Deep-Dish Air Fryer Chocolate Chip Cookies

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These gooey and thick Deep-Dish Air Fryer Chocolate Chip Cookies taste like a skillet cookie, but they’re so much easier to clean up. Made with oatmeal and two kinds of chocolate, these large cookies are the ultimate chewy treat.  

A close-up photo of a deep-dish chocolate chip cookie on a pale gray plate. The cookie is topped with a scoop of ice cream and both have been topped with chocolate sauce, with a silver spoon resting under a bite of cookie and extending off of the right side of the frame.

Why You’ll Love This Air Fryer Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

These oversized cookies are perfect for two—especially when served with a scoop of ice cream on top! The center stays soft and the air fryer gets the edges nice and crisp. So, basically, you get the best of both worlds!

The cookie dough we use for these air fryer cookies is based on our favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe (the Neiman Marcus Cookie we originally posted over on Barbara Bakes). 

But I think I like it even better cooked in trays in the air fryer—the edges cook up crisp like a skillet cookie or pizookie, while the middles are doughy and soft.

We love dessert recipes around here; if you’re not making sweet treats in your Instant Pot or air fryer, it’s time to start! May we recommend our Perfect Instant Pot Cheesecake, and Instant Pot Mini Cheesecake Bites to get you started? 

We’re thrilled to offer more air fryer recipes in addition to our classic Instant Pot dishes. You can bake these cookies using a classic basket-style air fryer or using an air fryer lid on your Instant Pot!

A Note from Jenn

I know there are memes about bloggers giving too many personal stories in their posts; if that’s you, feel free to use the “jump to recipe” button at the beginning of the post to scroll right down.

But I just had to include a little backstory for this one. I honestly, literally dreamed up these cookies, down to the little silicone trays we bake them in. When I woke up, I grabbed a pen, wrote down everything I could remember, and went on Amazon to find what I needed to make them a reality.

(In my dream, we stacked silicone trays on dehydrator racks and made six at once; however, real-life testing brought that number down to two at a time.)

And seriously, we did a LOT of real-life testing because I wanted to understand how they’d bake in several different air fryer models.

And it turns out this recipe was hard to finalize because EVERY WAY we tested, it tasted delicious, and every tester had a different opinion on which method produced the tastiest cookie.

Ultimately, we’ve included instructions in the notes for baking these cookies two ways: one way that produces a softer cookie that’s best eaten after it has cooled, and a second way that makes a great crispy/doughy contrast and is perfect for eating hot out of the oven.

an overhead shot of all the ingredients needed to make chocolate chip cookies in the air fryer. From top left: a white bowl filled with flower, an egg, a smaller white bowl filled with grated chocolate shavings, a small bowl of vanilla extract, a small bowl with salt and baking soda, a stick of butter, a white bowl of oats, a silver measuring cup of chocolate chips, and silver measuring cups filled with packed brown sugar and granulated sugar.

INGREDIENTS for Air Fryer Chocolate Chip Cookies (Pizookie style)

Here’s what you need for these gooey bakery-style air fryer chocolate chip cookies:

  • Oatmeal. You’ll blend your oatmeal to make a fine flour for these ultra-chewy cookies. 
  • Flour. Regular all-purpose is all you need. 
  • Baking powder and soda. These allow your cookies to rise nicely as they bake. 
  • Butter. Choose unsalted so your cookies don’t taste too salty. 
  • Sugar. A combo of granulated white sugar and brown sugar adds a nice caramelized flavor to the cookies. 
  • Vanilla. Opt for pure vanilla extract for the best flavor. 
  • Chocolate. These cookies double down on chocolate by using chips and a grated chocolate bar. Use your favorite kind of chocolate chip (we still prefer the classic Nestle Tollhouse Semisweet), and we like using milk chocolate for the bar.

Equipment needed to bake deep-dish chocolate chip cookies

Air Fryer

We tested this recipe in an Instant Vortex Plus, the Cosori air fryer, Ninja Foodie, and the Instant Pot Pro Crisp.

We ended up writing this recipe for the Instant Vortex Plus because it’s my favorite air fryer model; I just love the ClearCook window. (Read our full Instant Vortex Plus review here).

As written, my Cosori Air Fryer cooked these cookies a little darker than you’d expect for a chocolate chip cookie. If you’re using a Cosori, I recommend subtracting a minute and/or lowering the temperature by 10 degrees even further than the options given.

In the Instant Pot Pro Crisp pressure cooker with an air fryer lid and Ninja Foodie, the recipe works as written with no changes.

Silicone trays

These 4-inch silicone trays work in a pressure cooker, an air fryer, and a traditional oven, so you can use them for many types of foods.  

These trays work perfectly for this recipe because you get the perfect crispy edges, with a soft and delightful center. They’re also perfect for our Instant Pot Breakfast Sandwiches (Egg McMuffin style) that we’ll be posting soon.

Trivet or rack

We really liked baking these on the wire rack so that we could easily remove the whole tray without bending the silicone trays and deforming the cookies.

We chose to use these stackable dehydrator racks, which fit with room to spare in our Instant Vortex. However, if you’re using an Instant Pot Pro Crisp or another air fryer lid–style device, you’ll need to use a rounded style rack.

We did not use the risers for this recipe because the taller trivet browns the top of your cookie much darker than if you use a shorter trivet.

an overhead shot of all the ingredients needed to make chocolate chip cookies in the air fryer. From top left: a white bowl filled with flower, an egg, a smaller white bowl filled with grated chocolate shavings, a small bowl of vanilla extract, a small bowl with salt and baking soda, a stick of butter, a white bowl of oats, a silver measuring cup of chocolate chips, and silver measuring cups filled with packed brown sugar and granulated sugar.

How to Make Deep-Dish Chocolate Chip Cookies in an Air Fryer

This air fryer recipe has been tested to work in basket-style and pressure cooker–style air fryers, including the Instant Vortex, Cosori Air Fryer, and the Instant Pot Pro Crisp.

Start by preheating your air fryer on the Bake setting. You can bake these cookies at either 325°F or 350°F, depending on the texture that you prefer. 

Next, start making the dough by blending the oatmeal into coarse flour in a blender. Add the oatmeal powder to a mixing bowl, along with the all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.  

An overhead shot of the butter and sugars blended together inside a silver mixing bowl. The bowl has been scraped by a spatula with a wooden handle. In the bottom right are a bowl filled with flour.

Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar until it’s light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and continue to mix until everything is evenly blended.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until just combined, then fold in the chocolate chips and grated chocolate bar. 

An overhead shot of three silicone trays arranged vertically on the right of the frame, filled with scoops of cookie dough. The middle tray has the dough pressed to the sides. A small silver mixing bowl with a silver cookie scoop is just visible on the left.

Now you’re ready to shape your cookies. Press the dough into the silicone trays, either pressing it flat, which will result in a finished cookie with a little indentation that’s the perfect shape for a scoop of ice cream, or leaving a little more dough in the center, which will result in a finished cookie that has a a more uniform thickness and a softer middle. We used about 4 or 5 ounces of dough per tray.

Once the air fryer is preheated, place one or two silicone trays on a trivet and carefully add them to the air fryer. Bake the cookies for 9 to 12 minutes, depending on how soft you like them. When the cookies are done, let them cool for a few minutes on a wire rack before removing them from the silicone trays and enjoying!

  • Baking the cookies at 325°F for 10–12 minutes produces a softer cookie. I highly recommend letting these cookies cool before eating, since the centers are quite gooey when hot; however, after it cools the outsides have a slight crispness to them but the insides are wonderfully soft. 
  • Baking them at 350°F for 9–11 minutes is better if you like a lovely crunch to your cookie. Right after baking, they’ll be crunchy on the outside and still soft and gooey in the center. This is the best way to bake them if you plan to eat them right away or want to serve them with ice cream.
A simple overhead photo showing three golden brown chocolate chip cookies on parchment paper on a cooling rack. An additional cookie has been broken into bites and is scattered between the cookies.

Important Tips for Making Air Fryer Chocolate Chip Cookies

  • I like to bake two cookies at a time. One cookie is enough for my husband and I to eat, and we’ll save the second to eat the next day and it’s a completely different cookie experiment. 
  • For larger cookies, we recommend putting three or four heaping cookie scoops of dough in each silicone tray. (In our tests, that worked out to about 4 to 5 ounces of dough in each tray.)
  • We recommend baking no more than two cookies at a time. We tested baking four cookies at a time, two cookies at a time, and one at a time. There wasn’t much difference between one and two. But when you add three or more to the air fryer, we found that the top rack of cookies didn’t cook at the same rate as the bottom rack of cookies, even when we switched them halfway through.
  • We generally get six or eight cookies from one recipe, but it all depends on how much dough you add to the silicone trays (and how much dough you eat during the baking process).
Another photo to show the size of these cookies. a hand is coming in from the left side of the frame to pick up a single cookie. The hand is stretching from the thumb to the middle finger, which just barely can hold half of the cookie. Several other cookies are visible along the right side of the photo.

Frequently Asked Questions about Chocolate Chip Cookies in the Air Fryer

How should I store skillet cookies?

The cookies will harden up as they cool. You can store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to four days, but they’re best within a day or so of baking. 

Can I freeze the cookie dough?

Yes, you can freeze the raw dough for up to six months. I like to make a batch of dough, cook two fresh, and press the remaining dough into the remaining silicone trays. Then I’ll place in a freezer-safe ziploc and freeze.

When you keep a stash of frozen cookie dough in the freezer, you’ll never be far from a delectable dessert!

How do I bake them after freezing them?

You can bake the dough from frozen, and in our testing we never needed to add more than a minute or two to the cook time. I would check it for doneness at the time recommended by the recipe and and another minute if you think it needs it.

What does the oatmeal do for the cookies?

Oatmeal doesn’t contain any gluten, so the combination of regular flour and oat flour produces tender cookies that aren’t tough. It’s a great trick for any cookie recipe that we learned from the famous Nieman Marcus cookie recipe.  

Can I add nuts?

Yes, go nuts! Feel free to add chopped walnuts or hazelnuts if you like a crunchier cookie. The nuts shouldn’t affect the cook time. However, it might increase the volume enough that you get an extra cookie out of the dough.

I’d start with around 3/4 cup of chopped nuts to keep the ratio similar to the original Nieman Marcus version.

An overhead shot of a small gray plate filled with a single cookie with a scoop of ice cream and a drizzle of chocolate syrup on top. A small silver spoon is visible in the left side of the plate. Additional cookies are visible in the top half of the photo, with oatmeal and chocolate chips scattered attractively on the countertop.

MORE Dessert Recipes

We had so much fun making these air fryer chocolate chip cookies; you’d better believe we’ve got more tasty air fryer treats on the way. In the meantime, try some of our pressure cooker–based sweet treats:

Or, if you’d just rather bake traditional cookies, all of Barbara’s oven-made favorites are on Barbara Bakes cookie page.

A close-up shot of a bite of chocolate chip cookie on a silver spoon, being eaten with ice cream and chocolate sauce.

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A photo that shows the size of these deep-dish cookies. From the bottom of the frame, two hands are in a cupping shape, with a single cookie filling the space between both hands. The cookie is suspended over three other chocolate cookies and a wooden trivet and chocolate chips in the background.

Deep-Dish Chocolate Chip Cookies | Air Fryer recipe

Yield: 6 to 8 cookies
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Additional Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes

Air Fryer Chocolate Chip Cookies baked deep-dish style in silicone trays are over-the-top delicious, whether you serve them alone or top them with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of chocolate sauce!

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups oatmeal blended
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 cup chocolate chips
  • 2 ounces grated milk chocolate bar
  • Vanilla ice cream, optional, for serving
  • Chocolate ice cream topping, optional, for serving

Instructions

  1. Select Bake and set the temperature to 325°F or 350°F* to preheat the air fryer.* (See note below about choosing your bake time and temperature.)
  2. Add the oatmeal to a blender and blend into a coarse flour or powder.
  3. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, blended oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
  4. Use an electric mixer on medium-high speed, to mix the butter, sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in the egg and vanilla until blended, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
  5. Add the flour mixture and stir until just blended. (Make sure to scrape the sides and bottom.) Stir in the chocolate chips and grated chocolate until well incorporated.
  6. Press the dough into each of the six silicone trays.** (See note below on how to press them into the trays.)
  7. When the air fryer is preheated, place one or two of the molds on a trivet and carefully place them inside the air fryer. Bake for 9 to 12 minutes (depending on your chosen cook temperature).
  8. When finished baking, remove the cookies from the air fryer basket to cool on a wire rack. After a few minutes, gently pull the silicone sides away from the cookie to ensure the cookie isn't sticking to the silicone. 
  9. Serve hot or allow to cool completely and remove from the silicone tray. Cover lightly until ready to eat.

Notes

* Choosing a baking time and temperature:

  • 325°F for 10–12 minutes is perfect if you like a softer cookie, but you will absolutely have to let it set to firm up. When you take it out, the bottom will be really, really soft if it’s still hot. They will be really soft and gooey in the middle if you eat them right after baking. However the next day they set up where the tops and sides have a light crispness and the bottoms are firm but the cookies are still soft.
  • 350°F for 911 minutes is better if you like a lovely crunch to your cookie. Right after baking there will still be a little bit of softness in the middle. But this is absolutely how I would bake it to eat right away or to eat with a scoop of ice cream on top. For me, the crispy, crunch contrasting with the gooey center is irresistible.

** Choosing the shape of the cookie dough:

  • If you put the dough in and press it flat across the tray, the center won’t rise as much as the edges, so you’ll get a slightly bowled shape that is begging you to put a scoop of ice cream inside.
  • If you want to make the cookie more of a uniform, flat thickness throughout, you’ll need to dome the dough a little bit in the center. This make the centers even softer, almost doughy when immediately removed from the oven, but they'll firm up as they cool.

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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 599Total Fat: 33gSaturated Fat: 20gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 91mgSodium: 299mgCarbohydrates: 75gFiber: 3gSugar: 63gProtein: 6g

Nutrition information is calculated by Nutritionix and may not always be accurate.

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