them rest in the fridge for about an hour.

  1. Cream the wet ingredients in a stand mixer or beat them with electric beaters then add the flour and baking soda and mix very briefly – just enough so that they combine with the wet ingredients.
  2. Now fold in a very generous amount of chocolate chunks and put the cookie dough into your fridge for an hour.
  3. Roll balls of the dough then flatten them out a little and bake the cookies until they are golden on the bottom.

Full recipe in the recipe card below.

Variations to try

  • Turn these into miso white chocolate chip cookies by replacing the chocolate chunks with white chocolate chips.
  • Add a half cup of chopped walnuts or pecans.
A white plate piled high with miso chocolate chip cookies.
A white plate piled high with miso chocolate chip cookies.

Miso Chocolate Chip Cookies

These miso chocolate chip cookies are a fantastic treat. They're salty-sweet cookies with slightly crispy edges and a super soft center. White miso adds a savory element that is absolutely delicious.

If you love this recipe as much as we do, let us know with a 5-star rating!

4.96 stars (44 ratings)
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Ingredients

  • ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • ½ cup white miso
  • ½ cup light brown sugar
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg, at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chunks, can sub chocolate chips

Instructions 

  • Cream the butter and miso in with a stand mixer or in a large bowl with electric beaters. Add both the sugars and continue to beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat for 1 minute more.
    ½ cup unsalted butter, ½ cup white miso, ½ cup light brown sugar, ½ cup granulated sugar, 1 large egg, 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • Add the flour and baking soda to the bowl and stir just until they're mixed. Fold in the chocolate chunks.
    2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chunks
  • Cover the bowl and put it into your fridge to chill for 1 hour. (This helps the flavor develop and prevents the cookies from spreading too much.)
  • Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Scoop the batter with a medium-sized cookie scoop onto cookie sheets and gently press the tops down with your fingers. Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until golden on the bottom. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.
Serving: 1 big cookie, Calories: 223kcal, Carbohydrates: 29g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 11g, Saturated Fat: 6g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 3g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 22mg, Sodium: 318mg, Potassium: 117mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 16g, Vitamin A: 168IU, Calcium: 22mg, Iron: 2mg
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